How would you rig the wings so the flaps have physics?
I would like to have physics on the wings, like stretching and I want them to fold up nicely when the wings fold in. I think this also applies if you rig a piece of cloth or a dress.
Posted Jan 9, 2022, 10:48 PM UTC
14
I'm new to blender, but collision modifiers sound helpful. Are you rigging this?
I can rig it, but I don't know how to rig something with physics. Every time I try, the simulation doesn't run or only parts of it does. I want to be able to move the wings around with the webbing actually being loose.
If this is for a game, then you'll want to use bones for the physics. Otherwise, you can create the same shape for the webbing of the wings, then create a group called "pins". Select the edges near the rigid parts of the wings and assign them a value of one. Then add in any values where you want the cloth simulation to not have as much influence. Then create vertex groups to match your meshes rigged vertex groups, and give this new mesh an Armature modifier and assign it the same armature as your main mesh.
Afterwards, assign a surface Deform modifier to your main mesh, and point it at the new mesh. Create a new vertex group on your character and fill in the webbing with a value of 1, leaving the rigid parts of the wings at 0. Name this vertex group "SurfaceDeform". Now add that vertex group to your surface Deform modifier, and hit "Bind". You'll now just need to add the cloth physics to the new mesh you created.
That's the long version. The easy version is to just go to edit mode on your mesh, select all of the webbing, Shift+D to duplicate, then go to Mesh > Seperate, and make the duplicated mesh its own object. Add the surface Deform modifier to your character, and point it at the new mesh we just seperated. Create a vertex group and assign the areas you want to be affected by this modifier, then assign that group of the modifier then hit bind. Then make your pins vertex group on your duplicated mesh, mark the areas you want to not be controlled by the simulation (edges near the rigid parts), add the cloth simulation and set your vertex group in the pins group.
Cloth simulation can get pretty in depth, but that's the quick and dirty rundown for partial cloth simulation.
Relevant tutorial: https://youtu.be/YB55LsMc7P8
I know how to do simple cloth sims like a bedsheet or dress but never used surface deform, will try it later. If it gets too difficult or finicky, I'll just get rid of the wings since the character looks good already.