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This week's bit of Python WIP is legoman playing whack-a-mole. There's a null on the vehicle that targets the mole, then the vehicle turns by that H angle and heads for his quarry. When distance to mole is < some value, the mole jumps to a new location. The sounds are played by sending 1's to sound nodes from the Python at the relevant time. I recorded the sound in real-time using Audacity and 'what you hear' from my sound card, with 'all frames' in C4D off. The resulting wav was only out by 2 frames, which I fixed in After Effects using time stretch, so the sync's not bad, considering. If you don't already use Audacity audio editor, I recommend you check it out - it's free, and Windows + Mac. http://www.audacityteam.org/ might amuse someone

Off-topic, but Wacom related - I recently got an entry level Wacom tablet + pen (23 x 17 cm £80) that I use with Windows Ink on a second monitor, to sketch out ideas, work out math, XPresso + Python etc and I don't know how I ever managed without it. Windows Ink is quite basic, but that's all I need - and it runs full screen. Comes free with Win10. > my $0.02

Writing to user data is the way - I do this all the time. xptransfer.c4d

Maybe they'll bring Python up to date while they're at it.

Nice - I like the cylinder block. I've just noticed that the other examples so far have an odd number of pistons - is that because of the order they fire ? Before I realized this, I had a go at a 12 cylinder version - the purple cylinder sleeves remind me of Marge Simpson

Here's my attempt - I used 3D Kiwi's piston constraint method and made the cloner editable. There's often a lag problem with constraints and XPresso (for me anyway), but this isn't too bad - https://www.dropbox.com/s/es6q66oy4nptejt/engine2.c4d?dl=1 an interesting subject edit - I thought the offset center should move a bit more, so I added some sinusoidal rotation. There's a slider https://www.dropbox.com/s/k2lwzwsyw3n9fuc/engine3.c4d?dl=1

Default ports, when you make a new Python node, are float (real). You should remove the output port (double click) and make a new one, type string. This caught me out when I first used Python. I'd got into bad habits due to using XPresso, where anything can be connected to anything. Python is fairly strict in this matter.

Me personally - no, but is it possible - yes. There's a bit of a hole in my Python knowledge when it comes to creating objects using code. I've seen posts here and at CG talk on this topic. My current Python method is reference objects in OM and user data > do math in Python > write vectors for position and rotation which more or less does what I want at the moment. There's usually a bit of Python in the weekly TDMS - well worth the 10 euro pm IMHO.

Since you like my XPresso camera tricks, here's 2 more. There's a constant zoom scene, where I keep an object the same size in the camera viewfinder, and a smooth camera target scene that is useful for following a jerky subject. In fact, I use the smoothing method to smooth ordinary data all the time - if you look in my legoman python it's buried in the code. morecameratricks.zip

I was watching video 4 from the TDMS series today - the wheel and ray collision - and I came up with this. It's basically the same as the tutorial, but using base80's magic wheel so that the wheel can go in any direction and still turn correctly - a bit like Roll It. I've put the base80 scene in the zip file. might amuse someone rolling.zip

@szender If you use a hierarchy node, you can use the order that the objects are in the object manager. Also, it's flexible so you can add or remove objects. order2.c4d

A link list has an index in port, to reference objects. In this file I used an object node as the specimen object, so I could get X position and name. linklist.c4d

As they say on kids TV - here's one I made earlier

Not sure where the 44 fits in, but I think this file does what you want ie it turns the 2nd wheel by 44 degs from 90% > 100 %. There's a readout for the 2 rots, and a user data control to turn 1st wheel. Remember that XPresso uses radians not degrees. turn44.c4d

2nd answer 1st - saving data in user data. Here's an interesting idea I got from a guy called base80 : In XPresso there's a node that can measure the length of a string ie how many characters (including spaces) are in a phrase. But what if the phrase was 'this phrase has 35 characters in it' and you were getting the '35' from XPresso? That would mean connecting the output from the 'length' node at the end the chain of nodes, back to the input at the LHS. Output to input is not allowed in XPresso, because it would create problems, especially for noobs - but looping in programming is one of the most powerful tools. The answer is what base80 called his 'dirty proxy trick' - you get the length from the node, write it to a user data value (at the end) and read it back (at the start). See file https://www.dropbox.com/s/ax4dbteq3ayve7f/base80trick.c4d?dl=1 Using math add, I've made the string 'this phrase has 29 characters'. The '29' is auto generated. If you edit the 1st string to read 'did you know that this phrase has ... etc', and either press 'a' to reload (or jiggle the playhead) you get 'did you know that this phrase has 47 characters'. That should amuse you while I write some Python for your 1st question.

I got lost on question 1. Is object C different to object A ? A = A + B is a loop C = A + B is addition Making the loop scenario only execute when the value to be added changes is easy in Python. make a user data value (real, with no limits) and write to, read back etc.

So what's your definition of optical illusion ? To me it's just a bit of deceptive geometry that confuses the brain. You video don't have any ambiguity - looks like a regular animation to me. I do realize that everyone's brain works differently ie some people can't see some illusions. Here I've a stab at the old hollow cubes thing - the cubes flip for me, so is that not an optical illusion either ? I think the trick here is lack of perspective (I used a parallel camera). I used Python to swap the colors - sledgehammer/nut etc. https://www.dropbox.com/s/pudtcdey6i631ln/cubes.c4d?dl=1

couple as in 3 . . .

LOL - I read 'em all, Guardian, Sun . . .

I nicked the idea from this Daily Mail story. I think the illusion is supposed to be the blue and black lines changing length (as opposed to the star thing). I also had a go at animating the out of step wonky bricks thing (there's a building painted with the pattern in the article), but that's still a wip. Here's a still wonky bricks, only circular - needs large monitor There seems to be a lot more to optical illusions than I first imagined. The size of pic and viewing distance plays a part.

Has anyone got this octo running on dynamics ? Getting the legs in sync is harder than I thought. Here's my wonky 1st attempt -

I saw an interesting optical illusion animated gif in an online newspaper today, so I thought I'd waste an hour or so recreating it. The key seemed to be using a bit of trig to keep the moving parts a constant width. I've added a 'reveal'. this file has a control panel, so you can play with the parameters - https://www.dropbox.com/s/21rgcyj8xgwyyw7/star.c4d?dl=1 might amuse someone

Not sure why your track's slipping - have you got the base80 cylinder the same radius as the track rounding radius (and located it midway in the track) ? For bumpy terrain, you might want to look at a dynamic system. I've had limited success, as long as you don't get too ambitious re steering and speed. Here's a straight line dynamic version https://www.dropbox.com/s/zixwjmfrt21ct4t/trackerdynamic.zip?dl=1 I sent you a pm about some new math ideas I had for the non-dynamic tracker.

I built the Lester Banks version and added one of my steer rigs - https://www.dropbox.com/s/zrpkz5i0wwhc5rh/tracker.c4d?dl=1 does the stationary spin on axis thing

I think this is the XPresso you are looking for https://www.dropbox.com/s/gfa9t0yovbohxcm/basewheel1.7.c4d?dl=1 the wheel rotates correctly for any position or rotation of the parent null @HSrdelic can this brilliant bit of Base80 global matrix magic be put in the big file repository before it's lost forever ? added: I watched the Lester Banks videos. He locates the Base80 wheel at one of the cylinders - I think it makes more sense to put it midway between the front and back cylinders (on each side), especially for the skid-steer spinning on axis thing.