Cineversity

I know that cloners and defomers don’t work well together (unless you use the Matrix object I believe)...
I have a sort of wave created with cloners, and am trying to use a spline to control it, as if it was following the spline.
I could probably do this with Xparticles instead, but am curious if there is a way to do this with Cloners?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xkgrofk26fdg3yb/HeatMap.c4d?dl=0

Thanks!

Hi Alex,

I’m happy to look into it.

Is this correct: You would like to have the clones in a row and the spline determines how large each clone gets? (The word following along the spline would not indicate it.)

OR

Do you like to have the wavy movement of the set up moving along the spline, as if the clone set up would be one “object” and it moves from start to finish along the spline? Which I think is the one you describe. Correct?

Please let me know.

That’s very kind of you Sassi, thanks!

Option 2, I would like the clones to move along the spline and the clone setup was one object….In the end my goal is to use a tracer object rather than a generic spline (if possible).

Thanks!

Here is your file back, Alex. Thanks for clearing it. I’m so used to read between the lines of forums questions that I might get lost sometimes. :“o)

I have created a little hierarchy to first get the MoGraph set up working and then use the Spline Wrap. To showcase all main parameter, I have captured a little clip (one minute) which hopefully explains all parts.

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/6j2dARhhHyT8RyG2ysS5LIgfa1vhhgluqq6MlN24Wr2?ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

The bounding box is perhaps critical, as the result of MoGraph changes. Sometimes it is better to set a larger box and set it to Fix Bounding box. Think of that box like a picture frame, anything inside will be treaded as one canvas. Kind of. ;o)

The part that I would suggest, which was only mentioned in you post, is the Tracer—> and here the Tracer Rail. The rail stabilizes the ride along the Spline. To get on of these, place a Null as a child to the object that will create the main tracer Spline and move the Null a little bit away from that parent object. Use a second Tracer and you have your rail.

I’m not clear if the tracer in your project will create “live” a Spline or if the Spline will be pre-produced. I haven’t check the set up yet for both cases.

All the best

P.S.: just a little one minute clip about tracer and how to get a rail as well….

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/ocwUsihA1Kzglu8jGmVXWrsQg9YeaQb7F7Ume1CWY3K?ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy

Exactly what I needed!  Thanks Sassi!

I had never really noticed the bounding box at the bottom of the Spline wrap…Really good to know about!

Thanks again

You’re welcome, Alex.

Let me know if there is anything else! :o)

My best wishes for the project.

Hello again Sassi

I’m trying to achieve something now that is maybe a bit more complex, but in the same project file….

Maybe this should be a different thread, and I’m happy to create a new one if you think I should

Basically I decided against the spline wrap approach.  The goald of my animation is to create a “particle” animation with many different layers.  At the “core” of these layers is this little setup I’m playing with now. 
It will be like a big group of different types of particles moving together, combined to create a complex/layered set of shapes.

So for this reason, my cloner setup needs to be able to move and flow at the center of this particle stream, it can’t be like a rigid straight line of clones.

My strategy for this was to use a spline with some animation or spline dynamics on it to have a nice natural waving effect.  However my setup was getting very complicated, I had a tracer between my “emitter” point and my tail, connected to two nulls with a spring constraint, and a rail doing the same thing, but then I couldn’t get spline dynamics to work on the tracer (which seems normal).

So my new approach is to do this : have a null at the same position as my particle emitter and a null at my tail.  These two are connected by a spline with spline constraints and spline dynamics.

This works well, but here is my question : every time I go to the beginning of my animation, things look a bit different, and I have to hit the “Go to start” button multiple times to have the splines really fall back into position….Then there is a big “disturbance” in the spline shape as soon as the animation starts, which is annoying.
How can I avoid this?  I would like my animation to be able to always play in a controlled way so I can re-create it each time I need it..

Here is a project file : https://www.dropbox.com/s/8zm695id64gybg3/SpringsAndSplineDynamics.c4d?dl=0

Sorry for the super long post, I wanted to explain the context so you can understand what I’m doing

Thanks!
Alex

Here is a little video that shows a bit of this problem
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i1h6jwst4e95aob/2016-02-02 13h07_20.mp4?dl=0

Maybe this is just the way it has to be?

Hi Alex,

When you go to the Spline Dynamic Tag, similar to Cloth, find (optional) your “Initial” and cache that state with the options of the Spline Dynamic tag. (Similar to Cloth)

After this, add an MoGraph Cache Tag to the Cloner and “bake” this as well.

With the MoGraph Cache established, the PSR and Spline Dynamic has no influence and can be set off. This should help to get the Spring Constrain more under control, as I guess that is the main part of the problem here.

=====
The XPresso has lost its Object, and I have no way to know what was connected. The Step Effector has pretty much no influence either. I mention that, perhaps to organize the scene. If not baked/cached, I would go through the Priority hierarchy to all the tags. Once a function has done its duty, switch it off, e.g., the Tracer Main, and place it perhaps on a Layer to get it out of your Object Manager, it helps to stay organized.
=====

Do I understand your progress of the project correctly, that the flag was the first, then the wrap and now the spring object, just to get a clearer picture. If I get this right, the heat-wave-units feel like a very bendy fish, moving through space. So, perhaps creating a low resolution flags, connecting them with the Connector object, and use this in a single MoGraph Cloner to produce the “Heat-Sprites” (the planes with the image/particles).
Cloth and all of that is nothing else than a huge pile of springs connected to the mesh. Which is simply the same as in X-Particles, as shown here: https://player.vimeo.com/video/121450991
Perhaps this leads to a much simpler and much easier to reproduce set up. Which in return might be nicer to manage and adjust.

There are certainly more ways to do it, Dynamics-Spring/Connectors comest to mind. But lets see how far the ideas and observations will get you. I know—it is a work in progress.

All the best

P.S.: Just to share some ideas. X-Particles. Take it as brainstorming. :o) Just to keep it simple.

Enjoy

Yes, thanks Sassi, I’ve been thinking about this, and I think that working with X-Particles might give me most control, as I really like the constraint system, and I could just have one dynamic spline that has particles “stuck” to its points, and then have the same modifiers affect everything…

Thanks for your ideas, very appreciated!

Alex

You’re welcome, Alex! :o)