The land where the Bong-tree grows

Since my Computer modelled cat post describing how I created the model using Animation:Master I have decided to do a short animation based on “The Owl And The Pussy-Cat” by Edward Lear. This is the poem that starts: “The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat”.

I have now upgraded to the current version of Animation:Master. My favourite part of the computer program is creating models. There is a line in the poem that goes: “They sailed away, for a year and a day, to the land where the Bong-tree grows”. The Bong-tree is mythical so is open to interpretation. I thought it would be fun if the Bong-tree made a bong noise whilst bouncing like a spring.

Wireframe of the Bong-tree

The first step was to build the tree. The tree trunk was done by drawing one side of the outline in the modelling window of Animation:Master and using the lathe tool create a 3D tube. For the palm leaves I drew the complete outline and then filled it in with a network of four-point patches. The leaf was then copied eight times and positioned near the top of the tree trunk. Bones were added to the trunk and leaves to aid the animation.

The tree was animated with a combination of muscle and bone movements. If you are unfamiliar with the way this works there are some excellent video tutorials on the Animation:Master website that show the process in detail.

Select an area and move it down to start the bounce.

Having got the tree to bounce the way I wanted, I decided to place it on a desert island surrounded by sea. The island is the top part of a ball shape, coloured yellow and given some roughness to look like sand. The sea is a flat patch of blue that was given some roughness and sparkle to look like water. I animated the sea patch across the set to give the sea some movement. The sky is a picture of clouds on a vertical patch.

Once my test scene was rendered I imported it into Windows Movie Maker and added a bong sound. I also added a sound effect called “forest” either side of the bong sound.

Click on the pictures above for larger versions.

Above: Boing-tree test animation.

Wire-frame model of the cat

A computer generated cat has emerged from my experiments with the Animation:Master program.

I started with the head by creating a ball shape. A smaller ball was created for the snout and half pushed into the head. A ball was added for the nose and two balls for the eyes. Eyelids were modelled from half balls and positioned on top of the eyes. The ears are also created from half balls. The whiskers are long thin tubes that resemble drinking straws.

Final render of the cat.

The body started as a fat sausage shape that I pulled around until I was happy with it. The tail started as a long tapered sausage that was moved around to get the curve. The legs also started as long sausage shape that I gradually moulded until I got them to what they are now. An Internet search found me a diagram of a cat skeleton that I used as a guide to as to where the legs would bend.

Final render of the cat.

Colour is added by selecting an area on the model and giving it a name. Once named it can have various attributes associated with it such as a chosen colour. The nose and eyes have been given a shiny surface as you can see from the highlights.

Click on the pictures for a larger view.

I have just started a new animation project using a computer program called Animation:Master. I first used this program way back in 1994 and last used it in 1998. That was three computers ago and my animation from that time has found its way to computer heaven never to be seen again.

I was inspired to install the program on my present computer following a visit to the Martin Hash’s Animaton:Master web site last week. I was pleased to see that not only was the program still available but it has grown in scope over the intervening years.

I am using a version that I purchased in 1997 so it does not have anywhere near as many functions as today’s program but the basic modelling and animation functions are there. The recommended operating system for my copy of Amimation:Master is Windows 95 and NT so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it works on Windows XP. Just to be sure I have set it to run in “compatibility mode” for Windows 95.

Amimation:Master project window

Having got the program running I decided to do a bit of character modelling. That is when I realised that in my twelve year absence I had forgotten what buttons and keys to press to get things working, so it was just like starting over. There is an old saying that if all else fails read the instruction manual. It starts with a simple exercise of building a candle so that is where I began.

The modelling tools are similar in operation to a vector drawing program such as CorelDraw. You add lines by clicking the start and end points, building up the shape with multiple points. Then comes the clever bit, when you have your basic outline you click on a “lathe” button and it turns your outline into a 3D shape.

The candlestick has four separate components; the candle holder, the candle, the wick and the flame. As you create the parts you can add colour by selecting from a pallet. You can also add surface attributes such as shininess, called ‘specularity’ in the program and brightness, called ‘ambiance’.

Candle exercise. The final render

At any point you can do a final render to see the finished version. One difference I noticed from the computer that I was using twelve years ago is the speed of the final render. The picture of my simple candle model appeared almost instantly whereas it used to take several seconds.

This little test run has inspired me to carry on learning the program so I will keep you posted on how I get on. If you have tried computer animation then let us have your thoughts in a comment to this post.

Note: click on the pictures to see a larger version.