Animating a Paper Fold
-
I'd like to create some paper folding animations using SU (making a paper airplane for example). I thought this would be simple, but I can't get the fold animations to work right. I've tried the recently announced proper_animation script, but I can't force the axis of rotation to be the fold line. Could SU Animate do this? My 10 day trial just expired, so I can't try it. I'm sure I could take the tedious and wrong approach by manually creating scenes, but there has to be a better way.
See attached for an example. You have to install the proper_animation script and start the animation observer before clicking the scene tabs.
Any help would be appreciated.
-Steve
-
First, to force the axis of rotation to be along the fold line, get the Rotate tool. Click on the end of the fold line and while holding the mouse button, drag along the fold line. Let go of the button and click again for the start of the rotation as normal.
As far as the animation part, you'll see in the Read Me file that edges and faces do not have transformation data. You need to make components or groups of the separate parts. SO each smaller face created by a fold will need to be a separate component.
-
Thanks for the reply, Dave.
@dave r said:
First, to force the axis of rotation to be along the fold line, get the Rotate tool. Click on the end of the fold line and while holding the mouse button, drag along the fold line. Let go of the button and click again for the start of the rotation as normal.
Yep, that much I know. It's animating the folding of the paper that I can't do.
@dave r said:
As far as the animation part, you'll see in the Read Me file that edges and faces do not have transformation data.
Yep, I saw that in the Read Me file.
@dave r said:
You need to make components or groups of the separate parts. SO each smaller face created by a fold will need to be a separate component.
And that's precisely what I did. I used the line tool to draw a diagonal line across the piece of paper. I then made one of the resulting triangles a group and rotated only that group. However, it doesn't rotate about the fold - hence the reason for my post.
This should all be obvious in the file I attached. I'm still at a loss for how to force the axis of rotation to be at the fold line during the animation.
Regards,
-Steve
Advertisement