Pin Array Animation

Ever wanted to create that cool mathematic visualization like the one on X-men: Movie? This technique will help you acheive it easily and with little math. The scenes and materials you will need are at the right.

Scene and Textures

Finished Quicktime

Other Transitions: 1 - 2

-First you must create a simple 95mm cube and center it in layout. (Why it must be 95mm will be explained later)

-Next, create a surface or part out of the top polygon. (This is for accesability reasons later but is not necessary). Now create a new weight map out of that same polygon and call it TOP. See image below.

TIP!

Deleting the bottom polygon will save you a lot of memory later.

-Now its time to create the arrays. For this example I am creating a 150 X 150 pin array (cube) as this will generate a lot of geometry so making a larger array depends on your system memory and processor.

The settings should go like this:

X count = 150

Y count = 1

Z count = 150

Offset = Manual

X offset = 97.5mm

Y offset = 0

Z offset = 97.5mm

-Because our cube is 95mm, the 97.5mm offset will create a 2.5mm gap between each cube in the array. (The reason for the gap is more apparent later.)

-Check that your weight map is the same for all cubes.

-Save your work and send your new pin object to layout.

-Go into object properties and go into the displacement map options. Here you will first create the displacement map that controls the vertical extrusions.

-Change the layer type to Gradient, Blending Mode: Alpha, and Axis Y

-Set the input to Weightmap and select the Top weightmap you created in modeler.

-Set a key on 100%,make the curve type stepped and give the first key a 0 value. See image below:

- Add a new image layer and place it below your weight alpha layer.

-Set the image map axis to Y, load the city00000.tga and hit automatic sizing. Set antialiasing and pixel blending to OFF! Set the invert layer On or Off depending on your Z-buffer Image. Play with the amplitude. See important notice! -->

-Now, a transition must be created to make the city appear in a cool fashion. I included a transition Quicktime with no compression at 150x150dpi.

-Load it into a new layer at the top and set its blending to Alpha.

-set axis to Y and Automatic Sizing.

-Set end frame to 90 and make a preview.

You are Finished!

IMPORTANT

Notice that the imagemap is exactly 150 x 150 DPI. This enables the technique to assign a single pixel per pin in the array. This is why we must leave a gap between the pins to ensure a neighboring pixel will not partially "pickup" an adjacent pin.