• Maxon Cinema 4D

  Suggestions on making flying ribbons

  Posted by Andrew Wilson on March 3, 2011 at 5:00 am

  I’m trying to re-create an animation similar to this one. I posted this question on the Motion forum becasue I was hoping it could be done only in Motion. The more I’ve played around with it, I think it’s got some real 3D in its genes. I’m having trouble getting the “curl” right when it turns corners. It’s that Caligraphy pen look that I’m going for.

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  Any suggestions? I’m using R12 but I’ve only been on it for a couple of months so I’m a newbie but I’ve been toying with 3D since the days of Infini-D.

  Thanks so much!

  Andrew Wilson
  WestView Digital Video & Design
  https://www.westviewdigital.com

  Andrew Wilson replied 15 years, 2 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  André Irniger

  March 3, 2011 at 6:35 pm

  Hello,

  I think the only things you need are:
  – A spline for a path
  – A small simple Spline for the shape (for example a 10×2 Rectangle) or maybe just a two point spline.
  – An “Align To Spline” Tag to make the simple spline follow the path.
  – A MoGraph Tracer Object which will trace the path of the small spline. This will give you the Shape you are after.
  – Now you can use the spline generated from the MoGraph Tracer in a Sweep-NURBS for example to “materialize” the trace.

  Make sure to choose the subdivision of the shape to trace and the spline-path wisely, as you can create very heavy objects really fast.

  Also make sure to check out the Tracer Object Help (many options) and the Help for the “Align to Spline” Tag. Probably you want to enable the “tangential” checkbox on the Tag.

  Cheers,
  André
• 

  Andrew Wilson

  March 5, 2011 at 1:30 pm

  thanks for the tips… It got me started in the right direction.

  I ended up using a plane (like you said around 10×2) and used a spline wrap on that which references a Helix spline for direction. Then it was just a matter of keyframing the offset of the spline wrap.

  The spline wrap also allowed me to play with the size controls so I could taper the rectangle.

  Andrew Wilson
  WestView Digital Video & Design
  http://www.westviewdigital.com

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