Exercise 18: Waving the Flag

[Caroline]

lol, Dhar - www.sxc.hu - fab site with royalty free photos. Great for rotoscopes and ideas too. But not so good for backdrops.

 

Actually, I wanted to post a screen grab, to see if anyone else would approach this in a different way. The problem is when you have a photo, you have to deal with camera angle and sky. This was the only way that I could work out, to put everything on angles, which was very clumsy.

 

 

First is side view, and second is front of the exact frame. The yellow is the photo of the track, and everything else goes at an angle across it. (That's why I was lazy on Shaggy's size, but thank you for being kind, Rodney )

[Dhar]

That was clever! You are one excellent movie maker.

[mfortunato]

lol, Dhar - www.sxc.hu - fab site with royalty free photos. Great for rotoscopes and ideas too. But not so good for backdrops.

 

Actually, I wanted to post a screen grab, to see if anyone else would approach this in a different way. The problem is when you have a photo, you have to deal with camera angle and sky. This was the only way that I could work out, to put everything on angles, which was very clumsy.

 

 

First is side view, and second is front of the exact frame. The yellow is the photo of the track, and everything else goes at an angle across it. (That's why I was lazy on Shaggy's size, but thank you for being kind, Rodney )

 

Of course I'm still working my way through the tutorials myself and I'm still coming to grips with the camera. I think the solution you created for the camera angle is brilliant. Anyone know of a simpler way she could have approached this (so we can all learn? ).

 

Scaling issues aside, this is absolutely fantastic, Caroline! I really enjoyed this. The flag looked fantastic. Perhaps it was made of muslin or burlap - yeah - stiffness, schmiffness . It's great .

 

- Michael

[mfortunato]

Name: Michael Fortunato

Exercise: Ex. 18 - Waving the Flag

Date Completed: 01-29-2007

Instructor: Das Book

 

Comments: I decided I wanted my flag to be a happy face, so I quickly painted a happy face and decaled it onto the flag. The background image is one that I painted the textures for an upcoming game I am a part of, The Silver Lining (www.tsl-game.com - shameless plug, I know). I just really liked that scene and thought the cartoon-like quality matched the happy face. So - et voila! It's like Roger Rabbit's ToonTown or something .

 

- Michael

Ex.18_WavetheFlag.mov

[Caroline]

That's too cute - I love the happy face flag.

[Joe Gamblin]

Name: Joseph Gamblin (Achilles Desire)

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 18

 

 

Date Completed: January 31, 2007

 

Instructor: just the book

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement: I'm still in the process of experimenting with this, but I decided to go ahead and post my first render straight from the book. Now I have two remarks. First, I don't like the intangible flag pole, but I wasn't happy with the rigid bodies solution either as I got some powerful collisions when the flag snaps back. I am currently doing some tests with Simcloth, but was wondering what the differences were between Simcloth and the Cloth Wizard, and if each has pros\cons for usage. Other tutorials on cloth are slim pickings, so I'm making sure to document my experiments. Second, I'm assuming that cloth can be used in conjunction with newton, but if so, do you simulate the rigid bodies first and then the cloth? I've been trying different techniques, and keep getting render exceptions or crazy super-expanding cloth during collisions. Tests continue with low and high density meshes. I'm sure that I'm just forgetting to click something, or that I'm doing something out of order. Again, when I gets results that I'm happy with, I'll post'em. Don't hold your breath thou. I'm a picky bugger.flag_wave.mov

[Caroline]

Hi, Joseph - I'll be interested to see what you come up with - cloth is something I just want to drape around someone and not have to think about But people have come up with some great concepts - like Water From Cloth - that was in the archived Cloth Forum.

 

I don't know the answers to your questions, but there is this thread about Newton and Cloth.

 

Have you seen the TWO Cloth TechTalk Movie?

 

I like your toon render - did you put the deflector material on the post group so the flag wouldn't go through the pole?

[jmf3d3d]

Name: Jeremiah M. Faries

 

Exercise Completed: #18: Waving the Flag

 

Date Completed: Feb 9, 2007

 

Remarks: I'm waving my country's flag in my google earth backyard . Of course, you can't see me ... it's such a BIG flag and pole. Also, it's been VERY windy here lately so I added a stiff breeze from out of the north. The simcloth motion from the flagpole movement interacts kind of strangely with the simulated wind motion but I left it in. Without the breeze it settles nicely but it's a blowin' outside.

 

 

exercise_18_bda.mov

[totlover]

name Caleb gunby

 

Excersise Completed: 18 Waving the flag

 

Date Completed: Feb. 11,2007

 

http://s63.photobucket.com/albums/h127/ret...urrent=Ex18.flv

 

 

p.s. i still havent finished the dust one. i am having wierd probs with it

[mfortunato]

Looks like you nailed the flag (that sounds odd to me now that I'm reading that back - oh, well, I kept it). Nice work!

 

What sort of problems are you having with the dust exercise?

