[help] Unrolling a tube of toothpaste

#1

I need to unroll a tube of paste. One where most of the tube is gone so the revolutions of the roll numbers at about 4. I want to unroll it but I am getting a brain fart on how to come up with a successful solution.

Bones?
Mixture of effects/deformers?

#2

You just want to unroll it? I Don’t know if you’re wanting to do sometihng more complicated than I’m thinking but why can you model it straight and just use a couple of bones to roll it up. Then just unroll it using the bones.

#3

you want to use and inheritend expression. im pretty sure thats all you need.

#4

You could also use FlexMotion to control a linear chain of bones with a curve.

#5

I was learning Joe Cossman tutorial related Motion Dynamics and i though a combination with spherize will (in expert hands, not mine!) could be succesful

here a rough aproximation (first time i work with Motion Dynamics)

Andreseloy

#6

I would have done the rolling with bones and the deforming with morphs!

/ Svante

#7

Sorry I tried the inherit root way but I wasn’t getting a full 360 curls, you know like, unrolling a sleeping bag or such.

I need to do two complete revolutions and then laid out flat look.

Thank you for all the tips so far guys.

#8

you have to play with the parameters on the inhert expressions, trust me its doable i have done it and i got curls go over 360 degrees, just use LOTS of bones and lots of geometry to allow smooth bends. Then play with those parameters, one is key offset and one is a multiplier, I keep the key offset at 0 and use really small multipliers. just play with it until it looks right. i am absolutely positive that this is doable as i have done similar things before.

if you still have problems, send me the project file.

#9

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#10

Yeah sometimes I think you guys like to over complicate things cause you have such a kickarse peice of animation software.

Bones/Morphs hand animated bits… woot!

#11

The Inherit root looks gorgeous but it look more like a cowboy trying to lasso a cow’s horn-effect.

Lets give an another example. A Roll of carpet being unrolled.
Thats what I having a hard time reproducing as if someone is rolling it up or unrolling toothpaste.

#12

Your projects let me to learn.
I intented to make the above animations in Messiah but have some troubles:
1.- The models were done in Hexagon 1.2 (2.0 dont work in my laptop) using the bend tool for the progresive deformation.
2.-When i try to load the models in Messiah have to problems:
a.-The sive was to big and i dont know how to resize when i have placed the morphblender effect. I know a can use scale to resize of course but not when you have already the morphblender effect.
b.-When i applied the slider the mesh become disrupted or something like that, say there is error metanurbs.
3.-I taked screen from Silo to make the GIF,hope this help.

Andreseloy

#13

Stop. It’s two mints in one. (Sorry)

Yes, the inherit will allow the multiple roll, as suggested, and you just need to adjust parameters. However, you may also want to use some morphs, squishing and crimping the tube, otherwise it will be very even and smooth-looking (unless that’s what you want)…like a carpet unrolling in reverse as you said. Adding the morphs would help make it look more like a real effect, I believe.

One more suggestion, depending on the look. You might want to setup the bone chain, then put longer bones, parented to each in the chain. ALternate them so one comes off to the right, then the left, etc. You can then angle them slightly so that when the chain rolls up, it would deform the tube in a less even way, and “hold” some of the geometry tighter.

Actually, another thought would be to move the bone chain to the edge of the tube, then put what would be “holding” bones parented to them, so they stretch across to the other end of the tube. On the roll up, you could also scale the appropriate bones in order to “flatten” the tube.

Thanks for making me think.

Best,
Rick

#14

what is inherit and how you use it?
Thanks in advance
Andreseloy

#15

It’s been awhile, but inherit end, and inherit root allow you rotate one bone (at the root or end) and have that rotation “inherited” by the other bones. The parameters allow you to adjust the effect. Check the maunal…but it’s pretty simple to play with and see various uses.

Make a bone, and then keep adding children till you have about 10, or whatever you want. Then add the expression. Rotate the root (if that’s the expression you used) and watch that baby curl. Then you can begin to adjust so that it curls more or less, etc.

Best,
Rick

#16

I’ll say it again, by the time you’ve finished futzing with the inherit expression you could have made the morphs and animated the bones by hand say… ohhhh… 2 days ago!

Don’t make it more complicated than it is. As NIKE say, just do it! :slight_smile:

H E L L O M c F L Y ! :wink:

#17

Can you share an scene file illustrating your point of view?

Thanks in advance
Andreseloy

ps: i was tryig to make morphblender but for unknow reason to me im getting this…

#18

Hokey Dokey, Maybe I’m getting what you need to do all wrong.

But heres a project file with a couple of keyframes and a morph.

Am I way off base? Took me about 15 minutes.

Here’s a MOV file (700k)

#19

Sorry HERE

and PROJECT file

  [[img]http://members.optushome.com.au/gefbec/movies/tube.mov[/img]](http://members.optushome.com.au/gefbec/movies/tube.mov)
#20

Thats great. G

I’ll use the proj files for further study.
The tooth paste needs to look more deflated like you’re rolling up carpet.
I really appreciate the 15 minutes you put in to it.