Added physical flight, banking, and thermals
Jumping, flapping, banking, thermals, dives, and pull-outs turned the creature study into something that could be learned through motion.
The first day proved that Aurelie could move. The second was about making the air push back. A jump could become a flap, a flap could build a climb, and releasing the stroke could return the body to glide instead of leaving it suspended by an invisible controller.
Mouse movement began shaping bank and pitch. Dives sweep the wings back; pull-outs reopen them; repeated strokes spend energy to gain height. The camera follows a moving body with momentum rather than behaving like a free camera that happens to have a creature in front of it.
“The project became a game when staying in the air required attention instead of permission.”
Thermals gave the landscape invisible structure. Mint air-current traces show rising columns and warmer warning colors reveal sinking or dangerous air. Circling inside lift can trade patience and turning radius for altitude without asking every climb to come from a powered flap.
Wing strokes, feather rustle, airflow, footsteps, and landings added the feedback that equations cannot provide on their own. By the end of the day, flight was no longer one mode in a creature viewer. It was the reason to keep building the creature.