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Exercise 17: Cosmic Bowling


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  • 4 weeks later...

Name: Caroline Begbie

Exercise: Exercise 17 - Cosmic Bowling

Date Completed: 7th January 2007

 

I took the liberty of using the Newton Plugin instead of using the manual - thank you to Steffen and johnl3d for your help.

 

CosmicBowlingB.mov

It's a really exciting alternative, with so many possiblilities, and I'd really like to spend some time experimenting with it later on. Here's the very basic, getting started, instructions to do the Cosmic Bowling exercise with Newton:

CosmicNewton.pdf

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Excellent Caroline. I have been meaning to fool around with the Newton pluin myself. Just havent gotten to it yet. Also, it was a nice touch adding the pdf of how to set up for this project in case anyone else wants to try it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Name: Joseph Gamblin (Achilles Desire)

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 17

 

 

Date Completed: January 23, 2007

 

Instructor: The book and Caroline's PDF on Newton

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement:

 

Using the rigid bodies, I kept getting the sliding pin and really wanted the ball to roll, but really wasn't looking forward to setting up feyframes on every frame, so I tried Newton physics and I have two comments. First, ARRRGGGHHH yet another feature that I have to start studying and running tests. Man, I tell ya, there are days I think that either A:M has too many toys or there's just not enough time in the day. Second comment, Caroline rocks!!! Thanks a billion for the PDF!

 

Bowling.mov

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More praise for Caroline here.

Not only did she explore new territory in exercise 17 she has documented what she discovered along the way.

 

 

 

I'm not sure what you used to generate the PDF but everyone can publish to PDF these days with a host of different tools.

Perhaps the most accessible I've found is Open Office. Available for the Mac, PC and Linux you can start publishing right away. I use several apps to get the job done and my favorite is CorelDraw. Open Office is on my desktop too.

 

The best thing about Open Office is that everyone can use it.

I recommend it for all to use.

 

Thanks again Caroline.

Great job! :)

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I like the funky red ball, Joseph - and wasn't that motion blur?

 

It's not me who deserves the praise - it 's Steffen Gross for writing the plugin, along with the Newton Engine people - it is a marvel.

 

Writing things down, especially complicated things, helps in the learning process, and putting here means I won't lose it. :D

 

Open Office is a match to most of Office, but I only use MS Publisher now, although it's expensive for what it is, and print to CutePDF, which is a great free PDF maker.

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Name: Michael Fortunato

Exercise Completed: Ex. 17 - Cosmic Bowling

Date Completed: 01-29-2007

Instructor: Das Book

 

Comments: I cannot get the bowling ball to roll. I suppose I just have to add rotation in the keyframes - perhaps I should take advantage of Caroline's Newton Physics tutorial :). Perhaps I'd get more realistic pin results. Notice how they all fall down? Not quite sure why that happened. They didn't seem to wobble enough for that (not that I'm complaining, I got a strike because of it). I also attempted to use the Bloom effect for the first time. I love the effect, but no matter what I tried, I could not lower the bloom effect. I set the effect to Shortcut to Camera 1. Perhaps that was incorrect, I'm not sure. I will have to experiment further :).

 

- Michael

Ex17_Bowling_Project02.mov

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  • 2 weeks later...

Name: Jeremiah M. Faries

 

Exercise Completed: #17: Cosmic Bowling

 

Date Completed: Feb 08, 2007

 

 

Remarks: The physical dynamics are very impressive but slightly less fun than animating from scratch. You do get a lot for very little effort :) I can see how useful this would be for telling a real story. The only thing I did outside book was to add some spin to the ball. I don't bowl so it is probably a ridiculous spin. I'm guessing too that you could bake the action and then go in and mess with the fine details of the simulation. I've been also playing around with BVH and I concluded that they might be good places to start to get broad motion for cheap but to really make it work you have to bake it and tweak. I'm guessing the same thing may apply here. oh, and I also tried motion blur to make it easier on the eyes but the effect didn't work too well... too many blurred streaks popping the scene. I'm sure there are parameters to reduce or change the blur but I just rendered it again without the blur

 

exercise_17_Bowling_Project_b.mov

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Hey Jeremiah -

 

Spin looks pretty darn good to me. Of course, I'm a terrible bowler, so perhaps I'm not the right person to say that ;). I noticed the ball likes to dip into the ground a few times - I guess the rigid bodies tool isn't perfect.

