just got three new tuts

digital tutors;

into to mel

mel for artists

and

intro to python.., ending with making plugins using python

ill be right behind you tick.., watch out.., theres a new kid in town LOL

well the part about the tuts is true anyway

M

ps; im expecting a look at this car script.., seeing as i did a beta test :blush:

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take it easy and life will be easy

Hi Si,

I managed to get the hello world one going, but thats it, its still on my to do list but Ive been getting down with a sort of mocap technique thats still in the very early stages that ive been proving the principle of, and now I need to sdtart to write it up[ and organise everything!

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"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

mirek03 - I'll definitely be watching my back you should pick up a lot of good stuff from those tutorials. I saw the free intro to one of those and it looked nicely paced and well presented.
When you finally get to learning python for maya it might be an idea to have a look at pymel. It basically takes all the maya python commands and classes them up so they can be used as objects - which is what python is, object oriented. Although this might not make any sense at the minute, it will do once you get stuck into the python side of things. It also means you end up coding far more efficiently in the long run
I'd be interested to see if the bit about making plugins with python is useful.

Steve - I'm not surprised its still on your todo list if you're playing about with mocap techniques, that sounds cool.
We've got a Vicon mocap system at Uni but I've not really had the chance or a reason to play with it just yet
Dont forget to do some research into the staggering changes of drunken people - the research for getting mocap on that should be fun

Simon

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Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

The mo caps pretty cool at the moment, its more of a manual way, but I suppose it could be automated (well it would have to be to be practicle) but its just the proof of the principle at the moment that im going for. If I can get an animation going with it then theres nothing to say that it cant be used in the real world, it might no be the most practicle way but theres no markers involved!!

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"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

no markers sounds fantastic, a bit like an improvement to the iMocap system they used for the pirates of the carribean films to take data on set.
It would also mean the end of jumping around with silly markers or crazy pajamas on and being restricted to certain areas
Fingers x'ed it goes well steve

Simon

---

Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

now uni is finished i have a bit of time. the whole programming side of maya looks interesting. the title of one of the tuts is a seller.., MEL for artists.., who could not resist it.

mo cap at uni?? good god.., my uni had only just got around to making wheels spin in flash for advanced multi media?? i was thinking last night how nice it would be to do mo cap.., id do a couple of giesha dolls, those traditional white clay dolls.., and have them do a traditional dance (inspired by a calander sent to me)

M

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take it easy and life will be easy

cool mirek03, well I reckon someone who has both artistic and programming skills is a useful asset to have, kind of the go between from the art side to the programming side. It worked quite well when I was doing web development but you always get the danger of being pushed into just one or the other depending on what is needed. Good luck

I've also got a similar idea of doing an animation with japanese based things but it'll have to wait for a quiet time in life

Simon

---

Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

hey there.., yea.., one or the other?? hey wouldn't want to find myself designing web sites for the local delis and florist shops suddenly (though i need work but..??), just not what i want to do.

ill see what i can send you referring the plugins in python,,m havent got that far yet but i will skip ahead soon and see if there is anything there you might be interested in

the Japanese style.., yea..,, its always TIME eh?!

M

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take it easy and life will be easy

cheers mirek03

Simon

---

Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

another update to the traffic tool, this time starting to look at building obstacles and congestion on the road.
Keep an eye on the right hand lane and after the first car goes past I have added an invisible locator which is set to stop traffic (like imitating an obstacle or accident). The other cars still use the same rules as before and in a quite roundabout way (its not perfect yet ) get around it.

For my project I am aiming to get this bit perfected and then reduce excess particles being added if the road is already congested. I think (barring any bugs) it will be good to go to start creating some high res renderings of different traffic scenes - *digs out all his old 3D world magazines with the free car models*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwWVKkQ4ndo

Simon

---

Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

Back to this thread at last

I've just about finished version 1 of bTraffic and am now in the process of quickly knocking out some select scenes from my proposed animation just to show how the traffic tool can work.
Here are a few screenshots of various camera shots that might be used. Things will be worked up as required.

(Not my truck in this scene)












and an overview of the set:


and here is a quick movie test of the system using high resolution vehicle models (mainly to check that they worked ok). you'll see the overtaking movement is still jerky and needs to be replaced with a smooth action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5MDStY0pKA

Simon

---

Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

Looking good Si,

is your animation going to use cubes in the traffic simulation or have you got some vehicles in there now?

how much longer do you have before you have to submit it?

Mat.

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Click here to visit my site

Hi Mat,

Check the last link - that test uses high res vehicles
I altered things around a little to submit the product as the final thing (the bTraffic tool) for the 29th Feb - mainly because the course is an Msc and it means submitting some sciency thing rather than art based (which caught quite a few course members out).
We then have a week or two of a trade show and marking etc and hopefully during that time I can work up a few of the scenes from the original idea and use them to show how it works. Once I've done uni and if nothing develops immediately then I'll have a go at doing the whole animation without rushing out a few scenes.
Again its time that cuts into things
How are you doing with the course Mat? Did you get your animation completed or is that still in progress?

Simon

---

Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

Really nice going mate!!

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"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

wow! nice job Si - with the high res vehicles this is looking very cool and the landscape shots are just right - nice and simple and realistic looking. well done mate - i'm loving this project.

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arran3D

arran3D blog