Crawling spider animation

#1

Hi, this is my first post here… :slight_smile:

My name is Rune and I’ve been working with 3d graphics for four years as a hobby. My modeling and character animation skills are not very good. Instead I like to work on developing various animation techniques and effects.

One of my current projects is to create a walking system which can be used to make a character walk along a given path. It currently has support for changes in speed with automatically adjusted step length and for walking on uneven ground, and I also plan to make support for automatic blend between various walk cycles, such as a blend from walking to running when the speed increases.

You can see an animation created with this system here:

http://runevision.com/3d/anims/#42

It’s a spider crawling over an uneven surface. All comments are much appreciated, especially constructive ones.

More animations here:

http://runevision.com/3d/anims/

I should mention that I use a free 3d package called POV-Ray, which is entirely script-based with no graphical user-interface. It also has no support for bones or any kind of character animation at all, so these things I code myself.

Other 3d packages probably already have support for a walking system like the one I’m developing, but probably implemented in some very different ways. I like to make my own systems though, for the challenge of it, and because it’s free.

I don’t know if this post is somehow off-topic for this board or on the edge of what is normally being discussed here. If so, please let me know.

Rune

#2

I think it’s pretty cool. I’ve never used a walking system so this may be a dumb question. Was the Actual Walking animation of this spider generated by the “walking system?” Or Did u Animate a spider walking and then run it through your system so it would walk along the surface?

#3

That is really impressive, especially the way it changes for the terrain. Just for the purposes of showing off the work it would have been nice to see some more speed and direction changes.

tpe

#4

Originally posted by Chong
I think it’s pretty cool. I’ve never used a walking system so this may be a dumb question. Was the Actual Walking animation of this spider generated by the “walking system?” Or Did u Animate a spider walking and then run it through your system so it would walk along the surface?

Thanks for the comments Chong! :slight_smile:

The term “walking system” is just something I chose to call it. I don’t have any experience with other 3d packages and their features.

The walking-path (a spline function), the surface, and some data defining the walk cycle is passed on to the walking system. The walking system then generates data about where each step should be, when it should happen and how it should be aligned etc. and from that it calculates the position of each foot and the body for the current frame. Using some simple inverse kinematics etc. the character is then automatically animated based on that data.

Rune

#5

Originally posted by tpe
[B]That is really impressive, especially the way it changes for the terrain. Just for the purposes of showing off the work it would have been nice to see some more speed and direction changes.

tpe [/B]

Thanks tpe! :slight_smile:

On the page I linked to is another animation made with the walking system where it is an alien character walking. Later I will also make some more animations with the system which will better show what it can do.

For the spider I think it could maybe be cool to make it crawl over rocks bigger than itself and from the ground up on a wall… I also plan to implement support for characters walking up and down stairs.

Rune

#6

rune I 'm not worthy man :bowdown: not only do you STILL use Pov-Ray with all the advancements in 3D apps out there, but you manage to simulate the walk of probably one of the hardest things to animate, a SPIDER!!! … I’m in awe at your dedication to not only the app but also convinicely animated a spider on terrain :bowdown:

cheers :beer:

#7

Originally posted by lildragon
[B]rune I 'm not worthy man :bowdown: not only do you STILL use Pov-Ray with all the advancements in 3D apps out there, but you manage to simulate the walk of probably one of the hardest things to animate, a SPIDER!!! … I’m in awe at your dedication to not only the app but also convinicely animated a spider on terrain :bowdown:

cheers :beer: [/B]

Hey, thanks Tito! So POV-Ray is not completely unknown here… :wink: POV-Ray has advanced too with things like radiosity, photon mapping and isosurfaces, but there’s still no build in animation features… But for people interested in both 3d graphics, programming, and possibly math too, POV-Ray is the perfect way to combine those interests…

Rune

#8

simply put, you rock! :airguitar :airguitar :airguitar

bye from henry :wavey:

#9

Originally posted by henry
[B]simply put, you rock! :airguitar :airguitar :airguitar

bye from henry :wavey: [/B]

Hehe, thank you Henry! :wavey:

Rune

#10

Wow, very interesting system, have you ever considered implementing this for another 3D package??, LightWave for example :thumbsup: , that would be really great, besides I don’t know any other 3D soft that does that(except in house tool).