 

You mentioned "baking" an action. Do you know how that works? Ok, not quite the right forum to ask this in, but I'm just curious.

 

Thanks.

- Michael

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You mentioned "baking" an action. Do you know how that works? Ok, not quite the right forum to ask this in, but I'm just curious.

 

Thanks.

- Michael

 

Michael, it's ok that this isn't quite the right forum to discuss baking actions because I'm not quite the expert to give the best answer :P I've only experimented with baked actions when I tried to constrain a character to a bvh (motion capture) file. As far as I can tell, baking removes the constraints and turns them into keyed actions (lots of keys if you set a low error tolerance). Once baked you can go to the channels and tweak and mess with the action to get what you want. In the context of this exercise (see it is the right place to discuss it :D ) I was thinking that once baked you could make the pins act out a bit and correct the floor damaging action of that bowling ball.

 

If your question was more low level, the answer is simple: you click the action tab and then click bake. I leave the error tolerance at 1 and then maybe reduce the channels when I get to messin' with them.

 

One of the biggest benefits of TaoA:M for me was getting practice using the channels to fine tune the animations. That's the easiest way to smooth the motion, change up the timing, and even slow or speed up the entire sequence. It's a great graphical representation of time and very powerful once you get used to it. Do you use the channels much?

 

Thanks for looking back in on us TaoA:Mers even though you're a bigshot bootcamper now :D

 

--Jerry

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Hey Jerry -

 

Thanks for the reply. Yes, you're right, I was looking for the first answer. How is it utilized - what happens when you use it. How to actually "bake" the action seemed pretty easy - I found it when I right clicked somewhere (can't remember where....he he he).

 

HA HA HA HA - bigshot bootcamper! I don't even think I've reached the rank of Private ;). While I haven't learned much, I still scour the TAoA:M forums in case someone has a question that I actually know the answer to (hey, it could happen - eventually....).

 

See here's how n00b I still am: You mentioned the term "Channels". I think I may be using them quite frequently (and even occasionally effectively ;)). Do you mean the timeline? I make all my adjustments there and find it amazingly powerful.

 

- Michael

post-8824-1171079436_thumb.jpg

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Do you mean the timeline? I make all my adjustments there and find it amazingly powerful.

 

- Michael

 

 

yep, that's what I mean. I have little confidence I'm using the correct term for them. If you isolate each channel (say for X rotation) you can reduce it (romove keyframes) by an adjustable factor. This is handy when modifying a baked action with a key on virtually every frame. I have recently been playing with the squetch rig and tried baking an action for that rig... not so straightforward to tweak... there are so many interdependent constraints. I usually like to delete channels for bones that weren't involved in the original action but ya can't do that so easily with squetch. hopefully I'll soon learn the FK IK stuff. The Squetch rig is a great addition to the A:M community but it is a leap up in complexity from the 2001. Well worth the effort to get to know it, I'm finding.

 

--jerry

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Actually, when used that way, the term channel makes sense. Yeah - the timeline is absolutely key (I think there may be an unintended pun in there). I do work separately on each channel when I'm tweaking animation. It's fantastic and gives you so much control.

 

I have download the squetch rig, opened it up, saw how many bones and controllers there were on it, went "EEK!", and quickly closed it. I said to myself, let me get more familiar with rigging and how to control a rig and then I'll tear into the squetch rig ;). I do want to get into FK and IK because I would like, when I move a child bone, the other children and parent attached follow along naturally and, 2) I'd like to assign constraints that limit the range of movement of my object - which will make animating it easier :).

 

- Michael

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  • 1 month later...

Name: Ralf Kampp

Exercise Complete: #17 (Cosmic Bowling)

Date Completed: March 24, 2007

 

Remarks: Just the standard exercise this time without any extras. :rolleyes: BTW, I was wondering why the bowling ball and the pins partly dive into the bowling lane?

bowling.mov

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BTW, I was wondering why the bowling ball and the pins partly dive into the bowling lane?

