Animated Spline Squid
evilproducer
Posts: 9,050
Scene file: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7370483/Squid.car
I made reference to using a spline model to create an animated squid with no rigging or morphs, and animated from within the spline modeler.
This thread details a little about how to do this. I hate to do this, but I'm under deadline for a project that I must get done for some much needed filthy lucre, so you may have to refer to the manual's spline modeler section on how to do some things if I forget to explain them. If you have questions, I will also do my best to answer them. I will begin the explanation of the squid modeling in the next post.
I was hoping to post an animated gif, but the aforementioned paying project is taking render priority at the moment, although, by the magic of the Batch Renderer, I could still start a new scene and build the model. I'll stick it up on ShareCG or Dropbox when I get a chance.
The scene is a small scaled scene set at the default four seconds. I didn't apply a shader to the squid. To animate it, I built the squid in the Spline Modeler and adjusted the extrusion envelope and adjusted the Bezier Curves to the desired look at frame 0. I then went to the end of the time line and adjusted the envelope and curves to achieve the desired look at the end of the animation. I then selected the tweener and changed it to oscillate. I noticed an unwanted movement and expanded the model in the sequencer and discovered that one of the section paths was still set to a Linear tweener. I changed it to oscillate, and all was good.
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I'm a bit tired, so sorry if this is a bit scatter-brained or puts the cart before the horse in some areas.
The first thing to do in the spline modeler is to decide how long you want the path, and how many cross sections you think you need. You can add more later if you need to, but it is a good idea to have a pretty close approximation to avoid headaches later on.
So, how do you decide? It may be easier for some people to sketch out the profile of the object they want to make. Add a point for a cross section wherever there is a change or transformation in the shape of the profile. For instance, for instance, the squid starts with the cone with a small shape, expands, then contracts, and expands again. Each one of those expansions and contractions required a point for a cross section. Where the tentacles begin, is another point for a cross section. Where they spread out is yet another point.
When the path has the points you want, select the first section and either draw your shape, or use the oval shape to make it. In my squid, I wanted the arrow shaped crest to be kid of flat, so I used the Pen tool to draw my shape, and adjusted the points to where I wanted them. I then centered the shape: Sections--> Center (Command+Shift+C).
Next, I created the next section: Sections-->Create. This creates a new section with the shape copied from the previous section. You can adjust the size and shape if you want. In my case, I left it the same size and adjusted it after I created the extrusion envelope. My plan for this section was to create the wide point of the crest.
I created another section where the crest narrows and becomes round where it joins the rest of the head. To do this, I deleted my drawn shape, and added a circle using the oval tool. I made sure the skinning option on the right side of the screen was enabled.
I created the next section where the head widens. I basically just scaled up the circle.
The next two points are very close to one another. These two points create the end of the head, and the point where the tentacles begin. I created the two sections and increased the size of the circle in the first section, and reduced it in the second. I wanted it indented, so the point for the second of these two sections on the extrusion path was moved back past the first one, so the extrusion path basically overlaps itself. You can see what I'm talking about if you offset the point from the path. I created a small circle on the second of the two sections, and copied and pasted it for a total if eight small circles arranged within the larger circle.
I created the next section, and the large circle with the eight smaller circles was copied to it automatically. I didn't want the large circle anymore, so I selected it and deleted it. I then moved the eight smaller circles away from the center a bit. When I deleted the large circle, it unskinned the large circle in the previous section, so I went back to it and enabled the skinning option.
You will probably notice the tentacles aren't lining up in the right order. You will need to look at the shape number on each of the circles on the first cross section with the eight circles. If any of the eight circles says it is shape 1, you will need to change it to 2 or some other number. Now go to the next cross section and make sure that the numbers from the first circles are in line with the circles in this section. If they are not, then just go around and change them to match the numbers on the first cross section with the eight circles. You only have to do this for once. Any new sections should follow the correct order.
Now it is a simple matter of creating the remaining cross sections and moving the circles in towards the center, or away from the center depending on the desired final shape. Don't forget to scale the circles down as you get to the end of the tentacles. You can do this numerically or by eyeballing it.
My paying render got done a bit early so I was able to knock out an animated gif!
This is very simplistic. I basically animated the squid by expanding and contracting the extrusion envelope like a bellows, so it is not very accurate or elegant. If I wanted to, I could have gone in and manipulated the tentacles by moving the shapes in the cross sections around as well.
