RigidChips W.I.P 4

The ATV, in mid-transformation
Here you can see the wings unfolding from underneath, the
back wheels folded up (may decide not to), and the jets spinning
into position. Glitch: Sometimes the jets fall off during transformation,
which obviously... well, isn't good. Also, I think I will make it so that
the back wheels do not fold inwards. Last problem I recently noticed
is that the guns are aiming slightly up, so I'll have to fix the pretty soon.

The ATV: Lift Off!
Here it is, starting to soar into the sky. Don't be fooled though - this fancy
looking flier doesn't really fly smoothly. This is because he jets aren't
in the right place, and the steering isn't done. Because of the jets
and this odd steering, the plane ends up doing somersaults into the air, and
really won't go anywhere - but at least lands safely due too it's nice ability
of balancing out when it starts to fall.

____________________________

The truth is, I was planning on setting this aside for a while to work on homework and a different RigidChips creation not yet to be revealed (hint: it's meant for multiplayer mode: that is all I will say until I finish - no demos!). But I suddenly feel some pressure to work on this for a while. Tomorrow is homework day2, so I won't be online much anyhow. But I might just go with my plan. I've very proud of my other RigidChips model, so I really want to work on that, plus this airplane is hard! It's got a bunch of glitches and takes forever to make.

RigidChips W.I.P 3

The Latest "version" of the ATV
It won't be done today, because I - that's right - messed up the transformation thing. So right now, when it transforms, the guns turn around and the jets push the wrong way, and the tail goes upside down. And if you even try to fly it, well, it just doesn't fly. And if you try to shoot it, it shoots itself and eventually breaks apart. And makes it even harder to fly. And if you try to speed up your flight, you smash into the ground and break into a million pieces. Yep.

Despite this mishap, I would say that the ATV is going pretty swell - a list of changes (mostly for myself to read, and figure out what I need to do):

• Jets added correctly (but doesn't transform correctly). I figured out where to put them by inspiration from the RigidChips X-Prize model [by xmatt].
• Repositioned wings. Back wings have been changed from Chip to Trim.
• Turning stabilized. Not as powerful anymore, but reduces the chance of tipping over.
• Back wheels smaller. Not too small, still has "uphill ability".
• Fixed all the angles - Car Mode can now fly/glide! Just what I needed - user can then use car mode, get up to a OK speed, transform, leap into the air, go up way up high, then transform into a car 100s of feet in the sky and still nicely float to the ground. Makes for easy landing.
  

RigidChips W.I.P 2

Here are some photos of it in simulated "Flying Mode". Despite the fact that it actually has no jets, if I get it to a high elevation (pressing the Y button a bunch of times) then let it drop to the ground, it always (unless there are extremely high winds or a wall to crash into right before landing) balances itself out and glides right-side up to the ground. Still - Work In Progress. Sorta looks ugly with the wheels. Added jets to accelerate it - but then it didn't look very good and the jets didn't seem to be in the right place to make it controllable. Will later post boat mode maybe, but not until I add the jets onto it - otherwise it'd be a pointless picture of an airplane drowning in water.

Here it is with only one wing extended (woops, coding mess up).
It flies almost as well, but not quite. Actually, it flies OK with the no
wings at all at least for a while, but, well, eventually goes into a nosedive.

Here it is like it SHOULD be.
Both wings are extended. This screenshot is right after it balanced
itself out, and it's sort of circling a bit. As you can see, a bit ugly with
the wheels, but that can be fixed easily (hopefully =D )

I'm working on the transformation part of it right now, but sadly, I actually don't have time - durnig Spring Break! I still have a presentation and a art project to do - so I will dedicate tomorrow as Official Homework day, then spend the entire next day working on this. Yeah!

EDIT one more picture, just for fun.

RigidChips ATV W.I.P

If you've never played RigidChips, you should. A quick way to describe it is a 3D model editor, in a sense.
But it's much MORE than just that!

In RigidChips, various objects and vehicles are constructed by combining parts with a scripting language. The program calculates air and water resistance realisitically so that many different models can be made using any basic text editor. Planes are controlled by changing the angles of flat pieces much like in a real airplane. Various games can be made by assigning scripts to the constructed objects, including multiplayer network games. Using models with gun chips, you can have mulitplayer battles. (from Wikipedia)

It's a "sandbox" physics programming "toy". The RigidChips program takes in some maps and chip models (many examples prebuilt, but the object is the be able to code your own), and users can drive their own RigidChips models as well. You have water, wind, and object. Everything is composed of Chips. It's can be hard to explain, so here's an example (a "ATV" - plane, car, and boat all in one - but it's a WORK IN PROGRESS).

Top View.
As you can see, symmetrical, has "wings" on the sides, tail,
3 guns, larger back wheels and 2 smaller front wheels,
and color coded according to my favorite colors.

Front View - guns shooting
3 guns, middle ones is the most powerful, side ones are 3/4
as powerful, but thus shoot at almost twice the rate of the middle one.

Side View
While turning slightly. Has a powerful turn, doesn't flip over very often.

Its under construction. The "wings" at the sides are really wings - that is the "work in progress" part. They don't fully transform yet. I've found that when extended though,they do fly rather well (that is, when extended, it glides pretty smoothly). It goes pretty fast, and rarely flips over unless driving at 210+ speeds and turning a full 360 degrees. Doesn't do too well turning on a steep slope, but can drive up one no problem most of the time. Previously scripted to self-destruct, but I decided that would be useless.

The 2 links above - first one is to download RigidChips, second is to find some other RigidChips users who have posted their RigidChips creations on that forum. Please visit the forums!

I would highly recommend anyone who has not yet discovered this program to come check it out!

What to post about?

After I read Petri Purho's "first blog post", I decided to regularly update my blog, in order to make any viewers happy; and not to say that I would update my blog regularly, so I can't be held responsible (as if anyone cares, but oh well) if I suddenly stop posting regularly.

But now I've run out of stuff to post about! I mean, firstly, there are updates to the blog, things about myself, random stuff I find on the net, and "blog stuff" that people specifically make for the purpose of letting others use, in order to put on their blog.
Then there are Flash experiments, but I hardly have enough time to do that.

So what's really left is a few updates, random stuff, and stuff in my life.
Updates are almost gone - figured out most of the stuff that I can put on here.
Random stuff is scarce - I tend to search for fun games, not surf the net for websites.
My life is boring - unless I suddenly find out that I'm about to die, nobody cares about it (well, I care about my life, but as in, random boring event in it... bluhhh....)

I started out thinking, "Okay, I'll make this interesting: I will post a lot of Flash things, and write stuff here for fun." There's nothing fun left to write/type about, and I really don't know what to make with flash anymore.

Any suggestions?
zzzz...