Don't tell me the textures suck, because I know they do. ;-)

Right now I'm concentrating on getting the proper body proportions. Do they
look "right?"

Bear in mind that I also plan to animate it, and I'd like to move the legs
in a believable fashion: Specifically, I want it to move like an INSECT,
rather than like a robot. Any advice along those lines will be gratefully
accepted.


Humbly willing to admit ignorance,
Wykan

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Attachments:
Download 'bug01.jpg' (31 KB) Download 'underbug.jpg' (21 KB)

Preview of image 'bug01.jpg'

Preview of image 'underbug.jpg'

I like it, especially the legs.

However if I may comment, the body is a bit too simple, unless this is what you
wanted, You could try modeling a more complex one in sPatch.

Anyway that's my 2c.


Wykan wrote:

> Don't tell me the textures suck, because I know they do. ;-)
>
> Right now I'm concentrating on getting the proper body proportions. Do they
> look "right?"
>
> Bear in mind that I also plan to animate it, and I'd like to move the legs
> in a believable fashion: Specifically, I want it to move like an INSECT,
> rather than like a robot. Any advice along those lines will be gratefully
> accepted.
>
> Humbly willing to admit ignorance,
> Wykan
>
>  [Image]
>
>  [Image]

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>
>Bear in mind that I also plan to animate it, and I'd like to move the legs
>in a believable fashion: Specifically, I want it to move like an INSECT,
>rather than like a robot. Any advice along those lines will be gratefully
>accepted.
>

This is tricky indeed, I don't know offhand where you'd get such
information, unless you sit down and watch some beetles walk.

Possible sources of hexapedal locamotion information is various robotic
movement studies - I know several robotics labs are experimenting with
walkers of various numbers of legs.

You also might look at movement 'datasets', usually commercial sets of
points which describe movements of specific models doing specific actions.
For examples, you can get the joint positions of a human model for walking,
which are suitable for looping into a walk. I don't know if there exists a
group of insect datasets or not, and even if there were, they might not be
available without parting with some $.

You are probably best inventing a style of walking for your model, or is
realism is that important, you might have to actually observe some insects.
I'm sure a local pet store that carries tarantulas will also have crickets -
as they are a food source for the spiders - and it would cost very little to
get some 'test subjects' :)

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Wykan wrote:

> Don't tell me the textures suck, because I know they do. ;-)
>
> Right now I'm concentrating on getting the proper body proportions. Do they
> look "right?"
>
> Bear in mind that I also plan to animate it, and I'd like to move the legs
> in a believable fashion: Specifically, I want it to move like an INSECT,
> rather than like a robot. Any advice along those lines will be gratefully
> accepted.

If you're willing to use a modeller, may I reccomend Moray? It now allows
inverse kinematics, which allows for fluid, realistic movement within set
constraints of rotation, translation, etc.

Plus, it now has a plugin that can do animations automatically. Only problem is
that the animator uses it's own, slightly less detailed renderer, and won't
make animations with POV. However, Moray standard does use POV for all
rendering.

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Charles Krause wrote:

> You are probably best inventing a style of walking for your model, or is
> realism is that important, you might have to actually observe some insects.
> I'm sure a local pet store that carries tarantulas will also have crickets -
> as they are a food source for the spiders - and it would cost very little to
> get some 'test subjects' :)

 And when you are through with them you can go out and use them to catch
some nice trout for dinner.  Crickets are an excellent trout bait.

-- 
Ken Tyler

mailto://tylereng@pacbell.net

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On Mon, 12 Apr 1999 02:35:21 -0400, "Wykan" <wyk### [at] siscomnet> wrote:

>Don't tell me the textures suck, because I know they do. ;-)
>
>Right now I'm concentrating on getting the proper body proportions. Do they
>look "right?"
>
>Bear in mind that I also plan to animate it, and I'd like to move the legs
>in a believable fashion: Specifically, I want it to move like an INSECT,
>rather than like a robot. Any advice along those lines will be gratefully
>accepted.

Actually, I think the two are pretty similar...

Basically, with six legs you would move the first and third leg on one side
at the same time as the second leg on the other side -- and vice versa
for the second step.

Also, I think that when you lift the upper leg, the angle between the upper
& lower leg should get a little smaller too.
-- 
Marc van den Dikkenberg
--
The PowerBasic Archives -- http://www.xs4all.nl/~excel/pb.html
All Basic Code Archives -- http://come.to/abcpackets

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You might want to check out MIT's AI lab's web site.  They've done some pretty
spiffy stuff with robotic insects and insectic robots.  I'm not sure how much
there is on there, but the URL would be either
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/leglab/ or
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/mobile-robots


Marc van den Dikkenberg wrote:

> On Mon, 12 Apr 1999 02:35:21 -0400, "Wykan" <wyk### [at] siscomnet> wrote:
>
> >Don't tell me the textures suck, because I know they do. ;-)
> >
> >Right now I'm concentrating on getting the proper body proportions. Do they
> >look "right?"
> >
> >Bear in mind that I also plan to animate it, and I'd like to move the legs
> >in a believable fashion: Specifically, I want it to move like an INSECT,
> >rather than like a robot. Any advice along those lines will be gratefully
> >accepted.
>
> Actually, I think the two are pretty similar...
>
> Basically, with six legs you would move the first and third leg on one side
> at the same time as the second leg on the other side -- and vice versa
> for the second step.
>
> Also, I think that when you lift the upper leg, the angle between the upper
> & lower leg should get a little smaller too.
> --
> Marc van den Dikkenberg
> --
> The PowerBasic Archives -- http://www.xs4all.nl/~excel/pb.html
> All Basic Code Archives -- http://come.to/abcpackets

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*in his best Buzz Lightyear voice*

"You're mocking me, aren't you?"

:)

Ken wrote in message <3712427C.A3CB16FC@pacbell.net>...
>Charles Krause wrote:
>
>> You are probably best inventing a style of walking for your model, or is
>> realism is that important, you might have to actually observe some
insects.
>> I'm sure a local pet store that carries tarantulas will also have
crickets -
>> as they are a food source for the spiders - and it would cost very little
to
>> get some 'test subjects' :)
>
> And when you are through with them you can go out and use them to catch
>some nice trout for dinner.  Crickets are an excellent trout bait.
>
>--
>Ken Tyler
>
>mailto://tylereng@pacbell.net

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Lost in space... or something .-)

Wykan wrote:
> 
> Don't tell me the textures suck, because I know they do. ;-)
> 
> Right now I'm concentrating on getting the proper body proportions. Do they
> look "right?"
> 
> Bear in mind that I also plan to animate it, and I'd like to move the legs
> in a believable fashion: Specifically, I want it to move like an INSECT,
> rather than like a robot. Any advice along those lines will be gratefully
> accepted.
> 
> Humbly willing to admit ignorance,
> Wykan
> 
>  [Image]
> 
>  [Image]

-- 
//Spider
        [ spi### [at] bahnhofse ]-[ http://www.bahnhof.se/~spider/ ]
What I can do and what I could do, I just don't know anymore
                "Marian"
        By: "Sisters Of Mercy"

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