Driving the Bend Deformer Question

#1

Hi guys ! I’m looking for some help 'cause i’m going mad with some issue.

I’ve got a head mesh with a bend deformer applyed to it. I’want the curvature and rotation Y of this bend and its handle, be controlled by a Nurbs Sphere. I discoveed that’s impossible to make this with nodes; so i tryed with expressions; but still no results.

// Head Bend
bend1.curvature = 0.15 * sqrt(Head_Deformer.translateXHead_Deformer.translateX + Head_Deformer.translateZHead_Deformer.translateZ);
float $bendRotateY = angle(<<1.0, 0.0, 0.0>>, <<Head_Deformer.translateX, 0.0, Head_Deformer.translateZ>>);
if (Head_Deformer.translateZ > 0.0)
$bendRotateY *= -1.0;
Bend_Handle.rotateY = $bendRotateY;

I’ll appreciate your help !

#2

Hi,

   Here is an idea that may be helpful.  There probably is a much simpler solution, and I may have made some mistakes in this explanation.
   
   It involves gluing nodes onto a surface.  It involves binding joints to a curve.
   
   What if the length of a curve that moves with the Nurbs sphere's cvs drives the bend deformer's curvature.
   
   How can a curve be bound to the Nurbs sphere?
   1. glue joints onto the sphere see picture I made (here I showed 3 joints) [http://flic.kr/p/dmKpXY](http://flic.kr/p/dmKpXY).
   2. smooth bind the curve to the joints.  
   3. use a curveInfo node to get the length of the bound curve
   4. after some kind of scaling connect the scaled arcLength to the bend deformer's curvature
   
   Now transformations of the sphere would change the
   curve length which could then be scaled and drive the bend deformer curvature.
   
   And maybe the world rotations of one of the bound joints can drive the bend deformers rotation.
   
   For information on gluing nodes onto a surface check out Matt Estela's wonderful explanations under Rigging and Surface, CV, and Curve constraints. (tokeru dot com)
   
   Hope this was helfpul.
   
   cheers,
   Nate
   
   Inspired by Matt Estela (tokeru dot com)
   Inspired by Jason Schleifer's Animator Friendly Rigging (jasonschleifer dot com)
#3

Hi Nate, thanks for your help !

Actually I found a simpler solution, I know it’s not the correct one, but at least its working fine.

_ I created 2 Bend Deformers for the head.
_ Then I connected the nurbsSphere tX to the ‘curvature’ of the 1st ‘Bend_Handle’.
_ Later I rotated on Y the 2nd ‘Bend Handle’ and connected it to the nurbsSphere tZ . . and it’s deforming pretty fine !

#4

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.