Am playing with some concepts of animating knots; need opinions please. Am trying to do so with more color, shadowing; and now transparency (to see to the blindside of another line), and button functionality strategies than i’ve usually seen; and in reuseable parts to cut down on work from knot to knot; all while keeping file size small.
i’m also trying to devise a slider that will take you any place in movie by dragging mouse across slider at bottom; but can’t figure it out; but i always thought that would be a great way to view knots? So, presently just upgraded the Back button to take you 10 frames back in animation and stop, then hit play to go forward for when ya just can’t get it. Also, right clicks gives about 10 progressive levels of zoom.
This is around 18k, but really the jacked bowline is also in it’s library(that you don’t see) adding to it’s file size, i reused some of it’s ‘modular animation pieces’. Soon this will allow a menu of some knots, and the reuse each other’s pieces, for a pretty small filesize over all; (i hope).
Of course this should be backed up with stopper for supporting human cargo especially; but am just happy to get it this far presently!
Nice to see, clear lines and the motion slow enough to follow what happens.
The only thing against is that the lines seem cut rather than bending back round the bar when you see them later.
I think that the solution would be to keep the end of the parts like the end of the line is now, to keep the difference you could make the end like the bends are now.
Hi,
Alan Grogono has a wonderful site of animated knots and much time invested. Maybe you do not need to work at cross purpose but could unite for a better site? My ISP will not let me go to alan’s site and quote the URL here but I will try to go to his site after I log off and then come back to this site with the URL after I have checked it out. Any animated knot must show the hands or suggest the hands or it is useless (in my humble opionion). Good to have more folks working toward better understanding. Thank you. By the way, when I linked to your site at my ISP speed I got stand still, no motion and no animation. Please consider some folks at slow dialup.
Thanks for thoughts; i’ve extended the same animation/ link to include Tautline, Clove & Constrictor.
i’m not sure if i know what is meant by ‘cutting thru’; might have been where i tried to get fancy and make the animation modules/parts not generic and get some slide/ rearraingemeant to be more lifelike too?? Wasn’t so playful in the other 2 animations (clove/constrictor); that were quick working off the same tautline animation set.
i’ve had “The Grog’s” site listed 1st in my general knot link list for years now. His last upgrades are pretty sharp. His animations are more movies; set to slideshow; but very sharply done. And also lets you flow forward/backward amongst 10 or so slides that animate the production; for total control. A hard act to 'beat '. He also has a deal, where if you link to his site from mine, it shows my ‘logo’ at top for free. Nice guy; i think that is a running offer for serious sites if anyone is interested; i sent hom logo and location of link, and he fixed it up like that-free.
i’m trying to use vector art medium; that are much bigger and yet many times lower filesize than pictures and drawings; especially a series of regular ‘raster’/.BMP style picture and drawing art we are more used to. These have the ability to be zoomed in on without losing definition, parts made transparent and other drawing options (like the direction of the flow of force, fighting friction etc.). Then perhaps work on some text of theory; perhaps AboK number, Dan-esque comments etc.! ;D
My site has groan larger to have lots on it(but i still ook at it like it is in it’s infancy); full color pages; so being able to express same stuff in much lower filesize is one target to deal with that filesize and dialup problems. Presently the animation shows 3 knots @ 12 frames a second; and is still only 28k; after pictures for menu etc. Many other pix and drawings would run filesizes at 10 - 40k+ X 12+ frames per second of animated/ moving play; many can hit 500k+ of filesize per second of animation; so 28k is fairly ‘frugal’ on that scale.
i’m shy of drawing hands presently; also wouldn’t want them to get in the way; but for some things they seem invevitable and i will keep your suggestion in mind, thanx. i thought a week off school would give me plenty of time; but it is half over; and company coming for next 2 daze!!
i hope to throw a ‘quick’ mid shipman’s together from tautline; and leave this animation complete with a set of 4 choices on ‘menu’; clove, constrictor, tuat, and midshipman. Then start another set on some of our more specialized climbing friction hitches; that build off a coil of 4 consecutive turns. My views of similar mechanics of knots helps in more familiarity in animating groups of like knots, to reuse their parts. Oh, and if ya think you are real familiar with a knot/lacing; try drawing and animating and see how many boo-boos ya make along the way! :o
KC,
When you look at the first picture I have added to this post you see the line going round the post, but when you look as person trying to work out how the knot works, you will see the line end and start again. It is like your end of the line.
If you leave the turning as the end of the line while working, see second picture that confusion will be smaller.
If you round the ends like in the thirth picture without changing the colours to rounded shapes it will be more obvious that the line changes direction.
Wow, thanks a lot for the perspective; very doable; perhaps can even back up and change the modules that are in present knot animations; that would cause everything based on that modules to change instantly; but then would have to comb thru and fine tune ???..
Sorry to cause you more work, I know how it is when you change a little thing on a website and want everything to stay in style.
But that is why I said it now, when the collection is still small.
Thanks so much Miss Willeke for that hint; i’ve added it to most of the existing knot animations(though haven’t reconstructed menu pictures on that protocol); and added the Midshipman’s fully with this hint. After some shading on bottom side only; and on tips where rope wraps around the host spar or line; the quality and smoothness to the eye is immediately noticeable i think. i also retimed the finishing end of the wrapping turns to more closely assimilate stretching over, then down into the shading.
4 hitches now on the original link above; that are constructed from about 50 layered of depths; and stretches across over 800 frames of animation; all compacted into a 24k filesize (that’s supposed to be pretty good ;D)!
5 more friction hitch animations; smoother (thanks to Willeke’s tip once againas base of all that with shadowing etc. too). Working on newer interface, but for now have a menu list, play/stop buttons and the real challenge especially this round/ level was getting the scrub bar tow rk right so that user can now grab and drag it backword or forward; along with animation playing at the time.
This has crept up to 50k; to try to keep it small for dial-up etc.; it just opens at 14k for the menu and ‘interface’ controls etc. Then each animation is downloaded as called (about 8k a piece) seperately; which should still be pretty quick/acceptable; with the 50k not downloading all at once, and only small momentary downloads at a time (“more than one way to skin a cat”!).
The lines move more smoothly now, and seem to be more one whole after drawing. Still there is the odd point where they seem to ‘break’ while drawing though.
On my computer, broadband, there was no noticeable delay in uploading, good thing to cut it in smaller parts though, I remember being frustrated often enough when working on a slow connection.
