How to animate an extruded (rolled) bar of iron?

I need to illustrate a rod of iron being squeezed through a rolling mill. (This is the process by which a thick slab of iron is squeezed down through successive passes to create, say, railroad rails.)

The trouble is, I would like to depict the rod from about a 45-degree view looking toward the front of the mill, where you see the rod coming out (toward you), and drooping because it’s not being supported, say, by a conveyer track of any kind. It’s slumping down of its own weight as it emerges from the rolls. This is how they did it in the historical era I’m dealing with…

Now, I know that I can “cheat” this shot by providing a somewhat-imaginary set of rollers for it to fall onto. I have thought of achieving the effect by animating a scale along one axis. But I’d like for the head of the rod to follow a curved path as it emerges.

(Isn’t Industrial animation fun?) (Seriously, if you think it’s fun too, and/or need it done or help doing it, lemme know.) :smiley:

Hmmm, in the topic it seems as though you are asking for help; in your last sentence it seems as though you are offering help.

Anyway, I think the best way to do this is using a lattice, both for the squeezing of the iron and the curved path that it follows after.

TheIceMan used this to great effect in the Tutorial Guide #01.

I’ve always had trouble using lattices because if you don’t define it with enough divisions at the start there seems to be no way to edit it later (after you have parented). I guess the trick is to first get your lattice the way you want before parenting the object to be modofoed to it.