Version 10 Beta begins today, November 1, 2002.Animation:Master versions are currently:
V9.5ReleaseNo more changes
V10.0BetaBug fixes only
V10.5AlphaAdding features
V10.0 contains the following:
ANIMATION
ANIMATED
DISTORTION
Distortion
boxes are often used to model, but using them to stretch and squash a character
during animation is even more powerful.A
Distortion box is simply a special kind of model and can be selected and
manipulated to animate the underlying model.
BONES
Bones
can be added to Distortion boxes to make them easier to animate.To
add the bones, double-click the distortion box under the “Objects” folder
in the Project Workspace, (it will automatically be in Bones mode).Adding
bones and associating points with a bone is the same as for modeling.
POSES
Poses
may be added to Distortion boxes.This
can make animating a fairly dense distortion model less tedious, especially
when the motion is used repetitively
INSTANCES
A
single Distortion box can be used multiple times (instanced) on different
parts of the model.This is particularly
useful when work and time have already been invested into bones and poses
for an existing Distortion box.
NESTING
Distortion
boxes can also be nested.A Distortion
box affects all geometry from its target bone on down, including the target's
children bones.If one of these child
bones is controlled by another Distortion box, then the outer Distortion
box will control the points of the child Distortion box also.
When
using nested Distortion boxes, it is easiest to directly animate the inner
Distortion boxes first before they have been warped by an outer Distortion
box, (because once they have been warped by an outer Distortion box, the
mouse can no longer follow along with your movements).However,
this is counter-intuitive to the animation process which focuses on big
changes before fine-tuning.An alternative
is to use Pose sliders (whose motion was created on the inner distortion
Boxes before they had outer distortion applied).
SAMPLE
PROJECT
To
demonstrate some uses for animated distortion boxes, open the
"Distortion
Demonstration Project" (right click link& select "Save As" example
project, and click the Play button on the Frame toolbar to see the animation.The
egg-like head was animated with one simple Distortion box of 2x2x2 resolution.The
box has the "head bone" set as its target.To
animate a Distortion box: click the Distortion box to make it the active
model, then click the Muscle mode button and animate the points of the
distortion Box over time.
The
eyes were animated with two more Distortion boxes.The
Distortion box called "Inner Distort for Both Eyes" contains a bone used
for animating. There are two poses on the "Inner Distort..." model: one
for bulging, and one for bending the eyes.The
same Distortion box was used on both eyes.The
motion on these inner Distortion boxes used Pose sliders. For example,
the blinking motion was done to the model before any distortions were added.It
is a simple pose done with muscle motion on the geometry of the eyelids.The
blink pose works even when the eyes are distorted, because the distortion
on the eyes distorts the lids too.
EXPRESSIONS
Mathematical
expressions can be used in relationships.For
example, a light’s intensity can be set to increase as the light’s width
gets larger, or the cartoon line bias can decrease as a model scales smaller.Character
rigging can also benefit greatly from expressions: an angular limit may
be two times the elbow’s roll angle.
To
add an expression to a property of an object instance (either in a choreography
or an action), right-click (Control-click on the Mac) the property you
wish to add
the
expression to, and pick “Edit Expression”. A new expression object will
be created, and it will automatically be selected for editing. This is
where you type the expression.
When
editing an expression, you can use values of other properties within the
expression. You can do this by either typing the relative name of the property,
or simply selecting the other property from the Project Workspace. You
can also choose from a list of functions by clicking the function button
(just to the right of the expression's name), or typing the function yourself.
Here
is a list of functions available when writing an expression:
FUNCTIONDESCRIPTION
Abs(
n )Returns
the absolute value of n (n without its sign).
ACos(
n0...1 )Returns
the arccosine of n in the range of 0 to Pi radians. The arccosine is the
angle whose cosine is n
ASin(
n0...1 )Returns
the arcsine of n in the range of -Pi/2 to Pi/2 radians.
ATan(
n )Returns
the arctangent of n in the range of -Pi/2 to Pi/2 radians.
ATan2(
y, x )Returns
the arctangent of the specified x and y coordinates, in the range of -Pi
to Pi radians, excluding Pi.
Ceiling(
n )Rounds
n up to the nearest whole number, where 1.2 becomes 2, and -1.2 becomes
-1.
Cos(
radians )Returns
the cosine of an angle specified in radians.
Exp(
power )Returns
e raised to the power given.
Fact(
n>1 )Returns
the factorial of n, equal to 1*2*3*...*n.
