austincable Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 I'm attempting to animate a bike on a path but I'd really like it to be procedurally animated without keyframes. I seem to be stuck on the idea I'll explain below and would love any help with it or am certainly open to any other ideas or approaches to this problem. What is important to me is that the wheels have indapendant paths, thats where it gets tricky for me. One thought I had was if I could get the amount of "curve" or bend occurring at a specific point along a curve multiplied with a constant to give a value to obj/Bike_Test/Steer_here_NX/NX would do it, I think... The trick is whether or not I can read a curves bend from a point being creeped across it. I figure the creepuv(0) attribute could be used somehow. I've played with a few functions without success, "curvature()" sure sounds right but I can't seem to get it to work. Also I'm wondering how I could go about procedurally animating the bikes wheel rotation? maybe through distance traveled and wheels circumference? So how do I get distance traveled along a curve? Could Trail Sop with compute velocity work? I'd love any tips. If you actually read this far thanks a mill. Austin PS I've attached my test file as well as an image of the project I'm applying it to.BikeWheelTurning.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moose Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 This thread might shed some light on the wheel rotation bit - http://odforce.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1466&hl=wheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 You would want to investigate CHOPs. It has some nice tools to work with input animation and add some dynamics. One chop I use a lot is the Lag CHOP. Calculate instantaneously the distance travelled then derive wheel rotation from that using the fetch CHOP to bring in the path. You can calculate lean using the Object CHOP and fetch the bearing angle. Calculate lean and adjust the bank and wheel turn accordingly. All you need is to supply the path that the bike travelles on or literally steer it through your terrain using the real-time components of CHOPs. Up to you. Once you get in to CHOPs for these kinds of things, it is hard not to think of doing it any other way. The only difficulty with CHOPs for novices is getting motion in and out of CHOPs using the override flags. It isn't hard, just different, and deep! -jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziggx Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 Hi there, dunno if this would help -- I did this for the Network assignment in the now defunct 3dbuzz hodini course. basically, there is a path that will adjust itself to follow a mountain. the wheel then rotates and follows the path. as a relative noob, smarter people will be able to improve it considerably, however, it might stir the brain cells... best wishes ziggx example.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austincable Posted January 7, 2005 Author Share Posted January 7, 2005 I've certainly learned much so far, the most being through Moose's reply which lead me to Tallkien's wheelAnim.zip file which put me on my present path. It feels so close to working but isn't quite there yet. Tallkien's wheel direction methode works great for a single object animated along a path, but my bike is more complicated. So what appears to be happening is that the rotation of the bike is added to the rotation of the steering which makes the stearing go nuts. If anyone knowledgable in chops would have any ideas how I could counteract this problem PLEASE let me know. Thanks Austin Below is my latest file incorporating Tallkien's methode as well as his wheelAnim file is case anyone wants to see his original. Let me say again that I would love any and all advice regarding this problem... Personaly I'm thinking vops holds the answer but I have litlle experience with geometry vops at this point. wheelAnim.zip BikeMovementTest5.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austincable Posted January 11, 2005 Author Share Posted January 11, 2005 Well I've finally got something that works well enough, not great, but well enough. I'd like to find a way to make certain aspects work better. Like the way I get my reference points (the green colored sops) , I feel like there must be a better way to do that. The sops in yellow are there to make particles that show the trail of each wheel, that each wheel has a different trail is important to me. The steering wheel still doesn't work quite right but I've been working on it long enough that it's time to move on. I used a delay chop to help it a little. Anyway, if anyone would like to see the latest file it's attached below, and you find a better way of doing something please let me know. austin BikeMovementTest6.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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