 | | | An idea to a path | An idea to a path 2004-05-06 - By Dave Angelini
Back
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for me is the creation of complex
paths that go "exactly" where I want them to go during all frames of the
animation. True...you can keyframe in the major parts, but invariably
there is something that happens in how the entire path gets created from
those key frames which always result in some tweaking...and
tweaking....and then even more tweaking.
So I had this idea pop into my head while I was creating a skeleton in
Motion Studio.
Wouldn't it be neat to create an animation path in a similar manner to
how Motion Studio creates IK chains using bones. With MoStu, you can
quickly create long IK chains and then push and pull them around in 3D
space to form whatever path you desire. It is very intuitive and
responsive and you quickly get a perspective on where that chain lies in
3D space. What's best is that fine adjustments are possible for each
and every link in that IK chain.
So in an analogy to creating 3D IK chains, why couldn't this same method
be used to create 3D animation paths? Rather than bones, you use path
segments with each segment representing some number of framess. The
joints represent the major key frames. But like bones, you can grab
these individual segments and push and pull them around and have the
entire path respond in exactly the same manner that a MoStu IK chain
responds.
What would be even neater is to actually use the MoStu IK chains to
create this path, and then have it converted to an animation path for
that IK chain. That way, every link in the MoStu IK chain would follow
that path! This would be a great way to animate snakes, tentacles,
water flows, etc.
Just a thought.
Thanks,
Dave Angelini
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"
bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV>One of the biggest stumbling blocks for me is the creation of complex
paths
that go "exactly" where I want them to go during all frames of the
animation. True...you can keyframe in the major parts, but invariably
there is something that happens in how the entire path gets created from those
key frames which always result in some tweaking...and tweaking....and then even
more tweaking.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So I had this idea pop into my head while I was creating a skeleton in
Motion Studio.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Wouldn't it be neat to create an animation path in a similar
manner to how Motion Studio creates IK chains using bones. With
MoStu, you can quickly create long IK chains and then push and pull them around
in 3D space to form whatever path you desire. It is very intuitive and
responsive and you quickly get a perspective on where that chain lies in
3D
space. What's best is that fine adjustments are possible for each and
every link in that IK chain. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So in an analogy to creating 3D IK chains, why couldn't this same method
be
used to create 3D animation paths? Rather than bones, you use path
segments with each segment representing some number of framess. The
joints
represent the major key frames. But like bones, you can grab these
individual segments and push and pull them around and have the entire path
respond in exactly the same manner that a MoStu IK chain responds. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>What would be even neater is to actually use the MoStu IK chains to create
this path, and then have it converted to an animation path for that IK
chain. That way, every link in the MoStu IK chain would follow that
path! This would be a great way to animate snakes, tentacles, water flows
,
etc.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Just a thought.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks,</DIV>
<DIV>Dave Angelini</DIV></BODY></HTML>
|
|
|