Animating Curved Arrows???

[Mylenium]

Sorry for the basic question but I have run into this several times. What is a quick & easy way to animate "curved arrows". Basically I need to illustrate the path of air flow and liquid flow. In the past I have just gotten awau with small stratight arrows that follow a curved path but now I actually need the arrows themselves to curve/bend in certain areas?

Is their an easy way to curve/deform a 2D arrow to illustrate an air/liquid pathway???

Thanks!

Either use Bezier Warp or get Digital Anarchy's Anarchy Toolbox. If you need this often, investing a few bucks in the altter might be a good idea.

Mylenium

[rickmorgan]

Thanks for the reply. I looked up the Bezier warp and I'm sure I could make it work that way. What does the Anarchy Toolbox offer in this respect? If I were to "wish" for something it would be the ability to draw a single curved path that the 2D arrow (or layer) would follow and "bend with".


Anything like that available???

[Mylenium]

If I were to "wish" for something it would be the ability to draw a single curved path that the 2D arrow (or layer) would follow and "bend with".

Anything like that available???

Yepp, the Anarchy Toolbox contains exactly this sort of tool (plus many other cool ones). It's called Path Distort . Download the demo from http://www.digitalanarchy.com, it's fully functional except for rendering a big red X across your output.

Mylenium

[cajun96]

Draw a mask as a path and apply stroke effect, I think is the easiest way and you dont need to buy anynthing extra.

[Mylenium]

Draw a mask as a path and apply stroke effect, I think is the easiest way and you dont need to buy anynthing extra.

That was a pointless comment. He was specifically asking for arrows, and Stroke does not do that.

Mylenium

[rickmorgan]

Thanks everyone for your input. I am constantly blown away by how quickly people are willing to provide advice on these forums. Working alone I don't have the luxury of being able to ask work associates questions. So these forums are quite valuable to me.

Thanks Mylenium! Your solution with DA's "Path Distort" looks like this is EXACTLY what I am after. Thanks Again!

[pixelmonk]

That was a pointless comment. He was specifically asking for arrows, and Stroke does not do that.

Mylenium

maybe he was talking about then attaching an arrowhead to the point of the stroke? It's not so pointless if he's trying to help. Your post above however, was pointless.

[Mylenium]

maybe he was talking about then attaching an arrowhead to the point of the stroke? It's not so pointless if he's trying to help. Your post above however, was pointless.

Nope, sorry. Argument denied. If you read the original post which goes like this:

In the past I have just gotten awau with small stratight arrows that follow a curved path but now I actually need the arrows themselves to curve/bend in certain areas?

you'd have realized that Stroke was out of the question from the start. You are also forgetting that Stroke always produces round ends, even more reason to not use it for this type of stuff. Lastly, Stroke is okay for 1 or 2 or up to 5 arrows, but with more arrows added, the overhead and effort required to animate them get's way out of line.

So no, both cajun96's post was just unnecessary noise and not particularly aimed at providing a feasible solution to a problem that already had been explained well enough to rule out the suggestion provided.

Case closed.

Mylenium

[Pete2003]

So no, both cajun96's post was just unnecessary noise and not particularly aimed at providing a feasible solution to a problem that already had been explained well enough to rule out the suggestion provided.

Case closed.

Mylenium

I think thats possibly the rudest reply Ive ever read about someone who simply offered an alternative method of achieving what was needed.

I don't see how stroke was out of the question from the start as rick originally stated that he had just been attaching straight arrows to a curve. The method outlined by cajun would produce a result where the arrows are deformed with only the arrowheads needing to follow the curve.

The 'round end' of the stroke wouldnt really matter due to the fact that the arrow-head would cover it (obviously dependent on its size).

...And rick didnt say how many arrows he needed, but Im sure once one arrow has been animated it could be duplicated to make arrows which were similar.

Anyway, in ricks case, your suggestion is most probably the most efficient mylenium, but remember that someone else may need a similar solution in the future and in their case stroke may suffice. Its good to offer alternatives!

Pete.

[Kargokultti]

Why, aren't you the prickly pear, Mylenium.

