#Imagine's IK
6 messages in this thread
Hey GreG. We've missed you over in Graphdev.
What can you tell me about Imagine's IK? Can I use it to build a working
machine linkage? I have a project in mind, with a fairly nasty combination of
levers and pivots, some fixed to a base, some floating attached to other
levers. I'm looking for a program I can model it in. Accurate animation is the
goal.
>> Hey GreG. We've missed you over in Graphdev.
Howdy Dan,
I miss not having the Imagine UG section there also. I do read all the threads
there, so I keep up to date on the forum news/business/ramblings etc.
>>
What can you tell me about Imagine's IK? Can I use it to build a working
machine linkage? I have a project in mind, with a fairly nasty combination of
levers and pivots, some fixed to a base, some floating attached to other
levers. I'm looking for a program I can model it in. Accurate animation is the
goal.
<<
Imagine's IK works well, however it is limited in that it exists in the Detail
editor, where the model is constructed. Here you can use IK to define STATES
or "key-poses" to be used to animate the objects in the Stage/Action editors.
Depending on the type of motion and interaction you need, predefined STATES(key
poses) may be used, or a couple of functions in the animation module called
ASSOCIATE, and TRACK TO OBJECT in which objects can be made to align themselves
and keep their relative positions/aligment to other objects can be used, or a
combination of both.
Without knowing what you need to accomplish, it's tough to say which is the
best way to do it. It may be that using IK is not the best route.
You can animate anything using Imagine. How easy/difficult it would be depends
in what you want to do. If you have this thing sketched, shoot it my way and
I'll tell ya how easy/difficult a job it would be to animate it.
-GreG
The concept of the mechanical is quite simple, maybe I can ascii it here.
small
action
| here pivot point pivot point
\|/ fixed to plane floating
———————————————-
| * * * * |
| * * * * |
———————————————-
| |
this | |
The motions are all arm | |
basically 2D, constrained floats| |
to a plane. I could build | |
it out of cardboard or paper, | | /|\
with rivets for the pivots. | | |
| | |
fixed | | |
pivot | | |
———————————— big
| * * * * | reaction
| * * * * | here
————————————
floating
pivot
Extrapolate the complexity to the point where I wouldn't even want to think
about calculating the rotational motion and such. Is Imagine's IK up to it?
Dan,
To answer your question, yes. Check in your email to see the mechanism you
depicted in ascii, animated.
-GreG
Your flc is perfect. I'm psyched. Thanks a lot.
How long did you spend on that, start of modeling to completed flc? Also, you
mention the revision you're working with. Can 2.0 do that, 3.0, or would I need
the continuous upgrade version? I'd probably get it anyway…
>> Your flc is perfect. I'm psyched. Thanks a lot.
Dan,
Thanks, glad I came close to portraying what you depicted.
>> How long did you spend on that, start of modeling to completed flc?
Oye….couldn't tell ya. I modelled it very quickly in order to try out the
IK…maybe 10 minutes of creating one rivot, and one piece of metal and cutting
and pasting the rest in with some additional editing to change the length of
some of the armatures.
After that I messed with defining the contraints to the fixed pivot points, and
creating the STATES (key poses) in order to animate it. Then I set up the
animation frames. Say about 20 minutes or so.
But please, don't go by me and my times. I'm very familiar with Imagine and
get around very quickly. However, I am around to help you when you need it
over in GUGRPA as well as here. <g>
The rendering time was minimal…maybe 15-20 minutes for the 40 frame anim…it
was not ray-traced.
IK is available in Imagine 3.0 and on. It is not however in Imagine LT (lite).
-GreG