Floor(
n )Rounds
n down to the nearest whole number, where 1.2 becomes 1, and -1.2 becomes
-2.
GetTime()Returns
the relative time within the action. When in a choreography, this is equal
to the chor's time.
Ln(
n>0 )Returns
the natural logarithm of n.
Log(
n>0, base>0 )Returns
the logarithm of n to the base you specify.
LogTen(
n>0 )Returns
the base-10 logarithm of n.
Max(
a, b )Returns
the larger of the two arguments.
Min(
a, b )Returns
the smaller of the two arguments.
Mod(
n, divisor<>0 )
Returns the remainder after n is divided by the divisor.
Pi()Returns
the value of PI: 3.14159265358979.
Rand()Returns
a random number greater than or equal to 0 and less than 1, seeded off
the choreography's current time.
Round(
n, modulo<>0 )
Round n to the nearest number specified by modulo.
Sign(
n )Returns
the sign of n: 1 if the number is positive, 0 if the number is zero, and
-1 if the number is negative.
Sin(
radians )Returns
the sine of an angle specified in radians.
Sqrt(
n>0 )Returns
the square root of n. n must be greater than 0.
Tan(
radians )Returns
the tangent of an angle specified in radians.
Trunc(
n )Truncates
n to an integer by removing the decimal, or fractional, part of the number.
EXAMPLE
PROJECT
The
“Maintain Volume.prj” example project
demonstrates the use of expressions to maintain the volume of a character.In
this case, there is a simple channel controlling the Y-Scale of the model
but the X-Scale and Z-Scale are computed with an expression to keep the
volume constant.
Volume
is maintained when: X-Scale * Y-Scale * Z-Scale = 1
Therefore,
add this expression to both X-Scale and Z-Scale
Sqrt(
1 / Y-Scale )
ANIMATE
MODE
Animate
mode is on by default.When animate
mode is on, values are inserted at the current frame. Turning animate mode
off instead alters all existing keys to create the desired change.This
is handy for positioning lights at time 5:12, but you don't want the light
to
animate
from where it was positioned at time 0:00 to where you moved it at frame
5:12. Rather you want to modify the 0:00 keyframe so that the light just
moves over at all frames from 0:00 to 5:12.It
does this by altering the keyframe that was already set at 0:00.
EXAMPLE
PROJECT
The
“AnimateMode.prj” example project demonstrates
how to use animate mode to modify existing animation channels.The
project contains a simple animated camera.Each
keyframe of the camera was created with Animate mode on (default setting).
Click the Play button to see how the camera originally moves.
Stop
playing and change the frame to 0:00:20.In
the Timeline (the camera should be selected), note that there are no keyframes
at this frame.Translate the camera
to the origin.Notice that a keyframe
was created in the timeline at 0:00:20.The
camera will now ramp up to the origin at frame 0:00:20.
To
move the entire channel curve up so that all keyframes are higher and the
camera passes through the origin at frame 0:00:20.
Reload
the project.Turn Animate mode off.Again,
change to frame 0:00:20 and translate the camera to the origin.This
time no keys are added to the camera; instead all existing keys are moved,
(watch the channel window while you drag the mouse).Click
the Play button to examine the difference.
This
concept also works while rotating the camera.Notice
how the camera wiggles back and forth but points primarily to the left.Go
to frame 0:00:20 again with Animate mode is off.Rotate
the camera to point straight up, then play back the animation and note
that the camera still rocks back and forth, but it is now aiming primarily
up, and it is exactly up at frame 0:00:20. Again there are no new keys
at 0:00:20, instead all other keys are rotated.
Sprite particle settings now include “Object Collisions”, “Particle Collisions”, and “Die On Impact”.Object Collisions mean the particle will collide with other objects in the scene, like water tumbling down a waterfall. Particle Collisions mean the particles will collide with other particles in the same system (but not with different systems), causing a random scattering, like marbles pouring out of a bucket.(The collisions assume a sphere surrounds the particle).Die On Impact means that particles will disappear whenever a collision occurs, like rain falling.
The Timeline and the Project
Workspace have been simplified to work in a more efficient and self-evident.
To insert a new spline into existing geometry, called “stitching”, click the Add button and click on the splines where you want the new control points inserted.To maintain the existing splines’ curvature, keep the <Shift> key on the keyboard pressed while clicking.
