animated tree - 1st try

Started by kaedorg, August 03, 2015, 09:29:23 AM

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kaedorg

#75
Rather than an explanation, i put here the tgd file as I got so much help from Hannes and Kadri.
Most of the idea come from them.
And it could help and be interesting for others.
If you think to better ideas, feel free to share.

Edit : this tgd file gives this render



David

Dune

Thanks David! Interesting to compare. I have good faith I'm onto something, but will post tomorrow.

otakar

Amazing result, David! Sometimes I really wish I had the animation version, but then again, I don't even have the time to render still scenes these days...

Dune

I thought I was on to something, but stumbled on the previously mentioned inability to separate location from angle coming through a last node. So for my method to work it would be necessary that a normal can be calculated from another (extra) node than the one the pop is sitting on. Would be good to make fallen trees (all more or less to one side) as well, without having to resort to a decreased rotation of instances.
The idea was to rotate the normal (or move it, change it by function, setup-2), but the height of the instance location would remain the same. But all you do with rotating is rotate/change all, so also the underlying heights. The trees work like pistons, coming out of the ground, no good.
So animating the amount of rotation to normal is all atm., which is what I did here. But that's a tedious job. I must check your file still, see if you use a different method.
The only other thing I can think of right now is have the population sit on (anchor to) a second planet with the same heights, but somehow derive the normal from the first planet, I'll do a test.

kaedorg

Main problem right for me is that I have to put Limit rotation both at 0.
So If there are several trees in the population, they would be all oriented the same way. And this is bad.
The idea could be to put some single tree populations with different rotations (min and max must be the same) on the foreground.
Then add populations of several varieties with several trees after that with limit rotation both at 0.
The problem could come from memory taken by the number of populations.

David

Kadri


Ulco my mind works more visually i think and the second language thing isn't helping too.
I can not understand what kind of method you are trying to do really.

Hannes


Dune

If you sit the population on the ground every instance location has a height (or XYZ) and a normal. If you could somehow keep the height constant, but move the normal, you can keep the rotation angle in the population constant and variation in T&S will be from the variation in normal (by a moving fractal for instance). Hard to explain.
If you add a displaced fractal to the last node (or the compute terrain) and have the population sit on that, and animate that PF, you'll see what happens (with a constant rotation in the pop of course). But it will change the XYZ as well, thus the height the instance sits on, but a nice variation in tilt will also happen. And we only need the latter.

I haven't tested this setup, but I will later. Merely made it to show what I ws thinking.

Kadri


Do you mean basically holding the same high of the terrain but changing the normals of it Ulco?

Dune



kaedorg

Ulco, is it normal or why do your objects jump ?

David

Kadri

"The trees work like pistons, coming out of the ground, no good."

David that was what he mean probably.

Dune

#88
 ;D Yes, that's the problem. We need only the normal to change, not the height. I might put something like this up at the alpha forum as feature request, as it's far easier to animate swaying trees this way, IMHO...... if it works  ;)

EDIT: I see that I've already requested this at alpha, but I've added the file as well. Hope Matt can do something (in due time).

TheBadger

It has been eaten.