Age Affects ->

[Levi]

1st Video:

 

2nd Video:

 

Forgive the poor quality of the videos, they are quick renders and uploads for a brief example of my problem.

 

The first video shows a simple leaf growth animation I developed. The leaf starts small and curled, and as it grows it becomes a fully sized leaf and unfurls.

 

The second video shows that leaf grown animation applied as a plant stem "grows". The leaf is distributed along the length of the main "stem". The problem is, as you can see, when the plant grows the leaves "pop" into existence at whatever predetermined keyframe the animation has set. Leaves being applied later in the stem's growth cycle appear fully formed, popping into existence with little to any animation at all.

 

I have proposed this before, and was given solutions to the problem that unfortunately are not viable. One such solution was to use the "Path Position Affects -->" to control the leaf shape, but this would not allow leaves to continue to grow after the main stem has stopped growing--they would be forever stunted at the tip of the "vine/stem", when real leaves continue to grow and unfurl even when the main stalk has ceased extending.

 

I would like to propose some kind of "Age Affects-->" modifier that takes into account the age of a particular path, so that these animations can be fully realized as the leaves come into being while the plant grows and after even still after it stops.

 

Thank you for your consideration.

[Eduard]

Hi Levi,

 

You can see how you can do this using the current features: AgeAffectsExample_1.max

Just use the dummy paths as controllers...

 

Cheers

[austingrd]

I didn't realize that aging effect is possible. I might as well try it it. Thanks!

[Levi]

I've tried replicating it 4 times now and I just can't get it right.    It's a lot of steps and affects... Maybe I'm just not wrapping my head around how it works?

 

Edit: On the 5th try I think I'm starting to understand it...

[Eduard]

I've tried replicating it 4 times now and I just can't get it right.    It's a lot of steps and affects... Maybe I'm just not wrapping my head around how it works?

Edit: On the 5th try I think I'm starting to understand it...

Ok

 

Here the most important thing the following:

Our StemGrowthController increases from 0 to 100. We created an Affect from StemGrowthController->Length on Stem->Length (in the range from 0 to 80 (see the Source parameter range), the Factor varies from 0 to 1), it gives the main growth of the stem. Then we created an Affect from StemGrowthController->Length on LeavesGrowthController->Length (in the range from 80 to 100, the Factor varies from 1 to 10), it gives significant growth for the LeavesGrowthController, so that the length of the last line was equal to 10. This provides for completion of the growth of the leaves.

 

Also created an Affect from LeavesGrowthController->PathDistr_02->Parameter: Path position on LeavesGrowthController->Length (in the range 70...100, the Factor varies from 1 to 0), it gives a smooth growth of leaves at the tip of the stem. This is a common way to create plants.

 

As a result our LeavesGrowthController increases from 0 to 10 and beyond, and its length affects the length of the leaves. I.e. we created an Affect from LeavesGrowthController->Length on Leaves->Length (in the range 0...10, the Factor varies from 0 to 1). When the length of LeavesGrowthController = 0, the length of the leaf = 0, when length = 10, the growth of the leaf will be completed. If the length of the LeavesGrowthController more than 10, the leaf will not grow further. This is the basic idea...

 

Other Affects from Stem->Length added to improve the appearance. For example, if the stem length is less than 50cm, then we would like to see the leaves and the stem radius were also less...

 

Thanks!