But to be on the topic - one crappy way of doing an along-a-path-bending arrow (though I'm not sure whether a still-but-bendy arrow was called for):

Comp1: Make a solid, say 100X100 in size. Scale it for suitable shaft width. Make it a 3D layer. Make the solid orient to path (most prob rotate Y 90 after this). Animate the movement.

Make Comp2, bring Comp1 into the new one, use Time > Echo on Comp1 to define how long you want the arrow to be. Duplicate Comp1, go in and mask the solid into an arrowhead. Bring this Comp3 into Comp2.

Ought to work if the original solid doesn't traverse corners too fast. If so, I'd Time Stretch it's ass.

[Mylenium]

Why, aren't you the prickly pear, Mylenium.

I think thats possibly the rudest reply Ive ever read about someone who simply offered an alternative method of achieving what was needed.

You're all just too easily offended. True, I don't pretend to be nice and this typical false politeness disguised as "netiquette" isn't really my thing, but I'd much rather be honest and put off people, than pretending I like them and than stab them in the back, which happens far too often around here.

That aside, I don't really know anyone of you, so why should I care about your bruised feelings? If you feel like licking wounds and whining about it publicly, just go ahead. It won't change anything, least of all it will affect anything I said. The matter at hand is providing the possibly best solution to people's problems and whether it is wrapped in all that feelgood fluff doesn't really matter to me as long as it does the job.

Mylenium

[Kargokultti]

You're all just too easily offended. True, I don't pretend to be nice and this typical false politeness disguised as "netiquette" isn't really my thing, but I'd much rather be honest and put off people, than pretending I like them and than stab them in the back, which happens far too often around here.

But to go somewhat ape-shittish on that one thoughtless poster in this particular thread seems a tad bit weird when considering your general helpfulness in this forum.

By the by, who stabbed you in the back? Tell us and we'll go be polite at them :scream:

[Mylenium]

But to go somewhat ape-shittish on that one thoughtless poster in this particular thread seems a tad bit weird when considering your general helpfulness in this forum.

Nope, it's not weird, it's consequent. That aside, I don't understand why everybody is so crazy about this. It's just an observation, not an insult if something is "pointless". There is no shame in that - I've been wrong many times and while I'm always ready to defend my arguments, I'm more than willing to learn and give other people credit for their abilities.


By the by, who stabbed you in the back? Tell us and we'll go be polite at them :scream:

I don't think it's appropriate to give names o links to specific threads, but let's just say I have been adressed by people and moderators in ways I never would have thought possible. It's a sad thing especially in relation to the mods, but I won't complain as I know enough peopel who had similar problems with CGTalk.

Mylenium

[avinashlobo]

I'm with Mylenium here. Everyone here's with good intentions no doubt. Unfortunately, far too often, the good intentions do not translate into good advice & in their eagerness to post, they often do not read the question correctly or do not properly test out the solution being provided - I have been guilty of this myself & if someone were to point it out to me & call me an idiot for it, well - it's fair enough isn't it?

If it turns out that I was right in the first place, I'll just turn around and drop a few names myself! We all learn something and have a bit of good old 'screw-your-inoffensive-humour' fun. Absolutely no harm done calling someone an idiot for being an idiot.

I now follow a strict policy while responding to questions - if I'm not absolutely sure of the exact solution, I do not blurt. If I'm not sure I understood the question, I ask for clarification.

If Mylenium screws up with a silly suggestion, we'll all gather round and point & laugh at him. I'm sure he won't mind (much) :D

[rickmorgan]

First of all I again want to say Thank You as I did get the answer to a problem that I was currently and in the past faced with and I am very gratefull for that.

And now, this is not aimed at anyone in particular....but WHO CARES if someone posts a solution that may or may not be THE solution. What's the B.F.D? Just simply read past it if you don't like it. Shit, it was only a couple of sentences anyway...how hard is that?

And if you think it may have been "unproductive" to the forum, well all this bitching about it has taken up more "time" here than anything else.

I think it's messed-up to dog on someone for posting what they thought might be a possible solution. We are not all Pros so there is always going to be varying solutions offered. I'm just thankful the person took some time out of their day to read and reply to my question.

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