Subject:
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Re: Automated minifig walking animation include file for Povray (Was: 8002 destroyer)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad, lugnet.animation
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Date:
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Tue, 17 Feb 2004 15:46:48 GMT
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Viewed:
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9531 times
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Hi Tore,
Thanks for your kind words. I’ll look into your system once I get home later
tonight and hopefully will have some comments. It does look very intriguing to
say the least. And as far as replicating its functions with POVray script, I’ve
never met a challenge that I didn’t like ;-)
However, I’d like share a few ideas that I have been mulling over for a while
now. This is in part due to the fact that I am in the middle of writing (or
rather re-writing) a POV intro for Ldraw users. I hope this post doesn’t get
very wordy or abstract, nor that anyone gets annoyed by it.
Here is what I think:
In a hopefully not too distant future, complex Ldraw-based animation will likely
NOT be neither Ldraw- nor Povray-based. It will be Blender-based. The new
version of Blender includes seamless integration for plug-ins, so that we will
hopefully have a File -> Import -> Ldraw Blender menu command soon.(I’ve read
that someone is re-writing their old
Ldraw-to-Blender python script to adapt it to the new version)
Hopefully, work in that direction will bring a script that not only translates
the geometry, but also adds basic “part identification” support, so that it can
plug right in with Blender’s high-end animation tools. With such a freeware/OS
contender/ally, it makes very little sense to create native Ldraw animation
packages. Or does it? After all, there are other people writing general purpose
animation applets despite the fact that Blender is a professional tool free of
charge.
There is at least one reason to develop Lego-based animation packages. And that
is *ease of use*. While it would be very hard to write a program that can
compete with Blender when it comes to features and capabilities, it’s relatively
simple to write one that beats it to pulp when it comes to ease of use
(specially if it has less than 1% of Blender’s capabilities).
And that is where my idea of automatic animation comes in. I do not think my
include file for POVray is anything other than a clever (or perhaps ugly) hack.
While I think that minifigs are cute, I (unfortunately?) don’t spend as much
times as others mesmerizing over them. Maybe some of those
minfig-inclined-although-not-necessarily-cad-savvy folks would consider learning
to use a very simple animator to show off their favorite minifigs, but would
never go the distance that using Blender requires (because it simply would not
be worth the time investment required).
Having said that, I am fairly aware of the limitations. My include file cannot
grow much more before needing a complete re-write. But beyond that specific
implementation, even a fairly extensive but still easy-to-use animation utility
could only offer a certain amount of sophistication before becoming too complex
for the casual user.
Contrary to what Stefan pointed out, that does not mean that such a system would
not be suitable to make full-blown movies. I have seen enough decent machinima
movies (made with computer games - check out the Red vs. Blue series for a good
example, but ask your parents first if you are a kid) to know that anything is
possible with enough talent.
So, summing it up, I’d say let’s not worry too much about a full-blown animation
package and focus on providing simple solutions that will get a larger number of
people into at least trying them out. Needless to say, if we can come with a way
to make them all work as part of one (or two, one POVray-based and one
Ldraw-based) over-arching system(s), even better.
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