Using Cloth Simulations with a Mechanical Rig in Maya
Throughout these lessons you will learn how to create ropes and pulleys with cloth simulation and how to merge that with a mechanical rig with all the animation controls one would expect. Software required: Maya 2013.
What you'll learn
Throughout these lessons you will learn how to create ropes and pulleys with cloth simulation and how to merge that with a mechanical rig with all the animation controls one would expect. This tutorial will have two project examples in it. The first is meant to teach you some things one needs to keep and eye out for when bringing simulation into a rig. You will learn how to create pivot, point and hinged constraints within nCloth. Set driven keys will be used to help move the cloth to get the results we are after. Finally I will be showing you how to deal with stretching in your ridged mechanical parts. All this will give a simulated rig that will interact with your environment at a frame rate that will allow for close to real time interaction. The second project will give another example on how to go about setting up a semi mechanical simulated rig. You can expect to learn many of the exotic issues a rig like this will bring, but more importantly how to work your way around them. Software required: Maya 2013.
Table of contents
- Walking Through the Scene 3m
- Building Joints with Cloth Simulation 6m
- Starting the Crane Rig 9m
- Rigging up the Pulleys 11m
- Finishing the Crane Rig 4m
- Setting up the Wrap Deform 12m
- Starting the Cloth Simulation 9m
- Applying Cloth Simulation to the Rig 8m
- Dealing with Stretching and Joint Pulling 11m
- Finishing the Crane and Setting up Test Animations 9m
- Creating a Start Position for the Rope in the Second Example 9m
- Finishing the Rope and Adding Curves for Deformers 10m
- Dealing with Inherited Cloth Nodes 10m
- Duplicating the Buckets 10m
- Dealing with the One Frame Lag Problem 9m
- Finishing the Constraints 11m
- Cleaning up and Final Thoughts 9m
About the author
After watching the DeLorean fly off in the cult classic, "Back to the Future," 12 year old David Knight knew exactly what he wanted to do with his future. Fast forward to the present; he now has more than 18 years experience in the VFX industry and has worked for several major production houses including The Mill and Absolute Post. Primarily working in advertising, David's credits include Mullar, Sky Sports, Intel, and Dr. Who to name a few.