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Ride To Heaven
Ride To Heaven
Storyline
This is a simulation of a magnetic levitation train travelling over the sea
(ofcourse on tracks). This setting is some time in the future when Ithaca gets
submerged under the sea and everyone lives under water, surfacing only to
catch the Ithaca Transit Train. The journey is very exciting with a lot of
scenic sights along the way. So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride - you may
never come back......
Now for some technical stuff:
We have used most of the concepts that we learned in CS 417/418 as well as
some tricks of our own. This includes parametric surfaces, hierarchical
modelling, texture mapping, physics based animation, fractals, etc.
The DX program is structured in a modular way, with macros for almost all
objects in the scene. The program itself is hierarchical in nature. Some of
the interesting modelling that we have done is :
Dolphin
We modelled a realistic looking dolphin (well almost!) after hours of web
surfing for dolphins. The main body as well as the fins and beak were made
from parametric surfaces. We started with a kind of cylindrical surface,
flattened it a bit and then modified the radii at different points using a
manually entered list of numbers. A random colormap gave it a better
appearance. In order to warp the hierarchically modelled object, it was
necessary to write our own transforms which physically alter the vertices and
then warp them.
Fractal Tree
We built a recursive tree using loop structures in DX. The method used was
simple and does not support much randomness in the structure of the tree. But
the effect is good enough for a reasonably complex scene. The basic idea is to
make a simple branch, duplicate it around an axis and cache this structure for
the next generation branch (branch made up of smaller branches).
Train
The train is parametrically modelled, with tinted glass windows and sliding
doors. It is a very good example of hierarchical modelling. It has volume
rendered flames for jets on the engine. The motion of the train is controlled
by the equation S=ut+1/2 a.t^2. It decelerates to stop at the station and then
accelerates off into space (courtesy, the booster jets). Care was taken to
align the train carriages on the tracks at all times.
Texture maps
We used plenty of texture mapping to enhance the visual effects, though it was
expensive in terms of computing power.
Camera movement
This was simplified by specifying key positions and then in-betweening them to
get the actual To and From positions.
TIME: 13:42:42
DATE: 04/24/96