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Flag waving in the wind

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:55 pm
by jorgy
Hello,

I have been trying to get the effect of a flag waving in the wind. I'm pretty sure that to do this, I will need bones. :-)

I have been experimenting with different numbers of bones and different sizes, but I still can't seem to get it right.


Here is an example:
http://65.98.71.13/moho/flagtest.moho


What happens is this: when I move a bone, the flag doesn't curl - it just takes the "shortest" path to the end. Is it just the right combination of bone sizes, numbers, and bone strength?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 12:17 am
by Lost Marble
What's happening is that curves can only flex where there are control points. Your flag is made of simple rectangles with only four points - one at each corner. As the corner points move, the edges will still be connected in straight lines. You need to add more points along the edges of the rectangles.

Also, I think you're using waaayyyy too many bones. Take a look at the modified file below:

http://www.lostmarble.com/misc/flagtest.moho

You may need to add even more intermediate points if you want the flag to make big motions - for more subtle waving, the points I added should be fine. By the way, an easy way to add more points is by using the Split Curves tool described at the bottom of this post:

http://www.lostmarble.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1068

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 1:25 am
by jorgy
Lost Marble wrote:What's happening is that curves can only flex where there are control points.
Thank you so much! That's exactly what I needed!