This behind-the-scenes look at how we created the Herbivore Carnivore Dentition Widget for the iBook, E. O. Wilson’s Life on Earth, will demonstrate the principles of creating dynamic simulations using Maya nDynamics. You’ll learn how to apply nParticle fluid dynamics and nConstraints through a gelatin-like meat simulation, as well as the utility of nCloth and nRigid colliders, through a leaf-clipping simulation. You’ll understand how food mastication can be simulated using keyframed animation, nParticles and instancing. Alongside these technical step-by-step explanations, we explain the motivation behind the design of these simplified models that represent food and teeth, as well as how these animations can be further improved. Finally, we explain how all of these assets can be combined using Keynote and iBooks Author to create an interactive widget for an iBook.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  • Understand the use of simplified models to represent more complex objects.
  • Learn how to use a combination of nDynamics techniques (nParticle fluid simulations, constraints, nCloth, nRigid colliders, and nParticle instancing) to create simulations of dynamic objects.
  • Learn how to use Keynote and iBooks Author to create an interactive widget for an iBook.

TABLE of CONTENTS

01 Introduction
0:00:46
02 Project Overview
0:01:19
03 Representing Teeth as Simplified Models
0:02:01
04 Modeling Teeth and Food Meshes
0:08:58
05 Creating the nParticles
0:05:14
06 Adjusting nParticles & adding a Component-to-Component constraint
0:03:43
07 Convert nParticles to a polymesh
0:02:50
08 Alternate ways to create the meat cutting simulation
0:04:59
09 Simulating clipping a leaf using nCloth
0:03:53
10 Mastication - Animating the teeth
0:03:07
11 Mastication - Creating the nParticle emitter
0:04:03
12 Mastication - Editing the emission rate
0:03:29
13 Mastication - Instancing geometry onto nParticles
0:05:36
14 Improving on the Herbivore Molar Simulation
0:05:49
15 Creating a Keynote Widget for an iBook - Importing assets into the Keynote
0:03:39
16 Creating a Keynote Widget for an iBook - Programming the buttons
0:01:48
17 Importing Keynote Files into iBooks Author
0:02:30
18 Conclusion
0:00:58

RUN-TIME 1:04:42