------------------------------------------------------------------- Carmen Rizzolo presents: Space Cruiser object for Imagine 2.0 only! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Greetings once again! After a long absence, I've finally had some free time to do some creative modeling. This is the first time I've modeled something with such detial. I think it looks pretty good, but next time I do something like this, there will be MUCH more detail. This object is not for meager systems! It's nearly 500k in size, and so it might require 5 MEGS of memory or more. If you see patches of black in the object (With the exceptions of un-lit windows), that means you are lacking in memory. If this happens, as a last resort, you can remove the pastella texture to conserve some memory. Here's how: The objects were grouped in a very odd way. All metal pieces are grouped into a parent axis just below the bulk of the ship. All the rest are grouped to a parent axis located just above the ship. Those two parent axis are grouped to the master axis, named "CRUISER.OBJ". The reason for this weird style is so that YOU can easily control the Pastella texture that affects all the metallic parts of the Cruiser (ship). Load the object into your detial editor and enter 'PICK OBJECTS' mode in the pulldown menus. Now Click on the bottom-most axis (front view), the one with all the yellow lines growing out of it. It's name is "PASTELLA.AXIS." Now hit F7 to enter the attributes requestor. You'll see the first Texture is occupied. Click on it. You are now in the Texture requestor for the Pastella texture. The purpose for this texture is to make the surface color of the Cruiser's metal parts less than perfect. This adds a bit of realism. If you need more memory for rendering, you can click on the DROP button, then resave the object. If, for some reason, you need to edit the pathname for the texture (if maybe you decided to rename your Textures drawer or put it in a weird place) you can do it here also. This strange grouping allows for only 1 axis to effect all the metal parts of the Cruiser, and thus makes is much easier to change things around. How about a Waves texture or two to make the thing look like it's made of liquid metal? It's up to you! I'm sure that you can now see the method to my madness. If you should decide to alter the object, be sure to re-enter 'PICK GROUPS' mode, and click on the parent axis (Named "CRUISER.OBJ") so that everything is picked (Blue or purple) before re-saving the object. This object was designed to be used for Imagine 2.0 ONLY! It has heavy use of the phong dam feature, so 1.0 users will get a goofy looking image upon rendering. Beware object converters! :) That's about it! The usual stuff follows... This file is Freely Distributable but not public domain. If you should give a copy of this file to someone else, please be courteous enough to include the original unmodified object and this text file. Thank you. Till next time... Carmen Rizzolo BONUS TUTORIAL!!! -- SPLINE BASED ROTATIONS IN IMAGINE -- A post by Anthony Ramirez on the FidoNet Amiga_Video section sparked an idea in my head.. After testing it out with wild success, I had to fill the rest of you guys in.. For the longest time, I was envious of Lighwave 3D and it's smooooth trasitions from one rotation key to the next. I would always get a 'kink' with Imagine when I tried the same stunt. Sure, you can align an object with a path that it moves down, but what if I want the rotation to be independant of it's position path? Well, this new thing works well, but it's kinda encumbered.. If you can deal with the extra steps, you'll get some great rotational movement.. Very smooth too! Here's what to do (I'll try to keep this short)! In the stage editor, add an open path.. This path is COMPLETELY independant of any other operation.. If your object is following a path, add a second path. This works even if your object isn't following a path. Now add an AXIS If your object in question is called "SHIP", you can call the path "SHIP.TRACK.PATH" and call the new AXIS "SHIP.TRACK" Fair enough? In the Action Editor, Delete the ALIGNMENT BAR of your SHIP object. Replace it with another bar (That takes up a decent amount of frames) and have it TRACK TO OBJECT.. The object it tracks to is the "SHIP.TRACK" Now Delete the POSITION BAR of the "SHIP.TRACK" object and have it follow the "SHIP.TRACK.PATH" in the same frame #'s you used for your ship's alignment bar. Now Delete the POSITION BAR of the "SHIP.TRACK.PATH" and replace it with the SAME INFORMATION as the SHIP's POSITION BAR.. In other words, if your SHIP is traveling along a path, have your "SHIP.TRACK.PATH" follow the same path. If it's all tween motion, duplicate the info for the "SHIP.TRACK.PATH". Now delete the ALIGNMENT BAR of the "SHIP.TRACK.PATH" and replace it with the same ALIGNMENT info as your "SHIP" object (in the same # of frames, again). If you are still with me, your "SHIP.TRACK.PATH" is now moving in unison with your "SHIP" object, and the "SHIP.TRACK" object is moving down the "SHIP.TRACK.PATH". Now all you have to do is edit your "SHIP.TRACK.PATH".. This is the tricky part. Remember that the "SHIP.TRACK.PATH" will always be centered with your "SHIP" object. If you want your "SHIP" object to aim forwards, then veer to the left, then aim straight up, you'll do the following: Have the path start right in front of the SHIP, then Move in an orbit of the SHIP to the ship's left side, then orbit-like motion going towards the top of the SHIP. Your SHIP will always be pointing (in the positive-Y direction of it's axis) towards your "SHIP.TRACK" object. If your path aims directly towards or away from the SHIP object, the alignment won't change.. If you have the path moving away, then bending to one way or another, you can see how to easily invoke smooth transitions in your SHIP's alignment. Have fun!