[HN Gopher] A simple procedural animation technique [video]
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       A simple procedural animation technique [video]
        
       Author : Meleagris
       Score  : 168 points
       Date   : 2024-07-26 17:40 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
        
       | owenpalmer wrote:
       | Beautiful video. I would love to see this animation technique
       | combined with an evolution simulation similar to Karl Sims'
       | Evolved Virtual Creatures project:
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/RZtZia4ZkX8?si=vxQ904w_CNXsSoj5
       | 
       | Previous HN discussion:
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30719801
        
         | abnercoimbre wrote:
         | I was thinking the same! Hope everyone that liked the first
         | video check this one out too.
        
         | dudinax wrote:
         | Jefferey Ventrella has a few programs along those lines
         | 
         | https://www.swimbots.com/genepool/
        
       | aloisdg wrote:
       | Great video. So smooth. Now I want to try it. Good job
        
       | cgijoe wrote:
       | I hope the author sees this. Dude, your video is so awesome,
       | thank you! But your microphone is "popping" every time you say a
       | 'P' or a 'T' sound. This is because you are speaking directly
       | into it. Try talking "past" it instead. Your vocal sound goes out
       | in all directions, but the "wind" from your mouth that creates
       | the pops only goes in one direction -- straight forward -- so if
       | you slide your microphone to the side, you will still have good
       | sounding audio with no pops.
        
         | argonautcode wrote:
         | Thanks, I didn't know about that technique. I'll definitely fix
         | it for the next video! I was on a time crunch while making the
         | voiceover for this one. I didn't have a pop filter and thought
         | I could get away with a software de-plosive. Turns out popping
         | is pretty difficult to fix without warping or trimming audio.
        
           | Loughla wrote:
           | I'm going to level with you, I can't hear the popping noise.
           | It just sounds like someone talking.
           | 
           | Maybe don't stress too much about it?
        
             | Modified3019 wrote:
             | Some people like myself are very sensitive to some some
             | vocal/audio oddities, while others seem insensitive to it.
             | 
             | The issue is for those sensitive, it literally creates the
             | feeling sick and/or needing to escape or fight the
             | situation (rage) despite rationally knowing there's nothing
             | wrong. See: misophonia
             | 
             | While sometimes the cause is unavoidable, reducing the
             | avoidable ones is worthwhile, though I would agree that
             | getting paranoid about it isn't needed.
             | 
             | For those that encounter this in video/audio, a useful
             | trick I've found is watching at a higher playback speed,
             | which seems to mask many of the things that would drive me
             | mad.
        
         | starry_dynamo wrote:
         | Funny enough, I came here to say that I watched that without
         | sound and it was still very interesting and easy to follow.
         | This person is a really great educator. Their other videos look
         | equally intriguing and well done:
         | https://www.youtube.com/@argonautcode
        
       | progbits wrote:
       | Regarding the "derpy lizard", I think it would look much better
       | if it had some gait pattern - maybe not allowing some legs to
       | reach at the same time, or just starting the legs and their
       | target points with different offsets so they don't move in phase
       | with each other.
       | 
       | Beautiful video though, would love to see more content from you.
        
       | nighthawk454 wrote:
       | Wonderful video, cheers! I also had no idea Processing was so
       | efficient at animations, I'll have to look into that furhter
       | 
       | https://github.com/argonautcode/animal-proc-anim
        
       | worldsayshi wrote:
       | Great demonstration!
       | 
       | TheRujiK seems to use a very similar animation technique. These
       | creatures also somewhat remind me of the creatures of Spore:
       | https://youtu.be/a87tB__3KEs?si=2Xl3Ub3j-Z3msxm6
        
       | mikhmha wrote:
       | You could also use these techniques as steering behaviors for a
       | group of autonomous agents? Each agent is a point on the segment.
       | It'd be like a team doing a dragon or lion dance.
        
       | globalnode wrote:
       | Had no idea about the FABRIK technique, that looks really useful
       | in a lot of different contexts too. I did a little clap irl at
       | the end of the video.
        
       | albert_e wrote:
       | Great video -- any complementary resource that can help a young
       | learner get started? What tool might one use to do such
       | animations?
        
         | azeirah wrote:
         | I'd recommend starting with the book "The nature of code", if I
         | recall correctly, a new version was published very recently
        
       | nox101 wrote:
       | This is very well made video. That said, the animations don't
       | actually move like real snakes or real fish. Animals don't move
       | from the head and drag the rest of their bodies behind them with
       | constraints on circles. They pull/push with muscles though out
       | the entire length of their body.
       | 
       | Fish: https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-29361571-koi-
       | fancy-c...
       | 
       | In fact not only do they not drag their behinds, the tails turn
       | further than the bodies
       | 
       | Snakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEto1-ZTbd4
       | 
       | That's not a dis. The technique in the video is pretty to watch
       | and might be good enough but it just stuck out to me at a glance
       | as unnatural. Like something was off.
        
         | ASalazarMX wrote:
         | The beauty of procedural animation is not thas it's realistic,
         | but that very simple principles allow for good-enough results.
         | It's something used for videogames or presentations, not
         | simulations.
         | 
         | TL;DR: animation by simplistic algorithms is a beautiful
         | technique, but a lousy simulator.
        
       | IndySun wrote:
       | The animations are less realistic grounded, legless, critters and
       | more accurately things being dragged (without seeing whats
       | dragging them). That said, engaging, concise, and well produced
       | video. The technique also comes to life when legs are added.
       | Maybe thats obvious.
        
       | irq-1 wrote:
       | Great video. Much more complicated, but checkout Godot "fish" in
       | the docs.
       | 
       | https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/performance...
       | 
       | > The animation will be made of four key motions:
       | 
       | A side to side motion
       | 
       | A pivot motion around the center of the fish
       | 
       | A panning wave motion
       | 
       | A panning twist motion
        
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