FX War: Trebuchet: WhiteRabbit.obj

#1

Alright, work will commence in earnest after work today. Here’s a list of things to overcome:

-Determine whether or not a physically accurate simulation will work best or to cheat reality in order to get the best looking results.

-Determine the best path for the sling mechanism. This comes in two parts… For a final run, a Cloth object will be best, however, for run-throughs and tests, a cloth object could be too computationally expensive to run. Therefore, tests will need to be run and experiments to determine an adequate proxy object.

-Sling wires: Maya Hair will likely work best.

-The Wall to be destroyed. Will need to develop a system to realistically destroy the wall on impact while maintaining a reasonable simulation time. This will need to include some sort of semi-dynamic crumbling system which uses cube primitives as proxy-collision objects.

-Keep sim time down! With an entirely dynamic driven or semi-dynamic driven system, this will get extremely computationally expensive. The best likely approach will be to run through the simulation of the trebuchet and the wall separately, baking them off and then positioning them accordingly.

-Setup shaders and render out the bad-boy.

I’ll be using Maya 6 Unlimited. Perhaps some Houdini though I don’t know about the interoperability of Houdini Apprentice with other programs.

#2

Did some experiments with the dynamics today at work. Hair, Cloth, and Fluids all disabled there for some reason so I couldn’t experiment with the projectile but the basic mechanism of the trebuchet is worked out. Also did some dev on shaders for the trebuchet this evening.

Will build the actual model this weekend and post some WIP screens as it comes together by Sunday night.

#3

Finally got some real work done. Ending up rather complicated for the model. Once this gets done, the dynamics shouldn’t take all that long. Here’s a WIP model that I’m done with for the evening:

Click on this one for a bigger version:

#4

Nice model man! The circular base reminds me of the Age of Empires-style trebuchets. Keep it up!

#5

Wow you really made the base nice, whit some wood texture itll be even better.
And im lookin forward to see your rope/hair dynamics

#6

Blood :

No , it won’t be better . The mod has said ‘over&over&over’ it’s the dynamic’s that are important … Guys are getting caught up in what’s a catapult and what’s a trebochet and what’s a keyed release and what’s not …

Just make it do a whole series of crazy interactions … dynamically !!! Have the damn Treb misfire and maim the whole launching crew !!! It doesn’t matter … it’s the whole realistic interaction between polygons that matters . Forget texturing and building a city where one can be sponge bathed by Poser Nympho’s …

It’s a dynamics challenge … make it dynamic to the MAX !!! This is the next level , so forget about nice little textures … and make your Treb do something unique ! (I know U can)

Studio

#7

Congrats on the “most pointless post” prize Studio. The dynamic setup for a trebuchet is exceedingly simple, I already know how I’m going to do the crumbling wall, and the only challenge left then is the ropes, which I am confident will take me less than a day to implement. Therefore, I am going for something nice looking as well. If you want to make an entirely primitive-shape trebuchet that doesn’t look like it could exist in the real world, be my guest… but don’t get pissy with other people for being excited about stuff that looks good. If you think I’m focusing on the wrong parts of this challenge then I guess you’ll just have to hold onto your pants for a bit and wait till another update. Otherwise, go start your own project, since it doesn’t seem that you’ve entered.

#8

Wow ! Not sure why you’re venting on me . I certainly was not taking issue with anything you are doing , or are planning to do . A poster was telling you how you should texture it , and that’s who I was directing my post to , not you .

Lot’s of thing I could say in reply to a post of this type … it’s just a typical flame , a bait , if you will , that usually starts out of a misunderstanding , a button getting accidentally pushed , and usually just ends up with the Mod’s jumping in and telling people to “grow up” .

I haven’t really spent much time here on CGTalk.com , but from what I’ve seen so far it , is a really classy site . I apologise if I accidentally offended anyone by suggesting my ‘take’ on this Dynamics challenge , it’s just that I was getting the feeling that perhaps people were concentrating so hard on seeing the trees , they couldn’t see the forest ! <g>

Anyway , good luck with your entry , it looks like a really great model , and I’m sure it will be a very convincing animation too .

Cheers :beer:
Studio

#9

Well, true, it was late, so I did jump on you a bit hard because I was tired. You’re right that CGTalk is a classy site, I try to never go off but I guess sometimes some things just strike me a certain way and I don’t take it too well. Sorry for overreacting when it seems it was a misunderstanding.

#10

Hey , no problem . It seems to be a part of the business we are in . Electronic communication is not a very good way of making a point , sometimes . Not to mention that this kind of work is very hard on our bodies . Add the fact that most comments we receive are critisism’s with very little regard for all the incredible hard work we have already put into a project .

Trust me , I’ve freaked an my share of nit-wit’s ! <g> We are artist’s , and machine operators too . Very hard on the system .

Good luck with your project . By the way , I meant to ask if the base was resembling a gear on purpose ? That is to say , did you have something in mind here as far as making the Treb’s base kind of Turret-like ?

Cheers
Studio

#11

Yes it’s supposed to be a giant cog wheel. There will be another one or perhaps a series of cogs which will turn the platform. That will probably be expression driven instead of fully dynamically driven since the cogs are made of separate boards in this instance. But expressions are still dynamic so that’s all good.

Will post another update this weekend.

#12

Cool :

I like the idea of adding more unique dynamics to the challenge . Should look pretty cool too . What are expressions ? I’m using Realsoft3D and am unfamiliar with Maya terms . Do Expressions trigger actions and events ? It sounds like a script language of some kind , but if it is part of Dynamics I can’t see how it could be a language thing . Will force actually move the Treb through collision with the gears contacting/mate-ing surfaces ?

TIA for any info you can offer on Expressions .

Studio

#13

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