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NOVEMBER 17, 2003 Feel It in Your Spline
Animating Growth The best part of XFrog is the ease with which you can control the growth parameters. By default each of the branches have "Inherit Growth" already checked. The growth parameters will trickle down the hierarchy, forcing each branch to wait until parent geometry exists before creating new polygons.[an error occurred while processing this directive]In the object property of the stalk (parent branch), set a keyframe for Growth at 0% at time=start. At time=end, set Growth for 100%.  Now that there is a simple animation of the crystal forming, use the Hydra object to create a nice array. There are several benefits to using a Hydra object rather than a standard Array. Drop the stalk onto the Hydra object. By default, it creates a simple snowflake-looking object.   The addition of a luminous texture and a couple of lights produces an image that looks a bit more icy. While this model may be a bit primitive, more complex varieties only require adding more branch object and changing the Node parameters. The final animation (with some minor adjustments) looks something like this: While you may be able to create similar properties through Thinking Particles and XPresso (included as part of the standard XL Bundle), the interface and time savings is worth the price of the package. Xfrog is available as a standalone product on Windows platforms and as a sub-application within Cinema 4D XL on the Mac. There are plugins that will recognize the models built with XFrog for several 3D applications, including Cinema 4D XL (8.1), Maya, 3DS Max and LightWave. There is also limited support for Animation Master, Bryce, Houdini, Poser, SoftImage,Vue d'Esprit and World Builder. Although baked models don't support the animation that XFrog provides, the polygons can be exported as .obj, .dxf, .lwo, .3ds, .shade, .rib and .wrl as well. You can check out more about the program by downloading the manual from Greenworks' Web site: Greenworks Organic Software. You can find more information about Cinema 4D XL at Maxon's website: Maxon USA. Ko Maruyama is a freelance animator, 3D artist, and co-host of Digital Media Networks' After Effects forum. Prev 1 2 3 Related sites: • Animation Artist • AV Video • Creative Mac • Digital Animators • Digital Media Designer • Digital Post Production • Digital Producer • Film and Video Magazine • The WWUG Related forums: [an error occurred while processing this directive] 
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