Soktoy

OpenTTD

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 02:14:00 +0000

Akhirnya... setelah sekain lama maen gamenya di windows, ketemu juga versi opensourcenya. Buat yang dulu suka maen transport tycoon... sekarang ada OpenTTD.

Cekidot...

Kumis Facial Rig Test

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 05:08:00 +0000

.
Hmm... riibed kynya pas animate. Kebanyakan controllernya..

enjoy.

Simple driver setup

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:37:00 +0000

The idea is simply to create a driver setup for bones in Blender 2.53.

We're gonna create 3 main bones (boneA, boneB & boneC) with one control bone (bone.Control).
For this example, I want that if bone.Control is being rotated then boneB will follow the rotation.
And if bone.Control is scaled in Y axis, I want the boneC rotates on specific axis.

The setup:


01


02

Now, step 4...
Select boneC, click the bone icon in properties panel, change the rotation order from "quaternion" to "XYZ euler". Well, it's kinda personal pref, I like my rotation order is set to euler.
Add single driver into rotation X by right click on rotation X field.

Open graph editor and switch from "f-curve editor" to "drivers".
Press "n" to show properties in graph editor, scroll down and delete any modifiers (usually generator) in modifier tab.

Scroll up, change the type to "average value" in drivers tab. Tick on "show debug info". And add variable.
Give it a name, change to "Transform Channel".
Click on the cube icon there, select the armature. Click on the "bone" icon below that, and select the bone.Control.
Select Y Scale and tick local space.
If everything was setup correctly, boneC will rotate up. That's because that driver created earlier doesn't have the f-curve... yet.

Step 5... Lets add those nifty f-curve will ya.
In the graph editor press ctrl+left-click. Btw I changed the default left-mouse-click for selection & right-mouse-button for 3D cursor. Dunno if this have some effect on the graph editor for adding f-curve.
Anyway... after that first ctrl-left-click, the second click will not add another point for the f-curve. So we're stuck with only one point for the f-curve. Maybe it's a bug.. or maybe I messed up with my Blender setting, I don't know.

But if this is happening, simply just copy that first point, and drag right mouse button in the graph editor to move few frames, and paste that point. Move it roughly to frame 2. Copy and paste another one and move roughly to frame 0 in the graph editor (driver mode).

Find & expand tab called "Active Keyframe" and "View Properties".
I think these two things are important to move the f-curve's points.
We already have 3 points, now lets move them into the appropriate position.

Select the first point (or the most left), and check the key in "Active Keyframe".
Type in "0" (zero) in the X, and "1" in Y.

Second point (or the on that in the middle), type in "1" in X and "0" (zero) in Y.

Third (or the most right), type in "2" in X and "-1" in Y.

It was a bit confusing at first, but basically the x channel here is the value that connected to the driver value. And the y channel here is that value that affecting the driven value. Too many value words eh...

To get a clearer mind, we have setup driver for boneC x rotation value to be controlled by bone.Control scale Y. And we already have three points for the f-curve.

The first point (or you may say the first condition) X value is zero. The Y is 1. This means, if bone.Control scale Y value equals to zero, then boneC rotation x will have the value from that Y (which is 1) but if we zoom-in in the graph editor, and see that Y value of 1 is equals to 57 or so in the graph editor. So, if bone.Control scale Y is 0, boneC rotation X will have the value is 57 (or 1 if you see in the Active Keyframe tab).

Second point (or second condition), X is 1 and Y is 0, this means is bone.Control scale Y is 1, then boneC rotation X is 0. This is the default state. Because by default scale is always has value 1 in every scale channels.

Third point (well, third condition), X is 2 and Y is -1, meaning...?
Yeah right, is bone.Control scale Y is 2, then boneC rotation X will have the value of -1 (in the active keyframe tab) or aroung -57 (if you zoom-in the graph editor).

What if we want that boneC to have value of 90 in rotate x for the third key?
Easy... scroll up to View Properties in graph editor, select the third key and type in -90 in the cursor Y there. Then click to keys nest to it. The third point will move itself to a position where the value is -90 (well, it around -1.571 in my Active Keyframe x field).
Still confused? go grab yourself a coffee... relax a bit & try again. I did to then.