 

- Michael

[totlover]

Looks like you nailed the flag (that sounds odd to me now that I'm reading that back - oh, well, I kept it). Nice work!

 

What sort of problems are you having with the dust exercise?

 

- Michael

 

well i was doing it looking at the book and i did exactly like it said and the dust never showed up.

 

i am going to watch the video and figure it out though

 

if i still have problems i will let you know

 

thanks,

Caleb

[aj2]

Name: Al Jolly

Exercise: Ex. 18 - Waving the Flag

Date Completed: Feb-15

 

On to the next one

Ex_18_Flag.mov

[Raffi]

Name: Ralf Kampp

Exercise: #18 - Waving the Flag

Date Completed: March 24th 2007

 

Remarks: I tried to make the exercise a little more interesting and put the flag into an actor's hand who waves it over his head. Unfortunately I got the error "System unsolvable" when trying to simulate the cloth. The cloth system seems a bit restricted/fragile to me. So I made the standard exercise instead.

flag.mov

[Logrus]

Name: Big E

Exercise: #18 - Waving the Flag

Date Completed: March 25, 2007

 

Comments: no issues, Was interesting to see how much life my flag got..

 

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y75/ninja...urrent=Flag.flv

[Caroline]

I am always amazed when I see this flag actually become cloth-like, with so little effort by the animator. It's one of my favourite exercises to look at.

[Mohammad]

Name: Mohammad El-Abid

Excercise Completed: 18

Date Completed: June 20 2007

Remarks/Suggestions: This is fun yet easy, and teaches alot thanks randy and the web guy!

just paste geocities.com/name_here44/flag.avi should work...

[Dhar]

Mohammad; your page is not available

[Mohammad]

leave it to me to miss-spell my domain name... again...

just paste this in your location bar... geocities.com/name_here44/flag.avi

[Chrury Sanson]

sirhC :emaN (I'm glad I'm almost finished. It's getting really hard thinking up funny things to put here. )

 

Exercise: This one. The flag waving....thing.

 

Completed: Yesterday! (8-23-07)

 

Notes/comments: I modeled myself a new flagpole. A few simulations I ran had the flag bunch up against the pole, (opposite a force BTW) squeeze into a ball and lag there; trying to calculate 50,000 or so intersections or whatever. This one worked nicer. Only two cps went wacky in a few frames so it was easy enough to tweak em with muscle mode.

 

I also forgot to resize the skydome on frame 0. Makes for a nice affect though, right?

 

flagged.mov

 

EDIT: Oh yeah. How is the default flag set up? It's not attached to the pole yet it still hangs up there. When I tried that, the flag fell straight down.

[Caroline]

Nice flagpole.

 

I also forgot to resize the skydome on frame 0

 

That is the one thing I do all the time - paths, cameras, you name it. So frustrating. Still, in your case, it looks like serious weather.

 

It's not attached to the pole yet it still hangs up there. When I tried that, the flag fell straight down

I don't know much about cloth - could it be the "Attached" group that has the Attached property to ON?

[Chrury Sanson]

I don't know much about cloth - could it be the "Attached" group that has the Attached property to ON?

 

That was it. As obvious as it sounds now.

 

I really appreciate the comments, Caroline. It's the strangest feeling to have the last post on a forum like this. It's like "OMP! Did I just kill the thread or waht? "

[Chrury Sanson]

Hey, I'm using some cloth in the flocking exercise but I can't get it to simulate only between x and y time. Changing the chors simcloth properties ('use chor range' to OFF and then setting a time frame) doesn't seem to work for some reason. Any ideas?

 

EDIT: Well part of the problem was I was editing the wrong chor. Now (with the RIGHT chor edited.) the cps slowly sink downward before the simulation time. that was just a test chor so maybe this other one will work fine.

[playerktw]

Interesting exercise.

 

 

Kevin Woods

Exercise 18

10/22/07

Exercise_18.mov

[Mohammad]

so did my stuff get credited or not? I think I'm just going to grab all of my stuff finish it up then zip it and upload it on rapidshare. Would you care Rodney?

[Rodney]

so did my stuff get credited or not? I think I'm just going to grab all of my stuff finish it up then zip it and upload it on rapidshare. Would you care Rodney?

 

That works fine for me.

 

There are several options for publishing TaoA:M exercises I'd like to investigate in 2008.

None are as simple as just uploading to the individual Exercise topics though.

[Mohammad]

I better hurry up and get it done before you change it then

[Rodney]

I better hurry up and get it done before you change it then

 

Not to worry. No new requirements but a lot of extracurricular activities and explorations for those that have an interest.

Input from TaoA:M Alumni will be even more valuable so we'll be looking to you graduates for advice!

[Mohammad]

is "making a face" an extra or required? Should I just stick to the book? But *sniff* I have to upgrade soon, and I want to get a new CPU since right now I'm using a pentuim 4 with 0.5 ram! But I don't have the groom tool for the chewy! So yeah I only have one section minus chewy left so I;ll start doing those this weekend!

