gumball machine
 

http://iason.doxamusic.com/solegna/gumballs.jpg

anyone know a more efficient method of filling a gumball machine with gumballs?

set up hardbody dynamics using motion designer perhaps?

regards

Very nice. That kind of refraction render takes me forever and a day.

Looks like you need more geometry on the base.

you're right
 

you're absolutely right... i forgot to subpatch the base.
thanks.

I really like this set up. Although its not something you would first consider as the most exciting of subjects, I do like the way you've done the texturing and lighting of it. Good old HDRI!

*drools over the nice render.* Is there any refraction on the glass? or is it just reflection?

voices3D is right: there's only reflection on the glass...

nice render though. I'm particularly impressed with the tiles material. Good work.

now with refraction
 

there was no refraction in the previous images because it's simulating a perfect vacuum! j/k... :D

here's a render with some refraction.

Cool!

I agree with philip about the textures, very nice!
I especially like the red metal and tiles.

What Refraction index do you use? i never get mine right.

as prescribed by philip
 

i used 1.5 refraction index for the glass and 1.003 for the air as prescribed in philip's jack daniel's bottle tutorial at liquid-arts.de

http://www.liquid-arts.de/

thanks philip!

and thank you all for your feedback!

wow.. very nice tile texture!!!

Well nobody has answered your question...I'm not so certain myself but possibly if you did use motion designer were you thinking of making a particle emitter then linking it to your gumball object? It would require self collision I suppose so they dont go through each other....hrmmm now you have me thinking let us know what you come up with.

motion designer approach
 

well, i think i have the motion designer approach working.

i originally thought i could use a particle emitter to generate the gumballs (fx_linker), but getting them to keep from going through each other wasn't working. then i realized i would have to select each gumball individually and activate it in motion designer one by one. (not fun!)

so, instead i just arrayed a bunch of gumballs all on one layer getting them as close together as i could within the glass globe and in layout let motion designer (with a little help from gravity) put the gumballs on top of each other.

here's a pic of a test i did...
http://iason.doxamusic.com/solegna/md_test_01.jpg

i'll post an updated pic of the gumball machine soon hopefully.

hmmm... i wonder what motion designer would do with two objects (gumballs) that started out intersecting... more tests!

Looks like it works for you, but I still think particles would be a faster and simpler way. In order to stop them from going into each other, just give the particles a particle size that is the same as the diameter of each gumball.

????
 

Kvaalen,

perhaps i misunderstood, but are you sure particles can detect collision with other particles? i haven't been able to figure that one out.

please show me an example... an image, a tutorial, anything...

thanks!

i think i understand now
 

never mind...

i think i figured out the particle interaction...

i'm testing it right now...

guess how many gumballs...
 

kvaalen, your method worked like a charm! although i still need to figure out a smart way to vary the color of the gumballs more.

here i used two particle emitters, one for the purple gumballs, and one for the white ones. when i went to add a third emitter for another color, lightwave crashed...

anyone wanna guess how many gumballs are in the machine?

by the way, the motion designer approach was taking way too long to calculate that many objects.

thanks again Kvaalen!

That is really really nice, for the background did you just use a jpg? I think the only thing that gives off its fakeness is that the base is a little too shiny, but otherwise its really awsome!

the background is the famous kitchen_probe.hdr :D

Just an observation about this beautiful work.

It looks to me that the glass ball is missing the inside. (Glass without thikness)

I can see the gums at the right side really close to the edge.

it's ultra thin glass!
 

it's just ultra thin glass... :D

actually, this was just a test.
i used a spherical collision object and need to shrink its size down just a little more.

thanks again for all the feedback!

motion designer
 

that looks really great... whats this motion designer? can ne 1 please tell me where 2 get it from?

motion deigner is part of LW. Grab the Red Skirt tutorial to get familiar with it.