Can DForce 'Gravitate' In A Different Direction?

Xenomorphine

Just started experimenting with dForce and it's a very intriguing new tool. I've no idea if creators can retro-apply it to older products, but there are certainly a few older products for G3 I'd adore to have this functionality put to use in.

However, it made me wonder, is there a way to make a dForce product (Kindred Art's recent Cobweb Kit comes to mind) assume gravity is pointing in a direction other than downwards? This would be hugely useful for making characters/objects look like they've been cocooned/webbed to a wall or ceiling in science-fiction art.

nonesuch00

Xenomorphine said:

Just started experimenting with dForce and it's a very intriguing new tool. I've no idea if creators can retro-apply it to older products, but there are certainly a few older products for G3 I'd adore to have this functionality put to use in.

However, it made me wonder, is there a way to make a dForce product (Kindred Art's recent Cobweb Kit comes to mind) assume gravity is pointing in a direction other than downwards? This would be hugely useful for making characters/objects look like they've been cocooned/webbed to a wall or ceiling in science-fiction art.

I think Gravity setting is default set to 1.0. That is a simulation of Earth at Sea Level I think. To have no gravity set it to 0. It should float given a wind resistance or stay static with no such other forces. To float set Gravity to a negative number.

 

Diomede

Like the old batman tv show where the caped crusaders climb the wall, could just rotate the camera 90 derees.

- but, I don't know if dforce has a direction control.

Xenomorphine

Yeah, I was thinking of turning a set on its side and posing everything accordingly. Was just hoping there was a way to set the direction of gravity (preferably individually, since it'll make all​ dForce products gravitate in the same direction, otherwise).

I want to make things look like thay're 'stuck' by a sheet to a wall, but that no-gravity option should be useful for water.

nonesuch00

You use wind of a strong enough strength for directional control but I don't know if that will create the effect you are after. The more mass an object has the more wind strength will be needed to budge the object. I'm not sure if dForce calculates any sort of mass (I think it must but a very rough one) at all but it does have wind strength & direction.

nonesuch00

doublepost

RGcincy

You can set gravity to negative values and cause things to simulate up. Check out these posts: one, two, three

Sometimes it helps to rotate a figure/prop (either before a simulation or animated during the simulation), then rotate into the final desired position afterwards

Kitsumo

To expand on what nonesuch00 said, you can set gravity to zero so the material floats in mid-air, then use a gentle wind to push it toward the wall.

Or if you like making things too difficult, set gravity to zero, rotate the room around a central point, then inertia will 'push' the dforce objects toward the wall as the room rotates around the center point. Kind of like those space stations that rotate to simulate gravity in sci-fi movies.

Or just turn the room sideways.

Mart1n71

I tried this with some reasonable results when dforce first came out and was experimenting with it. 

I posed my figure against a wall in a small room set.

added in a null point, placed that in the rough centre of my posed figure, the parented everything in the set to that null point. 

Using the null point as a pivot I rotated it so my figure was lying horizontally, loaded a plane primitive, applied dforce settings and experimented. 

By using the null as a pivot, I could change the angle of the set, and thereby the direction my primitive plane moved until I achieved the desired result. 

Once happy, parent the dforced object to the null point, reset the null points rotation to zero and render. 

maikdecker

Having to rotate the whole set seems a bit too much to me, when usually just rotating the figure/prop that is supposed to be dForced does the job, as the dForced position after simulating does "stick" even when the figure/prop is moved afterwards... or at least that's what I seem to have seen when using dForce...

Kitsumo

Mart1n71 said:

I tried this with some reasonable results when dforce first came out and was experimenting with it. 

I posed my figure against a wall in a small room set.

added in a null point, placed that in the rough centre of my posed figure, the parented everything in the set to that null point. 

Using the null point as a pivot I rotated it so my figure was lying horizontally, loaded a plane primitive, applied dforce settings and experimented. 

By using the null as a pivot, I could change the angle of the set, and thereby the direction my primitive plane moved until I achieved the desired result. 

Once happy, parent the dforced object to the null point, reset the null points rotation to zero and render. 

 

maikdecker said:

Having to rotate the whole set seems a bit too much to me, when usually just rotating the figure/prop that is supposed to be dForced does the job, as the dForced position after simulating does "stick" even when the figure/prop is moved afterwards... or at least that's what I seem to have seen when using dForce...

I was half joking when I made that post. I had no idea if it would work, but I'm glad you got the desired results, Mart1n71. Like I said, it's for people who like making things difficult. The most fun with cloth simulators is making them do stuff the programmers never intended them to do.

Thanks to Vsauce videos for the inspiration Vsauce on Twitter: "Centrifugal force? Nope. Just inertia ....