Now, if everything was setp properly, if we scale bone.Control in y axis, boneC should rotate accordingly. Well at least for me it is (^^,)

Btw.. I think there too many confusng words up there. Maybe next morning when not this sleepy, might be able to edit this post making it more brief... and... Zzzz.........zzzz.........

Kumis Test Rig

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:01:00 +0000

.
Testing Mr. Kumis facial rig... just the head and eyeballs. Eyebrows, teeth and other facial objects... are next to rig.

bones + corrective shapes = backpain!!!
.

Cemetery - First Model

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:37:00 +0000

1st work in progress model. Supposed to be the main character in "Cemetery"...

Let's call him.. Mr. Kumis..

Cemetery - 01

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:23:00 +0000

So freakin slow..!!! gmana nanti kalo ditambah rumput, bushes, dll.... bisa hang laptopnya. Mo preview animasi frameratenya nge-drop bngt!!!

Pics from my trip

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 09:45:00 +0000

Foto waktu jalan ke magelang-solo-jogja-semarang.

Rel Kereta Api - Menuju Jogja

Pintu Belakang - Rumah Magelang

Rumah - Magelang

Rumah Tua - Magelang

Gunung & Sawah - Magelang

Pintu Rumah - Borobudur

Itu loch Candi Borobudur - Aman Jiwa Lobby

Jaka Saroeng - Action 1

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:55:00 +0000

Action 1...

Close-up...

Enjoy!

Pics

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:07:00 +0000

Foto perjalanan menuju Subang. Difoto pake henpon dari dalem mobil. Kecuali yg tumpukan kayu.

"Portal" - Subang

"Wood Pile" - Subang

"Sawah" - Subang

JS - Monas II

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:38:00 +0000

Dibalik dapur scene JS - Monas 1...

JS - Monas

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:35:00 +0000

Si Jaka lagi ngeliat pemandangan kota....
"Ugh Macet....!!"...

btw, foto background dari blognya Anton Wahyu.

JS - Test Normal Map

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:23:00 +0000

Test render normal map... bikin hiresnya cape juga.Bake normal mapnya cepet juga di blender.
Enjoy!

Test modeling kepala

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:49:00 +0000

Abis liat2 tutorial modeling kepala dengan blender... jd coba2. Tessssttt.................... cape juga ternyata.

Bad Ticks

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Gara2 minggu kemaren pake batik, jadi latah iseng2 bikin pola batik.

Pola batiknya namanya "Batik Semprong" versi 0 (^_^)v....

Double sided texturing Blender 2.49

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:28:00 +0000

Dunno in other version, but did this in v.2.49. I was trying to use 2 texture files on to a single surface, eg. money, where both side textures (or image) are different. In Maya, I could easily achieve that by using samplerInfo node and condition node. So if the facing ration from samplerInfo is true or the normals are facing outward the surfaces, the condition node will apply texture file A. But if the normals are facing inward the surfaces, the condition node will apply texture file B. That's one way to apply 2 textures on a single surface... in Maya.

Now in Blender... at last I know how to achieve that .. after walking in circle. One way to apply 2 different textures in a single surface is by using the shading node.

Here's the plane, subdivided, and displaying the surface normals (the blue line):

Apply new material, name the material, and apply 2 different texture files. We can see that by turning on/off one texture, the preview will update accordingly. If both are turned on, because both are mapped into color channel, and both are displayed in 100% opacity, so... only last texture file will be displayed in render preview.
- The 2 texture file:

- The rendered image:

As you can see, both sides are showing the same image, even though 2 texture files were used. Btw, I add twist modifier to the plane so we can see both side directly.

Now, lets open the node editor. Here's my shading node connection, and the render image:

Aha!... both sides are now showing both texture files.
Brief description from the node editor:
1. Connect the front/back from geometry node into the factor in mix node. I think the front/back wasn't there yet in previous version... but I might be wrong. I tried to find this attribute info in the net, but haven't found any. So I'm guessing maybe it has something to do with the surface side, guessing from it's name... and it werks like a charm. My first try was connecting normals into invert node and connect that to the mix factor... but then I realise, normal attribute in geometry node is more related to the "bump" of the surface. And it wasn't werks like a charm (^_^)...

