Animating a collapsible structure

[ekuslansky 0]

I have a project in which I need to model and animate a collapsible curtain structure, and I don't know how to do it. It needs to expand in several different configurations. Structurally it is most like a Hoberman sphere. I have R23.

[Cerbera 3,776]

Do you have an existing model and are just struggling for how to animate it, or do you need to know how to model it as well ?

If the latter is the case we'll be needing some better reference than that which really gives us a full understanding of the structure of the form... I can't see enough detail in what the lighter inner yellow forms are doing to be able to advise. If you do have the model you should upload the scene file because animation advice depends heavily on how that is constructed and we will be needing to see that.

 

CBR

[3D-Pangel 703]

Apply two tags to you curtain model: a cloth tag and a cloth belt.  Now In addition to the curtain you need to model a curtain rod object (if you are using a cylinder primitive you need to make it editable).  Set the points on the curtain you want to collapse using the cloth belt tag pin setting (do not use the pin settings in the dresser section of the cloth tag). By saying “points you want to collapse” I mean the equivalent of the parts of the curtain attached to the curtain rings that loop onto the curtain rod.  The cloth belt tag is also going to need you to select the “belt” object.   This is where you assign it to the curtain rod object.   Once they are selected and set, then to open and close the curtain, simply use the object scale command to increase or decrease the scale on the long axis of the curtain rod.

 

Hopefully that gives you an idea of what to do because like Cerbera, I am only guessing at what it is you are trying to accomplish.

 

Dave