I've wondered about automating tank treads in XSI... (Enjoyed the video...
very elegant solution!)
However, I can't quite figure how one might create a more complex setup,
where there are two treads, left and right, as on an actual tank. You'd have
to handle the situations when the tank is turning (outer tread rotates more
than inner tread), and when the tank is spinning in place (one tread is
going forward, the other backward). A two-wheel cart would have the same
requirements.
One way is to use the oriented distance each tread travels (i.e.: as the
tread goes "forward" (+Z?) the value increases, and as it goes "backward"
(-Z?) it decreases), and use that to drive the % along the tread loop curve.
I've animated tank treads in Lightwave, where there is a function which
returns this kind of info, and in Messiah, where I wrote a plugin which does
it, but I've yet to find something similar in XSI... ...still looking
though. :)
-Jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Harriss" <Ed.Harriss(at)altroutestudios.com>
To: <XSI(at)Softimage.COM>
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 11:47 AM
Subject: Spam: Tank Treads in XSI
>
> I just saw this over at XSIBase. Thought I'd point it out. It's a video
showing how to animate tank treads in XSI:
>
> Avi:
> ftp://ftp.softimage.com/outgoing/MANNY/tank_tracks.avi
>
> Youtube:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLlwngdtNF4
>
>
>
> Original post:
>
http://www.xsibase.com/forum/index.php?board=11;action=display;threadid=31423
>
>
>
> Thanks to Manny Papamanos for this one.
>
> Enjoy,
>
> Ed Harriss
> XSI Stuff: http://www.EdHarriss.com
> Do you need a CG job? http://www.GetA3DJob.com
>
>
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