Discovered a use for Force X, Y, and Z in Flexies

Maybe this is common knowledge, but the tutorials I've read on flexies didn't seem to know what the Force X, Force Y, and Force Z functions are for. I think I've found it.

I am building an alien plant thing and I want about 6 tendrils growing out the top that sway in the wind. I set the flexible path the way I thought would look nice, but -- uh oh! They're all blowing in the same direction parallel to each other like one big tendril. I wanted a more radial sea anemone effect.

I thought I'd try playing with the Force X and Y settings and sure enough these give the tendrils a tendency toward the direction I needed them, yet still allowed them to blow in the wind. The way it worked best for me was to cut the wind almost but not quite down to 0.00 and then gradually add a little Force X and Y (or subtract - they go into the negative too) until the tendril wants to go in the right direction. Then I gradually cut the wind back up. It works great! I'm sure there are several applications for this -- I just never understood it before.

Now if only we could find a way to select multiple flexies to edit at the same time . . .

Hi Weston,

Would you tell me what settings you are using to get this effect? I am trying to make sperm with tails that sway about (I'm building a model of the testis for my students) and the tails all either seem to end up pointing in the same direction (the wind direction) or just stay pretty stiff and straight up.

Thanks,

Doug

Must... resist... easy... joke....

Well this is a plant like form so they are swaying gently in the wind. I don't know if it would work exactly for sperm cells.

Softness 3
Gravity 0.3
Drag 2.0
Wind 0.3 (I brought it incrementally up to this amount - have not tried higher)
Tension 1.5

Then each tendril has a different force X,Y,Z setting:
0.0, -0.2, 0.0
0.8, -0.2, 0.0
0.6, 0.0, 0.0
0.0, 0.2, 0.0
0.0, 0.1, 0.0
-0.1, 0.0, 0.0

I didn't mess with Z because I wanted gravity to pull at them a little.

I have been trying to post a picture of the result to a web site, but my confounded service provider moved or removed the already difficult uploading "tools." Grrrr. Anyway, I hope this gives you some idea of similar settings that might work.

And you are doing this in SL? I am really trying hard not to: a. laugh and b. Be thankful that griefers don't read the offical forums.

Another use is like kind of dynamic flexi things. Like making a lighter skirt. Detect the movement and apply force appropriately. I once saw a flexi dress using such a script and the dress flexied like a dress should. Absolutely beautiful.

Hi Thunder,

Sure I'm doing this in SL. I like the modeling and building tools for this kind of stuff. I picked the testis because there are some unique features of the histology and physiology that have to work together to coordinate spermatogenesis. I'm actually more interested in ovarian function (that is my main area of research) but but the regulation of egg production is somewhat simpler than sperm production - at least from an anatomical perspective.

I have been learning how to script so I can animate the process of sperm development, meiosis, motility, etc. Ultimately I'd like to build a tour vehicle (of course it will be in the shape of a giant sperm ) that would take the students through the various structures and explain what is going on as well as ask them quiz questions about the process.

Right now the testis is about a 50 x 75 meter oval and the sperm are about 3 meters long. You can fly through the build to see how things work.

After I finish this I'd like to try building a giant model of the heart that you can fly through to understand cardiac function.

Doug

Thanks Weston,

I'll give these a try today.

Doug

please tell me you'll be selling this item!

make sure you put the build location up on the forums for us to have a look at when it's done, sounds like it'll be interesting

-Crunch

Please tell me you keep it open and sell tickets as a modern day remake of Fantastic Voyage. I'd buy! -- KC

I use flexi-force to make a flexi-tail "wag", admittedly though it requires me to use the avatar's direction to make sure it works when you rotate. Annoying that there's no "local" flag to make it work the same regardless of rotation =(

Most of the tails i've seen wag due to be anchored to a ball hidden in the av's back which itself is rotated, is there an advantage to doing it via force?

might make it seem more natural if done right?

I too regret not having a local X,Y, Z to use force on. It means if I rotate my plant for placement, it will be all wonkered. But there are other features I would want a whole lot more first, like the ability to taper a sphere, or offset holes in prims! Of course, that's asking a lot.

I'd love to see that biology lesson above when it's done.

I'm probably about half way through the project. I have a giant testis with particles that demonstrate/depict the movement of sperm through the tubules out of the testis and into the vas defrens. If I get really ambitious I might make a giant pair of scissors so you can do a virtual vasectomy . OK, maybe not.

The second structure is a higher power view of the seminiferous tubule itself (where sperm are actually produced). That's where I need to make the tails wave in the breeze. You can fly through the tubule to see the various stages of sperm development.

The last structure is a detailed model of two sertoli cells and some scripted sperm development. The sperm move between the sertoli cells, change shape and color, eventually gets a midpiece (the motor for swimming) and a tail. Then it swims off into the sunset.

It still needs a permanent home but if you want to see what I have so far, just IM me in world and I'd be happy to give a tour. But my sperm car is in the shop right now so I'm just using a plain old magic carpet for the tour bus.

Fun stuff.

Doug

My avatar is full-prim so the tail is built into the pelvis meaning I can't do it that way. The main advantage of the rotating ball method is it's much easier to do, since you just do:
llSetRot(<rotation>;
And it moves. However, with the force method you have to call:
llSetPrimitiveParams([PRIM_FLEXIBLE, ....]);
With a load of settings, every time you want it to move, and for every part of the tail there is (since mine is a fox tail it requires 2 parts, 4 to make it fluffy).

Is a bit of a pain =(

That's great!! One of the few popular exhibits at London's doomed Millenium Dome was a giant walk-through heart; it was very heartening (ahem) to see hordes of people, many of whom clearly had zero prior knowledge of human biology, enthusiastically examining how their bodies work. The Dome didn't have any testes, though ...

Your project sounds like a shining example of how VR can really enhance learning experience I'd just like to add my plea for a landmark when you're ready to show off your work!

Cheers,
Cherry.