TITLE: Goldberg's Kitchen

NAME: Daniel A. O'Neil
COUNTRY: USA
EMAIL: ON31L@aol.com
WEBPAGE: 

TOPIC: Unnecessarily Complicated Devices
COPYRIGHT: I SUBMIT TO THE STANDARD RAYTRACING COMPETITION COPYRIGHT.
MPGFILE: kitchen.mpg
ZIPFILE: kitchen.zip
RENDERER USED: 
    Blender Creator


TOOLS USED: 
    TMPGEnc (file conversion),
         Painter Classic (texture maps), 
         Google (research),
         Excel (time keeping)


CREATION TIME: 
    Over 265 hours were spent on modeling (55%),
         armatures (17%), animating (15%), surfacing (6%),
         effects (4%), and documentation (3%).  
         Rendering the animation required approximately 
         5.5 hours. 


HARDWARE USED: 
    Dell Inspiron 7500 Laptop computer with a
         500 MHz Pentium III and 96MB RAM


ANIMATION DESCRIPTION: 

Refer to the diagram named GoldbergsKitchen_wLetters.jpg contained
in Goldbergs_Kitchen.zip.

Sunrise (A) motivates the rooster to crow, (B) which scares the
mouse (C) into running,  which causes the exercise wheel (D) to turn;
thus rotating the spool gear (E) and tightens the string tied to
the wooden dowel.(F)  When the dowel falls, (G) the trap door (H)
drops  and releases the bowling ball, (I) which falls into the
bowling bag (J) causing the rope and pulley (K) to raise the 
trophy.(L)  As the trophy rises, it causes the Erector Set gear 
box (M) to turn on the stove (N).  As the trophy continues to rise,
it hits the scale holding a weight, (O) which lowers the other scale
holding the coffee can; (P) thus striking the kitchen match.(Q)
A glass balanced on a ruler (R) stops the scale causing the clamp (S)
to open as it hits the top of the can.  When the clamp opens, a
string (T) swings the lit match down to light the stove, thus heating
the coffee pot (U). 


VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS: 
    To view the credits and copyright turn off
          the repeat option on your media viewer.


DESCRIPTION OF HOW THIS ANIMATION WAS CREATED: 

Research involved searching the Internet for pictures of clocks, kitchen
appliances, product labels, roosters, bowling bags, and Erector Sets.  A
notebook with pages full of reference images proved to valuable while creating
the models.  Blender Creator offers a variety of modeling and animation
techniques.  The Rooster and Mouse were initially created with NURBS and bowler
on the trophy was created with Metaballs; these models were converted to
meshes.  Movement in the Rooster, Mouse, Bowling Bag, strings, Erector Set gear
box, and Scales were created with armatures and inverse kinematics.  Motion
paths moved the Bowling Ball, Bowling Bag, and Trophy.  Static particles were
used to create the sawdust at the bottom of the Mouse Cage.  Dynamic particles
were used for the flames and steam.  A Halo material was used to create the
match strike.  Another Halo material produced the lens flare as the camera
passes by the window.