Kryonix Skeletal Objects for Imagine


Imagine3.0 has many features which are incredibly powerful,
but also frighteningly difficult to use. One of the most
amazing features are "bones", which can be used to great
effect when animation.

If you create a model of your arm and wish to animate it
realistically, you would need to move many elements
individually. Think of how your arm moves as you reach to
pick up a pencil: the upper arms moves, but so does the
lower arm, hand and fingers. Every part moves individually
in relation to one another as well as en masse.

The Imagine "bones" tool attempts to model how this process
works. By creating bone objects and then applying a surface
of skin on top, it's possible not only to build a
hierarchical structure into the movement, but also to take
care of the way the skin would move. It all sounds a bit
yucky, the end result is incredible: the arm would move
realistically, with the facets which cover it moving and
stretching. You can even add a texture on top and have it
stretch in the same way.

Unfortunately, bones are very complicated and not many users
can fathom exactly how they work. Kryonix is a company who
have sussed bones out totally, and they have created three
incredibly detailed dinosaur models which are constructed in
the "bone" friendly manner. The resulting models can all be
animated very realistically: legs will move, jaws open,
heads turn -- and all with a top layer of textured skin
which stretches and compresses.

Using the STATE function, you can create the movements as a
series of "morph targets". For example, one object state has
the jaw closed, and a second has it open. From the Action
editor you can select the states to use and Imagine will
interpolate the shapes inbetween models. Net result: a
terrific animation of a dinosaur roaring.

The ten disk set also includes a complete environment for
you to place your dinosaurs in: several landscapes, some
prehistoric looking plantlife, sky backgrounds -- all ready
to load in and render. A simple 120 frame animated sky is
provided which can produce some excellent results. The
dinosaur models are very detailed, so you will need a good
rendering set up: a few extra megs of memory, a co-processor
and a hard drive are strongly recommended. It might have
been a good idea to include the objects in several
resolutions so that users with more standard Amiga systems
could try the models out.

The obvious downside to the pack is that unless you really
need to create an animation with three dinosaurs you are
stuck. Well, that's not really the case as you get to take
apart some very well designed objects and see how they tick.
Kryonix also promise forthcoming packs in Imagine4 (and
possible LightWave format) featuring detailed aircraft
models. I'll look forward to seeing them: maybe by then
they'll also be available on CDROM format.



Price: £24.99 for ten disks 
Kryonix, 6 Kingsnorth Gardens, Folkestone, Kent CT20 2QW