#Asst. Toaster Questions
2 messages in this thread
I work at a small public access TV station outside Washington, D.C and am using
a T4000. I've pretty much gotten the hang of lightwave. I can do simple
animations but have trouble when I have to create my own objects. Up till now,
the toughest thing I've had to design is a tennis court. That was no problem.
It was all right angle. The problems start when I have to create complex
shapes using curves. My newest project is trying to animate a tidal wave. I
can barley draw a ball let alone simulating fluid. Any suggestions?
I also have a DCX (?) file that a client has given me. It's the format AutoCad
uses. Anyway, I have an object that I want to load into Lightwave Modeler but
have no idea how to do that. I wish they hadn't cancelled the Stanahan
seminar. I could have used the help.
Thanks for any advice on the above.
Lance
Look in your Toaster manual appendix, Page 6, regarding TIO and the DXF
format input.
Re the tidal wave – a very advanced project. Don't feel troubled by the
fact that it is puzzling to you. The way I think I might approach it (and
remember, I haven't tried this and at present don't have the time to test
it, though I would like to – interesting problem) is to start with a 2 d
ellipse for the basic wave form. Then use a rail or path extrude to get
the wavefront (no pun intended). Duplicate it several times in different
layers and creat multiple morph targets for the building curl and rolling
tube of a wave. Then you'll need a 2D surface to place a nearly right
angle to the camera and onto which you project a combined animated
transparency and texture map of the splash and foam from the break.
You may need to use some animated texture maps for the water in the curl
and behind the wave as well. Very interesting project. Maybe you should
send it to John Gross (editor of Lightwacve Pro). This would make an
intersting "How To" article.
wmc – via Autopilot!