News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on A simple procedural animation technique [video].

Re:A simple procedural animation technique [video] by nox101 on Saturday July 27, 2024 @05:37AM (#41085459)
This is very well made video. That said, the animations don't actually move like real snakes or real fish. Animals don't move from the head and drag the rest of their bodies behind them with constraints on circles. They pull/push with muscles though out the entire length of their body.

Fish: https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-29361571-koi-fancy-c...

In fact not only do they not drag their behinds, the tails turn further than the bodies

Snakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEto1-ZTbd4

That's not a dis. The technique in the video is pretty to watch and might be good enough but it just stuck out to me at a glance as unnatural. Like something was off.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A simple procedural animation technique [video] by ASalazarMX on Saturday July 27, 2024 @04:03PM (#41088960)
The beauty of procedural animation is not thas it's realistic, but that very simple principles allow for good-enough results. It's something used for videogames or presentations, not simulations.

TL;DR: animation by simplistic algorithms is a beautiful technique, but a lousy simulator.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A simple procedural animation technique [video] by nox101 on Sunday July 28, 2024 @04:33PM (#41095762)
Making a more realistic "looking" simulation would not be more work or less simple.

For both, simply following the path of the first circle is both a simpler algorithm and closer to natural movement

[ Parent | on HN ]