2. Connect the texture A color output into mix color input 1

3. Connect tecture B cokor output into input in mix color 2

4. Connect ourput color from mix node into the input color of material node.

*** UPDATE 20 Nov 2009 ***
5. Forgot another important steps :). After setting up those shading node, dont forget to clear all the textures in texture panel (The texture panel like the one with sideA & sideB textures in image no 2 above), because all the textures are handled in nodes.

6. Also press the "Do Composite" before render.

7. Last but not least, if the object has been UV unwrapped, connect from geometry-UV output into each vector input of texture nodes for correct texture UV mapping.

After some experiment with this setting, I found that ray trace reflection will not work correctly. I think it's better to use this setup for objects with no ray trace reflection.
*** End UPDATE ***

During the journey of the searching ... I thought maybe by extruding a tiny bits amount of the surface then applying 2 different textures will work. Well it might work, but for some condition like a animating a cape with different texture on both sides... the extrude methods will give you more pain in the ass. Then again... somebody might have been found another better ways.

Till then... cheers.

Name Card Design

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:09:00 +0000

Dah lama gk show off kerjaan. So... show off doloo ah dikit.

Design kartu nama untuk LMD:

Design kartu nama untuk Lintas Games:

eniwei.. masih draft sih.

Old Work

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:50:00 +0000

Again, found this old work. It was a presentation video for Lippo St. Moritz. Did the animation, lighting & rendering, compositing, and supers & bumpers. 3D models of the buildings were provided. Just another chaos project... had to bought a high-end quad-core just for this job. Opening the file in lower spec machines was impossible. Even when rendering the scenes, had to delete objects that weren't visible in camera to speed things up. And after delivering the DVD, the tent or stage was nearly collapse during the event.

Old Works - Jaka Saroeng

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:10:00 +0000

Found these old pics from my old project backdup discs. It's called "Jaka Saroeng". It supposed to be my first short animation, but never got finished somehow.

Trying to remake this short, and down into major changes as the old models were not 3D-wise in many aspects, such as the edge-loop, the joints structure, etc. I'm also porting the characters from Maya to Blender (still learning though). Hopefully all things would go well. Hopefully...

So, here are the first design, enjoy.

Lintas Games launching video

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:30:00 +0000

This is the launching video for the new product service by Lintasarta & LMD, called "Lintas Games". Sequences from Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, Counter Strike and others are copyright their respective owner. Lintas Games offers Valve cyber Cafe program - Indonesia (VCP-Indonesia), Payment point and Fiber Optic network. For more info about Lintasarta, go to here. For more info about VCP-Indonesia go here. For more info about LMD, go here, although the website is curently being developed, the informations are still there.

anyways, here's the video.

Company Profile Design

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:46:00 +0000

Finally, this company profile design was approved, but for specific services only. Not all the services were included in this version. Perhaps will create another design for full company services. Photo by Nova, a colleague of mine, and the model is Guzel whom is also a colleague at the same office.

Re-compiled character animation reel

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Mon, 18 May 2009 08:16:00 +0000

Latest compilation of my animation reel. Added some shots. Enjoy.

Pie Chart

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:21:00 +0000

Continuing from last thread, here's animated text for the pie chart value / percentage.
Watch the clip below.

The basic idea is to fetch the value from revolve node, and pass it to the text node. Similar with the bar chart, excpt the adjustment for the max value in pie chart.

Create curve profile for the pie chart.

Revolve that curve... with history option turn on. And also set the output to polygon, change the polygon type: quad, format: general. In general option, U & V type: per span # of isoparms, and U & V number: 3.

Now with all those history node hook in with the object, try to change the end sweep from revolve node. The pie is short of reducing it size accordingly. Now this is the one the we'll be animating, and connect this value to the text node... well sort of like that...

Select the pie object, and add attribute called "percentage", or so, as long as it make sense to you. This new attribute will be driving the end sweep value, but after this value went thru the setRange node. So, let's create setRange node.

Open hypershade, put all those items in it, the pie object, revolve node and setRange node.
Connect the "percentage" attribute into the setRange1.valueX. In my case, my pie object name is polyPie and my setRange node name is setRange1. So the connection is:
polyPie.percentage --> setRange1.valueX. You can either connect this using connection editor or by using simple mel script.

Here's using mel script:
connectAttr -f polyPie.percentage setRange1.valueX;

Connect setRange.outValue.outValueX to the revolve1.endSweep. Here's using mel:
connectAttr -f setRange.outValue.outValueX revolve1.endSweep;

Btw, those nodes' names are the names in my scnene, change them accordingly if you have different object names.

