Trisha Butkowski

Morphing rig for anyfish

2011-02-27T17:28:00.001-08:00

Default rig

changing the texture by loading a JPG file

morph to a carc fish using tps data

morph to a garc fish using tps data

morph to a tlmc tps using data

misc fish that I created a tps file for to test the morphing out

Note. I could not create a demo because unity does not have a File Browser that works for a build app. Just one that works while editing the scene. (Stupid I know!!!!!)

My thesis has been published!

2011-02-10T08:09:00.001-08:00

http://www.jove.com/details.stp?id=2374

Working With Fish Again

2011-01-31T08:22:00.000-08:00

I am working with two of my thesis proffesors Gil Rosenthal and Wei Yan on developing a software tool, anyFish, for creating computer-animated stimuli in animal behavior.

So far I am working on the Morphometrics. Aka changing one fish to another fish.

Some tests work:

http://www.christmasranch.com/trisha/morphSwimTest.html
http://www.christmasranch.com/trisha/morphTest.html

Updated

2010-10-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

I know this site is horribly out of date. Since my last post I have finished my thesis, which can be found here, and I graduated from A&M in may 2010

In July of 2010 I started as Character Technical Director at DreamWorks animation.

Split Screen

2008-12-03T12:28:00.000-08:00

During Thanksgiving week I did not have a chance to work on my Thesis. When I cam back to work on Monday, I spent most of the time figuring out what I needed to do.
First I started on the calibration steps for the program, however half way through getting that set up I remembered Wei had told me to look into using split screens!

Well I found some information on them however I needed to updated everything to Visual Express 2008 and XNA 3.0! After updating I started to tackle the split screen with a simple object.
I tested it out and was able to do a 4 split screen! Now on to adding it to my program

(Testing of Split screen)

Well I have added the split screen to my current program. I have gotten it to work quite nicely with the rest of the program. What I have decided to do was to have the default viewpoint be normal screen size. Then add 2 smaller view ports basically on top of the default. I currently have it set up so that you can move the view port and scale the viewport in calibration.

(Calibrating the view ports)

Calibration that is done:
1. Reads in the Overall FishProgram.txt file
2. Gets input from the user for tank information
3. Calibration of the View ports and the size of the fish (can switch between them)

To do:
1. Calibration of the boxes
2. Get information for testing files
3. Save out the information.

It's Swimming!

2008-11-07T12:14:00.000-08:00

Well my thesis is progressing along nicely. I now have all my different animations cycles, cycling correctly. Their are some "jumps" between the two different cycles but I was planning to go back anyways to smooth out the transitions.
Right now I am just left with some "tweaking" in the flocking simulation, such as how often we want the fish to do his "wiggle" mating dance.
I also need to add in a UI, a way to output the data, and do some further testing with the live tracking.
Overall things are going well testing with the fish will be done by December.

Thesis Update 10-22

2008-10-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

Things are progressing will on my Thesis.

My program is receiving information for the Viewer 2 tracking system. The only problem right now is that it is lagging my program. Right now we believe its due to the face the viewer 2 is now only sending 4 times a minute instead of the 11 -14 it was sending before. Arron, the great undergraduate that is working in the lab is talking with the developer of the view 2 to get that fixed.

Models are now skinned and and I can switch animation cycles. I am only missing two sets of cycles the turning and wiggle cycle that the fish do. There is a weird problem going on when the male fish's dorsal fin lowers or raises, the tail is having some deformations happen to it that should not be going on. I will be looking into that.

I've also set up the program so it can be calibrated to a monitor much easier, the UI for it though needs work .

I'm still on track to start some testing during the first week of November!

Demo Reel Finaly Done

2008-10-14T01:42:00.000-07:00

Well I'm glad this is done! Time to get back working on my Thesis!

Flocking starting to work

2008-09-29T11:05:00.001-07:00

I've been having a problem with my flocking simulation for my thesis. This has been an annoyance because I have done a successful flocking simulation before. However I have found what my problem has been. I was incorrectly using the Vector3 class to get the length of a Vector!

I tested these changes out on a simple flocking simulation I recreated from my C++ flocking simulation and now everything is working correctly!

I just need to work on the flocking for my new program.

