I thought I posted this last week, but I guess I somehow screwed it up because it’s not showing up anywhere. I’m off to a bad start!! I have 3 objects connected with 2 connector hinges. What I want to have happen is when I move the left hand piece vertically, the center piece will pivot upward with it (see simplified attached file). But when I animate the piece to move vertically, the hinge has no affect. I’m missing something in the setup, obviously. I love c4d, but don’t get too many opportunities to use it, so I’m still much a novice. Any help will be appreciated.
Craig
Would you mind to share your scene? That the element is red is not a good sign. Something, as you wrote, is missing. I’m not certain if that functionality will work, if I got your description correctly. Why not animate this with a Target Tag?
That your initial post didn’t show up is not nice. This is the first time I read something like that since 2006, so my suspicious would be, that you might have used the “Preview” button instead of the “Submit” button, could that be?
Thanks for your reply. I think I figured out why my topic didn’t post last week. I was trying to attach a c4d file. My fault!! I don’t know why the connector hinges are red, but as you said, I must have something set up wrong. I’ll now have to figure out how to use a target tag, as you suggest.
Craig
Thanks for the reply, Craig. My target here is to find something that works for you. As there are, more often that not, many ways to get what you need, I ask.
It is not clear to me—at that moment—if I have a correct idea of what you really need.
The more I know about your idea, the better I might be able to share a solution.
Things show up red if the Dynamic set up is missing something, which is perhaps the most blurry answer possible, but all I can share at the moment.
The Target Tag, or even the Constrain Tag is just an idea, an alternative.
Let me know, if you like to explore that a little bit more.
If you have problems to attach a C4D file directly, that is normal, it won’t work, you need to compress it to a “zip” file. Will it work then, ...most of the times. I thing we all need to share files, with clients or friends, there are many options, Amazon Prime Cloud, Drop-Box, etc. Most of them are free to a certain degree. Perhaps something you might consider.
I created the attached (finally!!) file to show as simply as I could the geometry I’m trying to achieve. As the “arm” object moves vertically, I want the “cross tie” object to pivot in 2 places (Connectors 1 and 2). Looking through some of the available tutorials, using Connectors seemed like the way to go. In the tutorial, there was a door hinged to a wall. When a ball hit the door, the door swung open. The swinging door seemed like the motion I’m trying to achieve here. I’m basically trying to create 2 pivot points that interact with the 3 objects. I hope I’ve explained here what I’m trying to do.
Thanks,
Craig
Sorry for the late reply. No idea why I didn’t notice the message, normally I get an e-mail for each post here, and I check in here many times a day… sorry.
The Connectors will not work without Dynamic in the scene, and with that, the way you animate objects in C4D will change. I’m not certain if that was the idea in the first place.
If you are new to animation, then I would suggest to get first standard animation based on keyframes done. If you feel savvy with it, integrate Dynamics to this. If animation is your target—of course.
The Dynamic options in CINEMA 4D are very nice, but as it is with dynamics, they follow internal rules to move. Which can be a lot of fun.
Please check out the attached scene file. I have used Null Objects as “joint-points” here, to make them able to rotate. The Target tag will pull a Null object in a very specific direction. (Check the Z direction of that Null!) So, please test with a simple Null is targeting another Null, how that works, then set up the scene I have attached on your own. It might look tricky, but the more you understand the two Null plus Target tag set up, the easier it will be for the other scene.
Thank you Dr. Sassi,
there could be some sort of email issue, because I wouldn’t have seen your latest response if I hadn’t decided to check the forum. Usually I get an email notification when there’s been a response.
I have downloaded your file and can see how the objects are interacting. Thank you for taking the time to do that. I will now see if I can duplicate the process on my own file. Up until now I have been using key frames to animate my simple projects. Perhaps now is the time to venture into using Dynamics. So much to learn, so little time!
I explored why I missed it, and my e-mail groups messages if they come very close (time-wise) from the same source. But, yes, sometimes I don’t get an e-mail at all. That is what made me miss things so far. Sorry that you have similar experience.
There is of course one step between, for such animations. Not that I like to talk agains Dynamics. :o) With Joints I ahve set up several mechanical based requests here in the past. Especially the IK options (Inverse Kinematic) might help here.
There is a series about these connectors on Cineversity. If you like to explore this deeper, click where I have “painted” the two arrows, first “show all” then Dynamics.
Hi Dr. Sassi,
as you can see by the length of time between posts, the time I can steal for working with c4d is often spotty. Thanks to your help, I have been able to experiment with Target Tags. The attached file is almost where I want to be, but I need to be able to control one more element. The 2 horizontal “Bars” are pivoting and functioning exactly as I want them to at the left hand side. They move and pivot at the vertical “Jaw” on the left. What I can’t seem to make happen is to have the right side of the 2 bars to pivot at the Null targets without shifting slightly both vertically and horizontally. It’s as if the target points are elastic. Is there a way to make the right hand pivot points function like the left hand pivot points? Thank you once again,
Craig
In the moment you have such a movement, the two (more horizontal) bars will describe a circle based movement. But you have both vertical bars (as you call them) not changing their distance to each other (horizontal distance). This wouldn’t work in reality either.
The easiest way to think about it would be, imagine you pull the “jaw” as you call it much higher…
Check out the attached file. I have set the Target Nulls with a circle to illustrate this. The file has a complete animation. I set the keyframe interpolation to spline.
BTW, I saw that you took frame 80 out by setting up the animation to 0-79, to avoid double values (first and last). If you like to have a certain amount of movement, e.g., rotation, you can use the formula “value/(frames plus one)*(frames needed)” inside the parameter field. C4D will calculate it for you. Example: a full rotation with no double frame for the standard 0-90 (91 frames, even the distance between the key-frame is 90, but we like to have a full circle, not mid zero to mid 90) frame scene: “360/92*91”
