MIME-Version: 1.0 Server: CERN/3.0 Date: Sunday, 01-Dec-96 19:46:32 GMT Content-Type: text/html Content-Length: 3161 Last-Modified: Friday, 26-Apr-96 14:52:16 GMT Ride To Heaven

Ride To Heaven

CS418 Final Project - Spring 1996
Kartik Kapadia
Amith Yamasani


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