Anim8or Community

@ENSONIQ5:
Thanks! I'm quite happy with current frequencies. I still see some faults: the worst one is that fronds are crossing in some places, or (for me) visually changing length, but I hope it won't be that noticeable when view from distance/in the scene/with having multiple instances viewed from different angles. Matte painting and lighting are the next elements


@cello95:
I don't want to redistribute modified palm model which is not mine, but I hope my answer will satisfy your curiosity.

Idea:

http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems3/gpugems3_ch16.html
http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems3/gpugems3_ch06.html


Hierarchy:

+- root
| +- trunk1
| | +- trunk2
| | | +- trunk3
| | | | +- trunk4
| | | | | +- frond01
| | | | | +- frond02
| | | | | +- frond03
.
.
.
| | | | | +- frond20

Trunk1-4 are sliced parts of the trunk with pivot points at (0,0,0), if available I'd rather use bones here. There are two requirements:
1. bones parameters visible for scripting
2. bones linkable into hierarchy in the scene mode
Trunk parts have xz rotation driven by equation, fronds have xyz rotation + noise morph + xyz bend morph all driven by equation.

Equation:

F(T) = A1 * sin ( P1 * T - O1) + A2 * sin ( P2 * T - O2) + ...

T - time
A - amplitude
P - prime number frequency modifier
O - offset ( if you want looping animation put (T - O) into parentheses )

General rule in this example:

Each following level in the hierarchy has higher frequency, bigger offset. Leaves are bending so they need morphs. I deformed each of them separately with custom script in x, y and z, but possibly single morph would be enough.

Sample:

controller { "orientation"
  script {
   "float $x;"
   "float $y;"
   "float $z;"
   ""
   "$x = (1.25 * sin(3 * (time+0.)) + (0.75 * cos(5 * (time+0.9)));"
   "$z = (1.25 * cos(3 * (time+1.0))) + (0.75 * sin(5 * (time+1.1)));"
   "$y = 0.5 * cos(15 * (time+0.0));"
   ""
   "$orientation = RPYtoQuaternion($x, 0.0, $z);"
  }
  track {
   qkey { 0 (0 0 0 1) "S" }
  }
}
controller { "morph.morph01"
  script {
   "$morph.morph01 = 0.4 * cos(5 * (time+0.);"
  }
}
controller { "morph.morphy"
  script {
   "$morph.morphy = 0.15 * cos(1 * (time+0.);"
  }
}
controller { "morph.morphx"
  script {
   "$morph.morphx = (0.15 * sin(3 * (time+0.75))) + (0.1 * cos(5 * (time+0.85)));"
  }
}
controller { "morph.morphz"
  script {
   "$morph.morphz = (0.15 * cos(3 * (time+0.95))) + (0.1 * sin(5 * (time+0.05)));"
  }
}

I'd again suggest to install Anim8or under some operating system under VirtualBox or VMware. If you can't install Windows I would suggest some lighter (yet simply enough for novice to use) variant of Linux either Lubuntu or single CD version of PCLinuxOS + WINE under VirtualBox but I'm not sure while if you're afraid of installing virtualization software and not willing to try out some of out previous suggestions that we'll be able to help you further online.

Another idea is to repartition your drive and install some Linux flavour at the side of your current system, but I think it's not the thing you'd like to do alone. You might look for somebody who knows a bit more about OSes and show this forum thread to him/her so that this person will be able to create for you setup mentioned in this thread. If that person will have more questions please post them this thread. I may be able to help a little bit with the WINE setup, because I was running Anim8or in Linux a while ago.

More boids - fishes in water:


This time target is guided with coordinates stored in array. I wonder is it possible to read files with ASL especially in the animation controller

I scripted behaviour similar to boids.


The key is to animate target path with mathematical expression or with the array of locations, then copy the expression or array to each object position scrip and loop for every frame. I don't know if there's any possibility to store parameters across the frames. That would simplify this script.

I think you might be looking for some tools that make texture projections with automatic unwrap
Check these vids out:




I must really try something like that in the future! This technique looks so great especially for organics.

@cello95:
I've got 'Leaf26' image in diffuse and bump (-100) channel, and 'Leaf26_o' in specular and transparency. Images were in the archive with the model. I just converted them to *.bmp.

@cooldude234, @Raxx:
Thanks for your comment folks! I see what you mean. I have another version in works - the one with more steady trunk and bendy leaves. Currently they're only rotating around their pivot point near the top of the tree with high frequency (thus shivering). I've already made high noise morph for each frond (that is used with quite high frequency) and I plan to make another morph for each that will be following major low frequency movement of the trunk. Also I need to find good references of similar species.

I really wish EVERYTHING was ASL-scripted. At the start I attempted to rig the palm only to find out that bones can't be animated with expressions yet.

Quick sphere map test, as promised.