Winding/Unwinding DNA help needed

[NWoolridge]

I made some schematic DNA tutorials that are available at:

http://www.bmc.med.utoronto.ca/wiki/MSC2006_C4D_DNA_1.mov
http://www.bmc.med.utoronto.ca/wiki/MSC2006_C4D_DNA_2.mov
http://www.bmc.med.utoronto.ca/wiki/MSC2006_C4D_DNA_3.mov

For splitting DNA, there are a number or approaches; I've put a couple into the attached file.

Its for 10.x, and requires the Mograph module (which is incredibly useful for scientific illustration/animation). One uses the cloner and spline warp objects (probably the best approach), and the other uses a twist deformer set to "within box" (but the twist deformer doesn't give you an accurate DNA double helix...).

Don't necessarily assume that finding a still image solution will scale to animation; often the simplest modelling approach for a still image is completely un-animatable. And sometimes making it animatable is far more trouble than its worth when you are only (presently) making a still image...

Best,

Nick

[fretshredder]

very informative and most appreciated! :thumbsup:

[Medicine Horse]

Cool thanks for sharing Nick.

-M

[poplasma]

Hello Nick:

I am completely overwhelmed with how helpful you, your response, the links and the zip file have been. And I've only been practicing with the demo version where you can't save your files. Tomorrow, I get my own copy and will not only be able to work through my current problem but you've also given me the tool to succeed in my future endeavors.
I totally owe you a bottle of wine but I'm sure that's a bit unorthodox for this kind of community. I would if I could.

Again, thanks tremendously.

Paula

[rickmorgan]

Nick - I'll send you a bottle as well!! Thanks for the video tutorials! This is definately something I can use in the future.

[Dtox]

Don't drink that wine
Coke would be betta, it's easy to find
If-that-won't-do
Smoke a joint or 2
But don't drink that wii-iiine
Woahwooaahh, that wii-iii-ine

[poplasma]

I finally ditched the demo version of C4D and like a 5-year-old at Christmas unpacked and installed my new software. Thanks to Nick I knew exactly what I had to do to get that DNA strand.
And then it hit me: I need to invest another $400 for MoGraph. Those wonderful video tutorials use it very early on. I am still very gratefull for getting those tutorial, because one day, I'll have that MoGraph and will be able to scale my DNA as fluidly as Nick did.

My friend's philosophy was proven right again: "throw money at the problem" :-)

In the meantime, I'll have to make do with C4D's regular Duplication, Rotation and Deformers.
If you know of a similar (less pricey) module that might ease my pain, please let me know. At this point I'm a little gunshy of just relying and buying on what I understand the product descriptions are telling me I can do with it.
I will be searching the tutorials on CGSociety in much more detail, but if you happen to know of one off the top of your head that I should visit, please let me know.

As always, your help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Paula

[Medicine Horse]

Mograph is infinitely usefull and easily worth the money. I couldn't work without it and don't.

-Mike

[poplasma]

Hello CGSocietites:

Thanks to NWoolridge (http://forums.cgsociety.org/member.php?u=10682) I was able to make a beautiful double helix. (http://forums.cgsociety.org/member.php?u=10682)
Unfortunately, the entire helix completely goes out of whack when I try to add a material.
Actually, after I close the file and re-open it, just clicking on anything in the object manager causes the helix to distort.
I've attached files of a "before" and "after" screen shot to this posting and hope this helps demonstrate what is happening.
This happend before and I rebuilt the helix from scratch following NWoolridge's tutorial to the click. I just don't know what's going on.

Can anyone help?
It would certainly be very, very much appreciated.

Cheers,
Poplasma

[JoelOtron]

Sometimes the spline wrap deformer can cause the setup to go haywire if not prepped correctly (assuming your using it--hard to read your heirarchy in your jpegs) . I believe one solution was to make sure the "fix bounding box" option was checked in the spline area in the AM.

[poplasma]

Thank you so much for suggesting a solution. I will try it first thing tomorrow.
I know, I'm being a bad little CG person but I am actually going to need some sleep before I attempt any more work.
Again, thanks and I'll update the thread if it worked.

Paula

[poplasma]

Hello again, Joel:
hello CGSociety:

I checked the "fit bounding box" but did not move the strands back into position.
Just in case you can think of another quick thing to whip the double strand back in shape, I've attached a screenshot of object and attribute manager.
If you can't think of anything else I could have missed, that's ok. I'm already planning on making it over again.

Cheers,
Paula

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