🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <scrutnzr-2903960424330001@ts5-08.tor.istar.ca> scrutnzr@inforamp.net (Jim May) writes:
>From: scrutnzr@inforamp.net (Jim May)
>Subject: Re: The Old Golfball
>Date: 29 Mar 1996 09:18:19 GMT


>> >In a previous article, gmead@io.org (Glen Mead) said:
>> >>elements are consistent on a real golf ball.  How does one model a truly 
>> >>realistic looking golf ball?  If anybody could give me some pointers on how 
>> 
>> >Well, one thing that I'm sure would make a huge difference is to
>remember that
>> >the dimples on a golf ball are on a hexagonal grid, not a square one.
>> 
>> 
>> >-- 
>> >Paul Tomblin, Contract Programmer.
>> 
>> I noticed that a tesselated sphere will generate a very golfball like
>array of 
>> polygons when metaformed.  Something to look at if you want to spend a few 
>> hours fiddling in modeler.  I never got a good golfball this way since I 
>> couldn't get the dimples to smooth as much as I wanted.  But someone else may 
>> be more patient.
>> 
>> 
>> Walter (Jay) Turberville         |wturber@primenet.com  wturber@aol.com

>You are definitely on the right track, W.T., except that I would say that
>it's the _points_ that make that pattern.  Most of the modern golf balls
>have a pattern where each dimple is surrounded by six others, _except_ at
>certain main points, which have _five_.  The main points are at the center
>of five rows of dimples that go from main point to main point, defining
>what looks like spherized triangles from a 20 sided regular solid
>(somethingahedron).

This tru of the metaformed sphere as well.  There are a few with only five 
surrounding points. 

>If there was a way to do a point-clone, with each clone "aimed" at center,
>one could use the tesselated sphere's own points to turn them into
>Booleaned dimples, using simple "cups" instead of complete spheres, with
>the exact same "cut" for all.

>I'm sure that a suitable ARexx or BML script could do this.  If there is
>one, someone please email me... if you write it, same!

What I did was painstakingly select the points and then do a resize in 
differing amounts to create the dimples.  There is one other problem.  The 
level 2 has too few dimples, and the level 3 tessalation has too many.  

I gave up.  I ended up rendering the dimple texture to a flat polygon in LW.  
I took the resulting image and applied the spherize filter to it.  I then 
applied a lighting effect to the altered image to match my scene.  Finally, I 
mapped the altered image to a disk (ooh yuk! - 2D) and placed the disk in 
front of my not so well modeled golfball.  The animation was a closeup of the 
ball being struck.  So I did a one frame dissolve and used motion blur.  Once 
the golfball was moving, it didn't need to be accurate.  For the moments while 
it was "on" the tee. The disk looked just fine.  Sometimes deadlines dictate. 


>It sounds dirty, but that looks like what the Viewpoint guys did, in their
>catalog.

>Jim May
>http://www.inforamp.net/~scrutnzr
>Phaethon Interplanetary Developments,   LightWave Gallery



Walter (Jay) Turberville         |wturber@primenet.com  wturber@aol.com
Studio 522 Productions           |http://www.primenet.com/~wturber
http://www.studio522.com         |ftp.primenet.com/users/w/wturber