So I hit a technical snag which I have been diligently avoiding for some time now, how was I to move all the leaves on my tree for my next short. Well I couldn’t put it off any longer and with some help from two of my co-workers Ken and Brian I got her figured out. It is a combination of a mel script and an expression.

The mel script is run to put custom attrs on each leaf to get information of the current rotation values and to attach a unique seed number to each leaf – most of the leaves are instances so I was unable to zero out their transforms.

Here is the script – feel free to use what you can – along with avery simple movie. Looks easy right? HA… for a mel novice this was quite a challenge, but hey with a little manual reading, some internet searching, and some good ole friend power she works!

Movie - 

Script and Expression  -

//Mel script to set up custom attribute and store rotations in vector

for($i=21; $i<=198;$i++)

{

select (“appleLeaf”+$i);

$lf = (“appleLeaf” +$i);

addAttr -ln “OrgRot”  -at double3  $lf;

addAttr -ln “OrgRotX”  -at double -p OrgRot  $lf;

addAttr -ln “OrgRotY”  -at double -p OrgRot  $lf;

addAttr -ln “OrgRotZ”  -at double -p OrgRot  $lf;

addAttr -ln “seed”  -at double  -min 0 -max 10 -dv 1 $lf;

float $rx = `getAttr ($lf + “.rotateX”)`;

float $ry = `getAttr ($lf + “.rotateY”)`;

float $rz = `getAttr ($lf + “.rotateZ”)`;

setAttr -type double3 ($lf+”.OrgRot”) $rx $ry $rz;

setAttr -e-keyable true ($lf+”.OrgRot”);

setAttr -e-keyable true ($lf+”.OrgRotX”);

setAttr -e-keyable true ($lf+”.OrgRotY”);

setAttr -e-keyable true ($lf+”.OrgRotZ”);

$rand = rand(0,10);

setAttr ($lf+”.seed”) $rand;

setAttr -e-keyable true ($lf+”.seed”);

}

//Expression for querying attr and rand noise

for($i=21; $i<=198;$i++)

{

select (“appleLeaf”+$i);

$lf = (“appleLeaf” +$i);

float $sd = `getAttr ($lf + “.OrgRotX”)` + `getAttr ($lf + “.OrgRotZ”)`/ 30;

float $rx = `getAttr ($lf + “.OrgRotX”)`;

float $ry = `getAttr ($lf + “.OrgRotY”)`;

float $rz = `getAttr ($lf + “.OrgRotZ”)`;

float $seed = `getAttr ($lf + “.seed”)`;

$x=noise(time +$seed)*4;

$y=noise(time+$seed)*4;

$z=noise(time+$seed)*4; 

rotate ($rx + $x)  ($ry+$y) ($rz+$z);

select -d;

}

Hey I thought I’d link you to David’s short but excellent post on the film making process – some great thoughts on making mistakes.

But he also shoots us a link to this amazing music video by Tiny Inventions for They Might Be Giants. I’ve embedded it for your connivence. I really enjoy the textural qualities and the overall just general happiness of this piece. It has a really great old school feel while utilizing new school tech. Really nice job guys!!

Here is a really stunning piece of work by artists in france called “Baidir”. They are currently seeking funding for a 26 episode tv run – each being 26 min. I hope they get the funding and we in the states get to see it. This piece really looks like it has some serious potential in the aesthetic realm – lets hope their story is as strong. Good luck guys!

BAIDIR from slimane aniss on Vimeo.