gfriedman

Hi

I have a client who's putting together a set for an opera and I am looking for a good way to do what he is after. I am familar wit several software packages (rhino, formz, max ) and I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

He wants to manipulate a plane which represents a series of plywood panels stiched together - and he wants this plane to behave as a piece of paper might if you were to lift one of its corners. What is critical here, is that the lengths of the edges - and in fact the "body's" dimensions - do not change under the plane's deformation. Can anyone think of a way to do such a thing? The techniques I have tried seem to be distorting the original shape's properties. The latest idea was to look into using IK chains...but there should be an easier way.

Thanks
g

Tommy L

I dont know of an easier way to do it than IK. Maybe look at the cloth modifier? Or just eyeball it, depending on how many/how big the peices of plywood are.

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shaneis

This should get you going, it's for Maya but the principles are simple and will easily translate to Max...

http://www.highend3d.com/maya/tutori...ating/266.html

All the best,

S.

manta

I would think cloth is the answer...maybe set to leather as a preset...since leather isn't very stretchy...

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gfriedman

thanks for the suggestions.

I am not the most familiar with using IK but I have tried anyhow based on my limited knowledge and it is going in the right direction. One problem I see is that some of the patches within the plane seem to be getting stretched as you move further away from the location of the bones - how do you ensure that the plane maintains its dimensions?

As for the cloth suggestion - again I have never used it but I looked at a tutorial for a table cloth and it loks quite interesting. Once I have made the plane a cloth how do I simulate pulling one corner?

thanks!

gfriedman

so i've been playing around with cloth, and I have something that is ALMOST exactly what I need. I have attached a file showing where I'm at - the problem being that I want to have two vertices stay fixed to a plane above them (like the underside of a ceiling) though I want them to be abe to slide laterally on that plane as needed. By this I mean that since the material has relatively fixed dimensions they should be able to slide around in plan (top) view as they are pulled by the cloth's behaviour.

I have tried another one where instead of pinning the corner vertices to an u/s they are pinned to the top of cones but I am getting some strange results...i will attach that one too

please, advise!

Attached Files

set-designs.zip (454.1 KB, 3 views)