Very nice. Very similar to what I told the artist yesterday. The main difference being I advised him to use the NURBS torus instead of NURBS disc.
My thinking at the time was to activate tangency and normal in the surface constraint to align their axes along the surface tangents, then deactivate the constraint using the R(-N,N), where N is the # SI Units to translate the asteroids in local Y, to push the asteroids in/out of the torus' surface to jitter the positions. The problem I ran into is Softimage treated the selection of asteroids like a branch selection and translated them uniformly in the same direction, instead of translating them individually along their own axes. Plan B was to increase subdivisions on the torus and use the shape randomization like you and Emilio did to provide the randomization. Matt -----Original Message----- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Manny Papamanos Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 2:22 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Survey - how would you do this? Here's something quick and dirty just I made. http://youtu.be/-77ALwrySsQ Hope this gives you some inspiration. -manny SI Mobu Support -----Original Message----- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Matt Lind Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 5:03 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Survey - how would you do this? Pay up ;-) Matt -----Original Message----- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Eric Thivierge Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 12:16 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Survey - how would you do this? $10 says you can't use instances.... On Tuesday, February 11, 2014 3:13:50 PM, Emilio Hernandez wrote: > Well, a quick solution will be > > 1. create a group of asteroids and add the animation of the asteroids. > 2. create the torus that will hold up the asteroids belt. > 3. Instanciate the group of asteroids. > 4. Create a object to cluster constrain of the asteroids group in > dispersed points in the torus. > 5. Randomize the torus to create the jittering of the position of the > asteroids group. > 6. Animate the rotation of the torus. > > > > > > 2014-02-11 14:06 GMT-06:00 Matt Lind <ml...@carbinestudios.com > <mailto:ml...@carbinestudios.com>>: > > I should probably mention we don’t do realism here. Think comic > book style with a little Anime thrown in.____ > > __ __ > > Given the dimensions of the belt, asteroids could be up to 1 SI > unit in diameter for the really large rocks. The camera might > move through this belt, so the fact they’re small shouldn’t be so > readily dismissed. This isn’t film/video where you can sweep the > stuff you don’t see under the carpet.____ > > __ __ > > __ __ > > Matt____ > > __ __ > > __ __ > > __ __ > > __ __ > > __ __ > > __ __ > > *From:*softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com > <mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> > [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com > <mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com>] *On Behalf Of > *Bradley Gabe > *Sent:* Tuesday, February 11, 2014 11:48 AM > *To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com > <mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com> > > > *Subject:* Re: Survey - how would you do this?____ > > __ __ > > Considering that the typical distance from one asteroid to the > next is many thousands of kilometers, you really shouldn't have > any issues with collisions if you scale them properly. ____ > > __ __ > > At your scale of 40 SI units for the asteroid belt, each asteroid > would be well sub-pixel in diameter anyway, so I would create a > torus to represent the belt, make it only very slightly opaque and > call it a day. ____ > > > > Sent from my iPhone____ > > > On Feb 11, 2014, at 1:23 PM, Matt Lind <ml...@carbinestudios.com > <mailto:ml...@carbinestudios.com>> 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____ > >