If we now change the percentage value, let's say to 50, the pie still not showing the correct shape of 50%, which should be half pie. That is if our pie min-max value is 0-100. But in endSweep node, the max value is 360. So that's why when we set the percentage value to 50, we don't get half pie.

This is where setRange node comes in. There are three columns in setRange node, the first column is X, second is Y, third is Z, or in other utility nodes like condition or blend node, they may called as XYZ or RGB (as R the first column, G second & B third).

Set the setRange1.oldMaxX to 100. Set setRange1.maxX to 360. Now the pie shape should looks right. This is basically "convert" the max number from 0-100 ratio into 0-360 ratio.

If we have data that have maximum number other than 100, just adjust thath oldMax value, but leave the max to 360.

For the text, create text with option to bevel. And we'll assign value from the percentage attribute into the textForBevel.text using similar expression from the bar chart.

In my case, open expression editor and type these lines:
float $n = `getAttr polyPie.percentage`;
string $val = `ceil ($n)`;
setAttr textForBevel1.text -type "string" $val;

Btw, there will be a gap when the pie chart is revolving from 0 to 360, it's easily fix by closing the gap, either using polyAppend or polyBridge tool. After closing the gap, as long as it looks right, don't worry about it too much. Maya will prompt error saying cannot perform polyPlanarPorjection thing. Just ignore it.

Animated Text - Bar Chart

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:02:00 +0000

It was a lazy attempt to ceate such animation sequence in 3D. It can be done easily in compositing software in presto. But like I said, I was too lazy to switch back and forth from 3D to compositing softs. So.. here we go... watch the movie and you'll know what I mean.

The basic idea is to fetch the locator.translateY value, and pass that value to the beveled text.

The basic setup:
I use simple polyCube, with two clusters. First cluster contains all vertices from the top face. The second cluster contains all the vertices from bottom face. And I point cons the top cluster with a locator. This locator is the one that will be animated along th Y axis. Simple setup.

Next... the text. The text created from create text menu, and set the type to "bevel". This will create five nodes, outterStyleCurve - innerStyleCurve - textForBevel - bevelPlus - and polyPlanarProj. The main key here is the textForBevel node (it's actually makeTextCurve node, but renamed automatically when making the text).

To "connect" the locator.translateY value into the textForBevel node, is by using simple expression.

Open expression editor, and type these codes:

float $n = `getAttr locator1.translateY`;
string $val = `ceil ($n)`;
setAttr textForBevel1.text -type "string" ($val);

and hit create.

There should be some error reporting cannot perform polyPlanar thing. But just ignore that. It will be fine.

Explanation of the code:
first line: float $n = `getAttr locator1.translateY`;
Tells Maya to get the value of locator1.translateY. In my case it's locator1, because that locator is the one that controlling the cluster. Set it to proper name if you have different scene.

second line: string $val = `ceil ($n)`;
Tells Maya to round up the value from $n. Without the ceil command, it will shows numbers with comma and many digits behind it (float type).

last line: setAttr textForBevel1.text -type "string" ($val);
Tels Maya to set the value of the "round-up" locator1.translateY value to the textForBevel.text. This line quite tricky. I was struggling on this line as It gave errors, but until I added -type "string" flag.

Now, make some keyframe for the locator1.ty, eg. frame 1 set to 0, frame 20 set to 8 (like mine). When you scrub the timeline, the text should be updated with the locator value.

Simlpe setup for old lazy dog. Next ... pie chart.

Translating object using Locators - II

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:20:00 +0000

Continuing from last thread, here is another example of the same method translating objects using locators distance.

The creation of the spiral polyPlanes are preety straight forward. I used extruded curves to create the spiral. Then attach the polyPLane into the spiral curve with animation path. Then create the snapshots of the polyPlanes to "duplicate" those polyPlanes along the spiral curve.

