The Most Challenging to Model
Sometimes the simplest looking element is the most challenging to model.
To prove this point, you will add a flexible hose to an existing scene, connecting a vacuum cleaner body to its handle and cleaning head assembly.
The key is creating the hose so that it remains connected at each end and so that the connections stay flush to the surfaces when you animate the object.
An extra control point is added in the middle of the hose to allow more realistic movement.
This approach could be used for any type of flexible connection between two rigid bodies.
Hydraulic hoses, electrical cabling, or the disc between two vertebra in a medical animation are just a couple of examples.
Once you no longer need to edit complex objects, you should select the objects along with their 2D shapes and save the selections (File/Save Selected) to a new file on the hard drive.
Then, collapse the modifiers and delete the 2D control shapes in the scene to minimize the overhead.
If you find that you do need to edit the object again, edit the copy on the hard disk and use the File/Replace option to substitute the old object with the new one.
By applying a series of Dummy object attached with Linked Xform modifiers to vertices along the Hose loft path,you created a rigid contact with the Hose and Vacuum.
This enabled you to animate the Head without keeping track of the attachment at either end of the Hose.
You then were able to animate a Linked Xform Dummy at the middle of the Hose with the three transforms-Move, Rotate, and Scale-to keep the Hose from kinking.
This process can be applied to dust sleeves on robot arm joints, view camera bellows, hydraulic hoses, muscle and joint structures, and flexible lamps or medical probes to name a few.
The most important feature is the extra Linked Xform Dummy at each end.
This Dummy keeps the flexible object flush with the surface to which it is attached.
Without the extra Dummy, the connection opens above and drops into the surface.
To prove this point, you will add a flexible hose to an existing scene, connecting a vacuum cleaner body to its handle and cleaning head assembly.
The key is creating the hose so that it remains connected at each end and so that the connections stay flush to the surfaces when you animate the object.
An extra control point is added in the middle of the hose to allow more realistic movement.
This approach could be used for any type of flexible connection between two rigid bodies.
Hydraulic hoses, electrical cabling, or the disc between two vertebra in a medical animation are just a couple of examples.
Once you no longer need to edit complex objects, you should select the objects along with their 2D shapes and save the selections (File/Save Selected) to a new file on the hard drive.
Then, collapse the modifiers and delete the 2D control shapes in the scene to minimize the overhead.
If you find that you do need to edit the object again, edit the copy on the hard disk and use the File/Replace option to substitute the old object with the new one.
By applying a series of Dummy object attached with Linked Xform modifiers to vertices along the Hose loft path,you created a rigid contact with the Hose and Vacuum.
This enabled you to animate the Head without keeping track of the attachment at either end of the Hose.
You then were able to animate a Linked Xform Dummy at the middle of the Hose with the three transforms-Move, Rotate, and Scale-to keep the Hose from kinking.
This process can be applied to dust sleeves on robot arm joints, view camera bellows, hydraulic hoses, muscle and joint structures, and flexible lamps or medical probes to name a few.
The most important feature is the extra Linked Xform Dummy at each end.
This Dummy keeps the flexible object flush with the surface to which it is attached.
Without the extra Dummy, the connection opens above and drops into the surface.
