moving swaying pile

[Lettershome]

ok…update. Found and reworked a cool bone spine but it causes all the objects i attach to it to bend, flex, and deform as the rig is moved. I’d like all the elements in the pile to stay ridged and to even have a certain amount of collision detection so the geometry of each object doesn’t collapse into the next. Again, the teacup thing…the teacup pile would swing and the cups would slide against each other but the actual shapes of the individual cups would remain constant.

Got some decent results using a spline to deform the pile as well, however going that route would be incredibly time consuming as each spline point would have to be hand animated.

[Adam Trachtenberg]

Some other ideas:

If you have MoGraph you can use a Cloner along with an Inheritance Effector (to move the stack) and a Step Effector (to create a delay effect). Add in a Delay Effector set to spring mode and you can get a pretty cool effect.

If you have R10 you can use the delay function of the new Constraint Tag.

If you have Mocca you can use a soft IK chain.

[Adam Trachtenberg]

You don’t actually need bones at all–just your object axes all the way down and then put the IK tags directly on your objects.

[Lettershome]

thanks.

I don’t have Mograph or 10, but will the cloner allow for a large variety of objects in the pile, or at least the ability to create instances that allow me to attach a bunch of things to. I’m thinking something kindof messy here…a pile of junk with lots of different pieces and parts of varying sizes.

I’ve created an IK chain but it’s deforming all my objects…it would be perfect for an arm or tail…something that’s skinned, but it’s not what i’m looking for.

I’m a pretty experienced animator/compositor, but the whole rigging thing is new to me so perhaps (or very possibly) i’m missing something.

[Mylenium]

[lettershome] “I don’t have Mograph or 10, but will the cloner allow for a large variety of objects in the pile, or at least the ability to create instances that allow me to attach a bunch of things to. I’m thinking something kindof messy here…a pile of junk with lots of different pieces and parts of varying sizes.”

You still have to model al lthe variations. Cloners only vary rotation, scale and positions. Since each clone is treated liek a particle, you cannot directly attach anything to it. The order is just the other way around – first model/ naimate, then let the cloners and effectors handle placemnt and secondary animation.

If you don’t have any of the modules, you should dig into XPresso. Using a Hierarchy node, an Iterator and a reference to a spline using a Points node you can directly attach your objects to points on the spline, which in turn you can then animate using PLA.

Mylenium

[Pour Myl

[Lettershome]

Interesting. I def knew i’d have to model all the objects, but hadn’t thought of using a clone tool to build the pile.

I’m currently playing with the point-based spline solution now…needs a little more effort, but might work.

This is a tough one, when I first started I figured I could create a rig that would handle all aspects of the pile with just a few controls.

[Mylenium]

[lettershome] “This is a tough one, when I first started I figured I could create a rig that would handle all aspects of the pile with just a few controls.”
Well, if you had MoGraph it would be. ;O) you could re-arrange your objects at the slightest whim and refine your stuff until render time is here as it is all fully editable until the last possible moment. Maybe after the current job is finished and you can have a go at it to see how it could have been done with MoGraph.

Mylenium

[Pour Myl

[Lettershome]

so, I dl’d the 10 demo with the mograph module. I get how to use the cloner, but is there a way to use a single cloner to duplicate a variety of shapes? I’m just using simple geometry shapes right now and trying to take like 5 or 10 object and assemble a stack where they don’t overlap each other when i move everything. it’s hurting my pea brain. seriously, if i can make this work this easy i’d buy the mograph thing in a heartbeat.

[Adam Trachtenberg]

AFAIK there’s no direct way to make the cloner space the objects according to their height, but you could create a spline or poly shape with the appropriate spacing and then place the clones on the points.

[Mylenium]

Like Adam said, Cloners have no built-in collision detection for automatic stacking/ spacing calculation. It’s on my personal wishlist as well. Anyway, you may still get what you need by using effectors to further modulate the spacing. For this you would still use multiple cloneers with their individual effectors, but in turn you only need one main spline effector and one spline to actually pin your objects in the way you want. Once they are in place, use Step effectors and tweak the Step gap and position parameter until everything looks right. You may need to animate the parameters a tiny bit so everything stays in place, but it should nonetheless be quicker and easier than other techniques.

Mylenium

[Pour Myl