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NiZu
06-18-2008, 03:51 PM
Hi,
I'm giving help to a friend with his graduation project (he's graduating in design , i 'll help with the animation), a pair of foldable headphones.
Model and design by Mattia Sillani.

the animation involves:
1- the head band should bend from 180° - on head position- to 340° -folded closed position
2- the earbuds (earthings.. the emispheres..) have two rotation pivots each, on two axis

here's a pic:
http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/9849/x1bx2.th.jpg (http://img398.imageshack.us/my.php?image=x1bx2.jpg)

I thought my limited animation knowledge would be enough. uhm..maybe not..

i'm working in max9.

I'm at this point:

-i can animate the 'solid' joints on the earbuds (with bones)

-i can bend the headband with a bend modifier .

But i have absolutely no clue on how to make the earbuds follow the bending headband ??

I thought a linkedxform modifier would do that .
But it can't because the tips of the head band aren't really transforming (=moving or rotating ) ...

In other words: can i make an object to follow a bending mesh ?

I hope the whole idea is not wrong.. i also tried to use bones only. but it's hard to make a clean bend with bones ..

Hope i explained well, thanks for reading and please suggest ..
Damn, i've sooo underestimated this thing ..:blush::banghead:
NiZu
06-18-2008, 04:22 PM
"i also tried to use bones only. but it's hard to make a clean bend with bones .."

I'll explain : just made some tests with skin modifier -could do- if i deform the band using 12 or so little bones ... i just need to tell this 'spine' to bend on itself (from a strip to almost a circle..how?

I keep working, if anyone has suggestion on one of the two above problems.. i'd be very happy..
NiZu
06-18-2008, 07:07 PM
did it the dirtiest way...
While writing the previous posts i realized how complicated this is to 'rig' decently (for me at least) ..so i reconsidered the first attempt made yesterday,
It seem to have worked: It's done without any constraint to keep headband and earbud togheter so there are errors : some fixed manually adding keyframes, some hidden with camera movement..
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9105/c2jh9.jpg

i'll post a video soon.. the above questions are still valid if anybody wants to suggest how to do this properly , thanks a lot.
NiZu
06-24-2008, 10:30 AM
Hi, finished the first stage :

Watch the animation on my portfolio! (http://nizu.cgsociety.org/gallery/646198/)


This is the version presented for my friend Mattia's graduation, next i'll work on better materials and a clip with the headphones and a human head.. for personal portfolio.
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06-24-2008, 10:30 AM
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