Keep on the great work.

#11

Nightmares!!! :eek: :eek: :cry:

Bra jobba mann. :slight_smile:

#12

incredible job !

if you need betatester…please call me…

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :surprised

#13

Pov Ray is pretty cool. I tried it once and it just wasn’t my thing at the time(nothing was though), maybe in the future I’ll try it for fun. Your extremely talented to do everything you’ve already done though and its inpirational to just see your work. I love the test you did with the streaming water particles the most! :surprised My favorite!

#14

Very simple …very well done… very impressive…Great! :slight_smile:

(Goes off to explore web site)

Whoo! great site too… those ripples work really well as do all of it,
Falls over in admiration. :applause: :applause:

#15

I’m very impressed. I think Lildragon said it best, so I’ll just add:

:bowdown:
:xtreme:

#16

oh my dear lord! i actually watched the animation before really reading your post. i thought at first, ‘yeah, that spider is animated really nicely’. i read you made a walk system to do it automatically by following a spline and thought ‘wow, that’s pretty damn cool.’ then i get to the part about doing it in Pov-ray and my jaw hit the floor.

i pretty much started out in Pov-ray as independent study for a highschool programming course, so i know somewhat how it works, and that just blows my mind. now when i watch them i have to keep smacking myself in the head to remind myself it’s real.

starts muttering gibberish from this point on

:buttrock: :bounce: :xtreme: :bowdown: :xtreme: :bounce: :buttrock:

#17

Originally posted by The Ripper
Wow, very interesting system, have you ever considered implementing this for another 3D package??, LightWave for example :thumbsup: , that would be really great, besides I don’t know any other 3D soft that does that(except in house tool).

Wow, so maybe my system is actually a little unique - Woohoo! :smiley:

I’m afraid I can’t implement it in other 3d packages though, because:

  • I don’t yet know any real programming languages, only POV-script.
  • I don’t have any experience at all with other 3d packages than POV-Ray, and POV-Ray is completely different from commercial 3d packages like LightWave. For example, a graphical user-interface for 3d is something I’ve never used.
  • Other 3d packages are not free like POV-Ray is.

I also find it rather amusing that those big 3d packages with entire teams of programmers haven’t implemented a feature like the one I’m working on here, and I’m just a college student with 3d as a hobby… :stuck_out_tongue:

Rune

#18

Originally posted by visionmaster
if you need betatester…please call me…

:slight_smile:

It’ll take a long time before the system is finished, but I’ll keep that in mind. It will only be of use to you if you’re a POV-Ray user though…

Rune

#19

Originally posted by TheHobbit
Pov Ray is pretty cool. I tried it once and it just wasn’t my thing at the time(nothing was though), maybe in the future I’ll try it for fun. Your extremely talented to do everything you’ve already done though and its inpirational to just see your work. I love the test you did with the streaming water particles the most! :surprised My favorite!

Thanks! :slight_smile: The particle system is my other major project currently.

Let me know if you choose to give POV-Ray a try again. You may find that it has improved quite a bit in the new version 3.5 (which is still in the beta stage).

Rune

#20

Originally posted by LyonHaert
[B]oh my dear lord! i actually watched the animation before really reading your post. i thought at first, ‘yeah, that spider is animated really nicely’. i read you made a walk system to do it automatically by following a spline and thought ‘wow, that’s pretty damn cool.’ then i get to the part about doing it in Pov-ray and my jaw hit the floor.

i pretty much started out in Pov-ray as independent study for a highschool programming course, so i know somewhat how it works, and that just blows my mind. now when i watch them i have to keep smacking myself in the head to remind myself it’s real.[/B]

LyonHaert, don’t smack yourself in the head too hard, ok? :wink:

If you think the anim is particular impressive because it’s made with POV-Ray, that’s cool, but of course my goal is to make animations that look impressive by their own merits. :hmm:

Thanks for the feedback!

Rune