#New Lightwave Bones!
10 messages in this thread
What I'd Really like is a dotted line around the sphere of influence
that the bone was actually supposed to use…and digital push pins.
Even a visual temporary magnet-like tool which would show the
deformation. Maybe even a slider tool with a couple of settings like
"Stiff" and "Sponge" with visual real time feedback…and digital
push pins.
BTW, Cybernetica is stopping by the ol' user group this Saturday with
its Warp System, Light Engine, and Paint Engine
software-expandable(get this) to 34 transputers on 11 boards and 2.9
gigs af ram. How many raptors can you get for 2.9gigs of ram?
Sheeesh. It is supposed to work with Imagine, Alladin, Real 3D ect.
too. This I gotta see. The basic box with 2 boards, 3 transputers, 16
megs and software should be about 5K. Joe Clasen Joe's DB&G
Sounds to me like something I thought about after 10 minutes of
playing with 3.0! The problems arise with rotation in most cases.
The bone could allow for "muliple infuences" in a designated area
only (this would be the "flex zone"). Once you get close to being
outside of that area, the influence of adjacent bones could be
attenuated over a prescribed distance, eventually giving full control
over the "limb" to that limb's bone. Here's a catch. To achieve
this efficiently, it seems that bones will need to have attribute
switches which can be turned on and off. One type of bone could be
"global". Another could limit its influence to a set of points
defined in modeler. Another could be the one that has exclusive
control except in the flex regions. I think that modeler has to come
into serious play in this issue. The bones have got to be told in no
uncertain terms which points they can influence and how.
Now another topic. Would you want a switch that allows for bones to
deform a child object or a parented light? I wanted to animate an
object that had spotlights attached and the lights just stayed put
while the object twisted and turned. Oh well.
I had a car with headlights flying over the Hollywood sign once. The
real problem with bones for me is they are much more like puppet
sticks attached to the objects. What if bones WERE the object, not
like a Morph object, but a layer to use a requster with IK, weight,
gravity and such. Rather than external pressures applied for
deformation, I think you could have more control if you applied
pressures internaly. Multiple layers could exist on a single object
for more control. As for limbs, the shoulder attached the arm is a
dead give-a-way Because the texture is unable to flow across multiple
objects. Yeah,if Modeler could do layers, or channels, with Bones,
textures, deformations,IK, DMM/Sparks stuff, I'd be happy and more
sleepless. Joe Clasen Joe's DB&G
Eventually bones will be able to affect child items as well. Expect a lot
of work on bones for an upcoming release… (hopefully 4.0)
JG
Thanks, John. I'm really quite tickled with where things are headed.
BTW, I noticed a few new, non-documented procedural textures in 3.5.
Can we look forward to such things as rain, bubbles, etc. to go along
with crust and bump array? Also, how are these textures achieving
the very convincing bump map without using the bump requestor? (or is
it requester?).
Bump Array and Crust are Worley textures that are unique in that they
create a bump appearance in whatever parameter they are used.
From talking to Steve, there are great things in store for LW textures…
JG
Sounds great! Thanks for the response.
Jim
Which user group is this? More importantly, Where?
Joe,
Well, I have been away for a week or so, so let me know how those
demos or the warp stuff went! I didn't see The great Physics program
on your list. Did they show it?
I like your idea on the bones. It sounds sort-of like WaveFront's digital doll
features. Here's hopin'!
GM