Cinema4D Ripple with Formula Object

[PauloBlob 0]

I am trying to find a solution for limiting the Formula Object ( not the effector) on a box.

It is a simulation of a ripple effect.

Is there any way to create a range for the ripples? I know you can tweak the formula but I have no idea how the formula would look like.

 

Here is a link for what I am talking about

 

 

Thanks!!

[gcole_5 0]

Going from memory here, but can't you use selection tags/restriction tags?

[PauloBlob 0]

Dude thanks a lot!!!!!!

Problem solved. I have been trying tons of different ways to do it.

[iline 0]

i would love more information on how you're doing this and what the fuck you are both talking about - i was making a ripple with an animated bump map *feathered AE radio waves* which deformed horribly and required going back into AE to edit timings. Share the love?

[anthonyc 0]

i second that!!! lol, i have no idea what to do w/ the formula deformer or what the FFD one is either?

[gcole_5 0]

No expert advice for you here, sorry... He was simply asking how to restrict the effect to a portion of the object = set selection and a restriction tag. The issue is getting a nice, soft falloff at the edges and controlling the in/out building of the ripple, etc.

 

You can plug in different types of formulas to have the ripple fade in/out over time, but it is not a straight forward process. Using Expresso to modify the data sets over time seems to be the best way to handle this sort of thing (I think you would need to multiply the X and Z values over time to see the ripple decay). I remember reading a thread offering another possible solution - saying to create two duplicates of the object and then keyframe the in/out ripples - one on each object..then copy and paste the keyframes from each to a single object (???), but haven't had a chance to try that yet either.

 

The formula object is great for creating mathematical objects (or crazy abstracts), but again, you have to experiment with Sin/Cos Math stuff that makes many designer's head hurt (including mine)

 

Would love to have others chime in with further details about the Formula Object and Formula Effector, etc. as well.

 

Anyone?

[froj 0]

i second that!!! lol, i have no idea what to do w/ the formula deformer or what the FFD one is either?

 

Basically for the FFD you position the deformer quite tightly around a polygon object and use the points to push and pull the geometry.. kinda like a 3D version of the warp tool in photoshop. Not entirely sure how useful it is... suppose you can create quite cool organic objects quickly without actually modelling anything too detailed.

 

Not a clue about formula effector. I read the word 'formula' and automatically get a bit upset

[Jeff McBride 0]

If you need to use a Formula deformer with falloff you just need to make your object editable and then set a vertex map (Selection --> Set Vertex Weight) you can draw on the map however you like and drop it into your restriction tag and you can create the falloff. Here's a reference file I just put together

 

www.jeffmcbride.tv/Vertex_Map.c4d

[anthonyc 0]

i don't think i've ever messed w/ the formula deformer....wow that's really freaking cool. lol @ the math equations....i haven't seen anything like that since high school.

[gcole_5 0]

Lots of cool formulas here: http://www.3d-meier.de/

 

Just wish I could read German

[the_Monkey 8]

For those who weren't aware... C4D also has a Ripple Shader.

It comes in very handy when you need to do many animated ripples in several different places (ala rain on a water surface).

 

-m

[gcole_5 0]

If you need to use a Formula deformer with falloff you just need to make your object editable and then set a vertex map (Selection --> Set Vertex Weight) you can draw on the map however you like and drop it into your restriction tag and you can create the falloff. Here's a reference file I just put together

 

www.jeffmcbride.tv/Vertex_Map.c4d

 

Thanks Jeff. Yes, the vertex weighting deffinitely helps with the falloff on the object/selection edge. What I am still working on is creating a set-up where I can control the center of the ripple and set the decay over time - to simulate a raindrop impact for example. Ideally the ripple would start from the center and cascade outwards, trailing off as the central portion of the wave decays as well. I have the formula working to fade in/out the ripple over time, but the motion is reversed and multiple concentric rings are generated at the same time, rather than eminating from the central point. Hope that make sense.

 

Need to experiment with adjusting the scale parameters of the deformer over time next...then perhaps on to some Expresso.

[gcole_5 0]

For those who weren't aware... C4D also has a Ripple Shader.

It comes in very handy when you need to do many animated ripples in several different places (ala rain on a water surface).

 

-m

 

Yup - works great for rain. Any ideas how to simulate say a sphere slowly passing through a 'liquid' surface? I am wanting to have a plain that reacts to (sticks to/is moved by) a spherical object as it passes through... Proximal and displacement/falloff would probably work as well...hmmmmm...

