The problem with rag dolls: Euphoria to the rescue
Mikey 8 comments
I didn't want to be the first to say it, and I'm glad I'm not, but rag-doll physics got tedious a long time ago. Sure when it first hit the scene it was the cats' whiskers compared to the key-frame animation that was the industry standard. But the main problem with 'rag-dolling' is the completely unconvincing way in which a character falls, as if the life was instantly sucked out of them.
If you thinking along the same lines as me, then the Euphoria technology you are about to see will blow your mind. Even if you don't care much for animation, you will easily appreciate this because it has not been key-frame animated like in the past. Every reaction you see in this video is the result of real-time responses to what ever is happening while taking the environment into account. I think it's safe to say this will eventually be the end of Havok Physics.
Nate >.>
Sunday 27th April 2008 | 08:24 PMI uttered 2 words over and over through watching that video:
"Holy Crap!"
Man I can just imagine how complex some next-gen games/simulations are going to be, and I welcome it. :-)
...in response to this comment by Friendo. It's not web technology but it's game technology and pretty impressive at that. This sort of thing is actually a big deal in the industry and I watch it closely as 3D animation is not only an interest of mine but also a small part of my job as a designer. It's mind blowing to watch the technology out-do the previous generation in this way.
To give a brief background on what this is about, in games they used to manually animate characters to do certain things - like fall over when shot, or limp when wounded etc. But naturally it was too difficult to create an animation for every single scenario that could take place in a dynamic game environment. This means a character would often perform the same animation regardless of the circumstances.
Then along came rag-doll physics - actual physics where a characters body would dynamically bend and wrap itself around it's environment taking into account gravity and inertia. This means animators no longer had to spend weeks and months creating the animations for characters. Although it was a massive improvement over the previous technology, once rag-doll physics is applied to a character it appears as if their skeleton was magically ripped out from them, creating a rag-doll appearance (hence the term). So as an example, if a character was shot in the shoulder, he would become 'lifeless' and fall down the stairs before resting at the bottom. But of course in real life getting shot in the shoulder might not result in instant death, there is inertia, percussion, and a range of reactions the body goes through to react to having a bullet in the shoulder, before eventually bleeding to death or taking refuge somewhere.
This new Euphoria engine has solved the problem of what happens to a body under dynamic circumstances, without the need to manually animate the character. In the video the box is thrown at him from behind and he immediately realises there is something on his back, he turns his head while reacting to potential danger, before tripping over it backwards. This is a incredibly complex and time consuming animation to manually create. The fact it can be rendered in real-time is a staggering achievement.
Gina Squitieri
Monday 28th April 2008 | 01:37 AMThat is cool beans!
How outside of gaming might this technology be used I wonder--science/medicine?
Wufle
Monday 28th April 2008 | 11:05 AM...in response to this comment by Gina Squitieri. I think we need to focus on the important things first Gina.
Like gaming :)
Gina Squitieri
Monday 28th April 2008 | 12:04 PM...in response to this comment by Wufle. This is true. ;)
Nate >.>
Tuesday 29th April 2008 | 07:25 AM...in response to this comment by Wufle. Sir, I second that motion!
Friendo
Sunday 27th April 2008 | 07:21 PMMichael.....Man you are way out there. You must live in a different dimension where there are more hours in the day or something. Will you be using this innovative technology to make Rustylime the hottest site on the web?
F