"Tim Nikias" <JUSTTHELOWERCASE:timISNOTnikias(at)gmx.netWARE> wrote:
> Note that it's encoded with Divx6, so you'll probably need the latest
> install (but those that use things usually update their things, so I don't
> think I actually needed to make this latest-install-comment...).

Actually, it plays fine using Divx v5.2.1 with WMP v9.

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Cool! The animation is very good and it's nice to see a physics simulation
in something that actually has a story =)

 - Slime
 [ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]

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> Actually, it plays fine using Divx v5.2.1 with WMP v9.

Hm, I guess the newer codecs simply improve on small things, and when I
don't use anything special, they'll run fine... Good to know. :-)

-- 
aka "Tim Nikias"
Homepage: <http://www.nolights.de>

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> Cool! The animation is very good and it's nice to see a physics simulation
> in something that actually has a story =)

Thanks! I wouldn't go so far as to say "very good", but it's more or less a
fluid animation, so I'm accepting the "good". ;-) And yeah, integrating
simulations in something with a story is somewhat more rewarding, after all,
isn't that what the simulation was written for? :-)

-- 
aka "Tim Nikias"
Homepage: <http://www.nolights.de>

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Actually about keyframing, I was interested enough to try to post a response
but the web interface doesn't always let me log on....  So about that, I
can't remember what all I was going to say before, but for the project I'm
working on, I'm planning on dumping everything into a big array of floats
(not vectors) for each keyframe, not all of which need be defined.   For
any undefined element, the keyframe will have no affect, similar to how
you're able to skip x y or z values out of your vectors for select
keyframes.   Another array will probably store something to represent
interpolation type for each value at each keyframe... The idea is to only
have to declare things that are unique or changing.

Nice modeling on your robot :) ...can't wait to see your Chasm short.


Charles C

"Tim Nikias" <JUSTTHELOWERCASE:timISNOTnikias(at)gmx.netWARE> wrote:
> Hey all!
>
> Though life sucks, I've been a little busy for my short. The Keyframing
> System I've demonstrated here last week and no one showed interest in (no
> hurt feelings, don't worry) can be considered done as far as the grouping
> goes. I'm not sure if I won't add some more interpolation methods, but I do
> think anything that can't be done with the system is something the system
> just isn't intended to be for. ;-)
>
> To test the robot's rig along with the system, I cooked this small clip.
> It's nothing fancy, and the robot doesn't even admit that he's supposed to
> have some character, after all, it's just a proof-of-concept that I can
> animate using pure POV-SDL...
>
> Note that it's encoded with Divx6, so you'll probably need the latest
> install (but those that use things usually update their things, so I don't
> think I actually needed to make this latest-install-comment...).
>
> http://www.nolights.de/chasm/animations/kf_test1.avi
>
> Comments, critique, links to workshops on keyframe-animation, (anything
> constructive or nice) is appreciated. :-)
>
> Regards,
> Tim
>
> --
> aka "Tim Nikias"
> Homepage: <http://www.nolights.de>

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> Actually about keyframing, I was interested enough to try to post a
response
> but the web interface doesn't always let me log on....  So about that, I
> can't remember what all I was going to say before, but for the project I'm
> working on, I'm planning on dumping everything into a big array of floats
> (not vectors) for each keyframe, not all of which need be defined.
SNIP some

That's roughly the same approach I take. Since many values in my rig rely on
vectors instead of single floats, I decided to have the system support
parameters up to 4 dimensions. I haven't properly cleaned the code yet, not
to mention that I wanted to see how I can modify a few things so that later
updates with new interpolation types might find their way into the system
very easily... But anyways, my system is array/macro based. Arrays store the
data, macros take care of placing and sorting it properly.

For example, here's how I set the system for the robot:
Kf_Group_Start("ClipA",7) //Filename, Id-Amount

Kf_Create_Id("Position",3)
Kf_Create_Id("Orientation",3)
Kf_Create_Id("Look_At",3)
Kf_Create_Id("Neck",3)
Kf_Create_Id("LArm_Orient",3)
Kf_Create_Id("LArm_Position",3)
Kf_Create_Id("LShoulder_Rotation",3)

Kf_Keyframe("Position",0,<15,0,4>)
Kf_Keyframe("Position",2.5,<4,0,4>)
Kf_Keyframe("Position",3.6,<4,0,4>)
Kf_Keyframe("Position",7,<0,0,0>)
Kf_Keyframe("Position",7,<-1,0,0>)

[... keyframes for the other Ids ...]
Kf_Group_End()

#declare Triball_Position = Kf_ValueOf("ClipA","Position");

Of course there are some other variables which tell the system what time it
is, in order to calculate the proper values, but that's basically it. It's
clean and simple to use, and if I accidently mix up a keyframe's time,
they'll still get sorted properly. Additionally, I don't have to rely on
actual frames, so once I decide that motion blur is needed, I just render
with 10 times the frames and get the same animation.
Using undefined array-values makes the export difficult (you can declare an
array like this #declare Some=array[4] {1,2,4,6} only if all values are
defined...), just something I'd say to your proposed idea.

> Nice modeling on your robot :)

Thanks, it took quite some time as well, not the modelling itself, but
rather the designing, tweaking and refining until it looked proper...

>...can't wait to see your Chasm short.

Ah well, but you'll have to. See, I haven't even started on the sets yet...
I'm very ambitious about this, so rather than finish with some sloppy, I'd
rather take my time... :-)

Regards,
Tim
-- 
aka "Tim Nikias"
Homepage: <http://www.nolights.de>

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Wow, good job. Pixar given you any offers yet? :)
Anyways, the robot looks great and moves really cool. It's outside my minds
grasp how you do it, but it look really neat.

I would also say keep up the good work,
but Im leaning more towards quicken up the paste... cuz I want more! ;)

/RH

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> Wow, good job. Pixar given you any offers yet? :)

No, not yet. But thanks for the praise! :-)

> Anyways, the robot looks great and moves really cool. It's outside my
minds
> grasp how you do it, but it look really neat.

Ah, simple arithmetic and rigging. Give the robot a position for the right
hand, and there it'll be, connected from the shoulder with a tube. A few
more variables to properly adjust the tube, but that's basically it. A
couple of scripts to perform the transformations... It's something you pick
up on once you start taking classes about local and global space and such...

> I would also say keep up the good work,
> but Im leaning more towards quicken up the paste... cuz I want more! ;)

Me too! :-) I'm just too swamped with other work and problems to properly
focus on this and am quite satisfied that I even managed to get this short
clip out despite everything else...

Regards,
Tim

-- 
aka "Tim Nikias"
Homepage: <http://www.nolights.de>

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Reminds me of what used to happen to Captain Kangaroo all the time.

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winamp played it just fine for me

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