Okay, let’s talk about this little project I worked on.
Getting Started
So, I had this idea buzzing around in my head for a while. Just a simple concept, really. I wanted to make this character, sort of modular, you know? Like, pieces could fit into specific places. Sounded easy enough when I thought about it. First thing I did was just grab my usual tools, fired up the computer. Didn’t even sketch much, just wanted to dive in and see what happened. Sometimes planning too much just kills the fun, right?
Building the Thing
I started blocking out a basic shape. Just cubes and spheres, real simple stuff. Tried to make it look like a figure, kinda blocky at first. Then came the tricky part – the ‘slots’. How was I gonna make parts actually fit somewhere specific? I fiddled around for ages. First attempt, things just floated near the body, didn’t look right at all. Then I tried making actual holes, but that messed up the main shape.
It reminded me of this one time I was trying to assemble some cheap furniture. The instructions were useless, pieces didn’t quite line up. I spent hours getting mad, almost threw the whole thing out. But eventually, I found that if I angled one piece just right, it clicked into place. It was kinda like that with this digital guy. I messed with connection points, tried parenting objects, lots of trial and error. Most of it didn’t work.
- Tried simple attachment scripts.
- Tried physical joints.
- Tried just visually placing things.
None felt quite right. It needed to feel solid, like a toy where you snap parts on. I spent a good chunk of time just on that mechanism, how one part recognizes its designated spot and connects.
Making it Work (Sort Of)
Eventually, I landed on a system using invisible markers, points on the main body that knew what kind of part should go there. And the parts themselves had a little bit of code to look for their matching marker. When they got close enough – snap! It wasn’t super elegant, coding-wise. My code is usually pretty rough, more functional than pretty. But it started to work.
I made a few simple parts – arms, maybe some gadgets. Tried snapping them on and off. Sometimes they’d connect to the wrong spot, or jitter around. Debugging that was a headache. Felt like whack-a-mole. Fix one bug, two more pop up. But slowly, piece by piece, it got more stable. It wasn’t perfect, far from it. But you could grab a part, move it to the right area, and it would click in. That felt like a win.
Where It’s At Now
So now, I’ve got this basic figure. It can hold different parts in designated slots. It’s not much to look at, honestly. Very plain. But the core idea, that mechanism of fitting things into place, that part functions. It was a good learning exercise. Made me think about connections, parent-child relationships in a practical way, not just abstract theory. It’s sitting on my hard drive now. Maybe I’ll do more with it someday, maybe not. But the process of building it, struggling with it, and getting something working – that was the real point. Just another little piece of experience tucked away.
