How do I drag a blanket around?

[someawfulbridge]

I have the very rudimentary rudiments of cloth down--cloth and deflectors. What I can't figure out is how to make a blanket/piece of cloth move beyond just the dropping/deflecting. What am I missing?

 

I've attached a quickie test involving some stairs and a grid for cloth. Attempting to get it to move I added two bones to two "attached" cps each, hoping to make those points by which I could drag the cloth. Keyframing those moving after 4 seconds did nothing. So then I tried keyframing the model bone to move after 4 seconds (and that's what's on the attached project), and the blanket still just sits there.

 

What am I supposed to do that is eluding me?

 

Thanks for any help--

blankettest.zip

[bighop]

Ok,

 

There are many adjustments for cloth.

 

1.My understanding is if you make an attachment, it holds that place. So attaching will limit the movement.

2. Adjust the mass, this will increase the cloth's weight

3. Adjust the friction, I lowered it, and that seemed to help.

4. You can add wind too.

5. Adjust the air drag will help too.

 

You have to play with the adjustments to get the effect you want.

 

 

The adjustments are tricky to find, at least that's my experience.

I attached the file after I made some adjustments.

 

Check out this link: http://www.lowrestv.com/arm/search3.asp?bo...ateAdded%20desc

 

Hope that helps,

 

Andy

blankettest.prj.zip

[John Bigboote]

I'm quite sure you are missing a step.

 

I'm in the middle of a heavy render and can't open another A:M right now... I'll do as soon as can---

 

I don't think this link (above...http://www.lowrestv.com/arm/search3.asp?bo...ateAdded%20desc ) will be of any help...one was 2004, the other 1998...both are written about OLDER version of cloth...not the new 'SimCloth' feature...

[John Bigboote]

I d'loaded the LATEST RELEASE of V14.1 onto an unused Mac and started playing with cloth to see what the 'to do' is...

 

 

Either this release is missing the thing I was looking for OR they changed how you attach and constrain cloth to objects...

 

I modelled a simple mesh grid...100X100 CPs...and then lathed a 'handle' and placed it near the corner of the grid, with the idea being that once placed in the chor and simmed the mesh would fall but hang from the handle...

 

I made 2 new materials...Simcloth and a SimCloth deflector, placed cloth on the grid's group and the deflector on the handle's group...also dropped the deflector onto the default 'ground' model so the cloth would detect the ground plane.

 

Now, in previous versions of Hash's SimCloth- I would select the 'cloth's group in the model and open the little triangle-box in the bottom (of it's property window) labeled 'plugin properties' and then the triangle that would open the 'SimCloth' box. Here, I was able to turn on the option called 'attached' and then select a group for it to be attached TO...

 

In this version of A:M (V14.0) I CAN turn ON the 'attached' option...but I 'CANNOT' indicate which group I want to be attached TO...begging the question... IS THERE A NEW WAY TO DO THIS? or IS THIS A BROKEN FEATURE?

 

Until I get to the bottom of those 2 questions you and I, AwfulBridgeDude...are scratchin'...

[someawfulbridge]

Your treatment did what I'm looking for--made the blanket move. I cleaned up the project, removed the bones and the "attached" group, and from what I can tell made my project mimic your changes, keyframing the model bone moving so that even in the quickie scrub preview the blanket mesh moves like I want it (minus the cloth/deflecting simulation). But still, whereas in your choreography the blanket follows the model bone down the stairs, my model bone moves while the blanket stays still after its first fall. Adjusting friction and mass have no effect. How did you get it to follow the model bone?

 

Ok,

 

There are many adjustments for cloth.

 

1.My understanding is if you make an attachment, it holds that place. So attaching will limit the movement.

2. Adjust the mass, this will increase the cloth's weight

3. Adjust the friction, I lowered it, and that seemed to help.

4. You can add wind too.

5. Adjust the air drag will help too.

 

You have to play with the adjustments to get the effect you want.

 

 

The adjustments are tricky to find, at least that's my experience.

I attached the file after I made some adjustments.

 

Check out this link: http://www.lowrestv.com/arm/search3.asp?bo...ateAdded%20desc

 

Hope that helps,

 

Andy

[bighop]

Did you run the SimCloth Simulate? Those changes will not take effect until your run the Simulate again.

[someawfulbridge]

I did, and just to be sure I also clicked the "clear all simulation data" (though, since that had no effect, I suspect that is exclusively for rigid bodies).

 

I'm reattaching the beastie again, just in case.

 

Also--even though I can't get it to move at all for starters, how would one go about dragging it, but just by one corner, rather than moving the whole thing?

 

 

blankettest.prj.zip

 

 

Did you run the SimCloth Simulate? Those changes will not take effect until your run the Simulate again.

[bighop]

Well one way is to create an object, sphere, etc, but make it 100% transparent. Attach the corner of the cloth to the object, key frame the object where you want it to go, and add the SimCloth effect. It should follow the cloth.

 

This is a big guess. I have the 2005 DVD tutorials and they attached cloth to a sword, and moved the sword around leaving the cloth hanging.

[John Bigboote]

I have the very rudimentary rudiments of cloth down--cloth and deflectors. What I can't figure out is how to make a blanket/piece of cloth move beyond just the dropping/deflecting. What am I missing?

 

 

To get back to your initial plea... I believe that feature (attach) is currently been disabled...maybe Hash does not know it is unavailable and we need to submit an error report. I've tried everything, cannot attach, then I read the OTHER thread concerning cloth that is current right now and those Hashers also discuss this very thing with the same opinion...it's broken!

 

Until it's fixed, you cannot drag your blanket around...Linus.

[johnl3d]

Maybe

 

really rough test This is what I could get in 1/2 hour

 

 

clothdrag.mov

 

 

clothdrag.zip

[someawfulbridge]

AHA! Thanks everybody! And especially you, John! I looked at your file and realized the the key was leaving some portion of the blanket NOT cloth for the other parts to follow. (Perhaps this is a "duh" moment for most, but it was "eureka" for me.) I removed all bones as being superfluous, applied the cloth material to all the blanket except for the one corner CP by which it's "dragged," keyframed the model bone to move over 3 secs., which in turn moved the non-cloth CP, which in turn dragged the rest of the simulated cloth.

 

This (successful!) test render is large (even at 320x240), being 3 secs. long. (If anyone has any tutorials on how to more effectively render tests for posting, point me there!)

blanketdrag.mov

 

And, if anyone is interested, here is the corrected project.

blankettest.prj.zip

 

Thanks again!

[johnl3d]

Glad I could help.. wasn't sure what was necessary (bones) so just guessed. Glad it worked for you

[John Bigboote]

I got it to work too, John. THANXZY!!!

 

I used a G5 Mac instead of my PC... fought me every step of the way. Hats off to the Mac users...you have more patience than I.

[johnl3d]

Matt

Glad you got it to work also ...by the way I'm on an old PC p4 1.7

[someawfulbridge]

A Mac pays my rent, and I have to work with it 40 hours a week (and I'm typing on it now, so don't tell it I said this), but my god do I hate them. They're like Fischer-Price computers, and it sure is nice to go home and cozy up to Windows XP, rather than Mac OSX.

 

I've also noticed A:M working more smoothly on my PC. For one thing, spring systems crash it on the Mac.

 

I got it to work too, John. THANXZY!!!

 

I used a G5 Mac instead of my PC... fought me every step of the way. Hats off to the Mac users...you have more patience than I.