I’ve combed the internet and finally decided to post here as a dire last hope. I am trying to create an animation of a thickened surface unrolling; however, the surface continues to move as I drag the curve( I used a curve modifier). I want the surface to remain still as it unrolls. I attached the file so you can see what I mean. well i couldnt get the file to upload.
Like rolling out a carpet?
If I understand . What you can do is lock location on the rolled object ( plane?) Lock location on curve. Use something for a reference point to place the carpet tip or edge. Zoom in to make it more exact( use 2 3d windows ) . Move timeline. Move plane into the rolled curve( roll it up ) select the curve and object and move the edge or tip back to the reference point and lock location. You can add a object or use the edge of 3d view for a reference point.
Will that work for you?
Thanks, I’ll give it a try.
I couldn’t get it to work, every time I drag the curve the surface moves but the coiling portion stays in the same place, whether I drag the curve or the surface. I want the coiled portion to move until it is fully unrolled, amidst the surface remaining still. Also are you referring to transform locks or an animation key-frame. Sorry I’ve just recently started using blender like less than 2 weeks ago.
You could try key framing the curve and the plane. Mark the position of the end of the plane with the cursor; add keyframes for the positions of the plane and the curve; move the curve to unroll the plane and add a keyframe to the curve; move the end of the plane back to its original position at the cursor and add a keyframe.
Awesome! Thats exactly what I want to do, but Im not sure how you did it… Ill work with it.
For some reason it is in the one you posted kazinger, but not Richards? Weird. idk… I tried the key-frame rig but its not working so far, but I will keep trying. I wish I could upload it but its not letting me, idk if its the site or my laptop. wait i think i have it…
Attachments
double_roll.blend (443 KB)double_roll_atempt.blend (1.37 MB)
It is the top one.
For some reason I have to drag the curve in the opposite direction to get it to roll up. So now the object remains still, but the curve goes away from. Press Alt A see what I mean.
double_roll_atempt.blend (342 KB)
double_roll_atempt2.blend (341 KB)
I just locked location unrolled moved and locked location on both curve and object.
For some reason it is still moving idk something wrong with the uploaded file? So ill try locking…is that simply pressing “I” to insert a key-frame and choosing location?
Interesting idea.
I would like to know if it would be possible to keep the paper still
and by moving in the curve make the paper step by step follow the curve when it starts to bend up into the spiral.
I did something similar after all just with a lattice
The lattice I will deform with a curve as well to have a 2 way paper peel off effect.
Even though I’m trying to do EXACTLY what Richard Marklew achieved in the .Blend that he shared, I haven’t been able to duplicate it at all!
The plane that I’m trying to roll up always gets grossly distorted, no matter what axis I set the Curve Mod to and no matter what angles I have the plane and the curve at.
If Richard Marklew or anybody else could be REALLY nice and go over a step-by-step guide to this, stating what the main restrictions and limits are, I’d be really appreciative. My main goal is to (a) have a rolled-up piece of paper get unfurled and then (b) learn the process so that I can replicate it in the future.
Thanks a ton. (I’m sure it’ll be a big help to future lurkers, too!)
Nevermind the request for a tutorial. I’m gonna post some screencaps and a .Blend here in a little bit.
I don’t know if anybody’s still having trouble with this, but I’ll just quickly point out a few key things to future lurkers:
- The Mesh that you’re trying to roll-up via the Curve Modifier has got to be precisely aligned with the Curve. If it isn’t, then the Mesh instead just distorts in a crazy manner (I think it still follows the Curve, but just on a scaled basis and so it’s hard to gauge and probably pointless).
1a.) The Mesh and the Curves themselves have to be aligned, not their Origin Points. - If you’re having trouble with the base of the Mesh moving as you scroll it, I couldn’t find a better solution than the one other posters here have mentioned: (a) Keyframe the Curve and then (b) just watch the Mesh closely and tweak the keyframing based upon when you see that it looks stationary. It’s obviously not precise (if you zoom in real closely, you can see that the Mesh is indeed still moving), but I think it’s good enough for most uses.
I thought that I’d found perfect solutions before, but I didn’t. Here are a few screencaps:
The last step, keyframing the object based on the animation of the curve, isn’t not needed. Use a constraint for this.
Use the Copy Location constraint on the object, with the curve as the target. Either with or without Offset, and Influence set to 0.5
