Balloons anyone ?

#1

I just came across this ICE - Balloons stuff…wonder If the same can be achieved with Nhair & Ncloth ?
https://vimeo.com/68595214

#2

Definitely :wink:

#3

That playback is really quick, I wonder if Maya could keep up with that. I have my doubts.

#4

That is a cool Ice simulation.

One can do something a bit like it using nHair. One can do interactive playback in the attached scene and drag the handle at the base the strings using the move tool.
This simulation uses two hair systems: one for the strings and one for the curves. They are connected together with an nConstraint. The balloons are short hairs with just a couple of segments each. The hairWidthScale graph (hairSystemShape2) makes the balloon shape. In order to have more cross sections (hairs are triangular tubes by default) a brush was assigned hairSystem2 and the cross sections set on the brush. SubSegments on the hair system also help it look more like a balloon.

To create the curves I used for the hair systems I created a paint effect brush(strokeBalloonBrush) with settings to create a bunch of strings with a single 2 segment flower petal at the end of each string for the balloons. Then I did convert: pfx to curves to get the curves to use for the two hair systems( make curve dynamic).

A gravity field with its direction reversed was assigned to the balloon hair system to make it buoyant. The mass on the string hair system was lowered so that the balloons can more easily lift the strings.

Nucleus substeps were lowered to 1 for speed.

One could convert the hair system to poly to get a better rendering.

However one still can’t do a lot things that Ice simulation does, like emitting new balloons with strings.

#5

Very cool Duncan. It would be good to see you do a video on how you built the scene.

#6

Awesome! :smiley:

Dont forget No Stretch on the Balloons!

#7

would love to see how to isolate or loose each balloons along with it strand over time.
Thanks very much Duncan for the scene file :slight_smile:

#8

Yes please! :slight_smile:

#9

Open his scene, and under the strokeShapeCrystals1Curve you will see all the follicles.
You can animate the Point Lock to No Attach and it will release the balloon.

I am guessing you could use nConstraints instead and a ramp/texture or glue strength to release them…

#10

Thanks Howard…Didnt had a chance to open the scene yet…still with maya 2012 at work :frowning: but will check it soon at home :).

#11

Is it possible to add(emit) balloons during simulation like in ICE version?

#12

You can’t emit new strings using nHair… if the topology changes during simulation it will re-initialize everything. One might be able to do it using nParticles for the balloons and strings, constraining them using classic Particle springs to link them like a string( this is much closer to what the Ice simulation is doing). You would need to have some specialized emit script that adds several particles( with the emit command ) and constructs links (with the spring command ).

#13

Thank you very much Mr. Duncan for your help

https://vimeo.com/69335194

I did a quick test with nParticles and nConstrains.
It would be great to have

  • a way to render out nConstrains
  • replace (instance) nParticles with nCloth
    or have nCloth emitter (like in H)

PS
I wish Maya became more procedural in the future and less sensitive to topology changes

#14

FWW, there’s also this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyP00tdINRc

#15

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