[Resolved] 3D disco ball?

**paulsjv** · 06-03-2002, 03:11 PM

I've been trying to make a disco ball in Swift 3D v2 (unfortuantely i don't have 3DS or Bryce). What I have come up with isn't very good and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas as to how I could go about making a disco ball in Swift?

Thanks!

**gerbick** · 06-07-2002, 12:12 AM

I assume you're the same person here, right?

How's your progress?

**NitroCharged** · 06-07-2002, 03:33 AM

I think it is... I am still waiting for him to respond to me over there

I did find a disco ball made in flash and it wasn't half bad ... but do you think I can find it now that someone needs it ??!! harrummf!!

**BlinkOk** · 06-07-2002, 04:17 AM

You know there's a movie in the movies section here at flashkit. it's of lettering with beams of light shining through from the back (all AS). it happened to have a fantastic ball (not EXACTLY a disco ball) but a ball never the less with beams of light emitting from it while it rotated. the ball wasn't the subject of the movie and was never used in the movie, it just happened to be sitting in the library for the movie. i've searched my movie library and can't find it. mabey a search of the movies section might turn it up. i think the text was "flashkit" and the light shone through from behind (you know what i mean).

**BlinkOk** · 06-07-2002, 04:22 AM

bingo! more techno ball than disco ball.
http://www.flashkit.com/movies/Effec...an-3/index.php

**Level** · 06-07-2002, 06:56 AM

I haven't had the time yet to examine the FLA on the ball, but the lighting effect itself looks JUST like a flashlight or head light coming through the fog, or maybe a smoke-filled room.

Imagine what cool animation effects that could simulate!

Don --
All this thinking is making my head hurt.

**BlinkOk** · 06-07-2002, 09:14 AM

imagine a futuristic guy in a suit where the light is emitted from the goggles. great for a game!

**paulsjv** · 06-07-2002, 12:47 PM

yes i am the same person over on erain

NitroCharged: i just replied to your message over there!

BlinkOk: that is a really COOL ball on here. I looked all over this site for a ball or something but never saw that one.. i'll have to snag it and look at the fla of it.

**paulsjv** · 06-07-2002, 12:55 PM

just looked at the fla of the ball.. what i want to know is how did he make the ball in the first place? and i'm not too sure what his AS is doing either.. but it's still cool and i'd love to figure out how he/she did this so i can make it look more like a disco ball..

**BlinkOk** · 06-07-2002, 10:05 PM

i changed the movie a bit to add some more lights (trying to make it a bit more like a disco ball). the guy who wrote it is very smart so it's easy to modify it. all you have to do is replace the frames in the "li" clip with your animation. i created a ball of sorts in swift3d (not very good, i'm sure you swift junkies can do much better) i included the .t3d in the .zip.
so to review, this is what i did;
1. created a ball animation in swift3d
2. export it to .swf (single color fill)
3. loaded the discoball .fla and deleted all the frames into the "li" clip
4. imported the swift3d animation into the "li" MC in the .fla and centered it
5. i had to ungroup the frames of the animation and individually delete the black background leaving just the grey circles
6. changed the color of the circles to white
http://www.nlc.net.au/~oceana/games/discoball.swf
http://www.nlc.net.au/~oceana/games/discoball.zip
hope this helps
BlinkOk

**NitroCharged** · 06-08-2002, 01:51 AM

OK, it's become a mission..

I am trying to do it all just in swift and flash and it can be done, but sheeesh.... there's some work involved.

Make a sphere in swift and throw lots of pretty lights onto it.

Animate as required all the lights moving while the sphere spins.

Render the animation with 'include edges' + 'entire mesh'

Bring it into Flash and trim the excess crap off. ( Bring a packed lunch!

)

The rest is lighting effects on your behalf - you know, flashes of white on the ball squares, rays of light shooting across the room off of it, and a few walls where the beams of light reflect off for depth and added realism blah blah blah.

Click here for a demo of the .swf file in action.
I will continue but this is as far as I got for my Saturday morning - yes, its ruff and short but I have demonstrated it can be done .

[Edited by NitroCharged on 06-08-2002 at 02:38 AM]

**paulsjv** · 06-10-2002, 10:41 AM

Originally posted by BlinkOk
1. created a ball animation in swift3d

I wanna know how you did that step!

also i would be one to remove the motion path he has in his cause i don't need it to be fly'n all over the place.. just needs to stay in one place for me..

**paulsjv** · 06-10-2002, 12:39 PM

BlinkOk i downloaded your zip file and i was trying to animate the disco ball you created in my swift3d program however there is a side of mirrors missing as you can see from the screen shot below.

**BlinkOk** · 06-10-2002, 05:19 PM

http://www.nlc.net.au/~oceana/games/discoball.zip
to create disco ball.
1. insert cylinder
2. reduce it's depth and rotate it so the circle is facing the viewer in the front view
3. copy/paste the circle and move it above the first one
4. change to left view and rotate the second circle 15 degrees. align the bottom edge of the circle with the top edge of the one below
5. copy/paste and repeat 4 until the circle has been rotated 90 degrees.
6. now you have a half-circle of circles.
7. group all the circles
8. change to top view and select position pivot point only. move the pivot point to the center of the top circle.
9. copy/paste the circles and rotate 30 degrees (i think)
10. repeat 9 until you have a half sphere
11. group all the objects
12. copy/paste and rotate 180 degrees to complete the ball.
14. insert a sphere and scale to make the inside of the discoball
hope this helps!
BlinkOk
[Edited by BlinkOk on 06-10-2002 at 05:28 PM]

**NitroCharged** · 06-10-2002, 07:51 PM

Paul, you are after a light ball, not a mirror ball then?

**Level** · 06-10-2002, 11:09 PM

As David Letterman would say, "I think he's been hypMOtized."

Don

**NitroCharged** · 06-11-2002, 04:19 AM

Well, in anticipation of the answer I have started to build a light ball using only swift and flash, with okay results.
Here's a snap of the flash file - it runs a little slow so I wont post it till the glitches are gone:

Is that what you are trying to achieve?

**BlinkOk** · 06-11-2002, 07:40 AM

now THAT is a lightball!

**Soverytall** · 06-11-2002, 10:10 AM

it looks very cool
lot of work though

here's another cool one that's more funky
http://www.mindavenue.com/en/showcas...show.asp?id=37

**paulsjv** · 06-11-2002, 10:14 AM

actually... i'm looking for either or.. i could use that changing color ball or the mirror ball... right now the mirror ball is smaller in file size and runs a ton better.. so that's the way i'm leaning for now.

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