15 miles on the Erie Canal

Started by sboerner, January 25, 2018, 11:05:04 AM

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bobbystahr

Quote from: Dune on April 07, 2018, 03:42:03 AM
Thanks a lot, Steve. Can't one run this .bat file from the dos-prompt?

Steve's on a MAC Ulco, but I did find this that may be helpful

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/use-dos-mode-apple-48840.html
something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

sboerner

Thanks, Bobby, Ulco. I've considered getting a Windows/DOS emulator but haven't really looked into it. Might be easier to pick up an inexpensive PC box or laptop to handle things like this. There's a definite PC bias in the 3D world. I'm constantly running into tools that are Windows-only. Seems odd given Apple's long relationship with the graphic arts and film industries.

Back in the day I did a bit of C and C++ programming on DOS but stopped when I started my home business and moved everything to Mac. Now I like to use the Unix shell to do basic file management and to automate a few common tasks. Nothing too complicated, though.

bobbystahr

Welcome Steve. I came to 3D on Amiga and when they were in death throws I looked at both platforms and as the 3D I was using was only supported on pc boxes and there was sooooo much more free and/or inexpensive software available that's the way I went. Based mainly on advice from my good pal Richard Condie (animator of The Big Snit) who gave me the original A1000 that a MAC was gonna cost me twice the cash and leave me with far fewer resources. I've thank'd him often for that advice.
something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

sboerner

Yep I'm mulling whether or not to move back to PC in the future. Apple's desktops just keep getting less configurable and more expensive. It would be a big change at this point though.

I never had an Amiga but a friend did. Showed me an example of a ray-traced animation back in the what, mid-90s? It was pretty mind-blowing at the time.

Ran across this while searching for historical images of canal boats. Shows a modern canal excursion boat and is a nice example of the Kelvin wake pattern.

[attach=1]

ajcgi

This project is getting better and better. I'm loving the attention to detail.

sboerner

Thanks. It's taking on a life of its own, for sure.

I appreciate all the feedback I've been getting here and everyone's patience with this very slow-motion project. I'd considered moving the updates to my blog but I'd rather keep posting them here because the comments are so focused and helpful. It just makes the project more fun and is an incentive to keep plugging away.

bobbystahr

Quote from: sboerner on April 09, 2018, 11:30:17 AM
Thanks. It's taking on a life of its own, for sure.

I appreciate all the feedback I've been getting here and everyone's patience with this very slow-motion project. I'd considered moving the updates to my blog but I'd rather keep posting them here because the comments are so focused and helpful. It just makes the project more fun and is an incentive to keep plugging away.



My Mom always said slow but steady often wins the race...keep on keepin on...we're lovin this.
something borrowed,
something Blue.
Ring out the Old.
Bring in the New
Bobby Stahr, Paracosmologist

Hannes

Cool! Maybe this texture is useful to you (or anyone else...). It's a bit tricky to place an image map shader to the right place, but it works.

sboerner

Thank you, Hannes. That's a nice one, too.

I took Ulco's advice for placing the texture from the other thread – copy the boat's position into a transform input shader connected to the image map. I suppose you could do the same thing with an orthogonal camera, and use that to position the image map. Once the position matches the boat it's just a matter of offsetting it the right amount.

It would be nice if you could link translation (and rotation and scale) values programmatically, either through an input port or an expression. That would eliminate having to update them manually.

Dune

Maybe the latter is possible (I just theorized) by linking the boat's position to an add vector node, then again, the location of objects has no output  :P

sboerner

Maybe the grouping feature that Matt mentioned will be the answer to this. Or parenting? I'd be happy with expressions or constraints, since they'd let you link object/image positions anywhere in the network.

Dune

Yes, maybe. Luckily, it's pretty easy to relocate by copy/paste locations.

sboerner

That is a nice feature, and one that I miss when I'm working in Maya. If only all our apps had all the features we like . . .

sboerner

Why not a boat? Latest model to be added to the scene. Still need to add a tugboat (to provide a tow). And maybe a second "lakeboat," as this type of wooden barge was called. Still researching the tug, waiting for some high-resolution historical reference images to be delivered from a couple of local sources. In the meantime, on to the trolley . . .

[attach=1]

luvsmuzik

#74
Chugging right along.....good work! ;D

Enjoy this one, horses for helpers! Often assisted by mules around here.
http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16797coll28/id/304/rec/48