Creating Intelligent Hoses

[stusic]

I've been able to fake hose movement in the past by simple keyframing. However, I'm doing a lot more projects that involve hoses and would like a way to make them a bit more "intelligent". By intelligent, I mean that the hose is attached to point A and point B; when point A moves, I'd like that end of the hose to follow it. Ideally, I'd like it to have a bit of resistance, so a hose will sag a little and avoid kinking. I'm imagining I can do this through physics-based animation, but I'm not quite sure how.

So, I'm stuck. Any insight on how I would go about this would be extremely helpful and very much appreciated.

Thanks All,

[stusic]

Sorry, brainfart. HOSES are intelligent enough to do this. I can't believe I didn't think about this earlier...

nebermind

[stusic]

Here's an update of my crane, using the hoses talked about earlier. Not all the hoses are in, but I'm working on it.

[dellis]

Cool! You could also use Reactor Rope and pin both ends.

[stusic]

Thanks Dwayne! I thought reactor would work better, but be more time-consuming. I dunno really - don't have time to test it now, but I'll see if I can't find some time later this week. I've found Reactor gives the best outcome for many things, but is such a pain to set up and have it act correctly.

What I would like is to be able to apply "guides" to the hose, such that I can make it bend around the pieces of equipment, without penetrating. Almost like vertices of a line, and apply weights to each vertex. This would allow me to add multiple bends in a single hose and places the guides where the real brackets are. It would also be nice to adjust the tension/stiffness at each guide, so a certain section of hose can be rigid, while other sections would have some slack and bend more (near the moving parts).

As of now, I'm using multiple hoses to route it around everything, and static lines with the Sweep modifier to create the rigid parts of the hose. PITA.

[dellis]

Look into using Spline IK Control modifier. This will essentially allow you to draw a spline however you wish with the added bonus of having control dummies at each vertex for animation. Make sure you set your verticies to be smooth and set the interpolation type to be adaptive to keep the hose smooth. Then you can add a sweep modifier above the spline ik modifier and do what you want with it as far as the shape is concerned.

[stusic]

Look into using Spline IK Control modifier. This will essentially allow you to draw a spline however you wish with the added bonus of having control dummies at each vertex for animation. Make sure you set your verticies to be smooth and set the interpolation type to be adaptive to keep the hose smooth. Then you can add a sweep modifier above the spline ik modifier and do what you want with it as far as the shape is concerned.

I like the way this works! It makes it easy to animate one solid hose that can be rigid in at some vertices and flexible at others. The only thing I can't get working is adding another vertex after the modifier has been applied. If I add one, I can't seem to re-create the helpers. If I trash the modifier, I the line goes back to its original coords. Any ideas?

Thanks,

-p

[dellis]

I'll have to check but you may be able to use linked x-forms. That would get kind of messy in the modifier stack but..let me think about it....

[stusic]

Yeah, I like where the idera is going, not having to go to the sub-object mode to arrange the hose, but (I believe) you have to have the correct number of vertices when you start, or else the line collapses. If you could simply add a vertex, that would make this much easier...