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Variation in spline distortion inside cloner
Posted: 21 March 2018 02:26 PM   [ Ignore ]  
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Joined  2012-01-05

Hello

I’m trying to achieve a look where I have something similar to this image
https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/colossal-3878906/hand-cut-paper-microorganisms-by-charles-1713497575

My approach was to create a spline, apply a distortion to it with the displace deformer, then clone that spline on the Y axis in linear mode.  Maybe even have two splines with slightly different distortions in blend mode (which doesn’t seem to work)
But then I was hoping to clone this first arrangement, and them maybe through Xpresso randomize the seed of each Displacer to create different shapes.

How would I go about doing that?  With an iteration?
Here is a sample file.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/id4894six0nweyc/Pile_1.c4d?dl=0

Thanks!
Alex

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Posted: 21 March 2018 03:52 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
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Hi Alex,

Thanks for the example and the image files!

Here are three files with four examples.

Scene files:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/TikYm7yEBSVJ6Z47UfXGbdZ4mFt7yqafnGfjUjNHdFd

Please have a look. The …_01.c4d has the Displacement based on Shading> Global. So moving the Object, will change it.
The …_11.c4d are just two examples for things that can be Blend, polygon based or Primitive based
Last but not least, the …_21.c4d creates via Pose Morph the shapes, and blends among them, just move the Plain Effector along the Z direction to see the Group Blend, single base blends are in the Pose Morphs.

Let me know if there is any question, I’m happy to look into it.

All the best

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
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Posted: 21 March 2018 04:00 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]  
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Thanks Sassi!  Those are all great solutions to create the shapes!

What I need to find now is a way to clone one of these shapes hundreds of times with slight variations in the difference.  The Voronoi approach seemed to be really promising because I thought by maybe moving the spline slightly it would work, but no so much in this case.

So imagine a landscape of hundreds of these shapes but all a bit different in width, height and shape…

Does that make sense?

Thanks!

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Posted: 21 March 2018 04:03 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]  
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Alex, yes it makes sense,

Could you imagine to have a Blue Print like map first and when that is established, to extrude them. The requirement to move them later on might be an extra level of complexity.

Let me know.

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

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Posted: 21 March 2018 04:14 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]  
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Yes indeed…This is basically a datavisulization, where I have all these shapes as seen from the top, then the camera rotates and comes closer, you see that these shapes are what is forming the dots on the map.
See the map here
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jtvoev9gjh9v94b/LocationsMap_1.c4d?dl=0

So I would probably have to play with LOD to have all these clones appearing from the top as just dots, and then switching to a higher res as the camera comes closer.

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Posted: 21 March 2018 07:42 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]  
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Alex, here is a workflow sketch. Starting from the top and then down. Each step is labeled with a different Layer Color.

Scene file
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/C6WTGiME5VZ7HYGVDDxH7eizi2LY0IM7xoslL4kmWrR

First I get all the point cluster turned into a single spline. No idea what size you like, so adjust accordingly.
Then I run it one time through a MoSpline, based on Rick’s quick-tip.
Then apply all the layers.

What this file is missing is the detailed shapes with much more detail. Here I would suggest first, to center the Location map, so it is in the middle of the XYZ, since I didn’t know if that works for you I left it where it was, but it is nicer to work centered.
The shape created (spline) could be sized in the average size, so after Spline>Explode, Reset Axis, each spline could be scaled a little larger and one copy a little smaller. To scale it, use a Plain Effector as Sibling in the group, set to Deform Object. With that, you can create several layers and deform those all at once in a noise field set to Global.
Scene file:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/WbgMd8Amr5jwY1RNuXKrqqTSVy69yWb6mm4yd2XwsYF
From here we have several options, but the most important part would be to have reduced 6K locations to 243, even it is some date, it has become more manageable. Your text sounds more, that each one is an object on its own. That would require that the camera is very close and with that, perhaps have a Plain Effector on the camera that switches from Proxy to Full.

Since I have no idea If that all works for you, I will wait for more input. Has each location to be a single layered object?  Perhaps the steps shared so far, are supportive for some ideas – i.e., Brainstorming.

Again, let me know.