[Jeff McBride 0]

I saw a tutorial somewhere (like C4DCafe or Cineversity but I can't seem to find it) where they animated the sphere moving around then took the 3d info into After Effects and created an animation with Wave World to create a 2D moving wave surface and then took that back into C4D to use as a displacement map I believe. It was nice because Wave World lets the waves interact with with each other as well as bounce off walls so you get some pretty decent motion.

[PauloBlob 0]

Hey Guys sorry my delay to reply.

To achieve a controlled ripple effect without messing with formula or weight maps, i used another approach.

Try this example: http://pauloblob.com//downloads/ripple-example.c4d

I am using a plan effector with point mode distortion and a bezier curve on the fall off.

Depending on the kind of ripple you want to achieve it works pretty fine you just need to increase the number of segments and tweak a little bit the falloff curve and you can have a pretty solid ripple effect.

 

Let me know if you have problems with this technique.

 

*btw, the ripple effect I was trying to achieve was the one used on the matrix scene where the helicopter hits the building http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuEd2GDvOKM around 5min you can see the heli creating the ripple.

Edited August 27, 2009 by PauloBlob

[gcole_5 0]

Hey Guys sorry my delay to reply.

To achieve a controlled ripple effect without messing with formula or weight maps, i used another approach.

Try this example: http://pauloblob.com//downloads/ripple-example.c4d

I am using a plan effector with point mode distortion and a bezier curve on the fall off.

Depending on the kind of ripple you want to achieve it works pretty fine you just need to increase the number of segments and tweak a little bit the falloff curve and you can have a pretty solid ripple effect.

 

Let me know if you have problems with this technique.

 

*btw, the ripple effect I was trying to achieve was the one used on the matrix scene where the helicopter hits the building http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuEd2GDvOKM around 5min you can see the heli creating the ripple.

 

Thanks for the example file - unfortunately I am still on V10 (i.e. no Plain Effector)

[iline 0]

For those who weren't aware... C4D also has a Ripple Shader.

It comes in very handy when you need to do many animated ripples in several different places (ala rain on a water surface).

 

-m

 

gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I AM SOOO STOOOPED!!

 

fucks sakes

 

thanks Monkey (again)

[Per 0]

gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I AM SOOO STOOOPED!!

 

fucks sakes

 

thanks Monkey (again)

 

In R11.5 which has a totally new (and faster) Formula parser with new functions it can be done with this :

 

max(1-u;0)*Sin(((u*4)-t)*2.0*pi)*0.2

 

The following explanation is done with the assumption of no knowledge so apologies if it's totally blazingly obvious, but just in case and if it helps you construct your own formula effects easier then read on.

 

To break it down, u is the distance from the center in the radial modes, it goes from 0 at the center to 1 at the edges, so 1.0 means that at the middle it's 1 * the wave effects value and at the edges it's 0 * the wave effects value, if you wanted a more realistic falloff for a droplet you'd use a square falloff liked this :

 

pow(max(1-u;0);2)*Sin(((u*4)-t)*2.0*pi)*0.2

 

or even

 

pow(max(1-u;0);4)*Sin(((u*4)-t)*2.0*pi)*0.2

 

Now the "max" function choses the maximum value between the 1-u and 0, so that when it reaches the edge of the ripple it'll basically stick at 0 and not start doing waves gettign stronger but in negative!

 

With those "better" falloff functions the "pow" means to the power of, that is pow(x;2) is the same as writing x*x and pow(x;4) the same as x*x*x*x this makes for a more belivable falloff of the water itself.

 

Next the "sin" is of course a sine wave, this is just a nice shape for a wave, the (u*4) but controls the frequency, so if you change that 4 ot somethign else you'll end up with more or less waves, as it is you'll get 4 waves before it fades out at the edges.

 

t is Time in the function, so you can also multiply that if you want things to move a bit faster or slower.

 

The reason we multiply the whole result by 2.0 * pi (actially that can be replaced in the new parser with the keyword pi2) is that the angles internally in C4D are in radians, for 360 degrees (one whole cycle) it's 2 * pi radians, so it just makes it so that the numbers result in a full cyclical transition.

 

Finally the last multiply of *0.2 is just scaling the whole effect down, you can actually drop that bit and instead scale the bounding box of the formula deformer down vertically and get the same effect.

 

Anyhow, hope that helps you guys.

[destro 0]

Per-Anders on Mograph.net

That's handy

[PauloBlob 0]

Thanks Per. I am still on 11.0 trying to buy the new version.

 

Thanks man!