I think I need to work on my descriptive abilities <grin>

Anyway, this is a sort of variation on the rolling sphericon as posted by 
KalleK a while back (on the 12th of September, to be precise)

I've had the concave base object on my HDD since shortly after I saw the 
original, but I decided to see if I could manage the rolling sphere 
(there's a plain white texture on it so I wouldn't have to try and figure 
out the appropriate rotations to prevent it looking like it was 
'sliding') and it was easier than I thought it would be.

Oh, and I've got another version, but in that one, the ball stays still 
and the base object rotates.

And I think I've managed to get this one to loop properly.  At least it 
does on my machine without stuttering.

Comments, threats and the usual rambling are welcome :)

Bye for now,
     Jamie.

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Attachments:
Download 'Sphericon_V_2_a.mpg' (146 KB)

"Jamie Davison" wrote.
> I think I need to work on my descriptive abilities <grin>
>
> Anyway, this is a sort of variation on the rolling sphericon as posted by
> KalleK a while back (on the 12th of September, to be precise)
>
> I've had the concave base object on my HDD since shortly after I saw the
> original, but I decided to see if I could manage the rolling sphere
> (there's a plain white texture on it so I wouldn't have to try and figure
> out the appropriate rotations to prevent it looking like it was
> 'sliding') and it was easier than I thought it would be.
>
If you're looking extremely closely, there's a faint bluish line on the
ball, but it's moving so fast I can't see it except at the start and finish
(Media Player is giving a brief pause at the replay). Well done (far beyond
my abilities!)

> Oh, and I've got another version, but in that one, the ball stays still
> and the base object rotates.
>
I'd be interested to see :)

> And I think I've managed to get this one to loop properly.  At least it
> does on my machine without stuttering.
>
Yep. I know it's my machine (slow) that's causing the fraction of a second
pause I get. Does it with every clip

Hrm, now I'm tempted to post my creation (even if it is a basic construct,
spinning in space). Anyone?

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kinda mesmerizing, i was just wondering how you would get the ball to
actually roll correctly (so you could texture it), but gave in :)

btw it does loop perfectly for me

Rick

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On Wed, 4 Oct 2000 10:58:17 +0930, Data wrote...
> > I've had the concave base object on my HDD since shortly after I saw the
> > original, but I decided to see if I could manage the rolling sphere
> > (there's a plain white texture on it so I wouldn't have to try and figure
> > out the appropriate rotations to prevent it looking like it was
> > 'sliding') and it was easier than I thought it would be.
> >
> If you're looking extremely closely, there's a faint bluish line on the
> ball, but it's moving so fast I can't see it except at the start and finish
> (Media Player is giving a brief pause at the replay). Well done (far beyond
> my abilities!)

I'll let you into a secret.  There's no way in hell I could do this in 
POV script.  This is all through Moray (and the animation plugin)

And I think the faint line is a lighting artifact, since IIRC, the 
illumination in the scene is from four point lights scattered around the 
object.
 
> > Oh, and I've got another version, but in that one, the ball stays still
> > and the base object rotates.
> >
> I'd be interested to see :)

Have you got the Divx;-) codec?  It's just that it's not really that 
interesting, and as a Divx;-) .avi, it's only 48k or so, and I'm sort of 
loathe to take up much more space on the newsgroup with another version 
of this (and an infinitely less pleasing version IMO)
 
Bye for now,
     Jamie.

Post a reply to this message

"Jamie Davison" wrote.
> On Wed, 4 Oct 2000 10:58:17 +0930, Data wrote...
> > If you're looking extremely closely, there's a faint bluish line on the
> > ball, but it's moving so fast I can't see it except at the start and
finish
> > (Media Player is giving a brief pause at the replay). Well done (far
beyond
> > my abilities!)
>
> I'll let you into a secret.  There's no way in hell I could do this in
> POV script.  This is all through Moray (and the animation plugin)
>
> And I think the faint line is a lighting artifact, since IIRC, the
> illumination in the scene is from four point lights scattered around the
> object.
>
That would probably explain it :)
Hrm, I'll have to try Moray more often, though I still prefer playing with
the numbers themselves

