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Making objects with primitive deformations

Tim on 8 Nov 2024 at 23:04
Latest activity Edit by Adam Danz on 12 Nov 2024 at 18:11

You can make a lot of interesting objects with matlab primitive shapes (e.g. "cylinder," "sphere," "ellipsoid") by beginning with some of the built-in Matlab primitives and simply applying deformations. The gif above demonstrates how the Manta animation was created using a cylinder as the primitive and successively applying deformations: (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/communitycontests/contests/8/entries/16252);
Similarly, last year a sphere was deformed to create a face in two of my submissions, for example, the profile in "waking":
You can piece-wise assemble images, but one of the advantages of creating objects with deformations is that you have a parametric representation of the surface. Creating a higher or lower polygon rendering of the surface is as simple as declaring the number of faces in the orignal primitive. For example here is the scene in "snowfall" using sphere with different numbers of input faces:
sphere(100)
sphere(500)
High poly models aren't always better. Low-polygon shapes can sometimes add a little distance from that low point in the uncanny valley.

8 Comments

Adam Danz
Adam Danz on 11 Nov 2024 at 17:58 (Edited on 11 Nov 2024 at 17:59)
The animation at the top of this article that starts with a cylinder and ends with the ray is perfecto!
I used a similar deformation approach in my 2021 and 2023 teardrop entry as well as my 2021 craters function on the FEX. Both start with a simple sphere. Tim took this to a whole other level! The key is to have a library of paramaterized curves available and to know how to combine those curves to form complex shapes.
Tim
Tim on 12 Nov 2024 at 16:23
Thanks Adam! Where were you this year?? Everyone familiar with your stuff was hoping for a submission (or more) from you!
Adam Danz
Adam Danz on 12 Nov 2024 at 17:23 (Edited on 12 Nov 2024 at 18:11)
Timing was bad for me this year to contribute to the contest but it killed me to let my ideas for entries be pushed aside. I started a MATropolis animation with a view outside of a cafe window but didn't manage to complete it. The audio added a great touch this year.
Tim
Tim on 12 Nov 2024 at 17:39
Bummer - curious to see it now; hopefully there will be one next year so you can get a second chance. I agree about the audio, although I think it also added a barrier to entry.
Teodo
Teodo on 9 Nov 2024 at 23:34
Tim, your submissions are outstanding. We've all gained great insights from both your code and approach.
Tim
Tim on 10 Nov 2024 at 3:23
Thanks Teodo!
goc3
goc3 on 9 Nov 2024 at 0:35
This is impressive.
I do wish the speed of the animated gif could be slowed down and paused—it contains so much information.
Tim
Tim on 10 Nov 2024 at 3:24
Yeah maybe I should have uploaded it as an mp4 so it could be scrubbed. But, the code lines are just lifted from the sub more or less

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