Animate spline

[Chocron]

I am trying to make an animation of intricate pipes growing out of each other. I have made pipes using the spline tool and sweep, so that's easy, but see no way of animating the spline or otherwise simulating the growing of the pipes. Anyone have any suggestions?

(I am sure there are many fascinating uses for animated splines.)

Thanks!

Cheers,

David

 

[frank beckmann]

There´s a Guided Spline script Hiroto wrote which will do exactly what you want:

To open the file you need to install the script first.
I do prefer an image texture approach though - where I made the path visible over time:
Simple Title Animation
Or with the Chain creator:

Cheers
Frank

 

[Helmut]

* Post Scriptum: On second thoughts, this may be the identical script Frank is referencing above. As I have renamed mine, C3D can´t find the link.

* There is also a useful script to flow a poly-mesh (in this case a cylinder or a pipe) onto a spline.
* The author is unknown and I may have changed the original title. My version is from 2011, so be careful if this is compatible, ie save anything before experimenting. There may be a later update of this script in the relevant forum.
* The script´s parameters can be animated to simulate a "growth" of the tube / pipe from 0 (blank) to 1 (full tube).
* A highly useful script for all sorts of biological processes, BTW

 

[Chocron]

Thank you so much to both of you - two or three great solutions! So appreciate your speedy replies!

Best,

David

 

[Helmut]

* An alternative solution, just using C3D tools, would be:
1 Sweep creator
2 circle
3 spline, ie the axis of the piping
3 build modifier, linear & animated
4 shell to generate the tubular mesh

* animate the build modifier from 0 (= blank) to 1 (= complete tube)
* if required, animate the axial spline by point record. This allows to animate the piping not only as a tube growing in length but also as a sort of shape-shifting spaghetti monster

 

[Chocron]

Hi again!

I have been testing the splinewrap script which works, but the animation is very limited and my spline doesn't grow as smoothly as Frank's "Simple Title Animation" above. Any suggestions anyone? Thanks, as always!

David

 

[Helmut]

* As stated above:
* When using the Sweep-creator you can add a Build-modifier (linear, animate from 0% to 100%). You will have to add / delete / fine-tune points along the primary spline for a consistent and smooth progress of the tubular geometry.

* The spline wrap script seems to depend on:
* Path-hops / segments of the guiding spline, child object #1
* Segments of the child object #2, presumably some cylinder or tube
* Either can be adjusted to effect a smooth progress.

If you upload your .jas, we may be able to give more constructive advice.

 

[Shotster]

* An alternative solution, just using C3D tools, would be:
1 Sweep creator
2 circle
3 spline, ie the axis of the piping
3 build modifier, linear & animated
4 shell to generate the tubular mesh

That's really close to what I need. However, the tube does't grow smoothly. It "builds" by segment and in a way that's perpendicular to the spline instead of tangent to it...



Is there a way to prevent the "jaggies"? If there was simply a % value associated with the sweep creator, this would be trivial.

 

[frank beckmann]

That is what I descibed here: https://www.cheetah3d.com/forum/index.php?threads/1178/post-118342

Cheers
Frank