cables and hoses, fixing the ends of an 'ika' chain

Support Basics & Interface
1

Has anyone here ever animated a cable or a hose by using empty-controlled armatures? It has to be mounted on both sides…

HH

2

yes. I have an example file, just e-mail me and ask, I’ll send it to you.

Martin

3

I have animated falling power lines made out of curves and bevels using vertex keys. Very slow and tediouse but it works well.

4

Thank you all

Especially you, Martin

Very promising. I haven´t got through the relations yet, but I´ll hang on

The curve method is not useful for my project. I want to make cables runnig from upper arm to lower arm and I don´t want to care about them while posing the robot

HH

5

Thank you very much, Martin, I finally got it. Lyubomirs Tutorials helped a bit, too. I didn´t know that the bending was that easy. Now I´ve got two questions:

Can I set the stiffness of the single bones?

Has anyone found a method of fixing the ends of the cable? I want it to come out of solid material, so I want to avoid a sharp angle.

HH

6

Can I set the stiffness of the single bones?

no, not really. Or at least, I don’t know how to do it.

Has anyone found a method of fixing the ends of the cable? I want it to come out of solid material, so I want to avoid a sharp angle.

if you add a fixed bone at the end of the rope (you can do that just by adding a new bone, parenting to the rest but unlesting the IK link), you could have the end stay the way you want.

Martin

7

Sorry theeth, I haven’t been able to recreate it. So the problem with the sharp angles still exist.

HH

8

The problem is that I want to prevent sharp angles at the ends. And I am unable to build it properly :frowning:

HH