In article <web.3d768ff9fac2eacda1b60c80@news.povray.org>,
 "Christian" <las### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:

> It's not really true that, my friend. I've seen how it's done with other
> packages... (but I don't really know HOW they do it...) textures CAN be
> attached and fixed to blobs (although, I don't know if that it's possible
> with the current implementation of POV... but there might be a patch for
> that, right?)

Those packages most likely use a mesh, and probably don't use a plain 
meta-ball type of blob.

Meshes (and similar surfaces) are much more flexible, there are things 
that blobs just can't do. For example, two fingers of a hand pinching 
together: easy with a mesh (assuming a good modeller or physics engine), 
impossible with a blob (the fingers will blob together).

-- 
Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
http://tag.povray.org/

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Well, I thought that there might be a new implementation: to somehow
instruct what blob may blend with other blob... like if it would repulse it
or just ignore its field of action... (Again, I'm peruvian, my english
might be not very understandanle... so sorry if I don't use proper terms)

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"Christian" <las### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message
news:web.3d76a4c1fac2eacda1b60c80@news.povray.org...
> Well, I thought that there might be a new implementation: to somehow
> instruct what blob may blend with other blob... like if it would repulse it
> or just ignore its field of action... (Again, I'm peruvian, my english
> might be not very understandanle... so sorry if I don't use proper terms)

Nah - that makes sense. Whether it's do-able is another matter.

What would be nice would be to be able to group blob components - e.g. (cut
down)

blob{
    sphere{groups{1}}        // only interacts with 2nd component
    sphere{groups{1,2}}     // interacts with both components
    sphere{groups{2}}        // only interacts with 2nd component
}

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In article <web.3d76a4c1fac2eacda1b60c80@news.povray.org>,
 "Christian" <las### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:

> Well, I thought that there might be a new implementation: to somehow
> instruct what blob may blend with other blob... like if it would repulse it
> or just ignore its field of action... (Again, I'm peruvian, my english
> might be not very understandanle... so sorry if I don't use proper terms)

Problem is, blobs just don't work that way. They are isosurfaces of the 
sum of all the components in a blob...there would be ambiguities in 
trying to figure out which blobs should affect a point. (blobs don't use 
the isosurface solving algorithm, they use a more specialized algorithm 
instead, but I don't think that helps any)

For maximum flexibility, you need some kind of surface-based shape, like 
a mesh, spline patch, subdivision surface, etc...with these, the surface 
can fold against itself, or even go through itself, which is just 
impossible with a single blob.

-- 
Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
http://tag.povray.org/

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"Rune" <run### [at] mobilixnetdk> wrote in message
news:3d767441$1@news.povray.org...
>  Even though the textures of blob components are
>  smoothly blended together, the textures will still look
>  ugly when the figure is animated, because the textures
>  don't follow the skin properly.

I don't know if you already thought of this or not, but here goes:

Make two transforms for every component of your blob object

    1) Transform_to_construct_the_skeleton_component{}
    2) Transform_to_animate_your_component{}

#1 doesn't have to be #declared independently for every component, you can
just replace this with appropriate rotations, etc.
#2  is only declared for each "bone", such as forearm, thigh, etc....

Then do:

blob{
...
sphere{0,1
    transform{ Transform_to_construct_the_skeleton_component }
    texture{Texture_of_Skin}
    transform{ Transform_to_animate_your_component}
    }

...}

etc.


This is how my blob mon is constructed, as in my last IRTC anim and
http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.animations/26056/

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Greg M. Johnson wrote:
> I don't know if you already thought of this or not,
> but here goes:
>
> Make two transforms for every component of your blob object
>
>     1) Transform_to_construct_the_skeleton_component{}
>     2) Transform_to_animate_your_component{}

Of course you can have the textures follow the individual blob
components, but that doesn't mean that the textures follow the surface
of the blob.

For example, if you have two blob components with a texture each, then
the texture in the first will follow the first component, and the
texture in the second will follow the second component, but the texture
on the area where the components blob together will not properly stretch
and bend to follow the surface. Instead it will simply be an average of
the two textures with the two different transformations, and the result
will be rather blurry and not work well in animations.

The exception, as I've said before, is when the textures are very plain
in the first place with almost no patterns in them. Your animation is a
fine example of that.

Rune
--
3D images and anims, include files, tutorials and more:
rune|vision:  http://runevision.com (updated July 12)
POV-Ray Ring: http://webring.povray.co.uk

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"Rune" <run### [at] mobilixnetdk> wrote in message
news:3d78fbfc@news.povray.org...
>  the texture on the area where the components blob together
>  will not properly stretch and bend to follow the surface.
>

Yes, at elbows, knees, and necks,   complex textures might never look good.
I use tricks to keep away from them.

Perhaps blob-based characters will never catch on in povray.

Unless someone develops a boning system for meshes,  isn't it just as well
to animate in Poser or Animation:Master?  Why go with povray at all? Yeah, I
know there are lots of tricks that you can do in hand coding that are more
easy then when you have to do a million mouse clicks.  But if you have to go
through a headache to import that poser figure into povray, why choose
*this* headache over the other?

Is there little character animation with povray because it's just not the
right tool--  blobs are untexturable and meshes are practically unbonable?

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>
> How about to attach a comlex blob structure (a creature or someting) with an
> spline "squeleton", to achieve organical motion?
>
> I was thinking about develping a SW to model with blobs but not placing them
> manually over the space, but trough splines.
>

I'm thinking H.E. Day did something like this with his IRTC animation from the
"Alien Invasion" round. He says this in the text file:

"HOW THIS ANIMATION WAS CREATED:
The wizard is a bunch of blobs animated by splines, (in fact, that's pretty much
how everything was animated...)"

http://www.irtc.org/anims/2000-10-15/earlyfly.jpg

He may have meant something different though.

--
light_source{0,1}#macro c(J,a)sphere{0,1pigment{rgb z}scale a translate J+O}
#end#macro B(R,V,O)c(0,4)intersection{c(V,R)difference{c(-z*4x+10)c(-z*4.1x+
10)c(0<7.5,45,5>)}}#end B(12,0z*25)B(8y*4<0,12,50>)          // Batronyx ^"^

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Alternatively, you could create a texture per spline, and use functions to have
it follow the spline with the blobs, but independant of them. The problem would
then be limited to spline junctures.

Just as many times answers lead to more questions, I'm sure this solution would
lead to its own uniques set of difficulties. Anything is possible, the real
question is, "How much effort do you want to put into figuring it out?"

--
light_source{0,1}#macro c(J,a)sphere{0,1pigment{rgb z}scale a translate J+O}
#end#macro B(R,V,O)c(0,4)intersection{c(V,R)difference{c(-z*4x+10)c(-z*4.1x+
10)c(0<7.5,45,5>)}}#end B(12,0z*25)B(8y*4<0,12,50>)          // Batronyx ^"^

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