04-08-2021, 03:04 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-08-2021, 03:18 PM by spoodlebutt.
Edit Reason: 3rd time with feeling, posted the wrong images in the wrong spots like an doofus
)
Hi! Crossposting from reddit to increase chance of getting help.
Tyflow noob here, really could use some help. I've been trying for a few days to simulate a plant in a moving plantpot for uni work (a little robot plant pot to be specific) and I just can't get it to work as I want...
Here's a render of my little fella with the plant I want. It's a central thick stem with attached branches, with the leaves as a separate alpha-textured object, though I can easily break things apart/combine things if needed. About 13 separate meshes.
![[Image: BaseColour.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/818890717170237461/829736390073647134/BaseColour.png)
And here's the finished motion (minus plant) alongside some camera tracking; it's a bit jank but I think he's cute. He's panicking because the plant needs water and is scrambling to go get some.
![[Image: wolk.gif]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/808693045842673685/826505435464728656/wolk.gif)
As you can see, the pot the plant is in is moved around by the robot's walking/scrambling and so the plant would also be jostled about in turn.
To sum up, what I want is for my plant to react realistically to the way the robot moves around; stem firm but still bends a bit, and leaves following the stem/branches but much less rigid. The whole plant (or at least the stem base) is bound to where it meets the soil, but the rest is free to wobble and sway.
All the tutorials I can find are either for falling leaves (not helpful) or for static trees reacting to wind. I tried seeking out things like cloth on a character, but that didn't help either. I'm losing the will to keep trying but it's the last part of my animation and I really need it to function so any help would be appreciated.
If there's an easier way to do this than what i've described below, let me know! I just found the closest thing I could and gave it a go, but.. it doesn't work right now. Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way? You guys would know better than I would.. ^^;
Youtube Vid - I tried to follow this tutorial as it gives the leaves and stem the result I want, but it all kinda falls apart when I try, and also doesn't have the plant itself moving (it's fixed to the ground) which I think might be fixed by an object bind to the robot's centre/the soil but I don't know where or how to do that. Also of note, I really don't want the wind in there at all as it's an indoor scene.
I did manage to get things working up to about 10:40 in the video, where they start to attach the leaves to the stem; I even got the spots/triangles on the leaves to show up and look.. vaguely leaflike. However, when I started to add the stem back in, the leaves fall to the floor and the stem breaks as though the leaves weigh a thousand pounds; the stem just isn't rigid enough to hold up the leaves, and I don't have a clue why. I changed some stuff and now the rigidity issue is fixed, but the leaves are SOLID (all the triangular connection markers disappear and they don't move like a soft object) apart from one or two's tips which flop as expected. It's as though a radius somewhere isn't right but I can't find it.
Stem off vs stem on
![[Image: gkidxz0o6yr61.png?width=1140&format=png&...f8a7944e29]](https://preview.redd.it/gkidxz0o6yr61.png?width=1140&format=png&auto=webp&s=604c9a3e1692ccd5a1e94bc0fb2696f8a7944e29)
I think it might be something to do with scale; the video doesn't show it but I suspect their plant is a few metres tall and mine is.. barely 40cm if that, so a lot of the proximities are goofed up, but that's 100% a guess.
Worst case, I can animate the leaves by hand, but I really don't want to so close to my deadline... any help would be massively appreciated!! Thanks in advance, you tyflow wizards are amazing and I haven't any idea how you do it.
Google drive link
Here's a link to my max 2021 file c: It has some vray stuff in there so if needed I can try and remove that? I'm happy to copy stuff from suggestions into the file if adding it directly isn't possible.
Thanks again in advance, and have a nice day c:
Tyflow noob here, really could use some help. I've been trying for a few days to simulate a plant in a moving plantpot for uni work (a little robot plant pot to be specific) and I just can't get it to work as I want...
Here's a render of my little fella with the plant I want. It's a central thick stem with attached branches, with the leaves as a separate alpha-textured object, though I can easily break things apart/combine things if needed. About 13 separate meshes.
And here's the finished motion (minus plant) alongside some camera tracking; it's a bit jank but I think he's cute. He's panicking because the plant needs water and is scrambling to go get some.
As you can see, the pot the plant is in is moved around by the robot's walking/scrambling and so the plant would also be jostled about in turn.
To sum up, what I want is for my plant to react realistically to the way the robot moves around; stem firm but still bends a bit, and leaves following the stem/branches but much less rigid. The whole plant (or at least the stem base) is bound to where it meets the soil, but the rest is free to wobble and sway.
All the tutorials I can find are either for falling leaves (not helpful) or for static trees reacting to wind. I tried seeking out things like cloth on a character, but that didn't help either. I'm losing the will to keep trying but it's the last part of my animation and I really need it to function so any help would be appreciated.
If there's an easier way to do this than what i've described below, let me know! I just found the closest thing I could and gave it a go, but.. it doesn't work right now. Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way? You guys would know better than I would.. ^^;
Youtube Vid - I tried to follow this tutorial as it gives the leaves and stem the result I want, but it all kinda falls apart when I try, and also doesn't have the plant itself moving (it's fixed to the ground) which I think might be fixed by an object bind to the robot's centre/the soil but I don't know where or how to do that. Also of note, I really don't want the wind in there at all as it's an indoor scene.
I did manage to get things working up to about 10:40 in the video, where they start to attach the leaves to the stem; I even got the spots/triangles on the leaves to show up and look.. vaguely leaflike. However, when I started to add the stem back in, the leaves fall to the floor and the stem breaks as though the leaves weigh a thousand pounds; the stem just isn't rigid enough to hold up the leaves, and I don't have a clue why. I changed some stuff and now the rigidity issue is fixed, but the leaves are SOLID (all the triangular connection markers disappear and they don't move like a soft object) apart from one or two's tips which flop as expected. It's as though a radius somewhere isn't right but I can't find it.
Stem off vs stem on
I think it might be something to do with scale; the video doesn't show it but I suspect their plant is a few metres tall and mine is.. barely 40cm if that, so a lot of the proximities are goofed up, but that's 100% a guess.
Worst case, I can animate the leaves by hand, but I really don't want to so close to my deadline... any help would be massively appreciated!! Thanks in advance, you tyflow wizards are amazing and I haven't any idea how you do it.
Google drive link
Here's a link to my max 2021 file c: It has some vray stuff in there so if needed I can try and remove that? I'm happy to copy stuff from suggestions into the file if adding it directly isn't possible.
Thanks again in advance, and have a nice day c:
I got a good response on reddit and managed to get this figured out! Posting here in case anyone ever finds this thread and needs it