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Posted: 21 March 2018 11:23 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 6 ]  
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Thanks Sassi
These are some great ideas…
Which is the QuickTip from Rick you are referring to?

One thing which might be a concern with this setup is that I potentially will have to transform the shape from a circle to a line, as the animation evolves, but I will keep playing with this setup tomorrow and will let you know how it goes!  I will have to probably keep it procedural all the way, or, as an alternative switch from a proxy to a full shape.
When I am in top view, all I need to see is circles, but as soon as I get to a side or 3/4 view, I need to start seeing the height.

Thanks again!

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Posted: 21 March 2018 11:49 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 7 ]  
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You’re welcome, Alex.

I had to set my preferences to over 5000 objects, to test some of my ideas. Needless to say that things went really slow here, after I tried to have many clones and each differently. Hence my search for simplification.

In the file below you will find a very simplified ring (Tube), which I have “harvested” from an XPresso driven example. Since you might have not to look underneath, I deleted even these polygon, given the huge number of locations.
The follow up, the link contains two files, I went a step further, and have only the top view visible, if you need more, use the Cloth Thickness. All of that, just ideas.
Scen Files
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/Bi4Mgd8bIIHXUbaldYA4VMU4ipRVHTssji6YBIxKpNT

Rick’s QuickTip:
https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaytut/smoothly_deform_splines_in_cinema_4d_to_create_audio_waveform_visualization

While I suggest QuickTips:
LOD
https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaytut/use_fbx_to_export_lods_from_cinema_4d_to_unreal
However, it depends of course which route you go.

Here is a little sketch how the Proxy switch could be set up
Scene file
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/Sf8JenJiPUgomGIAvgqjvHrH5nQiOgBwWvPTJLMYN5C

Added/edited:

Since you said it might be all in need to be adjustable, here is a set up for a single shape:
Scene file:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/L5mjmLMEu2qa2WOH1vaFOwyOsGVyY9gdSqyO5HD5GWA


Cheers

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
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Posted: 22 March 2018 02:49 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 8 ]  
Total Posts:  434
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Thank you Sassi, there is always so much good stuff in these files you share!  I always feel like I learn more than what I was expecting when I open them smile

One thing I feel I’m still missing is something like this : if I had a setup inside a cloner where I have one circle object and a deformer that is changing its shape, and that shape is being cloned in Y linearly, and then I created a series of clones of that first clone setup, how could I set up a system where the noise affecting the circle inside the first clone is being modified randomly per clone.

So it would be something like this
https://d.pr/FREE/mJLvxv

Right now in this screenshot you can see that all the clones are identical, but what if each clone had a change to a value inside the Displacer?  I feel I remember watching a tutorial a long time ago showing how to do something like this, but is it possible?

Thanks!

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Posted: 22 March 2018 03:52 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 9 ]  
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You’re welcome, Alex, and thanks for the nice feedback!

The simple answer is, normally a clone is a clone is a clone. wink It is produced once and then it is more like an instance object. It can have some information adjusted, as in PSR, Color or where it is in Cloner space (u,v,w), ID, etc.
But to change later on values of each part of the clone, is not the idea, as in change the Displacers source the Noise (which is deeper than Displacer), for that, to a certain extend, the Blend was introduced, but yes, there are limitations how deep it reaches.

To get you anyway to what you want, I would suggest to create only one clone first. While the Noise in the Displacer is set to Object or Texture, (test this on yours, which one delivers constantly). It all works inside of the 3D noise space, which can be imagined like a sky filed with clouds. From each new location it looks different. Hence in my earlier examples I used World, which isn’t working here, but Texture and Object should.

After this the “pile” is created, and then the distribution starts. I hope my mini set up delivers for the whole scene enough variety.

Scene file:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/el7SuH5Bz0rPYtdwTWzs4i0D6QW5SfDKJzzQaEDU4iv

Let me know if there is anything else, as it is a larger and complex project, I hope my little contributions can help to make it work.

(As a side note, the proxy/object method, could be more effective if the camera path would be known, so parts that will never “pop” into full details could be set up with a secondary clone system. Just a thought. But perhaps Rendering Instances might do the trick for these areas already, which would disable the idea fo individual shaped objects)

My best wishes for your project.

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
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