CgTalk:FXWars! Roller Coaster Challenge:3

#25

Question here… must the track be traditional, or is it open to change? I mean, every type of track that can be built in real life is allowed?

I’ve got some cool idea for a very nice looking track, you see :slight_smile:

#26

Ok first thing first.
Guys remember to do some research on real life
coasters before you start building the coaster.
I cannot stress this enough, check the reference.

http://www.coasterquest.com/coasterconstruction.htm

There are some really wild real word designs out there.

Ok ill go question by question:

The Parrot
The track can be any way you want, (wood or steel) as long as
it is gravity based, like all real life coasters.

panki2004
In order to keep things fair, I would prefer it if you did not use a rollercoaster generation software. Remember the key of the challenge is the simulation.

-R

#27

This sounds super awesome!!

I’m understanding everything so far, but my question:

Is this supposed to be real-world simulation as well as physics simulation (i.e. wheels and tracks), or can it be more sci-fi style (like an anti-gravity track of sorts, like magnetic field type thing, or other sci-fi like idea), as long as it’s actual gravity-based and non-keyframed?

The reason I ask is that i’m having a HUGE amoung of trouble building a realistic rollercoaster system in Maya. I’ve been working on this for a few hours now, and anything I can think to try just turns out to not work.

Alternatively, can anyone suggest what FX systems in Maya I should spend time learning in order to get this right? I’m reasonably familiar with real physics, maya’s dynamics, and modeling and animation… and these “make rollercoaster” concepts are pretty ambiguous. I can’t exactly look up in Maya Help “How to build a roller coaster” … Again, could someone suggest what features in Maya I should look into further?

Thanks in advance

-Vood

#28

Forget the space opera… I am stink to this shit :wink:

#29

This should be fun, I’m on it.

My WIP Page
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=180952

#30

Hopefully I find the time for this challenge. SOunds so cool.

#31

I am using Maya and new to dynamics, brand new. I just played with applying a gravity field to a cube and have no clue how to attach, or get this to follow a path dynamically. Any links tutorials or quick pointers appreciated. And yes I’m new to Maya in general. Thank you in advance.

#32

I guess this is the wrong forum for such questions. And maybe you should consult the help first.

(Make your cube a active rigid body. Select it, and create a gravity under fields. It gets connected automatically. Hit play. It should fall down.)

#33

good call… This should all go into the Maya help threads. :stuck_out_tongue: :thumbsup:

edit: ps - colt: nice avatar! (and nice metallica reference :buttrock: )

-Vood

#34

Actually a very good incentive to participate.

t3

#35

One piece of advice while doing your animation.

If there is something I learned from “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”
Mine car sequence (Boy that mine car would make a sweet rollercoaster)
is that you need:
A horizon in order to give a sence of scale and movement. For the movie they
faked it with shatfs of light

Good POV shots intercut with the animation. You can intercut them with the
animation if you have the time.

If you have the DVD it might be a good idea to watch it, to get an idea
on how to edit your animation for max effect.

-R

#36

Roberto,

Are we working under the same rules as the other challenges in that the animation can be made up of a series of shots instead on a single continuous simulation as long as the dynamics are driving each shot?

#37

Same rules.

-R

#38

That mine car was exactly my idea … damnit, now it looks I just do what you proposed here. :smiley: I hope two linked mine cars qualify as a rollercoaster.

And to coryc quesion, does that mean i can set up different simulations for every cut? Because getting a stable simulation over a complete ride … a lot of frames … is on of the big problems in this challenge. And fine tuning the track is complicated and time consuming when the simulation times are so long.

#39

Yes. Since we have the same rules as the previous challenges, look through the Avalanche and Trebuchet threads for more details. The goal is to make a cool animation of a roller coaster with dynamics, not a dynamic simulation of a roller coaster so I wouldn’t get hung up on making sure it works like a real roller coaster 100% from start to finish in a single cut.

#40

but if we pull it off, it’s just that much more cool, right? :smiley:

#41

There’s a whole 12 part video tutorial on how to do a rollercoaster in Houdini here:
http://sidefx.vislab.usyd.edu.au/houdini_video/index.html

Not sure how developed it is though as I never went through it.

#42

Hello Roberto Ortiz!

Maybe, one day, the challenges should be sorted by the topics. “Avalanche” for the avalanches, “Rollercoaster” for the current threads …

What do you think about that?

André

#43

Do you think that we could have another award, for “most realistic desgin”? For someone who creates a coaster that would most likely work in real-life, for smoothness, G’s, supports, track desgin, etc.?

#44

Wow Roberto, U’re really rocking cgtalk with those challenges. I’ll try to find the time to make a great simulation for this.

-D :wink: