CGTalk - Anyone know a way to "soft select" a group of objects?

View Full Version : Anyone know a way to "soft select" a group of objects?

stillvapour

01-08-2003, 02:04 PM

I a dozen of dummies in a row and want to soft select them...which means if I move any of the dummies ,the neighbouring dummies will also move a certain distance(say, a quarter)and the dummies farther away will move at a distance of 1/16 and so on.I tried using position expression controller , no luck,got a circular dependency error.How can I get rid of a circular dependency ?
If anyone know a way to do that instead of using expression or script will be greatly appreciated.:beer:

X99

01-09-2003, 12:20 AM

Make sure the dummies are not instanced and are copies, make them unique. What are you trying to do that would require an algorithm such as this if you don't mind me asking?

stillvapour

01-09-2003, 02:08 AM

The dummies are not instance.Basically I am trying to simulate musles movment around the mouth with bone.If I move one or several of the bone nodes the nearby nodes can react automaticly that will add a lot of realism to my animation and save me lots time during key framing...
;)

X99

01-09-2003, 02:22 AM

What about just using Morpher?

stillvapour

01-09-2003, 05:27 AM

Morpher is an alternative choice.
But bone has its strongpoint...I will probably go away with a conbination of bone and morpher:rolleyes:

X99

01-09-2003, 06:07 AM

The easiest way I see doing this then is to create Shapes, not dummies. And link the dumies via the Wire Parameters. Its a tricky little thing that I believe ony the developers really understand since I've found no good reference on it.

If your familure with http://www.scriptspot.com you might be able to find someting there. Or if you have money for a plug-in. I know that Digimation has one that can do what you ask of.

stillvapour

01-09-2003, 07:28 AM

Hmmmm...you mean wire the dummies' xyz position to the shapes' vertex?Don't think I can do that in max...
I will check out scriptspot first.
And yup I know you are talking about ACT but...:shrug:

X99

01-09-2003, 07:34 AM

Just link the dummies to the Shapes, and wire the shapes. It is possible as I did it for an Umbrella. Was a personal project to see how the hard wiring was. Linking the Dummies to the shapes proved much easier since I create custom rollouts.

I couldn't remember the name, but ACT is right! Good luck and let me know what you come up with as I'm interested in your solution!

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