I created simple mel to automate the setup of those locators to each polyPlanes. Here is the mel code :

string $tempObj[] = `ls -sl`;
string $ctrlLocs[] = `spaceLocator -n "ctrlLoc"`;
for ($i = 0; $i <>
{
     //Create Locator & set translate xyz into obj cord
     string $locs[] = `spaceLocator -n ("baseLoc_0" + $i)`;
     string $pointCons[] = `pointConstraint -offset 0 0 0 -w 1 $tempObj[$i] $locs[0]`;
     delete $pointCons[0];

     //Create distance node
     string $dist = `createNode distanceBetween`;

     //Connect distance node two locator into distance node
     connectAttr -f ($ctrlLocs[0] + ".translate") ($dist + ".point1");
     connectAttr -f ($locs[0] + ".translate") ($dist + ".point2");

    //Create multiplyDivide, plusMinusAverage, setRange & condition node
    string $mDiv = `createNode multiplyDivide`;
    string $plusMin = `createNode plusMinusAverage`;
    string $range = `createNode setRange`;
    string $cond = `createNode condition`;

    //Connect distance into multi & cond
    connectAttr -f ($dist + ".distance") ($mDiv + ".input1X");
    connectAttr -f ($dist + ".distance") ($cond + ".firstTerm");

    //Set value of multi, range & condition
    setAttr ($mDiv + ".input1Y") 1;
    setAttr ($mDiv + ".input2Y") 1;
    setAttr ($range + ".maxX") 4;
    setAttr ($range + ".oldMaxX") 1;
    setAttr ($cond + ".operation") 4;
    setAttr ($cond + ".secondTerm") 4;
    setAttr ($plusMin + ".operation") 2;
    setAttr ($mDiv + ".input2X") 4;
    setAttr ($mDiv + ".operation") 2;
    setAttr ($cond + ".colorIfFalseR") 0;

    //Connect multi to plusMin
    connectAttr -f ($mDiv + ".outputY") ($plusMin + ".input1D[0]");
    connectAttr -f ($mDiv + ".outputX") ($plusMin + ".input1D[1]");

    //Connect plusMin to range node
    connectAttr -f ($plusMin + ".output1D") ($range + ".valueX");

    //Connect range to cond
    connectAttr -f ($range + ".outValueX") ($cond + ".colorIfTrueR");

    //Connect cond to obj translate Y
    connectAttr -f ($cond + ".outColorR") ($tempObj[$i] + ".ty");
    }

Translating object using locators' distance

noreply@blogger.com (Si Pedet) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:14:00 +0000

Now... the how-to part...

The concept behid it was to use two locators, the first locator is going to be the one that attached to the object. The other one is going to act as the distance controler... well sort of.

Let's try create a polyPlane. Scale it or tweak it any way you like, as long as it's easy to see the later result. In my example, my setting for the polyPlane is:

scaleX : 3
subdivision width : 2
subdivision height : 2

Next... create two locators. Translate the first locator 0.5 units in Z axis. That should move the locator right on to the edge of the polyPlane, that is if you follow my settings. If not, then just try to move the locator as close possible right on the edge of the polyPlane. Leave the position unchanged for the second Locator. See below pic.

For the second locator, I prefer to point constrain with maintain offset set to off. So that the second locator will have the exact position value of the polyPlane. It can actually parented to the polyPlane, but for some cases where using point constraint will have exact position value. For example, if after we create polyPlane then we freeze transformation. That'll make the translate value of the polyPlane zero. Now that would create problem when we hook that info into distanceBetween node.

Open hypershade. Create distanceBetween node. Select two locators, then in hypershade menu – Graph – Add Selected to Graph. That should put in those locator nodes into the hypershade. If there any unwanted nodes appeared in the hypershade, then select those unwanted nodes, go to Graph – Remove Selected Nodes. That'll get rid of them.

After we create distanceBetween node, connect output of the translate attribute from both locators into the input of the distanceBetween node. To do this, middle click & drag the first locator into distanceBetween node, and choose Other. This will open up connection editor automatically. In the outputs of the first locator, find attribute named translate. Click it. Then in the inputs of the distanceBetween node, find attribute named point1. Click it. Both attributes from those two objects will turn to italics, meaning both attributes are now connected.

Ok, now let's connect the second locator into the input of the distanceBetween node. We could do it with the above method, or connect it by command line.

Type in :

connectAttr -f locator2.translate distanceBetween1.point2

Meaning...?

connectAttr will tell maya to connect attribute between two objects obviously. So, that line basically tell maya to connect attributes (connectAttr) by force (-f) from locator2.translate into distanceBetween.point2. Why distanceBetween.point2..? because the point attribute already has connection with first locator.