 

Usually a sign of the bones being offset but not sure in your case.

You'd probably have to share your project file to get a thorough diagnosis.

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BTW, I was wondering why the bowling ball and the pins partly dive into the bowling lane?

 

Usually a sign of the bones being offset but not sure in your case.

You'd probably have to share your project file to get a thorough diagnosis.

 

I think its the fact Rafii like to whip the ball down the lanes, So the pins knowing this said "Aww sh@#$" An dove out of the way... ;)

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Name: Robert Thompson

Date completed: Oct. 14th 2008

Instructor: Video

 

Everything worked great although I don't like how the ball drops into the lane a bit. I tried making the lane a rigid body and upon simulation the lane dropped out of sight! LOL

anyway here is my completed lesson.

STRIKE!

 

BowlingSpleen2.mov

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  • Hash Fellow
Name: Robert Thompson

 

Everything worked great although I don't like how the ball drops into the lane a bit.

 

I've never done that one so I don't know a solution to the pass thru and the ball not rolling .

 

Is that exercise done with Newton Dynamics or the old A:M dynamics?

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Name: Robert Thompson

 

Everything worked great although I don't like how the ball drops into the lane a bit.

 

I've never done that one so I don't know a solution to the pass thru and the ball not rolling .

 

Is that exercise done with Newton Dynamics or the old A:M dynamics?

I think it is the old one. Newton Dynamics never came up.

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If you are following the manual or the video tutorial you are using standard dynamics in A:M.

I should pin or highlight Caroline's Newton Dynamics treatment of Exercise 17.

She did a great job with it.

 

You can find her Cosmic Bowling Newton Dynamics tutorial here:

 

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showt...13511&st=40

 

You want to understand the basics of using dynamics in A:M but... its hard to resists Newton. ;)

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Robert,

We probably should cover how to Embed everything in a Project or zip everything up in a compressed file. A lot of the models, images etc. are missing from your Project file.

 

Embedding works pretty well but won't keep any of the images with the Project.

Where images are present collecting everything in a Zip file works best.

 

Regarding the falling bowling pins.

While its rather foolish for me to attempt to guide you through Newton Physics I'll suggest the following:

 

Make sure you are adjusting the Newton setting on the Models and not in the Choreography.

Once you've set your object properties you may need to place the objects back in the Chor again.

I've noticed that when I didn't do this the setting I made in the Chor seemed to stick on the object no matter what I typed in. Dragging and Dropping the models back into the Chor fixed that.

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Okay... ignore that stuff I said about changes in the Chor versus Model settings.

Must have been some kind of fluke. I can't reproduce it now.

 

Several things to check if your objects are falling include:

If they are falling THROUGH AN OBJECT you probably haven't set that object correctly so that the plugin can see it and add it to the simulation.

For instance, the Lane Model in this Exercise should be set as a 'Static Object'.

The Pins and the Ball should be 'Dynamic Objects'.

 

Unless Caroline says otherwise that is.

I'm just typing what worked for me and not referencing her instructions at the moment.

 

You won't see the option 'useCalculatet CoM=ON' until you properly set your object (Dynamic Object, Static Object, etc).

CosmicNewtonBowling.jpg

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But now what about those pins? LOL

 

Stubborn aren't they. ;)

 

I have full confidence that you will be able to figure that one out.

You've got the tools and the options at your disposal. Let us know which ones you choose!

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But now what about those pins? LOL

 

Stubborn aren't they. ;)

 

I have full confidence that you will be able to figure that one out.

You've got the tools and the options at your disposal. Let us know which ones you choose!

Betting on me?

LOL

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ok I am through.

I have no idea what I am doing and now it is completely screwed up.

Playing with settings and no guidance does not help me.

my ball now hits pins by frame 2

the pins are still in the air even though I changed their bone placement and followed the tut exactly.

It is a complete mess. I truly want to understand this please.

and this is only frustrating me.

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ok I am through.

I have no idea what I am doing and now it is completely screwed up.

 

Just table that one for a bit. Dynamic simulations are interesting but not a core thing you need to worrry about at the outset like modeling or animating well.

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