The Koryo leg break

[Buka]

Thank you sir! That video was shot in the school I attend (Majest Martial Arts in Sterling Virginia). The performer is Dong-Jin Kim, a former university poomsae champion in Korea -- I'm trying to recall, I think he competed for Kyung-Min University? He now teaches in Leesburg, Virginia. The person shooting the video (and the person who is heard speaking) is Seung-Min Choi, one of the earliest K-Tigers (he started with the K-Tigers in 1992), and former coach of the US Marine Corps taekwondo team. (As I write this, Master Choi is in Utah coaching our school's poomsae team at Nationals.) The person who edited the video and added the text is as handsome as he is talented.

There are tons of things I would do to make that series of videos better if I could (right now it covers only T1-8 + Koryo), but it's difficult to get all the right ingredients in the same place at the same time for long enough. If we make an update to that series of videos (which we have discussed doing) this time we'll try to shoot it in 4K, and from multiple angles. In the existing series of videos, it was a bit of a "rush job" on our part to get everything shot after the Saturday morning classes had finished but before the Saturday afternoon team practices began.

Majest <-- our YouTube channel

I'm also the author of this series of diagrams like the one show below, and I've had the same thought: if I only had the time (and the knowledge) it'd be nice to diagram all kata/poomsae/hyeung/teul in this style. Maybe someday when I retire from my day job, creating modern documentation of the all the kata/poomsae/hyeung/teul would make a fun retirement project.

That is SO the balls.

 

[TrueJim]

I like that diagram. What software do you use to produce the figures? I've been considering improving how I diagram the kata I teach, and this is much better than the simple arrows I use (they only show direction).

I wrote the software myself sir. It's not trivial to use, but it's not impossible to learn either. I released previous versions as Open Source, but the most recent version I have so-far kept as Closed Source. (I have a good reason that I can't get into here.) There are a few people that I have given licenses to for the most recent version; we can discuss a no-cost arrangement in a private message if you'd like. (I'm just trying to limit the redistribution of the source code - bidness reasons)

The software is basically just a library of modules within the open source CAD program called OpenSCAD. What looks like a bunch of taekwondo figurines is actually just a bunch of deformed cylinders and spheres. That's why it doesn't look entirely realistic -- it's merely "good enough" for a poomsae diagram.

For example, to tell the software to render a green figurine performing a low block in a long stance, you'd simply type something like this:

• left_long_stance("green") left_low_block("green");

This is what the entire code for the form Taegeuk Il Jang looks like:

joonbee("gold");
position_DA1(1) DA() { left_walking_stance("gold") left_low_block("gold"); } // 1
position_DA1(2) DA() { right_walking_stance("gold") right_punch("gold"); } // 2
position_RA1(1) RA() { right_walking_stance("orange") right_low_block("orange"); } // 3
position_RA1(2) RA() { left_walking_stance("orange") left_punch("orange"); } // 4
position_GA2() GA() { left_front_stance("green") left_low_block("green"); } // 5
position_RA2(0.60) GA() { left_front_stance("green") right_punch("green"); } // 6
position_RA2(1.5) RA() { right_walking_stance("green") left_inward_block("green"); } // 7
position_RA2(2.5) RA() { left_walking_stance("green") right_punch("green"); } // 8
position_DA2(1) DA() { left_walking_stance("indigo") right_inward_block("indigo"); } // 9
position_DA2(2) DA() { right_walking_stance("indigo") left_punch("indigo"); } // 10
position_GA3() GA() { right_front_stance("blue") right_low_block("blue"); } // 11
position_DA3(0.60) GA() { right_front_stance("blue") left_punch("blue"); } // 12
position_DA3(1.5) DA() { left_walking_stance("blue") left_high_block("blue"); } // 13
position_DA3(2.5) DA() { RIGHT_FRONT_KICK("blue",120); } // 14a
position_DA3(3.5) DA() { right_walking_stance("blue") right_punch("blue"); } // 14b
position_RA3(1) RA() { right_walking_stance("sienna") right_high_block("sienna"); } // 15
position_RA3(2) RA() { LEFT_FRONT_KICK("sienna",120); } // 16a
position_RA3(3) RA() { left_walking_stance("sienna") left_punch("sienna"); } // 16b
position_RA2(4) NA() { left_front_stance("darkred") left_low_block("darkred"); } // 17
position_RA1(4) NA() { right_front_stance("darkred") right_punch("darkred"); } // 18

...that might look complicated, but basically if you just type that into the software, it renders a complete 3D image of the poomsae! How cool is that?

After I render a complete diagram, I copy and paste the diagram into PowerPoint, and then use PowerPoint to add the text and arrows. For a form that I already know, I can create an entire diagram in about 4 hours. Double that at least, if I'm watching the form in a YouTube video to learn it (and even then, those diagrams tend to be not as good). For a beginner, I think it might take you about 16 hours to finish your first diagram, then it'd get faster as you learned the tool. It never becomes "easy" though.

A bonus application of this tool is that you can use it to render 3D objects for 3D printing. That's how I made this stuff:

Majest by Majest - Shapeways Shops

Here's a video that summarizes how the software works:

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I wrote the software myself sir. It's not trivial to use, but it's not impossible to learn either. I released previous versions as Open Source, but the most recent version I have so-far kept as Closed Source. (I have a good reason that I can't get into here.) There are a few people that I have given licenses to for the most recent version; we can discuss a no-cost arrangement in a private message if you'd like. (I'm just trying to limit the redistribution of the source code - bidness reasons)

The software is basically just a library of modules within the open source CAD program called OpenSCAD. What looks like a bunch of taekwondo figurines is actually just a bunch of deformed cylinders and spheres. That's why it doesn't look entirely realistic -- it's merely "good enough" for a poomsae diagram.