Now we've connect the second locator to distanceBetween node using command line, or in other word by mel (Maya Embedded Language). Scary huh..?

As you can see the pic above... that's the result after we connect two locators into distanceBetween node.

Create four other nodes, multiplyDivide – plusMinAverage – setRange and condition nodes.

Follow these steps carefully...

For condition node:

Connect distanceBetween1.distance to input of condition.firstTerm. You may do this either by connection editor or by mel. It's your call.
Change the operation of condition node to “less than”
Set the condition node secondTerm value to the same value as firstTerm.
Set the condition node colorIfFalse to zero in x field (the first field).

For multiplyDivide node:

connect distanceBetween.distance to input of multiplyDivide node input1X.
Change the operation of multiplyDivide to “divide”.
Set input2X value with the same value as input1X.
Set both value of input1Y and input2Y to 1.

For setRange node:

Set oldMax first field value to 1.
Set Max first field value to 2.. or whatever but should be greater than zero. This is the amount of how many units the object is going to be translated. You'll see...

Now... lets connect all of them.

Connect the multiplyDivide output1Y to input of plusMinusAverage inputD[0]. We already knew that both value in multiplyDivide input1Y and input2Y is 1. With the operation sets to “divide”, then 1 divide by 1 will result 1. Actually we need to have value 1 in the first input1D[0].
Connect the multiplyDivide output1X to input of plusMinAverage input1D[1]. In normal condition, that is if we haven't move first locator, both value in input1X and input2X of multiplyDivide node will be the same, except that input1X is dynamicaly keeps updating whenever the first locator is being moved. Why we hook this value into the second input of the plusMinAverage input1d[1]..? Coz we want that polyPlane will move gradually in Y axis (in this example) when the first locator are moving closer (in specified range) to the polyPlane. Keep going for now.
Connect output from plusMinAverage output1D to input of setRange valueX.
Connect output from setRange outValueX to input of condition colorIfTrueR.
Connect output of condition outColorR to input of polyPlane translateY.

Try to move the first locator towards or away from the polyPlane. If everything was set up correctly, when the first locator is moving closer toward the polyPlane, the polyPlane will move gradually in Y axis direction. But when the first locator is moving away from polyPlane, then the polyPlane will move gradually to its default position.

Now for some explanation...

The distanceBetween node will keeps “recording” the distance value between both two locators. That distance value is passed on, first into the multiplyDivide node input1X. Secondly, the distance value is passed on into firstTerm of condition node.

While in multiplyDivide node, we set operation to divide and set both value of input1Y and input2Y to 1. So when input1Y divide by input2Y will give result of 1. We'll need this value later when we pass this value to plusMinAverage. Without using plusMinAverage, the polyPlane will pop its translation. It's kind of having value from 1 goes to zero (when locator is moving closer to polyPlane) but then goes to 1 again after the locator is moving away.

So we need to reverse that value. We want that when the locator is away on specific distance (in this case it's set to 0.5 in secondTerm of condition node), the polyPlane will be stay still in its default position which is 0 0 0 in translation order.But when the locator is getting closer to the center of polyPlane, then the polyPlane will move in Y axis gradually, from zero to 2 units max (The value from setRange Max). We got this by subtracting 1 (The division result of input2Y & input2Y of multiplyDivide node) by division result of input1X & input2X multiplyDivide node.

The setRange node acts more like a normalizer for the value passed on by the plusMinusAverage node. Without setRange node, it's hard to control the amount of the translation we want for the polyPlane. But with setRange node, we could control the amount in the max value.

Now once everything has been hooked up, it's all up to condition node to decide when the polyPlane will move or not. In condition node, with operation set to “less than”, so when the firstTerm value is less than the secondTerm value, then condition node will use whatever value in colorIfTrue. This value is dynamicaly changing according to the setRange and all behind that's I've been telling you just now.

Well that's just a basic concept that I can think of at the moment to create such animation. I know it's very straight forward just to animate the polyPlane by keyframe. But that is if only one polyPlane that is going to by tranlated. What if we have lots of bunch of polyPlanes, let's say 50 or even 100 polyplanes?? Are we going to animate them by keyframe? No, of cource not. By using mel to auto setup for this type of rig into all of available polyPlanes, it's just a matter moving one single locator to get them all moving.