Speaking about cards...

[Netvudu]

Thinking on animating cards stuff I decided to give a try to the typical card pyramid. As expected, it

Edited March 23, 2008 by Netvudu

[Marc]

Instead of creating one less box, try thinking of it the other way around and creating one (ok, level# + 1) more box with an offset. So you build down instead of up. You could then follow the whole thing up with an xform that pushes it up a certain amount based on how many levels you have?

I'm sure it's possible... I've never done it, but there's no reason it can't be done

[Netvudu]

Thanks Marc.

I

BoxesByLevels.hipnc

[eetu]

Here's a quick take with a box pyramid, done with expressions.

It builds itself in a completely wrong order for a house of cards, but you can at least take the "# of levels" expression and use it to run your for each loops..

eetu.

pyra01.hip

[Marc]

Here's what I was thinking...

I derived the number of copies from the number of levels. So you drag up the amount of levels you want and it will copy the correct amount of boxes to make 1 full level. There may be a better way mathematically speaking to end up at the right amount of boxes, but this works so what the hell. .

pyra01_march.hipnc

P.S. Thanks eetu for doing most of the work

[Darric]

If I may be so bold, an arguably more Houdini'ish way of doing this (attached).

No filthy filthy maths involved. Who am I kidding, if I could do everything with expressions I would.

pyramid.hip

Edited March 25, 2008 by Darric

[Marc]

oh sure... it's better if you want to use multiple copies and... er.. stamping and stuff.

Nicely done.

[Netvudu]

oh wow. Thanks everyone. Marc and eetu solutions are impressive but even if I

[Marc]

You guys make me feel stupid every time. Am I supposed to thank you for that?

Don't worry, you'll get used to it. I certainly have... :oneeyedsmiley02:

[eetu]

How does one realizes that a square root has to be used? I mean, what

[Darric]

The funny thing is that my first instinct tends to be to opt for the more mathsy/expression-driven options, and it's only because I was aiming for a maths-free approach - seeing as Marc and eetu had already provided perfect examples - that I settled on the method there.

But yeah, Houdini's certainly big on the "more than one way to shave a leopard" thing.

[aracid]

Dont worry Netvudu

darric actually sees the world as numbers

i sat next to him for a year and Only once did i every understand what he was talking about, and that was when he was pointing at something outside the window