Cineversity

I’ve linked an object’s rotation to a bend deformer applied to another object. It works fine with rotating the hammer in the negative direction. However, I ran into a problem when I needed to rotate it in the positive direction to about 18 degrees. The strength of the bend deformer begins to rotate the opposite way! Wondering if I have my XPresso set up incorrectly for what I’m trying to do. I need the Hammer Spring to stick with the rotation of the hammer.

Also, the XPresso acts differently in version R18.057 compared to all previous versions of Cinema 4D. I created it in R18.048. We’ve discovered this as a bug, but I am wondering if I can also set up the XPresso differently so it works the same in R18.057.

Hi Matt,

Please have a look at this file.

Scene file
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/HlY8srFlwPOWHvGx9skfvgFlLQDZ7rihGkV8Zd3seMi

I set the range of rotation to the amount that felt OK, as over 90º or lower than -90º the bend deformer kind of curls. Anyway, you might use larger values. The point which I try to make here is, that the Spline Curve of the Range mapper should represent the range of your input needed. If you start with )º as the smallest value, but use then a negative value, you are not in control any longer. This area outside of the Spline Curve seems to be the part that is in need of an developer review, so far I can tell.

What I did was testing the file in various Releases of 18. I then remapped the spline curve, as seen in the image bellow. The X axis is locked into 1/8th steps. The R.P degree values were then set in the “Hammer” to adjust the the outcome for the deformer, by adjust each Y value. OF course the Min/Max (-90º/90º) for the outcome was adjusted first as that would other wise destroy the values inside those Min/Max “dots”.

See image:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/Pz5g2Rd4D9ZvUIme6neL1bkFQIscHo4ia75rVidIeeW

In this way the spring sits close to the Hammer. Again, your values might be in need for a larger rotation. But please test this and adjust to your needs.

All the best

Dude seriously Dr. Sassi, you’re a life saver. You just saved me hours of headache haha. Thank you thank you thank you! These XPresso setups are very hard to wrap my head around.

Matt

Very nice feedback, Matt, thanks a lot!

Yes, it takes a while to get used to it.

I have learned XPresso back in the days by just taking time to play with them, one node after the other. Tutorials were not available at that time, so “playing” was one method to get used to them.

In a nut shell:
It has roughly two key elements: the format that flows in the “wires” and the nodes itself.
On the end it is just about information flow and change.
Stay curious and as usual, please ask, I’m really happy to share or look into problems.

All the best

Yeah I’m sure if I just messed with it more and more I would start to get the hang of it. It really just comes down to playing with the different nodes. I feel like I have already spent quite a few hours trying to learn, but maybe it takes more haha. Anyway, thanks again sir!

Yes, Matt, any time spend with those will pay off after a while.

The biggest obstacle is certainly given by keeping the memory of the initial feeling of being overwhelmed. Focus on what has worked already instead
Keep going and one day it will be fun to use it and see its results.

ENJOY.