Page 82 - 3D World - October 2017

ARTIST Q&A
your CG problems solved
“yoU HAve to tHinK AboUt
tHe wAteR And How it ReACtS

witH wHAteveR yoU’Re doinG”
Syawish A Rehman

sOFTWarE: maya

HoW Can you Create tHe

motIon of a jellyfIsH?

James Butler, USA

Syawish A Rehman replies
Simulating the motion of a with, this and the following things hold In Maya, you can do all this in the
jellyfish is one of those things true). Also, you might’ve noticed that Nucleus node. You have to model the
that you have a hard time figuring out, objects fall slower through water than air, jellyfish and animate it to move along the
but when someone tells you how to do it, which means two things. When simulating, path that you want it to move. Animate
you’re like, “Of course! it was so simple”. you have to decrease the gravity (this it in the way that it moves a little then
The first time I saw a jellyfish I thought it might or might not work, depending on stop, move back a little and then move
was a plastic bag – this actually helped your scene but it’s an idea to decrease it a forward again. This is how a real jellyfish
me in trying to decide how to approach bit generally when working underwater), moves; you can check out references for
the motion. First thing you have to think and also increase the ‘air resistance’. Even this online. After this, turn it into nCloth.
about is the water and how it reacts with though the terminology isn’t accurate, it This usually destroys your animation so
whatever you’re doing. A jellyfish, in our works. Also, think about how water moves. you’ll have to use Input Attract Mesh to
case, is lighter than the water it’s in (this It’s similar to air, only heavier, so add some limit what part is dynamically simulated
might not be accurate, physics-wise, but wind and add some turbulence to mimic and what part is animated through the
for all underwater simulations I’ve dealt the water’s currents. keyframes you set.

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