Cineversity

I have a object that i animate along a spline inside a bowl. However I can not get the object to move smoothly around the bowl.
What am I missing? Project attached here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/unx6nopn3ml47pf/export_sch.c4d?dl=0

One of the splines is set to linear but I don’t think that’s the issue (you could try bezier/b-splines with even vertex distribution). Maybe it’s just a viewport problem. Rendered a short vid, plays pretty smooth. Viewport: jittery, with frame rates jumping from 260 to 300fps.

Question for all: Is there a way to fix/cap playback framerate in viewport to project framerate?

look at the motion of the object, it tumbles around, maybe jitter was the wrong word for it.

I want it to follow the shape of the bowl without tumbling around. thats my problem.

Do you mean you want to bend it inside the spoon to smoothly attach to the surface?
If so then “align to spline” won’t do the trick, you need a deformer like spline wrap (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbhbaajVpyU) or a body simulation (e.g. cloth).

Edit: ah, I think I see what you mean.
Your spline points/vertices have tangents and jitter in their y-coordinates, did you create the splines from the spoon shape?
You didn’t get smooth splines that way (look at the point/tangent structure).

You could set each spline to hard interpolation (Mesh>Spline>Hard Interpolation) to get rid of the tangents.
Then select all points of a spline in point mode and center jittery y-coordinates for each (Mesh>Commands>Set Point Value, leave all but set y to center). This should smooth out your splines a bit.

no, i just want it to move without tumbling

I edited my previous post (see above), I hope I understood your problem now.
If you look at vertex/polygon structure of your spoon you see a flower-like part at the bottom. These kind of curves/waves are your problem. Further above it only causes small variations or jitter but those got transfered to your splines and eventually to your object movement. Try my quick and dirty fix suggested above.

Exaggerated explanation pictured: https://ibb.co/pXb9Vy0

oh thank you very much for this explaination!! i will try that, it sounds promising!

Hi visutainment,

Please have a look at the file below:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/BtR4y9wKgnFdSrrmj3VIrmgLfbrhdHdsxuMxqzwOKLl

I have two methods included in this link.

But first, let me ask you, das Schüssel-Objekt, do you have it before the SDS has worked on it? You would get a Spline from this in a better way, which then can be set to B-Spline or Cubic, with enough intermediate points to gain a smooth spline for your animation. I would CSTO (Current State To Object) this, then create a copy, scale it, to get the rail (I guess that last step was already done in the provided file.

Anyway, if you have only this model, you have to “harvest’ the Spline from this dense model of course. The MoGraph Spline comes then to the rescue, as you can generate a new spline, and adjust the parameters to your liking. CSTO then to get all points.
Here is a little demo with your Spline: (screen-capture)
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/cV9WfwAGtIiCNhC4Xy9ZMkhOVLamwcKDnba9DogHhzo

The second method, the new cube, was done with an Animation Clip. I opened the Clip then in the F-Curve manager, and used the Function>Delete every Nth Frame. I left it on 2nd and repeated it a few times. You might set the interpolation here to linear, as the Spline interpolation is not really doing anything, perhaps only limit the result.
Screen-capture:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/xkpQ1a84uSz6lIOjxF8ornIr4aCRmTuNvQtb3mtKyf1

( As a side note: One can always create a spline out of an animation path (Timeline> Functions> Position track To Spline, and work with it with the MoSpline)

Let me know if that result is OK for you, or if we have to set up something else.)

If you have the non-SDS model, please share, I would love to explore what I wrote above.

All the best

Great suggestions, as always, Dr. Sassi!

@visutainment:
If you need a more dynamic projection of a spline, or a helix rather than an elliptic path, you might also want to look at:
https://fwilleke80.github.io/PointProjector/

Hi there,

Here is another idea just in case the mesh is too fine or dense, etc. Any copy of the needed polygons will do, as it requires an appropriate UV. I used here just flat-projection and Generated the UV from it. It took perhaps 15 seconds to get the UVs.
Scene file
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/x6twsoBBWCjeGTSGex7U850bHhi0oeOlWVGfnpxULqF

Yes, I have had rebuild instead of just copied it, to showcase that as well.

The following is just brainstorming:
Any already established movement, like in the initial post, can create a spline with the MG Tracer. Just set the Main Menu> Animation> Play Mode> Simple, play it one time through (start to end) and use the [CSTO] Current State to Object to harvest a spline. Please note that the Spline settings itself will influence the result heavily, but also the Sample Step will lead to lower point amounts. Lower points allow to get a smoother Spline via Cubic for example, and which can be then harvested again via CSTO.

Another option is given with the Xpresso Ray Collision node, but I guess the options above have so much potential already, and perhaps combined with the MoSpline conversion that I mentioned above it should cover a large area of uses. If something else is in the way of good quality, please ask.

Thanks, @Pixelschubser, very kind of you. Greetings to my old home.

My best wishes

Sorry, I will have at look at all your good suggestions tomorrow. Thank you very much so far!

Please take you time, visutainment, I just love to offer alternatives.

Have a great evening.