[WIP] Ivy Growth Animator script

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to update about a little (actually now a medium sized :-D) script I’ve been writing for the past week or so.

As its name implies, its purpose is to animate the growth of ivy + mesh based objects such as IvyGen ivy and Sapling trees.

Here’s a couple of demonstrations of the results, one focused on the branches and the other one on the leaves:

Just the branches (and many of 'em):

With leaves:

This is a link to the code itself.

And there’s quite a lot of details about the coding process and the techniques used in my blog.

C&C is welcome.

I hope to release this as an add on with some interface elements within a week or so.

1 Like

Looks very interesting…

That looks impressive!

Hey there, TheFinalCut. I’m assuming this is the same script you posted about in an earlier thread, but obviously with a number of changes. I’ve included this script in the addons_extern repository, available here. The version in the repo is the version current as of this post. Hope to see more development on here! Looks like a handy thing for those who use IvyGen in animation.

I do ask that you put some bl_info at the top of your code to minimize console output while using the script. Otherwise, it will make bugfixing difficult. This is a sample that I put in for use in addons_extern:

bl_info = {    "name": "Animate IvyGen",
    "author": "TheFinalCut",
    "version": (1, 0, 0),
    "blender": (2, 65, 0),
    "category": "Animation",
    "location": "3D View >> Tools",
    "wiki_url": "http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?279723",
    "tracker_url": "http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?279723",
    "description": "Animate curves generated by IvyGen addon."}

Anyway, great showcase of the script! Clearly demonstrates what the script is meant to do and your blog has a nice explanation. Keep up the great work!

Hi Italic,

I’d be happy for the script to be included in the addons_extern repo!
I’m working on making this a proper add on, with interface elements and user control over some of the variables (which are currently constants).

I’ll be posting updates here, of course and will add the bl_info block in the next version.

Cheers

What is this Script useful for ?

Kind regards
Alain

Hi Alain,

did you have a look at the first post?
As it explains and demonstrates in the two videos that are included,
this script animates the growth of ivy and trees created by the Ivy Generator and Sapling add-ons, respectively.

It’s possible that I’m a bit stupid but I’m not THAT stupid :wink:

I mean, focused on the professional CG-Industry, who will need to animate ivy or a tree ?
I only remember some scientific vegetation movies where they showed the growth of a plant in timelapse.

Kind regards
Alain

OK, sorry :slight_smile:

Well, I don’t think its a very standard effect, but its still not uncommon, especially with regard to fantasy themed animations, where plants magically grow all of a sudden, or for commercials with a similar concept.

The animation this script creates is not at all realistic, and doesn’t represent the way plants grow (which is more erratic, undulating and in spasms) even when their motion is sped up. It’s rather a more stylized, immediate kind of growth, which suits commercials and fantastical animations more than scientific illustration.

OK, I understand.
Do you do this Script for fun or for your own use ?

A little bit of both,
I did it for my own (fun) purposes and as an exercise for learning python scripting in blender.
I have a logo animation in mind that would require such growth, which I’ll probably do in the near future.

If you are talented enough, you could write a FloorGenerator Script for Blender (the functionality should be like the FloorGenerator for Max, see here: http://www.cg-source.com/floorgenerator.php).
This would a very nice timesaver for architecture visualizations.
You would attract more ArchiViz-People (which is a huge CG-Field all over the world) to Blender with such a Script.

Don’t waste your time with Scripts nobody needs :wink:

What do you think about it ?

Kind regards
Alain

Its looking good, very usefull script. I imagine this could also be used for some kind of lightning effect to?

This does sound like an interesting and useful addon.
I might try it out after I’m finished with some other stuff in the pipeline, so thanks for mentioning it.

Ha! never thought of that, but I guess it could definitely work
When I release this as an addon, you’ll be able to change the parameters that control the speed of the animation, to something that would be more suitable the flash of a lightning.

Got the interface finished!
Addon to be released soon with nicely editable parameters, and tut :slight_smile:

Awesome! Looking forward to it.

And it’s ready!!

Enjoy :slight_smile:

Demo:
<span id=“sample-permalink” tabindex="-1">

Post:

Source and download:

Well done.

My suggestions:
The leafes grow all about at the same time, there is more random needed. The should grow on different times.
The leafes are to big as well, an they need more rotation, and scale variations.

Kind regards
Alain

  1. the script looks great. Randomization needed for sure, but it’s a lot better than what we had!

  2. I gotta ask, how did you animate the “Bio” texture from chrome to brick like that? Or was it just an animated math node on your displacement socket?