[Rodney]

is "making a face" an extra or required?

 

Its an integral part of TaoA:M at this point so officially 'yes' its required.

 

Keep in mind that you may be able to demonstrate you've met the intent of the exercise without completing the specific steps or using the specific models used in the manual.

 

Hair has been around in various forms in A:M for a very long time now.

You get extra credit for showing how you put a project together.

[Mohammad]

ooohhh, good idea Thanks for helping me out Rodney

[Torak]

Name: Shane O'Sullivan

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 18

 

 

Date Completed: October 1, 2008

 

Instructor: None / Manual and Online Video tutorial

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement: I know its been awhile, been busy with other stuff thought i should finish the course now.

Exercise 18

[TheSpleen]

Name: Robert Thompson

Date: Oct. 15, 2008

Instructor: Video

Lesson 18

 

FlagSpleen2.mov

[number]

Name: Tim Roberts

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 18: Waving the Flag

 

Date Completed: Nov 26, 2008

 

Instructor: Manual, forum

 

Comments: OK, I've got a nice flag animation, but the pole drops through the ground. I'm missing something. Any hints appreciated.

 

ex_18_small.mov

 

(added) OK, found the error. I hadn't set the pole to the deflector type. Fixed version follows.

 

 

ex_18_small_fixed.mov

[TheSpleen]

number your nearing the end

[number]

thanks, Spleen!

 

Can't wait to start building out bigger projects, like you.

 

Here is another project created to play around w/ cloth. Looks more like a rubber sheet. I need to look at the settings to simulate other fabrics.

 

ex_18_fun.mov

[Rodney]

Ya know... I thought I had commented on your post here Number.

Looks like I had just planned to post and didn't.

 

Thats a effective test demonstrating the usefulness of Simcloth.

My suggestion to avoid the twitching at the end of the simulation sequence is... don't fight it in the simulation.

 

Rather just remove that portion of the rendered sequence or replace it with duplicate frames from where the cloth is holding still. You could even reverse some of the frames to have the cloth ease back upward just a little.

 

The principle: Not every frame rendered must be kept.

[TNT]

Exercise 18: Flag

The flag is raised, the goal is near, and the end is in sight!

 

flag.mov

[Rodney]

The flag is raised, the goal is near, and the end is in sight!

 

Hey, take your time.

Enjoy every moment.

You'll never be able to experience your first time through TaoA:M again.

Milk it for everything its worth.

 

Barring any objections I'll be stepping back into the certificate program again soon.

I'll be honored to present one of the first TaoA:M certificates for 2009 (if not the very first) to you.

[TNT]

I'm not trying to just "Get thru"

 

I'm to the point where some ideas are starting to form and I want to start on them, but, I don't want to get off track of completing my Jedi training.

 

Thanks for the all the encouragement. It really helps.

[Rodney]

I'm not trying to just "Get thru"

 

Trust me. I didn't think you were.

Everything I've seen thus far tells me you've been putting everything you've got to into the effort.

 

Some of my commentary does spill out toward those who are looking in or debating when they want get started.

When they do take that inevitable leap of faith and dive into TaoA:M they'll have a tough act to follow.

 

[Rodney]

I'm to the point where some ideas are starting to form and I want to start on them

 

I hope you keep a journal and write these ideas down as you get them.

When you return to them you'll be ready to attack them... smarter!

 

[Rob_T]

I was kind fo surprised with this one. The video and book lessons aren't just a little different, they are completely different. Two distinct approaches to the same goal (although the pole does not wave in the vid version).

 

I did the book the way the book said and played around a bit with the video version. I explored "the force" a bit and added some snap to my flag.

 

It doesn't seem like there is any easy way to keep the flag from that pass through in the first few frames (I'm reverring to the video version of the lesson). As gravity grabs it, it just falls and it takes a moment for the force to assert itself. I wonder if the rigid body or Newton plug in from the previous lesson might be useful here in making the pole and flag more substantial and less likely to pass through?

 

Can plug ins like sim cloth and Newton work together?

 

Anyway, nice intro to cloth. I kinda wish it had been cloth on a model but I'll take what I can get.

 

Vids attached.

 

lesson18wavetheflag.mov

lesson18wavetheflagvideowithsnap.mov

[robcat2075]

Does the book version make the pole a "deflector" but not the video version?

[Rob_T]

Does the book version make the pole a "deflector" but not the video version?

 

Yeah the video doesn't do anything to the pole at all. In fact the video way of doing it was so fast I basically just followed along doing what the tut said as it did it. I only had to pause it a couple times.

[robcat2075]

Yeah the video doesn't do anything to the pole at all.

 

I guess that explains the pass thru. One could probably add the step from the book to the video pole and fix it.

[TheSpleen]

where's the video tut for this please?

[Rodney]

http://www.hash.com/2007web/vm.htm

[Timekiller]

Exercise 18

complete 15 Feb 10

flag.mov