HELP! I need to pick your brains!

[John Bigboote]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC0pbC1vzyY

 

 

Hello esteemed fellow Hashers!

 

I'm in a bit of a 'pickle'...maybe you can help me out with some advice. I am doing a retail furniture advert and I did an animation of a ribbon Untying (see link) using an muscle mode action to 'UNdraw' the ribbon and then I used SimCloth to get the ribbon to fall...kinda nice. The art director saw it and does not like it- HE wants the ribbon to UNtie as if invisible hands were pulling at it and he wants convincingly real action.

 

I am now sitting back scratching my head wondering the best way to TRY and pull this off---literally. Ideas include:

 

-boning the ribbon and using IK to pull it out...

-Doing the whole thing with SimCloth by attaching a bone to the ends of the ribbons and pulling out the bone...

-Doing the whole thing in muscle-mode...

 

If anyone has any input or ideas on how to achieve this effect-PLEASE advise!

 

Thanks!

 

Matt Campbell aka 'John BigBoote'

 

 

The animation in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC0pbC1vzyY

[Dhar]

Hey Matt; bones would be the way to go. It will achieve the same thing as muscle mode but much more efficiently. Trying to use cloth would involve collision settings that are so close together will cause the program to crash. I think a combination of bones, nulls, constraints and paths would be your best bet. Maybe some muscle manipulation as the ribbon goes thru the knott.

 

Best of luck.

[John Bigboote]

Thanks Dhar. Will do.

 

I sat back and animated the whole untie in muscle-mode...and it ends with the 2 ribbons straight as an arrow pointing away from the knot. Now, I want SimCloth to take over- So I set the sim range to the frame I want...but it wont work on the animated CPs for some reason...SO I saved the last frame from the action as a model and figgered I'd switch to this UNadulterated model using the ON/OFF layer switches...but SimCloth STILL won't react on it. What am I missing?

 

EDIT! I had turned on 'attached' on the SimCloth somewhere alongst the way...turned it off and SimCloth is COOKIN'!!!

[Kelley]

John: I thought your 'untie' was just fine. I spent years dealing with fussy twits like your Art Director. Tell him that his solution will be hellishly expensive. If that cools him out [as it so often does] well and good. If not, well, you'll just have to spend the money.

[John Bigboote]

John: I thought your 'untie' was just fine. I spent years dealing with fussy twits like your Art Director. Tell him that his solution will be hellishly expensive. If that cools him out [as it so often does] well and good. If not, well, you'll just have to spend the money.

 

 

Thanks John-

HERE's the way it unfolded... the art director had questioned my abilities as an animator AND my software saying when I told him that an actual 3D ribbon untie in the short timeframe was going to be 'difficult to pull off' his response was "Are you telling me it's beyond your capabilities?" as if he was going to pull the account away from my company.

 

I am the lone A:M guy and we also have about 8-10 Maya animators on staff. They were called in to see if Maya had a 'magic button' solution...which it does not, and to add to my credibility they all stepped back from the difficult task. I then put in a looong night animating the effect using muscle-mode (CP's keyframed in time) and showed it the next day and everyone loved it. We then wanted to show it to the A--hole art director but he wasn't in...he had been sent home by the president of the agency for being too forcefull with an artist...something he apparently has a history of... we'll see Monday if he still has a job.

 

I'm rendering it over the long weekend...it airs Tuesday and I'll show it to you all then. Thanks for the support!

 

MC

[3DArtZ]

I think the only way to do this convincingly is to hand animate either the control points or bones, like was said before.

 

Can't wait to see what you made!

 

Mike Fitz

www.3dartz.com

[the_black_mage]

i like the bone idea th most...but the cloth idea might work....

[Gerry]

Dang, Matt, I thought your original solution was so elegant I've been showing it off around here to show what AM could do. I like the comment about all the Maya guys stepping back from this one.

 

I know your solution will be good no matter what you end up doing.

[Jentham2000]

Looks great Matt!

 

I understand the situation with the AD, it's a tough spot to be in but I have found your approach to be right on. Most of the time, these guys are insecure and try to exert their weight so in their eyes no one will see thier weakness. Most are just empty shells, but still can be deadly if not treated with kid gloves.

 

I'm a newbie, but I have found if something will not AUTOMATICALLY do something, maybe you can manually animate the un-tying process. Just my 2 cents.....

 

Also, how did make that great snow?

[John Bigboote]

Also, how did make that great snow?

 

The snow was made using the .ai wizard...AND if you are interested in the models, I give them away FREE in this post http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30194

 

FINISHED! http://youtube.com/watch?v=9so-Q9NkhjI&feature=user

 

Beware...it's a full :30 and it's incredibly RETAIL. The 'UNtie' effect was animated fully in muscle mode, and you can see where the point is that SimCloth takes over. In order to achieve this, I had to take the last frame of the action where the ribbons are sticking out and save it as a new model, then I imported the new model and ran the SimCloth simulation over it, and finally placed it on the timeline where it needed to be and turned the 2 models On and OFF as needed.

 

THANK-YOU for the support when I needed it... this forum is the BEST!

[Jentham2000]

Wow, excellent work!

 

I hope some day to get to this level.....

 

I'm glad to hear everything worked out well.

 

I agree, this board is Awesome!

 

Bob