> > > Oh, and I've got another version, but in that one, the ball stays
still
> > > and the base object rotates.
> > >
> > I'd be interested to see :)
>
> Have you got the Divx;-) codec?  It's just that it's not really that
> interesting, and as a Divx;-) .avi, it's only 48k or so, and I'm sort of
> loathe to take up much more space on the newsgroup with another version
> of this (and an infinitely less pleasing version IMO)
>
Yeah, I have (finally)
I'll have to give it a try at encoding. I have a new breed for a game that
neews a demonstration movie, but at the moment a full 360 degree spin of it
is just under 300k at fairly low resolution

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On Thu, 5 Oct 2000 06:31:56 +0930, Data wrote...
> > I'll let you into a secret.  There's no way in hell I could do this in
> > POV script.  This is all through Moray (and the animation plugin)
> >
> > And I think the faint line is a lighting artifact, since IIRC, the
> > illumination in the scene is from four point lights scattered around the
> > object.
> >
> That would probably explain it :)
> Hrm, I'll have to try Moray more often, though I still prefer playing with
> the numbers themselves

It's a mindset thing.  I use Moray because I find it mind numbingly 
boring to type in lots of abstract numbers, when I can just click create 
sphere, and then transform it as I want, and see the results instantly.

Other people out there can do incredible things with just a keyboard and 
a text editor.

<shrug>  I'm not claiming either way is better, but as a personal choice, 
I prefer Moray. (and it's still the only shareware other than my 
newsreader and email that I use regularly and have registered.)
 
> > Have you got the Divx;-) codec?  It's just that it's not really that
> > interesting, and as a Divx;-) .avi, it's only 48k or so, and I'm sort of
> > loathe to take up much more space on the newsgroup with another version
> > of this (and an infinitely less pleasing version IMO)
> >
> Yeah, I have (finally)
> I'll have to give it a try at encoding. I have a new breed for a game that
> neews a demonstration movie, but at the moment a full 360 degree spin of it
> is just under 300k at fairly low resolution

Well, I found the other version of the animation, and it should be 
attached, but it's 98k, not 58 as I thought (I think it was originally 
58k, but I re-rendered with Antialiasing and at a slightly higher res.)

Bye for now,
     Jamie.

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Attachments:
Download 'Sphericon2_A.avi.dat' (92 KB)

"Jamie Davison" wrote
> On Thu, 5 Oct 2000 06:31:56 +0930, Data wrote...
> > Hrm, I'll have to try Moray more often, though I still prefer playing
with
> > the numbers themselves
>
> It's a mindset thing.  I use Moray because I find it mind numbingly
> boring to type in lots of abstract numbers, when I can just click create
> sphere, and then transform it as I want, and see the results instantly.
>
> Other people out there can do incredible things with just a keyboard and
> a text editor.
>
I seem to be able to get an idea of where it is from just the numbers. 3d
model in my head, sort of thing (not overly accurate, though)

> <shrug>  I'm not claiming either way is better, but as a personal choice,
> I prefer Moray. (and it's still the only shareware other than my
> newsreader and email that I use regularly and have registered.)
>
To each their own. Moray is a nice program. I've used it about 10 times, but
mostly it just sits there gathering virtual dust. It's nice & potent in the
right hands, though (as you demonstrated with the animation and others have
with some of the Star Trek & Star Wars schenes I've seen)
And the extra patches are nice

> > > Have you got the Divx;-) codec?  It's just that it's not really that
> > > interesting, and as a Divx;-) .avi, it's only 48k or so, and I'm sort
of
> > > loathe to take up much more space on the newsgroup with another
version
> > > of this (and an infinitely less pleasing version IMO)
> > >
> > Yeah, I have (finally)
> > I'll have to give it a try at encoding. I have a new breed for a game
that
> > neews a demonstration movie, but at the moment a full 360 degree spin of
it
> > is just under 300k at fairly low resolution
>
> Well, I found the other version of the animation, and it should be
> attached, but it's 98k, not 58 as I thought (I think it was originally
> 58k, but I re-rendered with Antialiasing and at a slightly higher res.)
>
Well, I'm game. 98k bu is still fairly small, IMO. Besides, I'm curious :)
Hrm, this is annoying. Animation Shop 3 can read mpgs but can't save them
yet :(

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