re: collision avoidance -- how big are the asteroids WRT the toroidal volume? the requirement for varying "linear" (meaning orbital I guess?) speeds needs to be balanced against the volume of space that each sweeps through.
the position jitter I guess I would try to do via clever parenting and use of the randomize data entry command for transform values. On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 2:46 PM, Eric Thivierge <ethivie...@hybride.com>wrote: > With those restrictions, get a super fast animator to animate them by hand. > > Eric T. > > > On Tuesday, February 11, 2014 2:23:31 PM, Matt Lind wrote: > >> An artist came to my desk yesterday asking how to do what I felt was a >> simple task, but after getting 80% through it I ran into a speed bump >> realizing it needed custom scripting or other advanced tools to fully >> resolve to satisfaction. I had to give him a procedure that was 'good >> enough'. This problem has multiple solutions, but I am curious how >> others would solve it: >> >> The problem: >> >> Artist must create an asteroid belt around a planet. The asteroids >> are likely 2D sprites which must face the camera and tumble as they >> orbit, but could be 3D objects as well. Asteroids must vary in size, >> shape, and animation speed (linear as well as rotational). Asteroids >> cannot collide with anything. Movement is generally slow - like a >> screen saver for your computer desktop. Asteroid positions are >> jittered within the belt. >> >> The question: >> >> Dispersing objects into a ring is fairly straightforward through a >> number of techniques, but how do you apply the random jitter to the >> object positions? >> >> The rules: >> >> -Cannot use ICE >> >> -Cannot use custom scripts, custom operators, or shaders. >> >> -Must only use tools out of the box that a junior or staff level >> >> artist would know how to use. >> >> -Must be able to create the asteroid belt, from scratch to completion, >> >> in less than 30 minutes - and be iteration friendly to react to art >> director feedback. >> >> -Ideally, the belt could be made a child of the planet in encompasses >> >> so it can be reoriented with respect to changes in the planet's >> size/shape/tilt/orbit. >> >> -Final output must be able to exist with full integrity on its own in >> >> a vacuum. Cannot not have dependencies on custom code, external >> assets, or special case logic. >> >> -Asteroid belt fits within the default grid as seen in the scene >> >> camera. Think torus with diameter 40 SI units, and cross section of >> roughly 3 SI Units diameter >> >> Ready.....GO! >> >> Matt >> >> >
