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Animating Arrows in C4D Broadcast
I create quite a bit of engineering-related animations illustrating flow direction in a 3D model and feel I am somewhat limited in my choice of tools for that purpose, since I use R12 Broadcast. Thinking Particles would be great but about all I do is add an Align to Spline tag to each individual arrow which makes for a long day of setup. What I need is an emitter that would release several arrows along a path in single file instead of having to animate each one. Maybe MoGraph would do the trick.
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4 Replies
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Here’s the method I use. I’m using ver. 14 Studio, but it should work in Broadcast ver. 12 if you have Mograph and the SplineWrap deformer.
Make an arrow and subdivide it along its length so it will bend. Put it into a Cloner object, choosing Linear, and Per Step mode. Draw a spline path for it to follow. I usually use the Cubic type, and Uniform as the interpolation method.
Make a Null object, and put a SplineWrap deformer into it, and put the spline you drew in the place marked Spline, so the SplineWrap knows which spline to use as the path. Make the Cloner object a child of the SplineWrap. So you have a hierarchy: Null>SplineWrap>Cloner. Adjust the P.Z parameter in the Cloner to control the spacing of the arrows, and adjust the count to make enough arrows to fill the spline.
Use these settings for the SplineWrap: Axis: +Z, Mode: Fit Spline, End Mode: Clamp, Check Fit Bounding Box. Animate the offset of the SplineWrap to make the arrows move around the spline.
This should do it.
Jack
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Jack,
Thank-you so much for the help on this technique. You have saved me countless hours of frustration. I knew there had to be a solution. I’ve been happy with this Broadcast edition and have been working in Cinema 4D for four years now but I’ve always wished that I could have afforded the full version but it’s just way over my budget. Maybe one day. Thanks again.
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If you don’t have it you may want to download this free plugin: https://www.microbion.co.uk/graphics/c4d/arrow.htm
Great timesaver.
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You’re welcome, Ron. I recommend this arrow plugin also. I use a lot of arrows and this makes it much easier. It has a lot of options, too.
Jack
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