USERS
OF PREVIOUS VERSIONS TAKE NOTE:
The Add accelerator key (normally <A>) is now defaults to AddLock (since AddLock will do almost everything Add will, and more).<Shift><Add> now defaults to a traditional Add.
To encourage new users to model with AddLock, the original Add, Insert, and Group (because its not needed) buttons have been removed from the default Modeling toolbar.(The functions still exist on the accelerator keys, and you can add them back to the toolbar if you want to.)
Normally, during modeling when you insert a new control point into an existing spine, the curve changes shape.To make the existing splines maintain their curvature, keep the <Shift> key on the keyboard pressed while adding the new control point.Beware, for the program to keep a spline’s shape, it must add bias to all the existing control points around the new control point (as many as eight new biases!)Typically, you don’t want to maintain curvature because if there is bias, when the control points animate, the bias will have to be animated also, (a time-consuming process).
Normally, when a new control
point is added to the end of a spline, it tries to “join”, continuing the
smooth arc.To prevent this, and
cause the new spline to “attach” instead, keep the <Shift> key on the
keyboard pressed when you click.An
attach will not terminate the Add.
SPECIFIED
BOOLEANS
To
make holes in complex geometry, it is sometimes necessary to use bones
that cut using boolean operations. Boolean operations require special attention
because they utilize the raytracer, and hence are only visible when rendered.(Also,
boolean operations are not considered for z-buffer shadows or post effects
like volumetrics).The rules for
boolean operations are strict:the
boolean cutter bone geometry AND the geometry to be cut MUST be closed
surfaces (a sphere for example).To
use a bone as a Boolean, build the cutting geometry, assign the control
points to a bone, and select the “Boolean Cutter” option on the bone’s
Properties dialog.When rendered,
the cutter bone’s geometry will subtract from the model’s other geometry,
EXCEPT for geometry associated with bones that are children of the cutter
bone, (in this way you can define parts of the model that lie inside the
cutter but are to be left intact).
8x8
A-BUFFER RENDERING
A-Buffer antialiasing is the most sophisticated form of rendering, and offers the optimum speed/quality trade-off: object edges are smooth and soft but still render very quickly.(Some competing renderers must do 64 render passes to get the same quality).
Klieg lights can cast penumbral shadows (shadows that get softer due to the width of the light).These new shadows are actually an average of nine shadowmaps, but the object’s surface is also lighted nine times, giving a more globally illuminated look.In combination with a big light “Width” (50cm), a low shadow “Darkness” value (50%), and a low shadow “Softness” value (10%), lighting can look very soft indeed.Turn the “Penumbra” option “ON” in the “Options/Cast Shadows” properties of the light (the light must be a Kleig).Also, Raytrace shadows now have the “Darkness” setting.
Z-Buffer shadows with “softness” are much faster with “deep” shadow buffers because the blur is pre-calculated, (however, they require substantially more memory).There may be a pause the first time a particular deepness is computed, (very much like MIP-mapped textures).Z-Buffer shadows are made “deep” automatically.
Materials can be used for color, bumps, or displacement.The difference between bumps and displacement is that bumps only affect the appearance of the surface, while displacement actually changes the shape, but displacement has many caveats compared to bumps.Bumps can have lots of detail but displacement depends on the density of the mesh.This means the model should have many more patches than normally necessary when displacement is going to be used.Often both bump and displacement materials are applied (“water” for example).Displacement is used to make a surface’s profile uneven, and bumps add the detail.Displacement also generally takes longer to render and uses more memory.
To make a material displace, in the material’s Properties, set the “Displace” value.The material will not color the model it is applied to but instead use its grayscale value to displace the surface.Where the material is darker than median gray, the surface will move opposite the normal, and where the material is lighter than median gray, the surface move along the normal.To turn off displacement materials, pick the “Switch to not set” menu item.
Cartoon lines are very dependent on “Bias”. Changing Bias will subtly change the line thickness and amount of detail.Different characters can benefit from having different Bias values.The “Bias” setting under the “Toon Render” item applies for every character.(Remember, turning “Override Lines” on will ignore these settings).
Traditional cartoon shading uses the “Cartoon” gradient, (this is default).The “Anime” gradient adds another color that depends on the light’s location.
When adjusting materials,
lighting, or scene composition, it is often convenient to preview render
(fast raytrace) the changes before a final render.The
preview render mode now remains locked on so you make these adjustments
in real-time:as you move, modify,
or change material settings, the preview render will automatically show
the results.Click the Preview Render
button again to turn off.
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