Animation: Spiders, thousands of them..... :) - Page 3

# 31 04-07-2003 , 11:54 AM

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walkcycle

That was great in my softimage Times....there was an integrated tool, that allows to animate everything from 2 to 8 feets....ideal for spider, insects aso. just had to select the legs in the right order ,a path, and the ground, and it walked down the path, the legs alwas on the surface, no matter how the ground was modeled,...then you had sliders to adjust how high the legs should be moved, how far they will move within one step, and lots of other sliders, to create f.ex. a drunken spider....was really great ;O)) I guess that was a bad motivation *g*

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# 32 04-07-2003 , 12:18 PM

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hmmm sounds pretty good user added image

but then softImage has a button to do just about everything!! :p

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# 33 09-07-2003 , 02:17 PM

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been a while since the last update, but I've been a busy boy!

Here's a small avi (135k) of about 40 spiders running around

It's not well lit as I have to really careful with lights and stuff or the scene will crash maya.

i'm having problems getting above 40 spiders but I'm working on solutions right now so we'll see how it goes.

Alan

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spiders.zip (127.0 KB, 262 views)

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# 34 09-07-2003 , 02:38 PM

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looks good so far!! the light isn't bad in your scene, it gives a good feeling!
and about the count of spiders... let us (all we with old pcs) know if and HOW you can manage it

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# 35 09-07-2003 , 02:57 PM

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hey I have an old PC too!! well at home I do (not in the studio!!) user added image

I'm working on a solution with references at the moment so we'll see how it goes.

Alan

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# 36 10-07-2003 , 01:17 PM

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another video! i finally sorted out the problem of having as many as I want.... so simple yet very cool user added image

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100spiders.zip (475.0 KB, 206 views)

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# 37 10-07-2003 , 01:38 PM

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Excellent they are really creepy!

How did you do it in the end, was it instancing?

EDIT- oh sorry, just saw the explanation in your other thread!

I like the way they move - they look light on their feet but still appear to be on the ground.

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# 38 10-07-2003 , 01:48 PM

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thanks witchy! user added image

there are some problems where some spiders dont seem to be touching the ground (and the flickering shadows dont help much but so far so good.

Here's another video, this time it's longer and has 200 spiders in it. Do you think that the movement is too "bouncy" someone just said that to me and i agree a little bit but if I make it less obvious then it gets lost in the final images....

Anyways here's the other video

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200spiders.zip (1.18 MB, 199 views)

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# 39 10-07-2003 , 01:58 PM

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Thanks

Now I'll never get to sleep user added image

This looks creepily good (is that even grammatically correct?). I don't think they're too bouncy. Spiders are a bit bouncy when they skulk across the floor (before I smish them with something heavy and, preferably, long).

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# 40 10-07-2003 , 02:13 PM

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no!! you cant kill spiders!! well not my ones cause they are kinda cute user added image

but I was thinking about having some monty pithon esq foot squishing a few of them.... lol

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# 41 10-07-2003 , 02:16 PM

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I might have to disagree. I think they seem to be a bit too bouncy. To make it worse, it is being emphasised by the fact that there are a lot of them all bouncing together. :bgreen: :bgreen: :bgreen:

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# 42 10-07-2003 , 02:33 PM

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i agree with vampus... i had to see it three times... it's just a little bit too much... and the shadow makes it worser

but it looks really cool when the little beasts are walking around in my player user added image

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# 43 10-07-2003 , 02:35 PM

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ok I will generate some more walk cycles and take away some of the bounciness.

the shadows are because I am just using one directional light to speed up the renders, that will be fixed when I do the final renders.

thanks for the C+C it's really useful
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Alan

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