noobie question: binding problem

[Brian Jones]

what kind of a bend? Perhaps the bend deformer will do what you want.

[Sean]

Thanks for replying, Brian.

I’m just interested in animating the whole spaceship as if it were a cartoony type of character. So I’d like the tube shaped spaceship to be able to bend in the middle (I guess like a banana) and maybe twist at the middle as well. I figured bones/joints were the way to go for something like that.

Was that a wrong assumption?

Thanks.

[Brian Jones]

it depends on the type of motion it’s going to do. Bend will bend something but not kinked over (like a human at the waist) like a banana should be not problem. Twisting could be done with the Twist deformer and both can be used at the same time, it just makes a difference which goes first. Bones are likely more versatile probably but also have their own limitations (smooth bends are harder – it wants to kink like a waist or an arm) and they are more work to set up but if you need/want what they give you do the dinosaur tail and the mime etc and go for it. If you need only what the other deformers will give you they are mostly much easier to deal with and you can leave all the bits in the null if you want.

[Sean]

Thanks a ton for the suggestion, Brian. I hadn’t thought about using those deformers. Sounds like a good solution!

I’m still a little puzzled, though. *If* i wanted to use bones, then I assume I *couldn’t* “leave all the bits in the null” like I can with the deformers. Is that right?

Is there an easy way to combine all those bits? like some sort of merge/optimize objects command? Or do I maybe need to stitch all the elements together in point mode or something? That sounds like a real pain…

Thanks so much again for your help.

[Brian Jones]

Actually you can leave the bits in a null just like any deformer (and they can be Nurbs/Primitives).

check out this example I made https://homepage.mac.com/bdjones/.Public/ShipTwistBend.zip

I have bones/bend/twist in there with only the bones active. You can turn the bones off and the others on to play with those. Try moving the tip of the bone in the nose cone, watch what the fins do – it’s something you either have to limit with the available bone tools or make a
more complex rig. As I said if you want simple bends bones are a lot of work but they are also a lot more flexible in what they can do if you do need the control.

It you did want to combine the bits to a poly object I think the simplest way is to select the parent null and do a “Current State To Object” (which leaves the original hide it or toss it) – then in the new null select all the poly bits created and do a “Connect”. Other suggestions?

[Sean]

Awesome, Brian. Thank you so much for your help.

I’m going to try what you suggest! Really grateful.

[Sean]

It worked!!

Thanks again so much Brian. The bend deformer worked like a charm. Your sample was very very helpful.

Just a note that I figured out I also needed to use a ‘stick texture’ tag to make sure my textures didn’t slip when I bent the object.

Yay! Thank you!!