This question seemed hard enough for the advanced users...

A bit ago I made a robot walker that would walk across flat terrain. I would
figure out which leg was on the ground, look at the angles, and use basic
trig to calculate how far it pushed the robot.

Even though the feet didn't slide, there were a number of problems. These
are listed in order of importance.

1. It couldn't turn.
2. It had to have at least one foot on the ground at all times so it
couldn't run realisticly.
3. It's body could be off center, so that it would fall over in real life.

Now, I want to make a more dynamic model, with non-uniform steps to make it
more realistic. Anything to make it's gait look more natural would help. I
am almose clueless on how to do it myself, so even just ideas would be nice
as well.

Thanks tons,
Fingolfin

Post a reply to this message

Fingolfin wrote:
> 3. It's body could be off center, so that it would fall over in real life.

In real life, that's just what you're doing when you walk; you're
displacing your centre of gravity, then falling forwards.  Of course,
your foot usually stops you from falling completely down, at which
point you repeat the process.

-- 
Tim Cook
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-empyrean

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GFA dpu- s: a?-- C++(++++) U P? L E--- W++(+++)>$
N++ o? K- w(+) O? M-(--) V? PS+(+++) PE(--) Y(--)
PGP-(--) t* 5++>+++++ X+ R* tv+ b++(+++) DI
D++(---) G(++) e*>++ h+ !r--- !y--
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

Post a reply to this message

Fingolfin wrote:
> Now, I want to make a more dynamic model, with
> non-uniform steps to make it more realistic.
> Anything to make it's gait look more natural
> would help. I am almose clueless on how to do
> it myself, so even just ideas would be nice
> as well.

Perhaps you can get ideas from these threads:

http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.animations/19401/
http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.animations/19441/
http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.animations/19800/
http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.animations/19816/
http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.animations/21006/
http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.animations/21060/

Rune
--
3D images and anims, include files, tutorials and more:
rune|vision:  http://runevision.com (updated Oct 19)
POV-Ray Ring: http://webring.povray.co.uk

Post a reply to this message

Timothy: Good point about the center of gravity. The thing was, it was off
center toward it's back, not it's front, which isn't what really happens...

Rune: Thanks a million for all the links. Aside from making me feel horibly
defficient, they helped a lot.

Fingolfin

Post a reply to this message

Do you have:
i) an incredibly sophisticated  input system: a spline plus lots of extra
calculations that you do yourself telling it where to put feet?
or
ii) an incredibly sophisticated number crunching system that figures out
where to put feet based soley on the input from a single spline?

I've admired your work and the  ii) option is what I'd like to implement but
haven't figured out how it works (yes, I know you were so kind as to once
provide a commented listing but I'm sorry it was over my head).  Perhaps the
job isn't so hard because your input variable is like i).

Post a reply to this message

Greg M. Johnson wrote:
> Do you have:
> i) an incredibly sophisticated  input system:
> a spline plus lots of extra calculations that
> you do yourself telling it where to put feet?
> or
> ii) an incredibly sophisticated number crunching
> system that figures out where to put feet based
> soley on the input from a single spline?

That would be ii). For example, for that spider animation I certainly
didn't want to place all footsteps by hand. :) You can find more
information in the threads I linked to.

> I've admired your work and the  ii) option is
> what I'd like to implement but haven't figured
> out how it works (yes, I know you were so kind
> as to once provide a commented listing but I'm
> sorry it was over my head).

Well I'm sorry, but explaining everything in detail in an easy
accessible way would require a vast amount of time, and I don't have
that right now. The system *is* rather sophisticated, and not very easy
for me to explain in a short and precise manner.

Rune
--
3D images and anims, include files, tutorials and more:
rune|vision:  http://runevision.com (updated Oct 19)
POV-Ray Ring: http://webring.povray.co.uk

Post a reply to this message