CD Exchange/CD Exchange - Volume 1.iso/graphics/objects/cycleobj.lha/readme.txt

Text File | 1993-09-08 | 8KB | 160 lines

Fellow Imagineers,

Welcome to something a little different in 3D objects. Shareware objects.
Although there are a lot of freely distributable Imagine objects around, I've
noticed a shortage of characters for the cycle editor. That's where the
objects in this archive come in. While these objects don't have any cycle
motion in them yet they are all linked properly for use in the cycle editor.
If response to the shareware request warrents it, I may develope a library of
motions for these objects.  (walking, running, sitting, standing...ect)



About the objects:

The objects in this archive all use the Essence textures. I have made a point
of making it easy to remove them for people who have not yet bought Essence.
(Do it soon)

Flatman.cyc:  No textures, This object is only here to give you an object
              with quick response for learning the cycle editor.

Trooper.obj:  This object has it's texture applied to the 'main.axis'. The
              texture is set to apply to children and there is only the one
              texture on the object. If you drop it from the 'main.axis' you
              drop it from the entire object. It expects to find the texture
              in "textures:noise/fractalcolor". You may need to reset this
              path to work on your hard drive. If you don't have Essence you
              may be satisfied with Impulse's pastella testure.

Backpack.obj:  This is the backpack for the trooper object. It has been left
               as a seperate object to make it easier to change the bitmap.
               I've used a 640*400*8 color image to add surface detail to the
               backpack. If you're short on memory you may want to replace
               that image with a lower resolution image. The object expects
               to find the image at: "maps:backpack.map"
               To use it you load the trooper.obj, then without moving or
               scaling it you load the backpack.obj. It should be postioned
               properly. You then use the find command to select the "chest"
               of the trooper.obj then the "backpack" of the backpack.obj
               and group them together. This will also cause the fractalcolor
               texture to be applied to the backpack.

Bughead-droid.obj:  This object uses two textures. On the neck you'll find
                    "textures:stripes" and on the head you'll find "textures:
                    transitions/bandfract" which is restricted to the
                    subgroup "eyes" You may be able to replace these textures
                    with bitmaps to add the similar detail although you will
                    probably need more memory to render the object.

Robotball.obj:  This object also uses two textures. They are "textures:noise
                /fractalcolor" on the part called hull and "textures:stripes"
                on the belt.ring and on the eye.socket. Once again you could
                probably get by with the pastella texture and bitmaps for the
                stripes.



Tips for adding motion:

     I usually use the detail editor to set up my cycle motions. You load the
object into the detail editor and set the 'cycle transforms' of the functions
menu to active. At this point you can use the triview to select the part
that you want to move and rotate it. Because of the cycle transforms it will
rotate around the end of the 'z' axis. Ot move an arm or leg on one of these
object you will rotate around the 'x' or 'y' axis. Always do your rotations
in local mode and if you notice you've chosen the wrong axis to rotate around
just use the 'Esc' key to cancel the rotation before you press the space bar.
     Once you get all the body parts set where you want them you should use
the 'cycle setup' and 'cycle shuffle' to clean up the object for loading into
the cycle editor. Even if you don't SEE any changes in the object you should
still maker sure to do this as it acts as sort of a cleanup function for the
objects. You can now save this first pose to disk as pose.1 and start working
on the next pose for your object.
     Once you've set all the object poses in the detail editor and saved each
of them as a seperate object you're ready to go into the cycle editor.

Now the fun part  :^)  Let's say for example that you've used the detail
editor to set 5 poses for the trooper.obj and that you're making it run.
You want the running cycle to loop smoothly and take 50 frames per loop.
In cell 0 of the cycle editor use the 'object load' command to load pose.1.
Cell 0 is already a key frame. Now 'goto' cell 10. This will cause cell 10
to be created and make it a key frame. Use the 'load pose' command to load
pose.2. Now goto cell 20 and load pose.3, cell 30 for pose.4, and cell 40 for
pose.5.
To make it loop smoothly you have to go to cell 51 and load pose.1. Now use
the 'previous frame command to goto cell 50 and use 'make key' then go back
to cell 51 and use the 'unmake key'.
This will cause cell 50 to be just a bit differnt than cell 0. If you didn't
use cell 51 then you'd find that cell 50 and cell 0 were exactly the same and
you'd get a small glitch every cycle.
At this point you can use the 'make' command to see how your cycle looks.

I realize it may sound a little confusing. You have to play aroudn in the
cycle editor a bit to get sued to how it works. For that reason I've included
a simple object called flatman.cyc. It's a very simple object that you can
use to play in the cycle editor and will be very quick to work with.



Other tips:

For compatability with any of my future objects as well as these I recommend
the following set of assigns:

Textures: holds all your procedural textures
Maps: holds all your image maps, altitude maps, reflect maps, ect..
Attributes: holds all your attribute files for materials
Objects: holds your 3D objects
Imps: holds all your projects
Imagine: Your imagine directory.

If you use a setup like this you not only have an easier time using MY objects
, you also have an easier time moving your own stuff to a different machine.
Rather than changing all your paths from something like "work:graphics/imagine
/textures/grid" you just assign "textures:" to wherever you need it on the new
machine.



Copyright Jeff Holinski 1993
All objects in this archive are released as shareware. You may distribute
this archive through friends, BBS's, or user groups, BUT you may not include
any part of this archive in a commercial package without written permission.
Also, this archive must be distributed intact. No files can be removed or
added. If you have something you'd like to add to the archive drop me a line
at any of the adresses listed below and I'll see about putting it in myself
for widespread distribution.



ShareWare???

    As I mentioned earlier these objects are shareware. I spent quite a bit of
building them and if they're good enough to star in your animations they
should be worth a few bucks right? In this case I'm asking for $15 US. If the
response to the shareware request is worthwhile I may be releasing more low
cost objects and perhaps a few sets of motions for these objects. At this
time I'm not making any promises though since most people don't bother to
send in shareware fees.   :^(

If you've got any comments on these objects (positive or negetive) or any
suggestions on what you'd like to see next drop me a line. My E-Mail address
is:    Compuserve: 71172,1417
       Internet:   [e-mail]

Any message to me should have the subject "cycleobjects". I'm on a couple of
mailing lists and don't read ALL the mail I get. If you use this subject I
can be sure not to miss your message.  :^)


Shareware donations of $15 US to box #306 308 Cedar St. New Westminster
                                     BC, Canada
                                     V3L-3P1
Money order perfered but checks are Ok too. Please include an e-mail adress
if you have one.

Have Fun!