Here is that cockroach who looked back from the
mirron in the horror stills competition. I originally
created him as an animatable object. Animatable in that
everything was created at <0,0,0> center then rotated
and translated into position. That way I can move
things back to 0,0,0 to change them an put them back
where they belong.

    It isn't too clear in this image, mainly due to the
strange textures that worked in the candlelight of the
horror entry but not nearly as well in this open
lighting. However, I want him as an alien world bug
this time so I may learn to love the textures as they
are or with only small changes. BTW: The horror entry
textures were an attempt to scale up the chitin of
insects. I can only say they are closer than other
attempts.

    Moving right along ....

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Attachments:
Download 'lifa.mpg' (60 KB)

Matt Giwer wrote:

>     Moving right along ....
>
>   -------------------------------------------------------
>                Name: LIFA.MPG
>    LIFA.MPG    Type: MPLAYER2 File (video/mpeg)
>            Encoding: base64

    Here is twice as many frames but it only goes from 61k to
81, and clearly a much better animation. Double the frames
with with 1/3 increase. MPEG is an interesting encoding
process.

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Attachments:
Download 'lifa.mpg' (80 KB)

Somebody get a shoe and smash it!
The head movement works good for this, I have trouble making out how the legs
move but I just dragged the players slider around for a better look.  The "feet"
push along the ground really well, but they don't raise and drop at all do they?
Even so it looked real good, if I were a pest control person maybe I'd be a
better judge but I had seen the little varmits plenty anyway at a "farm" (had
been one) I used to live on.

Bob

"Matt Giwer" <jul### [at] ijnet> wrote in message news:3883F059.82B3822A@ij.net...
> Matt Giwer wrote:
>
> >     Moving right along ....
> >
> >   -------------------------------------------------------
> >                Name: LIFA.MPG
> >    LIFA.MPG    Type: MPLAYER2 File (video/mpeg)
> >            Encoding: base64
>
>     Here is twice as many frames but it only goes from 61k to
> 81, and clearly a much better animation. Double the frames
> with with 1/3 increase. MPEG is an interesting encoding
> process.
>
>

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omniVERSE wrote:

> Somebody get a shoe and smash it!
> The head movement works good for this, I have trouble making out how the legs
> move but I just dragged the players slider around for a better look.  The "feet"
> push along the ground really well, but they don't raise and drop at all do they?

    Not yet. 12 #if statements per leg plus debugging was enough for the first cut.
It will happen eventually maybe. I gave up on trying to figure how six legs can walk
in the first place and made something that appeared credible.

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Easy.  You place 3 legs, move the other 3 forward, place them, and move the other 3.
Repeat.  A tripod is the most stable construct with legs.


H.E. Day
------------------------
Science is merely a method of gathering data and information.
Science *cannot* prove facts.
It can only provide theories that fit given data.
Technology is merely Science applied to common situations.
Technology is used for both good and evil.
Society is a framework mostly dependent on the willing participation of it
subjects.
Kingdoms and dominions come and go, none are eternal.
In the end, Society, Technology, and Science do not matter.  Only the actions
and choices of the individual will matter. <><

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In article <3884A235.14DCB903@fci.net>, Pov### [at] aolcom wrote:

> Easy.  You place 3 legs, move the other 3 forward, place them, and move 
> the other 3.
> Repeat.  A tripod is the most stable construct with legs.

As I remember, this gait is used by many insects at normal speeds. 
However, at higher speeds some switch to a more complex one which makes 
for more efficient movement, and which uses active balance rather than 
passive balance.(active balance would be actively regulating body and 
limb position, passive is resting on a stable tripod at all times.) This 
behavior has also been seen in hexapod robots that "learn" to walk by 
themselves.
Of course, for the purposes of this type of animation, the first gait 
would be fine. And besides, I think it usually takes some adaptive 
artificial intelligence to control the other kind.(anyone want to 
program a neural net in POV-Ray?)

-- 
Chris Huff
e-mail: chr### [at] yahoocom
Web page: http://chrishuff.dhs.org/

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> Of course, for the purposes of this type of animation, the first gait
> would be fine. And besides, I think it usually takes some adaptive
> artificial intelligence to control the other kind.(anyone want to
> program a neural net in POV-Ray?)

Heh!  I'll pass, thanks.


--
H.E. Day
------------------------
Science is merely a method of gathering data and information.
Science *cannot* prove facts.
It can only provide theories that fit given data.
Technology is merely Science applied to common situations.
Technology is used for both good and evil.
Society is a framework mostly dependent on the willing participation of it
subjects.
Kingdoms and dominions come and go, none are eternal.
In the end, Society, Technology, and Science do not matter.  Only the actions

and choices of the individual will matter. <><

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In article <388635DF.33DB9BD7@erols.com>, John VanSickle 
<van### [at] erolscom> wrote:

> Chris Huff wrote:
> > 
> > Of course, for the purposes of this type of animation, the first gait
> > would be fine. And besides, I think it usually takes some adaptive
> > artificial intelligence to control the other kind.(anyone want to
> > program a neural net in POV-Ray?)
> 
> Only if one is a glutton for long parse times...

Just use a bunch of media, focal blur, and several area lights to even 
things out between parsing and rendering. You know, make the rendering 
longer so the parse time isn't a problem any more... :-)

I was aware that a neural net would take a long time to parse if someone 
managed to get one implemented in POV's scripting language, which is why 
I put a smiley after that "suggestion". Wait a second, there isn't a 
smiley there...what happened? I was sure I put one there...

-- 
Chris Huff
e-mail: chr### [at] yahoocom
Web page: http://chrishuff.dhs.org/

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With all the walking comments.What is implemented is left
front and right rear moving in sync and the alternate pair out of
sync with that. The middle pair move opposite each other with
right center in sync with left front and left center with right
front. I did this with simply the desire to make it look
reasonably complex but not pairwise movement like a centipede. It
does give a three on the ground at a time effect.

    BUT what I sort of remember from a Learning Channel show on
locomotion some years ago is that for all insects there is only
one leg off the ground at any time including centipedes and
millipedes. That being why motion appears to undulate down their
long bodies. However I will not swear to that memory or it being
universal to insects.

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If it helps any I have a simple tutorial on walking things at :

http://www.spiritone.com/~english/cyclopedia/walk.html

but this might reinvent too much of your wheel

Matt Giwer wrote:

> omniVERSE wrote:
>
> > Somebody get a shoe and smash it!
> > The head movement works good for this, I have trouble making out how the legs
> > move but I just dragged the players slider around for a better look.  The "feet"
> > push along the ground really well, but they don't raise and drop at all do they?
>
>     Not yet. 12 #if statements per leg plus debugging was enough for the first cut.
> It will happen eventually maybe. I gave up on trying to figure how six legs can walk
> in the first place and made something that appeared credible.

--
Josh English
eng### [at] spiritonecom
"May your hopes, dreams, and plans not be destroyed by a few zeros."

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