These are the results of my first attempts at character
animation back in April 1996.

With my current work getting my character to walk
and run, I thought it would be fun to dig out my very
first attempt at this sort of thing.

The character model was much simpler then, and
it had no IK.  And it originally wasn't done with POV.

<boring bit -- skip if you want>
Back in '96 I had found a site with raytraced lego
scenes and the scene files were downloadable.
They were done with Rayshade, a freeware raytracer.
I downloaded the scenefiles, and downloaded the
source files for Rayshade.  I wasn't able to get
Rayshade to compile (for various reasons) so I
decided to embark on creating my own raytracer,
based on the Rayshade source files.

I was able to get it to work, although there were no
optimizations in the calculations, and it didn't have
any support for textures other than pigments and
finishes.  It took a couple of months to create, and
in the end I was able to do a few simple animations,
including the ones attached.

(I never did get the Lego scene files to work--they
were too big for my program/computer (at the time)
to handle.)

I intended to enhance my program with optimizations,
other features, and an improved grammar.  However,
before I was able to find time to do so, I discovered
POV.

My program has been shelved since, with no regrets.
And sometimes I take some of my old *.RAY's and
convert them to *.POV's
</boring bit>

Tom Bates.

--
#macro P(O,K,E)light_source{<O,5*K,5*E>1}#end P(1,-1,1)P(1,1,-1)P(1,-1,-1)#local
C=pigment{gradient y color_map{[.46rgb 1][.46rgb 0][.54rgb 0][.54red 1]}}sphere{
.5.5pigment{gradient x pigment_map{[.98C][.98rgb 0][.99rgb 0][.99blue 1]}}finish
{brilliance 3phong.5}}P(21,1,-1)P(1,1,1)camera{location<2.1,.1,.9>look_at.5}//TB

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Attachments:
Download 'Joe01.MPG' (163 KB) Download 'Joe02.MPG' (105 KB)

I've seen much worse!

BTW What I often see in character animations that the arms and legs move
almost completely independent of the body. But if you want to walk without
falling you really need to use your body too. Ever watched them
sports(wo)men running? They kind of twist their body in order to press
theirselves forward!

"Tom Bates" <tho### [at] shawca> wrote in message
news:3df13cd0@news.povray.org...
> These are the results of my first attempts at character
> animation back in April 1996.
>
> With my current work getting my character to walk
> and run, I thought it would be fun to dig out my very
> first attempt at this sort of thing.
>
> The character model was much simpler then, and
> it had no IK.  And it originally wasn't done with POV.
>
> <boring bit -- skip if you want>
> Back in '96 I had found a site with raytraced lego
> scenes and the scene files were downloadable.
> They were done with Rayshade, a freeware raytracer.
> I downloaded the scenefiles, and downloaded the
> source files for Rayshade.  I wasn't able to get
> Rayshade to compile (for various reasons) so I
> decided to embark on creating my own raytracer,
> based on the Rayshade source files.
>
> I was able to get it to work, although there were no
> optimizations in the calculations, and it didn't have
> any support for textures other than pigments and
> finishes.  It took a couple of months to create, and
> in the end I was able to do a few simple animations,
> including the ones attached.
>
> (I never did get the Lego scene files to work--they
> were too big for my program/computer (at the time)
> to handle.)
>
> I intended to enhance my program with optimizations,
> other features, and an improved grammar.  However,
> before I was able to find time to do so, I discovered
> POV.
>
> My program has been shelved since, with no regrets.
> And sometimes I take some of my old *.RAY's and
> convert them to *.POV's
> </boring bit>
>
> Tom Bates.
>
> --
> #macro P(O,K,E)light_source{<O,5*K,5*E>1}#end
P(1,-1,1)P(1,1,-1)P(1,-1,-1)#local
> C=pigment{gradient y color_map{[.46rgb 1][.46rgb 0][.54rgb 0][.54red
1]}}sphere{
> .5.5pigment{gradient x pigment_map{[.98C][.98rgb 0][.99rgb 0][.99blue
1]}}finish
> {brilliance
3phong.5}}P(21,1,-1)P(1,1,1)camera{location<2.1,.1,.9>look_at.5}//TB
>
>
>
>

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in article 3df1996f@news.povray.org, Apache at apacheserver2000@yahoo.com
wrote on 7/12/02 7:20 am:

> BTW What I often see in character animations that the arms and legs move
> almost completely independent of the body. But if you want to walk without
> falling you really need to use your body too. Ever watched them
> sports(wo)men running? They kind of twist their body in order to press
> theirselves forward!

I agree with this. You have to use the body too. Apart from that it looks
really cool.

All the best

Fidel.

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