Animation: Stuntplane

# 1 14-04-2003 , 08:12 PM

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Hi guys, been a while since I last posted (uni Assignments and all!) but here's the latest WIP (Also a uni assignment!)

I'm creating an animation of toy aeroplanes that are gonna be in a small aerobatics display (Think red arrows but with bi-planes). There's gonna be very little in the way of keyframed animation it's all gonna be done by taking data from a flocking system I have written and then using MEL to bring in that data, this is all complete so I am now working on the model (I would post the animation but I cant get premier to export it properly sorry!)

So here is the first model of the biplane I want to use (I think it's still a little poly heavy at the moment but I will work on that) I've been working on this for about 3 hours.

Comments and crits are most welcome

Alan

Here's the unsmoothed version

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Last edited by Alan; 14-04-2003 at 08:34 PM.

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# 2 14-04-2003 , 08:14 PM

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subdivd

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# 3 14-04-2003 , 11:08 PM

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i almost like the unsmoothed better.... just if the body was a little more smoothed. but didnt smooth the wings AS much user added image

looks nice user added image

*note* stunt biplanes have 2 rungs on the top with a strap so the pilot or someone can stand up there and not fall user added image

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# 4 14-04-2003 , 11:23 PM

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I'd love to see the animation, and hear more about HOW you are animating it that sounds really cool. Um you should be able to export the video to a HIGH compression divx, and then ZIP it and post it here. Thats what i do. Most of the people on simply maya already have divx anyway = )

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# 5 14-04-2003 , 11:54 PM

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*note* stunt biplanes have 2 rungs on the top with a strap so the pilot or someone can stand up there and not fall

Originally Posted by

lol that's for wingwalking I think! lol that would be funny if I could get that in there!!

Vectorman: I have written a flocking system in c++ (to find out more about flocking go to: Craig Reynolds Page

Basically this will spit out a text file of x,y,z translations and x,y,z rotations. I then load this text file into maya (Via MEL) and traverse through it and set up instances of geometry that pick up the positions and rotations and set keyframes for them it's as "simple" as that! user added image

The MEL to do the initial loading up of the file is easy(ish) but getting MEL to set up the shaders etc for the smoke trails that the planes leave has been a pain in the butt! You cant imagine how long it took to get maya to set up a "grayscale ramp" using MEL it's two button clicks using the GUI but scripting it was a whole other story!

When I'm finished I mite post the script and the data files (or even write a tute! user added image

) so people can see how it was done. I've got loads to do but it's coming along nicely!

Thanks for the feedback keep it coming guys! user added image

Alan

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# 6 15-04-2003 , 03:54 PM

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ok here's the update:

I shortened the plane length and I have added in most of the other details. I'm trying to keep the model as light as poss (in terms of geometry) so I can have loads of them flying around. I will post a test render of the animation later tonite once I get home

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# 7 15-04-2003 , 11:41 PM

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ok here is an avi of the animation, it's really dark cause there were no lights apart from the default light and it's also really "busy" (you'll see what I mean)

It's still in the preliminary stages but I'd really like some feedback.

Cheers
Alan

Ps Is the video ok for everyone else? I'm getting really jerky playback for some reason! user added image

https://www.alanwoods.co.uk/files/geometryTest.zip

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# 8 16-04-2003 , 08:29 AM

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hey how long was the render time? If it was pretty low, then you should try a GI scene = ) Really cool, i really wanna get a flocking script and learn how to use it.

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# 9 16-04-2003 , 10:46 AM

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Rendering time with GI isnt too bad i think. I will do a render now with it on and see how it looks. I'll post it here later on today.

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# 10 16-04-2003 , 01:41 PM

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lol I could be wrong! 2 1/2 hours later my render has done 127 frames!! Lol and it's only at 320 x 240.

Oh i just checked out what it had rendered and it looked rubbish!! I'l have to re-start the render! user added image

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# 11 18-04-2003 , 01:45 AM

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here is the latest render, I'm getting really frustrated with this damn thing! It's really hard to get the planes to fly in a "realistic" manner. Lots of planes that flip for no reason! damn vector maths!

Anyways got bored so here is a render with some gratuitous motion blur! user added image

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# 12 18-04-2003 , 01:49 AM

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Looking good mate..... The test play nice an smooth for me....

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# 13 18-04-2003 , 09:24 AM

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playback is nice and smooth, hey just delete the GI and use a few more lights. Then we could actually see the planes. How long does it take to render without the GI? if short give us a higher res (Compressed of course)

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# 14 18-04-2003 , 11:45 AM

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Render times are starting to skyrocket a bit cause of the particle's being made to collide with the planes so that the planes will disturb each other's smoke trails. BUt I will try and get another one done for today

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# 15 18-04-2003 , 03:09 PM

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I've started to texture it whilst I am waiting for the render to get on with it.

What do you guys think?

Also when I subdivide it the uvs seem to get all messed up, the staight lines appear to have "waves" in them. Any ideas? I'm Very new to sub divs

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Animation: Stuntplane

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