For example, to tell the software to render a green figurine performing a low block in a long stance, you'd simply type something like this:

• left_long_stance("green") left_low_block("green");

This is what the entire code for the form Taegeuk Il Jang looks like:

joonbee("gold");
position_DA1(1) DA() { left_walking_stance("gold") left_low_block("gold"); } // 1
position_DA1(2) DA() { right_walking_stance("gold") right_punch("gold"); } // 2
position_RA1(1) RA() { right_walking_stance("orange") right_low_block("orange"); } // 3
position_RA1(2) RA() { left_walking_stance("orange") left_punch("orange"); } // 4
position_GA2() GA() { left_front_stance("green") left_low_block("green"); } // 5
position_RA2(0.60) GA() { left_front_stance("green") right_punch("green"); } // 6
position_RA2(1.5) RA() { right_walking_stance("green") left_inward_block("green"); } // 7
position_RA2(2.5) RA() { left_walking_stance("green") right_punch("green"); } // 8
position_DA2(1) DA() { left_walking_stance("indigo") right_inward_block("indigo"); } // 9
position_DA2(2) DA() { right_walking_stance("indigo") left_punch("indigo"); } // 10
position_GA3() GA() { right_front_stance("blue") right_low_block("blue"); } // 11
position_DA3(0.60) GA() { right_front_stance("blue") left_punch("blue"); } // 12
position_DA3(1.5) DA() { left_walking_stance("blue") left_high_block("blue"); } // 13
position_DA3(2.5) DA() { RIGHT_FRONT_KICK("blue",120); } // 14a
position_DA3(3.5) DA() { right_walking_stance("blue") right_punch("blue"); } // 14b
position_RA3(1) RA() { right_walking_stance("sienna") right_high_block("sienna"); } // 15
position_RA3(2) RA() { LEFT_FRONT_KICK("sienna",120); } // 16a
position_RA3(3) RA() { left_walking_stance("sienna") left_punch("sienna"); } // 16b
position_RA2(4) NA() { left_front_stance("darkred") left_low_block("darkred"); } // 17
position_RA1(4) NA() { right_front_stance("darkred") right_punch("darkred"); } // 18

...that might look complicated, but basically if you just type that into the software, it renders a complete 3D image of the poomsae! How cool is that?

After I render a complete diagram, I copy and paste the diagram into PowerPoint, and then use PowerPoint to add the text and arrows. For a form that I already know, I can create an entire diagram in about 4 hours. Double that at least, if I'm watching the form in a YouTube video to learn it (and even then, those diagrams tend to be not as good). For a beginner, I think it might take you about 16 hours to finish your first diagram, then it'd get faster as you learned the tool. It never becomes "easy" though.

A bonus application of this tool is that you can use it to render 3D objects for 3D printing. That's how I made this stuff:

Majest by Majest - Shapeways Shops

Here's a video that summarizes how the software works:

Thanks - that means more to me than to some. The "code" doesn't look any more complicated than old LOGO code, really, if you know the stances.

I'll PM you about the software.

 

[skribs]

Thanks - that means more to me than to some. The "code" doesn't look any more complicated than old LOGO code, really, if you know the stances.

I'll PM you about the software.

I probably should, too.

 

[Buka]

Thank you sir! That video was shot in the school I attend (Majest Martial Arts in Sterling Virginia). The performer is Dong-Jin Kim, a former university poomsae champion in Korea -- I'm trying to recall, I think he competed for Kyung-Min University? He now teaches in Leesburg, Virginia. The person shooting the video (and the person who is heard speaking) is Seung-Min Choi, one of the earliest K-Tigers (he started with the K-Tigers in 1992), and former coach of the US Marine Corps taekwondo team. (As I write this, Master Choi is in Utah coaching our school's poomsae team at Nationals.) The person who edited the video and added the text is as handsome as he is talented.

There are tons of things I would do to make that series of videos better if I could (right now it covers only T1-8 + Koryo), but it's difficult to get all the right ingredients in the same place at the same time for long enough. If we make an update to that series of videos (which we have discussed doing) this time we'll try to shoot it in 4K, and from multiple angles. In the existing series of videos, it was a bit of a "rush job" on our part to get everything shot after the Saturday morning classes had finished but before the Saturday afternoon team practices began.

Majest <-- our YouTube channel

I'm also the author of this series of diagrams like the one show below, and I've had the same thought: if I only had the time (and the knowledge) it'd be nice to diagram all kata/poomsae/hyeung/teul in this style. Maybe someday when I retire from my day job, creating modern documentation of the all the kata/poomsae/hyeung/teul would make a fun retirement project.

I so love how you guys think and what you're doing. Wonderful.

 

[Buka]

One thing I've thought about doing with my demo team is designing a form that will be done stylistically with a group of people, and then one person will do the form again, where the others are the attackers and you see how the moves can be applied.

There's a girl on my demonstration team who has tons of ideas (I eventually told her to get a journal and write down her ideas, she texted me the next day telling me how many pages she had written). One of her ideas was to design a form that will be done with a group of people, and then one person will do the form again, where the others are the attackers and you see how the moves can be applied.

I told her it was a brilliant idea. Then I told her why I thought it was a brilliant idea.

I love this kind of thinking. I believe with good old fashioned hard training and a thinking and studying outside the box type of mentality - there's nothing you guys can't do. To me, it's what makes Martial Artists true Artists.