Kite Trick Markup Language (Re: the yo-yo move)

Subject Kite Trick Markup Language (Re: the yo-yo move)
From abw@cre.canon.co.uk (Andy Wardley)
Date Thu, 23 Apr 1998 12:57:36 GMT
Newsgroups rec.kites 
Peter Peters <pp@win.tue.nl> wrote:
> Although Im flattered, this is not totally true, timing is not very
> well mentioned in most descriptions. Timing related items such as
> "quick" "immediate" "slow" "gentle" are given, but that's about it.
> We really need some kind of animation to do this...

The Kite Trick Markup Language (KTML)?

It's something I've pondered on for about as long as I've flown tricks: how to describe a trick in a concise, unambiguous way. If it were possible to break a trick down into position, user input, timing, windspeed, action, etc and describe it in some well-defined format, then it should (ideally) be possible for one person to describe a trick to another person or even to a computer which could turn it into an animation.

The technology is there to do it, but I'm still not sure if it's at all possible to describe tricks and/or "maneuvers" in such a way.

Here's a pseudo-example of a theoretical KTML as an XML instance. 

<trick name="Skywalker" inventor="Andy Wardley">
    <alias name="Burn and Turn"/>

    <start>
        <position x=0 y=90/> 
        <orientation x=0 y=200 z=0/>
    </start>
    <fly>
         <position x=-90 y=10/>
         <dynamic speed=60/>
    </fly>
    <kill>
         <orientation x=90/>
         <dynamic speed=fast/>
    </kill>
    <pop hand=right>
         <rotate y=360/>
         <dynamic force=medium speed=slow/>
    </pop>
    <fly>
         <position x=0 y=10/>
    </fly>
</trick>

Why code it in XML? Because it's human readable (just), computer readable (easily), it's designed to be transmitted across the web (in a year's time XML will be everywhere on the web) and there are, or will soon will be several thousand different applications all designed to work natively with XML.

Now would that be cool or what? You go and visit Peter's site, click on a link which sends you the very, very small and compact file, like that above, and the plug-in in your browser renders it into a 3D animation. You could zoom in, view it from any angle, watch it frame by frame, watch the flier's hands (which might only be stick figures at first) and so on. All of this happens at the client end so there's no extra network traffic. No more downloading Mb's of data.

And what's more, you could even invent new tricks without ever having to leave your computer.

Now am I a geek or what? :-)

A 

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