[Stephen Hoath]

For years I have been manualy drawing kite routines out, copying them for the whole team then spending ages trying to explain what the pretty little pictures mean. Sometimes it is very hard to visualise what is required.

There have been several solutions to this over the years but my current favourite is using Microsoft PowerPoint 2003. This enables you to animate quite simply (though labouriously) and you can of course use photo's of your favourite kite. This really helps when you have a team that is spread over a wide area

Here is an example of the begining of a routine I wrote some time back. (some of you will have seen it)

It is a first attempt and a bit rough around the edges but I hope it gives you an idea of what can be achieved.

This should be viewed using Power point 2003. There is a link to the free viewer in the previous post.

So my questions are, what other techniques are out there and which is the best one?

Attached File(s)

•  MUHKTA.ppt (649.5K)
  Number of downloads: 404

[Stefan]

Hi Stephen!
Because our members live not close together I did use MACROMEDIA FLASH to animate our routine. Ok, the handling of FLASH isn't easy first time, but I use the animation for our homepgae, also.
For fast results, your Powerpoint-Solution works also.
Regards
Stefan www.team-4-fun.de

[cbabbman]

Stefan, on May 24 2007, 10:50 AM, said:

I did use MACROMEDIA FLASH to animate our routine. Ok, the handling of FLASH isn't easy first time, but I use the animation for our homepgae, also.
Stefan www.team-4-fun.de

Flash is kind of expensive and can be difficult to learn. For all of my Flash projects, I use a program called SWISH.

Very easy to use, great results and cheap...

[Stephen Hoath]

Stefan, on May 24 2007, 05:50 PM, said:

Hi Stephen!
Because our members live not close together I did use MACROMEDIA FLASH to animate our routine. Ok, the handling of FLASH isn't easy first time, but I use the animation for our homepgae, also.
For fast results, your Powerpoint-Solution works also.
Regards
Stefan www.team-4-fun.de

Hi Stefan, love the animation on the web page. I spent ages trying to make the kites go backwards but it didn't work!

[Stefan]

Hi Stephen, before I have to start a FLASH course, I'll prepare a short sequence. You'll get by e-mail,ok
@cababbman: Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look about SWISH. The updates for FLASH are really expensive
Best Regards
Stefan

[Gaiiden]

So you guys don't know of any application/website out there that lets you design out routines? Hrmmm... I'm a software developer - I'm guess there would be interest for a tool like this? Nothing complex. For example if I wanted to sell it the most I would ask for it is $15

[Stephen Hoath]

Gaiiden, on Jun 1 2007, 02:58 AM, said:

So you guys don't know of any application/website out there that lets you design out routines? Hrmmm... I'm a software developer - I'm guess there would be interest for a tool like this? Nothing complex. For example if I wanted to sell it the most I would ask for it is $15

I would be very interested in seeing something like this. It would be even better if you could run the animation at the same time as playing the music.

It would then be possible to send the routine to some judges and get feedback on choreography before you even fly the routine. Ideally it would need to work for indi, pair and team.


Let me know if you need any input from a team flier.

[MrDenny]

Drew,
Don't forget to keep track of the lines. A tally at the bottom of the screen showing the wraps between kites as they come and go would be nice.

[lummas]

I would be very interested in this system too. As Stephen said, we have spent too many years writing these things on paper and handing them to each other. A more elegant solution would be ideal.

Thanks,

Mark.

[Kitelife]

I would also be very interested in this!

Options for dual or quad line kites, or both?

[Gaiiden]

Hrmmm... no promises people, I'm swamped with a lot of projects at the moment, but this is something I can start hashing out at least Keep the suggestions coming, solicit ideas from friends and such. Line twists - check. Support for dual and quad - check. Here's a more detailed description. You start the program, choose a music track, select a kite icon (delta, Rev, foil, etc) and select the number of kites. Then you enter the editor which lets you select a kite for initial placement on the "field". Once kites are placed you can plot paths by drawing lines on the screen. The kites will follow their own lines. To choreograph to the music, you select a location on the music track's timeline and then draw a new line, and the program will tween the kite's motion along the line between that point on the timeline and the last edited timeline point.

Hrmmm, that may not make much sense for those of you not familiar with timelines and animation tweening (like in Flash). I'll try to whip up a very quick demo sometime this month.

[lummas]

So far sounds great Drew. And the timeline thing did seem to make sense.

Look forward to seeing what you have.

Mark

[monkey]

sounds like a spectacular idea to me, i'd throw in help wherever I could

thanks!

[Jay Nunes]

Drew that sounds Great.

I would definatly Purchase a Demo Program like that for sure.

Jay Nunes

[beach]

Count me in I have to have one just tell me what I can do to help......Ben

[antman]

im in on it too i would love to see a setup like that it would help le better my flying skills

[Gaiiden]

Shucks, the primary tech I was looking to use to develop the app doesn't have the audio capabilities I need to create a timeline for the music, like I had hoped. So hang tight while I do some more research...

[Fool]

I haven't ever flown in competition due to my lack of time to choreograph a routine. This sounds like an excellent idea to cut down a lot of that time and help many competitors. I'd be willing to bet there are MANY more that would be interested if you can do a dual line version as well as a Quad line. I'm in when ever you figure out the details.

[Gaiiden]

hey everyone - found a promising lead, continuing to move forward on this.

In the meantime I want to ask what you all mean by supporting quad line as well as dual line. I've never competed nor flown in formation (tho the latter I've done somewhat and I've seen plenty of both) I don't see the difference. certainly you can do more things with quad line than dual, like flying backwards, reverse spins, etc. If that's what you mean then yes, stuff like that will definetly be supported. It'll all be intrinsic actually. In the program you'll be able to make your kite avatar fly like a dual or quad - you'll just know which is which.

[Kitelife]

Very clear, sounds right.

Thanks Drew, this will be a great contribution!