River Rapids

# 1 02-01-2008 , 04:45 PM

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Hi!
I need help with something. I'm trying to put together some River Rapids (like those you find at a theme park), and I'm trying to make it rather realistic (the boat moves with the flow of bumpy water). I first thought of a water surface and the boat moving according to wind and other forces, but the thing just span out of control. Then I tried with particles on a path to move the boat, but no matter what I did the particles still went at a rediculous speed and thew the boat off the scene. Then I decided to go for a particle flow of Blobbies (making the water as well), but without a "collide size" attribute they were too small to collide with the boat (and spilling out of all microscopical cracks).

So, can anyone tell me the best solution to making a good, and as realisticly looking as possible, River Rapid? Or at least help me with the collision of particles.

/Edward

Last edited by Edward256; 02-01-2008 at 05:29 PM.

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# 2 24-01-2008 , 03:23 PM

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Hello?
Am I asking for too much here (and there)?
Guess I just want to animate things as real life physics would animate them, like a walking person that stumbles over a marble/rock, or a hand grabbing an object, or an object moving with the water.

/Edward

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# 3 24-01-2008 , 08:01 PM

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Just to clarify how you constructed your rapid-ride sim so I understand how to help you better, here are a few questions first user added image

Did you use a pond or an ocean?
For the boat in the water, did you parent it to a fluid locator type?
I ask that because when an object is parented to one of these locators, the object responds appropriately to the motion of the waves.
NOTE: Fluid locators are connected to the displacement channel of fluid waves and are controlled by predefined expressions.
These expressions define the attributes that control the movement of the target object.
Did you check the Dynamic Boat tutorial sample in the help:
Using Maya > Dynamics and Effects > Fluid Effects > Open Water Effects > Create an Interactive Boat Simulation

Like I said, I'm just trying to figure out how you setup your initial simulation before we start troubleshooting options

Realize that we may have to simply keyframe your boat object or put it on a path, or maybe even give it a fake "motor" to push it along before we can start adding a rapid look to the pond/ocean etc.

Israel "Izzy" Long
Motion and Title Design for Broadcast-Film-DS
izzylong.com

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# 4 24-01-2008 , 10:21 PM

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Well, I am quite new to fluids. Whenever I click Create Fluid I get steam in a box and I have no idea how to slush that or make it flow down a flume/trough. I did see a tutorial on making a river with a 3rd party program, but looked complex plus I wanted to build the path kinda on the fly (depending on how and where the boat went).
What I have now is a particle emitter emitting Blobbies with a water texture. But the particles are too small to really bump the boat. And since I'm not using a fluid, I don't have a fluid locator.
And no, I didn't know there was a tutorial on that. I think I did search the forums, but it seemed like it was on a "static" fluid, and I have no real prior knowlage of fluids.

And the thing with why I want to put this boat on moving water is because I like dynamic movement, plus I feel it gives a sence of realism. I don't wish to make keyframes, I want the boat to bump against the trough walls and bob on the waves that bounce off the trough walls. But if it has to be fakes, at least help me fake it in a good way (better than RCT3 user added image

).

/Edward

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# 5 24-01-2008 , 11:50 PM

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No problem user added image

Now I just need to know a bit of detail about your "trough" geometry a little bit.

Is it all on a flat/level plane, like the "Lazy river" at a waterpark?

Or more like the "Log ride" with huge hills, and slides?

Lemme know user added image

Israel "Izzy" Long
Motion and Title Design for Broadcast-Film-DS
izzylong.com

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# 6 27-01-2008 , 04:02 PM

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Ok. The test trough I have now is a flat nurbs plain, and the walls are nurbs cylinders ( o U o ), apart from a U-turn in this experiment which is half a nurbs torus. These things may change, though, as I progress, to box polygons, and there might be a downhill or more (with obstacles and waterfalls).

Now if you are wondering why I'm using Nurbs most of the time is because I find that the physics are calculated faster on nurbs than on polies. Also for round objects they look and collide smoother. Yes, the boats ring is a nurbs torus, but the seats are a non-colliding polygon that is constrained to the ring. (useless info, I know :p)

/Edward

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# 7 08-03-2008 , 02:45 PM

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I take it from this long silence that it isn't that easy for anyone to make?

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# 8 08-03-2008 , 08:51 PM

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Actually, the way you explained it seems fine, but have you checked out the tutorial in the help that I told you about?

If you open the help by typing F1 while in Maya, then browse to:

Using Maya > Dynamics and Effects > Fluid Effects > Open Water Effects > Create an Interactive Boat Simulation

This is the tutorial I told you about in the 3rd post user added image

It tells you about the different types of locators to attach your boat to so it reacts better to the waves of the ocean in the way you need it to user added image

Let me know if you tried that or not, and how it helped.

Israel "Izzy" Long
Motion and Title Design for Broadcast-Film-DS
izzylong.com

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# 9 09-03-2008 , 02:08 PM

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Yeah, I've tried it, but I don't see how to make it a dynamic thing, like a floor of water that bends around bends and having the boat collide with other objects (like the walls). Besides, this is "Open" Water Effects. I want "Closed". user added image

/Edward

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# 10 28-06-2008 , 04:15 PM

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Ok, I've been trying some more stuff here and there and having some thoughts here and there. Saddly, not all of it worked... user added image

First I changed the walls from Surface Cyls, to Surface Plains and the particle flow stayed inside. user added image

But still having collision problems between the boat and particles.
Next I had a thought on putting pieces of "Pond Blocks" so the particles are effects and the motion is done through boat, but I couldn't really combine the Gravity Rigid Body with the Boat Locator. So next I thought of maybe having "Fluid Blocks" and add Fluid Collide. Trouble there is that Maya crashes as soon as the boat enters the fluid (boundaries).
So I have one final thought here. Is there any way one can have Soft Collisions on Particles? As particle collisions go now if one particle hits the boat the boat jumps, and if the boat falls in a river of them it gets shot off in some direction. Wondering if there's some way to like do so that the particles are not rock hard but either air or water soft. Or alternatively help me with some scripting so that if the distance between a particle and the boat is below something, move the boat (under rigid body properties) in the direction of that particle.

/Edward

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# 11 28-06-2008 , 06:24 PM

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Check the bounciness (Resilience) of the Boat GeoConnector I believe. Just turn it to Zero.
Sorry not in front of Maya at the moment...

Israel "Izzy" Long
Motion and Title Design for Broadcast-Film-DS
izzylong.com

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# 12 08-07-2008 , 08:07 AM

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Ok, tweaking the Resilience and Friction seems to get me somewhere. Fun part is that the results aren't the same for every flow. But I'm gettting there. All I need now is a AMD 12pack to render this when I'm done with it. ;P

/Edward

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River Rapids

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