Help!
I’m trying to do an animation of a ribbon coming down over something similar to a flight of stairs. I would like to have the ribbon settle down to reveal the stair pattern. I don’t want the ribbon to “suck in tight” to the stairs. I just want it to leave a nice bumpy profile.
Unfortunately, I can’t get the ribbon to relax. It stays taut over the stairs except for a pile of slack near the bottom no matter what changes I have made to the settings within SimCloth. Does anyone have a suggestion for the settings that would allow the ribbon to sag into each step?
I punched a hole into each end of the ribbon in modeller and created two guide rails that gradually pull the ribbon out so that one end hits the top stair and the other hits the bottom. This works well, except that I keep ending up with that pile of slack at the bottom.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ross

P.S.: I have another question on SimCloth. Does the cloth have to be flat? Or can it have depth (ex. a plane vs. a cylinder).

A heavier mass might hug the stairs more...? More friction could also help. I would tilt the stairs (and the camera so it doesn’t show) to an angle so it help keeping the ribbon in place. Sorry to throw it to you like that, I have no time to test right now.

You can use objects with thickness:
http://www.rdn.qc.ca/eias/simcloth/stiffness100stairs.mov

See also:
http://www.rdn.qc.ca/eias/simcloth/AirDrag.mov
http://www.rdn.qc.ca/eias/simcloth/Stiffness.mov

Richard,
I hadn’t thought about tilting the scene. That’s a great idea! I’ve been experimenting with the friction setting with mixed results. Right now, though, it’s the stretching settings that need work. My ribbon likes to sttrreettccchhh!!! The final render will only be a silhouette, so I’m not concerned about collisions with itself, but the stretching ruins the effect

Thanks,

Ross

I gave up on the guide rail idea. The lower rail kept getting in the way of the ribbon as it fell. I replace the rails with a ring at each end that I animate. Simcloth happily follows the rings to their final resting places at each of the stairs while the ribbon follows them down. The ribbon still bounces around too much once it hits the stairs, but I’m almost there.

Ross

I have the same problem, bounciness… You can compare my settings with yours and see if it helps killing it.

http://www.rdn.qc.ca/eias/Rug_Sim.mov

Here is the project:
http://www.rdn.qc.ca/eias/RUG.zip

Trust you to come up with a working project in no time that hits the issue.
I’m running a simulation right now. What I am trying now is to increase the stretch, friction and gravity settings. I’m hoping that as my ribbon hits the stairs, the friction will hold it in place as it flows around the steps. I’ll keep plugging away.

Thanks for your input.

Ross