Cineversity

I have been tasked with creating a chainsaw chain that fails under certain conditions. Just wondering what the best approach would be to create something like this. Here are 2 sample videos to see how it breaks: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wav80fwmkrugwvb/AAAJwE9sBSxYRIo-LPfGj-XQa?dl=0

I’m trying to re-create this exact look with Cinema 4D.

Thanks!
Matt

Hi Matt,

To get it exact, this is Roto work.

You take the footage into the Background
Attribute Manager> Mode> View Settings>Back.

Set your project to the footage frame rate.

Use the Spline> Pen: B-Spline

Set Keyframe recording to Point Level animation (no PSR recording)

Move the time slider to a frame where most of the chain elements are visible.

The Chain has cylindrical connectors (white dots in the footage) start with the element that flies off first, then the second, each gets a click with the Pen, then go to the third element, from there, perhaps use only every fourth dot to click. Press ESC when done.

Now record that to a keyframe (PLA).

Go back or forth 20 frames and move all the points of the Spline to the dots they were sitting on previously. Continue with around 20-30 frames distance. Do it until the around seven seconds are done.

Check for the spaces between two keyframes, adjust and record if needed.

After that, check the spaces between the new and older ones. Until that Spline follows the Chain.

If you want to have it very precisely, use any of the white dots, more work, more precision. The footage itself is not good enough for any motion tracking.

Now make two copies of the Spline.
Delete on the second the first point.
Delete on the third the first and second point.

These three splines contain now all you need to animate the Chain unbroken, and with the spline 1 and 2, you have the two elements fly away positions. The little Cylinder should be animated freely.

Anything else is doable with MoGraph.

I have tested it here roughly, and that would be my way of doing it, based on the challenge to accurately recreate it.

If that doesn’t need to be accurate, please advise. Exact look leaves some kind of room for interpretations. Is the “Phantom Camera” look requested, or the correct position, but with more frames than the given footage.

Cheers

Short little example of my initial Roto:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/GivSFksJTjUQbQCMLC8WciqTUSeshpMOCFnlXIFxRCC

For any intensive training in Roto, please check out the “Rotoscoping” book from Benjamin Bratt. [Focal Press]

Thank you Dr. Sassi, this certainly helps get me thinking in the right direction! Very much appreciated

Matt

You’re very welcome, Matt, thanks for the reply.

I assume anyone reading along is hoping for a dynamic set up. Just to avoid the hour of Roto-Zen.
Here is an example, that might need more refinement, but the amount of time tweaking it might be equally time-consuming as the Roto-work, while the Roto results will have so much much more control.
Project file (Requires CV plug in)
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/DagSVsMNnRbLz1112JUoYT7asM9xaYHMTBr4Eq04tpV

Enjoy your weekend

Oh very cool! Thanks so much for the example file. This could be a useful plugin for sure!

Matt,

Here is a link to the videos about the plugin.
https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaytut/cv-dynamic_connector_promo
It is, of course, free for Cineversity members.

All I did in the example, besides what is discussed in the video, was to animate the Loop option.
If this were the base of the targeted animation, at one point, I would set the two elements on the “end” of the chain to invisible, and replace them with just single models. Those models I would then animate manually, as they are the main characters.

ENJOY

P.S.:

I couldn’t resist exploring a little bit some dynamic options. Just a sketch, it needs a different Gravity, etc.

Scene file and screen-shot
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/urL4Xd7VIaOkuijIJOhMXCAoTWPDu9hxBbTp5JrGU2X

What clone is let go is defined in the Formula of the MoGraph Selection, which feeds the Dynamic tag.
The initial motion is a Spline Dynamic, whereby the MoSpline eliminated any stretches in the Spline.

Cheers

Another one. There are so many ways to do this. I have had to check if my advice to trace it, is really the way that is best here.
I have explored in the past hours a few more setups. Here is another sketch, just to be more complete in my answer
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/7JmYvwIg8dP7v7nssAsDOk2rBOIAiwiDCNm2636vaID

I stick with it, to get what is inside the footage, manually match it (Roto) and any minor tweak can be done quickly.

Haha thank you so much Dr. Sassi! I really like playing with your dynamic examples. It’s crazy how many different ways there are to do things!

Here’s the version with the B-Spline I came up with. I also used an inheritance effector with a field to remove the segments:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w7wbtrrcgzi56fo/chain.c4d?dl=0

Thanks again for your help! Your examples are very cool and I love seeing different ways of achieving this effect.

Matt

Thanks for the example, Matt, very much appreciated.

Yes, to use Nulls is great, and to have the Inheritance Effector do the other work is excellent.

I agree, there are so many ways to do things, and it is nice to share those, as we all want to create our visuals with the method that feels the most familiar to us. Hence why I always explore other options, even after a proper method might have been found already.

Again, thanks for sharing.

Enjoy