Hi Matthias, Chris and all.
Thx for your input on this..!
Yep I remember your take on this, with your examples...
and yep it works nicely, for Trees or similar that you can disable the
'Pitching' for..(and maybe also need some scripting, which shouldnt be
needed , the tool itself should work set things up..)
Those can be placed anywhere.. and behave as they should and still face the
LookAt..! (as long as the 'LookAt' is created so it works in 'Heading' and
that also 'Pitching is switched OFF)
(This makes it possible to place both the Target and the LookAt Anywhere..)
As soon as you need both to work at same time.. both Heading and Pitching
(even if you only need Heading to pass the +180, -180 deg anglepoints and
stay inside those with the (known) problematic deg limits of the Pitching,
you cant..! =( since when 'Pitching' is on for the 'LookAt' it also mess up
the Heading... !
And this makes it impossible to move the Target away from its creation pos..
When you now with Pitching checked.. then it mess up the Heading.. (when you
move the Target Object(s) from its position where it was when bound to the
'LookAt'..)
So as I see it now, for getting both Heading and Pitching to work( look
up/down and Side2Side)
Then Two LookAt are needed (both with 'Pitching' Disabled and one of them
Rotated 90 Deg BEFORE Binding the Target Object(s) to it..!)
Your tip on set the init and then move is a good one, to add to that one,
for doing this for many Target objects in one go, (since the actual 'Chor'
Win dont support MultiSelection in SP3..)
You can MultiSelect all needed Tartget Objects in the 'Select' Win and then
in the 'Animation' Window, in the bottom of the screen, change to Init chor
in the Chor part of it..!
(I even have a the change of Current Chor, bound to keys Up n Down Arrow
keys..=), to switch fastly between needed chors..and that for many
objects..if you keep the Chor structure similar and wisely, then you have
alot better control then in the actual 'Chor' Win..)
(These are things I had planned for my Char Anim tut..,whenever that will
happen..)
btw..
If one apply your tip on setting the Init.. and also set Pitching to OFF
then you can select one of the bound Targets, then use the Lattice 'Paste'
too or similar to spread out copies, and then multiselect them and as I
pointed out set them all back to 'LookAt' chor or a chor after it.. and all
copies will work fine with the and face the 'LookAt'...360 deg..=)
More takes on this later .. now I am off again..
Take Care
Best Regards
Stefan Gustafsson ( Beg-inner )
A Proud Owner and User of Real3D and Realsoft3D..
Important Note for "cam-with-planes-001.r3d" file
If you like to get the "bunch of trees", and like to move the trees
to a different location:
Open the choreography windows->goto->Properties->
then hold "CRTL" and click the "init" to stop/disable the choreographs
lattice.
(Look if the little point in front of the last "chor" jumps to "init")
Move the "plane"
Enable the lattice with "CRTL+Klick on the last Item in the choreographys
tree
(in this case the lattice1).
Some result:
http://www.matthias-kappenberg.de/fileadmin/filme/camera-with-planes-xvid.avi
http://www.matthias-kappenberg.de/fileadmin/filme/camera-with-planes.mpg
same videos only different formats.
Matthias
----- Original Message -----
From: "standley and mungenast" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2006 4:00 PM
Subject: Re: Please confirm that the 'LookAt' Constructor dont work !
Hey Stefan
Are you using SP3? It works for me in SP2. I haven't tried it in SP3 yet.
I might be using it differently than you are intending.
Here's a description of how i use it( if you don't remember this thread)
My goal was to have a camera slide through a scene with simple planes
with tree textures on it, with the the trees turning to stay facing the
camera(but only rotating on the vertical axis). The attached file has
one simple set up (Rect-1 always faces cam-1), and another setup with a
camera and its target mapped to
separate curves (Rect-2 and Cam-2, slide the animation time slider).
The key for me was how to draw the axis for the Look-at object. In this
case,
the axis needs to be drawn in a vertical direction. The relationship of
the axis you draw with the plane defines the angle relationship between
them forever. You might consider making a construction line first to
trace. I started by going into a front view creating a vertical plane
centered on the origin (for the tree). While it's still selected, click
the Look-at button on the construction tab. Now you're prompted to draw
an axis. Go to the side view and draw it some distance away from the
plane in the upward y direction. Now you can select this Look-at object
and go the Spec tab and deselect Pitching and Banking. Now try moving
the Look-at object around and watch the plane turn to face it. Try
moving it up, and see that the plane doesn't tilt up or spin. Play with
the Pitching and Banking settings to see how it affects the plane's
behavior. Now you can drop the Look-at obect in a camera, or in a level,
and it will continue to work. The Look-at object should be moved to the
camera position point, as well as placed inside the camera in the
select window so it stay with the camera. If you want to change the
camera you want the planes to face, drag the Look-at object in the
select window from one camera to another, and move the Look-at object to
the new camera in the view window. It is also possible to set up
several Look-at relationships initially, then drop the different
Look-ats to different cameras, and simply turn off the Look-at's
"Construction enabled" on the Spec tab for the cameras that are not your
current camera. If you need a WHOLE BUNCH of trees to follow the
camera, stack them all up on top of each other and select them before
mapping to the Look-at object. They can be instances, too! As with all
things Real, the options are only limited by your imagination once you
get the hang of it. ;o)
It's a fussy tool, but works well in the above application.
Chris
Beg-inner wrote:
> Hi all..
>
> Can someone please confirm that 'LookAt' Constructor ONLY work as
> expected when the bound object is at exactly the world position 0, 0 ,
> 0 ?
>
> For example, if you have an eye positioned somewhere else (also the
> 'LookAt' close by it), and it is bound to the 'LookAt', it wont work
> well at all, it flips and behaves badly not near as it should...
> If you then move them to 0, 0, 0 (and the LookAt close by..), then
> it behaves as I would expect it to..
>
> This made the 'LookAt' Constructor totally impossible to use, even for
> a simple char anim..for eyes following stuff =(
>
> If confirmed, is there a workaround for it, until it can be fixed?
> I tried also to use the LatticeMapping set to 'LookAt', which seems to
> work better, but that messed up, when the 'Lattice' was mapped to Skel
> of the character...(or Mapped to a Path..)
> (no matter in what order things were mapped..., the Eyes LookAt part,
> just stops working as it should..)
>
> I also mapped other ways, but most of them, if they worked, they
> suffered from old "Lag" effect..
> (Which sometimes can be fixed by how objects and levels are
> structured, and also order of chors are important, but wont fix it for
> all cases...as for now)
>
> I think this type of thing is important to work..
> Thx in Advance...
>
> Take Care
> Best Regards
> Stefan Gustafsson ( Beg-inner )
> A Proud Owner and User of Real3D and Realsoft3D..