Once I had my basic shape down, it looked pretty angular. To fix that, I went to Geometry--> Extrusion Method--> Translation. Then, Geometry--> Extrusion Envelope--> Symmetrical.
I could then use the the points on the envelope to fine tune the shape, and the curve tool to round off the angle and give it a more organic feel.
Some more screen caps:
Here's a new version of the animation where I moved the shapes on the cross sections, rather than moving the envelope. If you downloaded the scene file already, it has been updated. I also changed the tweener type to bezier.
Most of the shapes were pretty easy to grab and move, but the ends of the tentacles were very small and when I clicked and dragged them, they wanted to expand in size, so that's what I did. When I was done, I set them back to their original size numerically.
Thanks more things with tentacles always appreciated
Wow! That's a great tutorial. Thanks for creating it, especially when you're so busy with production.
I gave it a go and gave up when I had a lovely vertically aligned ribbon in the shape of a squid profile. Unfortunately, it seems I need a horizontally aligned profile and for the life of me I couldn't realign the spline profile to a horizontal plane. So I tried moving the purple lines, added points,reshaped, then reverted and finally gave up. LOL!
I imagine I'd get used to the orneriness of the spine tool eventually, but I'll need a lot of practice to become acquainted with the basics, like getting the volume cross-section splines to not become new spline extrusions...or maybe their supposed to be and I just don't know how to get them to behave like volume cross-section on the squid profile spline.
Right now, it's quite puzzling to me...although I understand what needs to happen - thanks to your finished .car file - I'm not sure how to get there from where I am now.
Nevertheless, I certainly appreciate this tutorial and will take another crack at it in the future. But for now, I have some dandelions to pull up and grass to mow.:-)
Cheers,
t
Pretty cool technique there, ep! I wasn't aware that we could animate spline modeler functions, unlike the vertex modeler. Pretty neat!
...and very nice presentation of the tutorial - complete with working files and all... bravo, my friend!
Wow! That's a great tutorial. Thanks for creating it, especially when you're so busy with production.
I gave it a go and gave up when I had a lovely vertically aligned ribbon in the shape of a squid profile. Unfortunately, it seems I need a horizontally aligned profile and for the life of me I couldn't realign the spline profile to a horizontal plane. So I tried moving the purple lines, added points,reshaped, then reverted and finally gave up. LOL!
I imagine I'd get used to the orneriness of the spine tool eventually, but I'll need a lot of practice to become acquainted with the basics, like getting the volume cross-section splines to not become new spline extrusions...or maybe their supposed to be and I just don't know how to get them to behave like volume cross-section on the squid profile spline.
Right now, it's quite puzzling to me...although I understand what needs to happen - thanks to your finished .car file - I'm not sure how to get there from where I am now.
Nevertheless, I certainly appreciate this tutorial and will take another crack at it in the future. But for now, I have some dandelions to pull up and grass to mow.:-)
Cheers,
t
Sorry I haven't got back to this, I had out of town company yesterday and didn't have much free computer time.
When I wanted the tentacles to be extruded and not the head, I deleted the circle that formed the extrusion. So, in the cross section that I added the eight circles that extruded into tentacles had those circles, plus the circle for the head extrusion. I then created a new section, and the eight tentacle circles and the head circle were copied to the new cross section. I then selected the large head circle and deleted it, leaving the eight tentacle circles being extruded. I did have to go back to the previous cross section and enable the shape skinning option so that I didn't have a large hole in the front of the squid. You may also have to match of the shape numbers between the first cross section tentacle circles and the next section's tentacle circles as the spline modeler may be confused about which shape is lined up with next.
EP, I'm very glad to be able to connect to this forum again to say that this tuto is formidable.
The spline modeler needs to be promoted more broadly in the users' community I think.
Thanks !
WOW :)
Nice work,.. for a really Evil Producer you've produced the goods. :)
Oh, no worries evilproducer. I totally understand.
Ah-ha, so there are some subtleties to be understood before I can master this technique. I'm sure it will be awhile before I'll catch up, but I'll definitely take the time. What you can do with splines shows that they are a versatile tool.
Yeah, I'm on side with 3DAGE. Producer? Yes. Evil...Not seeing it. LOL!
Thanks again. :-)
Thank you very very much! x SileneUK :)