track a small prop?

laneway
Posts: 30
Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:08 am

track a small prop?

Post by laneway »

can a prop be a screwdriver or a wrench?
it is smaller then a sword.
can arena tracks small props like a screwdriver?
i need to capture the action that a people use a screwdriver.
bsteagal
Posts: 322
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:00 am
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Re: track a small prop?

Post by bsteagal »

Hi Way

Yes, you can track a screwdriver, you would have to use the smaller markers (such as the ones used for the hands), it may be a little difficult to capture the subtle twisting of a screwdriver, but could be possible
Bryan Steagall
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NaturalPoint - Mike
Posts: 1896
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2011 8:41 am
Location: Corvallis, OR

Re: track a small prop?

Post by NaturalPoint - Mike »

Most certainly this could be captured. Props can be of any size, really. The sword, gun, and other props that are provide in the rigid body wizard are just visualization tools and can be representive of anything. Additionally, if you have a screwdriver .3ds file, you can load that against the rigid body as well.
farstar
Posts: 140
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:26 am

Re: track a small prop?

Post by farstar »

Mike,
Could you explain what this means and how this is done when you say. "Additionally, if you have a screwdriver .3ds file, you can load that against the rigid body as well".
Thank you in advance for the reply.
NaturalPoint - Mike
Posts: 1896
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2011 8:41 am
Location: Corvallis, OR

Re: track a small prop?

Post by NaturalPoint - Mike »

Well, you could create a screwdriver model and save it as a .3ds file. You could then load the screwdriver model and attach it to the rigid body instead of a standard item like the gun or sword.
farstar
Posts: 140
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:26 am

Re: track a small prop?

Post by farstar »

Mike,
could you please explain to me were and how I would load the 3ds file?
How would I then attach this to the riggid body?
NaturalPoint - Mike
Posts: 1896
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2011 8:41 am
Location: Corvallis, OR

Re: track a small prop?

Post by NaturalPoint - Mike »

In the rigid body wizard, when you have the option to select an image for the rigid body, you can select a custom image, and point to the 3ds file. At that point you can adjust it just like you would a stock image.
farstar
Posts: 140
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:26 am

Re: track a small prop?

Post by farstar »

Outstanding! thank you Mike.
kitesflyer
Posts: 26
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2011 12:45 am

Re: track a small prop?

Post by kitesflyer »

Hey Far Star, I was also trying a stuff like this one.I was doing a sword,but I am stuck at the point of exporting the data? so,this is to ask you that could you successfully export the motion data of the tracked rigid body object to another program?
farstar
Posts: 140
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:26 am

Re: track a small prop?

Post by farstar »

Kitesflyer,
I am just getting ready to try this myself and am trying to gather information on how this is done. I would suggest trying to export out the prop data as a fbx and import it into animation software adn then save it out. In max I import in the fbx data and then convert the animation into a xml animation file.
I will let you know how that goes once I get it done.
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