TITLE: The Runner Rie's Edition
NAME: Jeffrey D. Shaffer
COUNTRY: Japan
EMAIL: oyume@gold.ocn.ne.jp
WEBPAGE: http://www.pitt.edu/~oyume
TOPIC: Robot
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
MPGFILE: runner.mpg
ZIPFILE: runner.zip
RENDERER USED: 
    POV-Ray 3.1g

TOOLS USED: 
    cmpeg, PhotoStudio (for movie poster)

CREATION TIME: 
    3 months
RENDER TIME: 50-55 hrs

HARDWARE USED: 
    Intel 233MMX with 32MB RAM



ANIMATION DESCRIPTION: 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   It's a humaniod robot running from a saw blade. He's cut in half and
falls over. After this, there are supposed to be several out-takes to
lighten the mood, but I ran out of time (because I moved into a new house...)
   It's short on plot, but it started as an exercise in animating realistic
human motion (AKA -- Running!).



VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS: 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
   Normal size, but double-size looks good if you sit back from the screen
a bit.



DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS ANIMATION WAS CREATED: 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   (1) I designed the "TOY-Boy" robot in Moray. Then I switched completely
over to POV-Ray. I had to rebuild him by hand while I cleaned up all the
poor code and changed everything back into a left-hand system. I rebuilt all
the pieces based around their point of rotation. Then I added several motion
control #macro's, but later I took most of these out to make things simpler.

   (2) I wrote a basic storyline, which I only followed for the first 2/3,
then I thought the ending wasn't realisic enough. So I rewrote it to what
you see here. (I originally had him split, then join back together and keep
running.)

   (3) LOTS and LOTS of test renders and lots of paper to help figure out
the trigonometry of movement. Yup, that's right -- I did all the animation
by hand. (NOTE: Using SIN, COS, and TAN gives a much smoother motion to
cameras and falling objects!) The running motion was synthesized by
videotaping myself walk and then measuring the arcs my knee and hips made.
For the arms I pretended I was walking then guessed on the arcs. The bounce
and pivot were determined by watching my coworkers go get coffee.

   (4) Show final render to fiancee who's shocked speechless; not because
it's good, but because it's too cruel to cut him in half.  :'(

   (5) Decided to take her suggestion and make it more light hearted (hence
"Rie's Edition" -- as her name is Rie.) I decided the best way is through
out-takes to show he doesn't really get hurt.

   (6) Split outtakes into a seperate POV file, OUTTAKES.POV
   
   (7) Render outtakes (only made one because I ran out of time. Sorry!)
   
   (8) Fix jerkyness in credits (spit into a seperate POV file, CREDITS.POV)
   
   (9) Edit movie and outtakes together using a LIST file for CMPEG. This 
is included in the ZIP file.
   

TOY-Boy FACTS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
   - CREDITS.POV frames 35-48 took ~1 hour EACH to render

   - Legs: three rotation axis
      (1) ankle (80 degrees)
      (2) knee (160 degrees)
      (3) hip (100 degrees)

   - Arms: two rotation axis 
      (1) shoulder (60 degrees)
      (2) elbow (20 degrees)
       
   - Head: one rotation axis
      (1) neck (20 degrees -- counteracts waist movement)

   - Body: two rotation axis
      (1) waist in the y-plane (16 degrees)
      (2) waist in the x-plane (I lost track, I think 10 degrees)

   - There are essentially 8 rotation points and 7 of them stay in constant
cyclical motion (the only one NOT in motion is where the body "leans
forward" while running to maintain balance.) All 7 of these cycles have to
be syncronized.

PS -- Yes, he has eyebrows... *wink*