Cineversity

Hi all,

I am trying to unwind a helix into a straight line. I tried using spline dynamics tags, but they just aren’t getting the right effect.

What I am looking for is a way to take a helix and uncoil it, starting from the top of the helix. I don’t want to just “pull” on the top of a dynamic helix because I want to preserve the rest of the helix’s overall shape, but I’m trying to uncoil it bit by bit.  In essence, I want the uncoiling to be systematic, starting at the top of the helix, and not affecting the bottom of the helix until the top and middle of the helix have already been straightened.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

- Nate

Hi Nate,

The coil stays stable while you pull from the top and the “pulled” part is then straight? Before I try something I like to understand completely. The bottum means here anything not pulled? I have attached a rough sketch.

All the best

Sassi

P.S.: Perhaps the sketch was a little bit rough. :o)  Here is my current idea to it. The Nulls have little spheres—just to make clear how it works. The XPresso is only there to get the total length of the Helix, for the lazy ones of us ;o)
(the end parameter is nicer with 0.5 than with 0.2)

If you animate the “on Helix.2” a tiny bit, you might get more variance in the “un-wind” process. I guess the options to fine tune it are there and easy to use. Enjoy.

Dr. Sassi,

That is exactly what I needed.  Thank you so much!

- Nate

You’re welcome, Nate.

My best wishes for the project

Sassi