Research Papers

Ive read numerous paper online about wing simulation and animation but the best so far is one by a 3^rd year student who studied at Bournemouth University named Annah Hutchings who looks throughout wing simulations which have already been done in the animation games and films industries already and studies the way that they were implemented and why they were implemented in that way and not another way and then eventually makes her own wing rig using the information she had collected. Im going to give a good read of this paper then post my findings once completed.

Software Competance and Tutorials

After looking through the net about wings I discovered that Digital Tutors offer a tutorial about rigging wings in Autodesk Softimage XSI, Autodesk Maya and Cinema4D. I feel as I’m a strong user of Maya I will use it to do my implementation and for when it comes to the scripting part of my project I will be able to use MEL or C++ which I know how to use more or less already. If I have further time in my project then I  may implement the same thing in XSI just to show I have competence in 2 software’s and still offer the same skills. 

When it comes to using Morph Targets I will most likely have to learn say Autodesk Mudbox or Zbrush or software on those lines to make the wing deformations and then revert them back to Maya to make the simulation.

Update Wing Anatomy and Joints

I could change my final year project instead of just implementing a rigged wing and then simulating it along a path to a comparison of the way it would work doing this and then comparing it to the morph target way and even implementing the morph target way so I can get direct comparisons rather than assumptions and having to find people who have do wing simulation in this way. I could also consider combining the 2 together having a wing rig and blend shapes having them work hand in hand to give a more hybrid simulation in whole.

As I know a very little on how the rigging process works I’m going to have to start my project on defining the wing bone structure, how it works, how it expands, how the wing is structured. Like a human bone structure some wings bones only rotate in certain direction causing constrains on how the wings movements are.

just a couple of reference pictures I took off www.google.com

Blend Shapes and Project Update

I do apologise for not using the blog till now i forgot i need it for expotees and i kept my blog in diary form so im just uploading my thoughts on my final year specification to date. 

In my specification I do state that I would rig a wing which I then would simulate. After talking about my project to some people and my supervisor I thought instead of rigging the wing for industry needs would it be easier/ more efficient to use morph targets/ blend shapes. So deforming the wing in certain positions conveying its flight in every scenario and writing a script which flips between each deformation depending on the flight trajectory. Which may add more fluidity to the animation as I understand a lot of facial rigs are made in this way.

Blend shape example on facail animation 

Just an example of Blend shapes in maya taken from http://cgterminal.com/2011/10/15/maya-blend-shape-tips-and-tricks-by-steven-roselle/

Specification

Bsc Animation and Visual Effects Programming

Final Year Project Specification

Sunjay Dayalji H8012115

Supervisor: Mathew Holton

Project Overview

My Project aims to study birds through flight and produce a procedural wing which emulates how an actual bird would fly depending on the forces applied upon it. The rig I produce would be simple to animate, reusable and realistic to an actual bird in flight. If I have time I would extend my project to include feathers to the wing simulation to apply a more interesting wing effect which would be visually pleasing when rendered. I feel this would help animators who are animating huge wing based projects as the rig would constrain in the right place so it would be easier to make a better looking product

Scope of the Project

During my project I am going to research how a bird flies and how their wings react to different conditions. With this research I hope to implement a reusable bird wing rig in 3D software preferably Autodesk Maya using either the C++ API or MEL scripting API to technically achieve wing simulation. If I have extra time during the project I would like to add feathers to the simulation as the feathers would need an extra rig because the move in a different fashion on the wing itself and they apply the resistance which is essential for the wing itself. Another extension I would like to add would be adding the tail, during flight the tail helps the bird fly and that rig would also include feathers.

My Aims

My main goal is to have a C++/MEL scripted wing which simulates over a path in a realistic fashion. To make the rig itself easy to apply to a model or asset I would like a menu system or its own Maya tool which would make the whole applying the rig an easy task. I would also like once this task is finished to be fluent in C++/MEL scripting API and be able to create rigs a lot easier in 3D software’s.

Schedule

I plan to use my time wisely throughout the project. I would like to spend most of November and part way through December doing research on wings and gaining a good idea on how a bird’s wing moves throughout flight and see how the wing is affected. Once I have done my research I will start analysing and planning how I want my wing to actually simulate which will be done mid-December till early January. Throughout the rest of January till mid-March I would like to implement my solution in the API of my choice and hopefully have something which is up and running which shows a good understanding of my actual project. March till the end of April I wish to have my Project up and running and have my Dissertation proof read and finalised ready for hand in. Throughout the next 20 or so weeks I am going to try keeping a blog noting my progress through my course showing how I am advancing and experimenting. I wish my project to be 6000-10000 words in length.