Highend3d

2008-09-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

I have 2 scripts that I have written up on Highend3d

BlendJoint Tool

Connect Rotations Tool

Mel Scripting Advanced Topics - Data Storage

2008-09-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

My next Mel Scripting Tutorial.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-14T20:50:00.001-07:00

My parents house got hit bad by Hurricane Ike

Before:

After:

Simmulation is UP

2008-09-11T09:46:00.001-07:00

Woot. I have my fish simmulation pretty much where it used to be. I have the last interation of the flocking simmulation up. I've been able to import the infoamtion of a femal fish's postional data.

What I need to do now:

Figure out what are the males "actions" in the flocking simulation
Figure out the dimensions in space of the real tank and how big the male fish should be
Figure out the holding "area" of the male fish
Have a more accurate female fish data. The current data is normalize. I need to get the information in there with the non - normalized data and also figure out how i will handle the gaps in time for the simulation.

Hord of fish

2008-09-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

well i'm progressing with my program. I finally figured out a display problem that I was having with the fish. I did not have backface culling turned off. Also I got a nice camera system working in the program now.

I have also found an example of how to get alpha to work.

Mel Scripting - Intro to GUI

2008-09-09T09:41:00.001-07:00

So here is the presentation for the next Mel scripting tutorial I am doing.

Intro to Mel Scripting Tutorial

2008-09-02T07:49:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be giving some tutorials on Mel scripting for the next few Tuesdays at the Viz Lab. The first section that I am doing is just an Intro. Here is the Power Point I made for it.

Woot!

2008-08-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yea I have finally have some new progress on my thesis work. I decided to change gears with my program and decided to use C# instead of C++. Also using the advice of my Thesis Chair Wei Yan, I am going to also use XNA Game Studio 2.0.

Today I got my Fish model uploaded to display correctly with a texture. :)

I know its not much but its a start in the right direction. I need to get it swimming and add the tails and fin. I also need to figure out how I'm going to be doing my swimming animation.

I also need to find out how to get alpha to work.

Dog Rig

2008-08-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

This is the dog rig that I created for a friend, Jon Kiker, for his short film Midnight Snack

Dan the Dingo Video

2008-08-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a Demo of the current version of Dan's rig.

Bat Video

2008-08-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to put up a video that shows of my Bat Rig.

The bat wings are only set up for flying, and capturing bugs with its tail membrane. I have future plans of trying to fold up the wings.

To get the wings to deform nicely I used a combination of painstakingly done skin weights and clusters.

Doing Some Scripting

2008-08-22T10:31:00.001-07:00

While working on the Alpaca Rig for Team Alpaca (Rodrigo, Jim, Alex, and Jonathan) I have been creating some new mel Scripts.

First one is a quick UI to connect the rotaitons between two objects. It lets you connect the X rotation to the XYZ of another rotation and it can be inverted, the same thing is done for Y and Z rotation. Download Here

The other script is to create an joint blend such as an IK/FK switch quicker. Download Here

Bat Project

2008-08-05T16:12:00.000-07:00

During Spring 2008 I took independent Study with the Department Head of the Viz Lab, Tim McLaughlin and did a Bat Rigging Study.
I Did the Modeling and Rigging for the Bat. Rodrigo Huerta did the Animation.

Viz Work

2008-08-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

Here is some Pictures of the Misc Viz Work that I have Done:

"Solitaire Marbles"
create with Maya, RenderMan

Image create in Raytracer I created using C++

"Pointillism Fun"
This image was created by a c++ program I created to turn a picture into a pointillism picture

"Chess Time"
create with Maya, RenderMan. All shaders a procedural shaders

Dan The Dingo - Update

2008-08-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

During Fall 2007 I Worked on creating a Toon Rig, The Character Name was Dan The Dingo. The Character Design was done my Rodrigo Huerta.
The Modeling and Rigging was Done by myself and is still a work in Progress. I was able to get the Body Rig where I wanted it to, its body stretches and it has Toon Arms and legs. However I still want to get a Facial rig on him

Thesis Work - update

2008-08-05T15:54:00.000-07:00

So What Is My Thesis:
I am creating a prototype system that integrates video tracking and real time interactive animation for animal behavior study.