ddustin

Mark, After thinking about it and knowing how I do things, I would think just sliders to augment body roll and pitch would be fine. For example, if a vehicle hits something, there is a very abrupt change in attitude that I would need to control. I am really excited about this, very cool. David

That is really starting to get good!!! I see the rear wheels are rotating backwards on occasion, which is why I assume you are working on the expression. Very very cool! David EDIT: Any way to calculate the amount of body roll based on the center of mass, weigth of the vehicle (variable) and speed?

What about 90 degree corners??

You just might get me to go back to trying paths. Paths are great for something simple, but I have difficulty making quick turns with them like after an impact. Great work guys! David

Ken, Actually as it has rendered farther, I don't like it as much, and will probably change it. I am using it as a backdrop for a piece of automated equipment. It could be used for logo's etc. David EDIT: What is a good duration for a background like this? 10, 20, 30 seconds? EDIT2: I am having a hard time getting this material to repeat, meaning first and last frame being the same........... hmmmm

Hey, Here is a preliminary clip (still rendering) of what should be a looping background. I would like to donate it to the community when it is finished. It is kind of like a primordial, other-worldly kind of view, you could composite things over it. I would post the zipped file with the frames on my site. Let me know what you think. David http://www.dustinproductions.com/files/amstuff/BG-DPLLC.mpg

I thought it was Los Nooga............

It would be out standing if we can get this to work as a rig that can be applied to vehicles. Usually I make pose sliders the control body roll, pitch, suspension (wheels up/dn), steering and crumple on a vehicle. I like the amount of control this gives me, particularly when vehicles collide and we need to show them pitching as a result. Would those controls still be able to be used with a rig like this? I doubt it would be sensitive enough to cause the body to pitch down if it hit something, unless it can be incorporated with the Newton engine. Which reminds me.... I think yoda64 has plans for something like this..... It would be cool to get his take on it. Thanks for all your work on this guys. David (the other one)

You can import the mov file, then you should be able to apply it. Are you saying the original images you have to work with are gifs? Usually gifs are lower quality. Maybe you can elaborate as to what you are trying to do and with what? Importation of most other formats is clunky, 3ds is the best, and than you can just import it as a prop, meaning it can sit, or spin but you can't manipulate it in the sense of a rigged model. Is there anyway you could post the mov file? or email it? I could try to see if ther is an issue with it. David

131,000 patches begs the question.... How are you going to animate that monster (proxy would be one way). How large is the project file? My guess is it is still manageable (thinking of it loading in NR). Very cool. David

Can you show us something of it? David

David, Wow and wow! Very cool how you set it up! David

Matt, First, I stink at surface constraints (actually constraints in general), but have been trying to do some testing. It appears the wheels will leave the ground if the body is raised too high and the don't seem to crash through the ground if the body is pushed down. Don't know about the newton application. Hopefully David's example will make the light bulb turn on in my head. The other David

This should work fine for four wheel vehicles, each wheel is independent of the others. The bones to make rotate for the wheels are the "wheel1", "wheel2", "wheel3" and "wheel4". The nulls that you can use surface constraints to keep the wheels on the road are the "IK_wheel1", "IK_wheel2", "IK_wheel3" and "IK_wheel4"...those will also turn the wheels left and right. To move the entire car, you'll have to add an overall base bone that has all of those bones as children...I'll post an updated one for ease. Hope that is helpful, David. The surface constraints need 2 items, the target model, and the aiming bone right?

I talked to the AR guy today. His take on it is both vehicles look like they speed up a few frames before impact. Other than that he likes it. Better fix that perceived speed-up. David

Camera Mapping is where you create a rough geometry the position the camera, and apply a decal through it. But if you are looking for a more clay-mation look, this would probably not work for you. I usually try for realism rather than the style you are trying to create, so I am not a good judge. Good luck, David

Roger, It looks like you minds eye is going in a good direction. If you have a good image of a mountian, you can experiment with a technique called camera mapping. It seems tailor made for your shot. Do a search for it. I am no expert but have toyed with it. If you need help with the trees, we have some good images. David

Shelton, Glad you got it to work. The on-off issue is supposed to be resolved in V13.0c ( I had turned in a report on it too). David

I find myself in awe (actually green with envy) of Stian's abilities. If only............. David

David, Very impressive. I am still trying to figure it out. Is there anyway this could be made into a rig to apply to 4 wheel vehicles? Thanks for your efforts! David EDIT: How do I make it work?

Pssst.... Bjorn, nerds (term of endearment) aren't supposed to hang glide...... We haven't decided. SIGGRAPH is the end of the month so I can't do it then. Guess we should just stick a date on the wall and let everyone weigh in. There were a few new GA users we should try to get involved. We'll also need to try to figure out where to have it. Maybe afterwards we could have a game or two of volleyball (we live between Chattanooga and Atlanta, and have a lighted court). David

Translation: What your fellow forum members are trying to tell you is you really need to work on your spelling and grammar. It can be difficult for forum members (I am not attempting to speak for all) to take you seriously when you use run-on sentences with no punctuation. I know it (your style of writing) is acceptable on gamer sites etc... However, most adults find it irritating, and most who have worked in a professional capacity automatically dismisses your writings as unimportant. There is a spell checker built it to the forum (black check with ABC above it), or you can write your thoughts off-line using a word processor. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. David

Hey, It's been quite a while since we got together for a meeting. Will (zandoriastudios) and I were discussing having one, but maybe driving to Chattanooga this time. That way there could be some others from Knoxville and Nashville that could attend. What Ya'll think???? Atlanta users (A:M that is) could car pool. David

Stian, Will and I were disussing water and the use of animated displacement maps to handle the ocean swells. If it works it would be really neat to test it with your ship. David

The way the accident happened, was the truck was in her lane but was trying to get back in his own lane. As she realized he was in her lane, she applied the brakes and tried to veer out of the way but they collided just over the centerline. We see what the AR dude says, and I'll let you know. David