Inflate Object. In this tutorial we are going to use the cloth modifier to simulate a soft body object that inflates itself.

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Isabella Wiggins
6 years ago
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mov I will once again be providing you with a starter file, so we don't have to waste time building some things and we can get right into the animation, you can download the file here:

1 Inflate Object In this tutorial we are going to use the cloth modifier to simulate a soft body object that inflates itself. You can see a finished animated preview of this effect by downloading the.mov here: I will once again be providing you with a starter file, so we don't have to waste time building some things and we can get right into the animation, you can download the file here: This is a relatively simple animation technique using the very underestimated Cloth Modifier in 3D Studio Max. If you open up the file you will see that I have made a plane for the ground, and a sphere shaped balloon that we will deflate, and then inflate again. 1

2 To start, use your select tool to select the Balloon and go to the Modify Tab in the command panel on the right side of the screen. On the modify tab, click on the dropdown for the Modifier List, and find Cloth in the modifiers. Click to add it to the balloon. Once you have added the cloth modifier we will go in and adjust the properties for both the balloon, and the plane. Click the Object Properties button to open the Cloth Modifier object properties settings. 2

Then select the balloon at the top of the list and click on the Cloth Radial button

3 Click on the Add Objects... button, and select the Plane from the list and then hit Add. Then select the balloon at the top of the list and click on the Cloth Radial button to turn the balloon into a Cloth object. We will just go ahead and leave the default settings here for Property 1, they will work the best for this animation. 3

4 Once you have changed the Balloon to cloth, Click on the Property 2 radial button to switch to the balloon's second set of properties. We will animate between these two properties in the end. With the Property 2 radial button toggled to on, we can adjust a couple of settings towards the bottom of the Dialogue box. Scroll down until you see the "Pressure" settings. 4

5 Next, select the Plane001 object in the list to the Left of the settings. Then go all the way down to the bottom of the dialogue with the Plane selected and click the Collision Object radial button to turn the Plane into a Collision Object for our balloon. After you mark the Collision Object radial button, go ahead and hit the OK button. 5

6 Then return to your modify tab and scroll all the way down to the bottom of the cloth Modifier settings. Place a check mark in both the Check Intersections box and the Self Collision box and give it a value of 1. Then return to the top of the Cloth modifier settings, and click the Simulate button. 6

Then back in the Cloth Modifier settings to the right, find and click the Set Initial State button.

7 With any luck, your balloon will deflate into a pile of mess. Next make sure your timeline slider is at frame 100. Then back in the Cloth Modifier settings to the right, find and click the Set Initial State button > Followed by clicking the Erase Simulation button. Now move your timeline slider back to Frame 0. If you did the last steps correctly your sphere will remain a collapsed lump at frame #0 to start. 7

Then go to the cloth modifier settings and find the rollout in the command panel labeled "Selected Object" Open the Selected Object rollout by clicking the + sign if it

8 Now we can animate the transition between the two Properties we set up in the cloth objects settings dialogue. Turn on your Auto Key button. Then move your timeline slider to a frame farther down... I chose frame 30. Then go to the cloth modifier settings and find the rollout in the command panel labeled "Selected Object" Open the Selected Object rollout by clicking the + sign if it isn't open already. With your timeline slider set to a new frame (30) simply move the Interpolate slider from Property 1 to Property 2. This can be key framed back and forth to make it look like the balloon is being inflated by several breaths, or simply all at once depending on what you might need it for. 8

9 When finished, turn off your auto key. Then find and click the Simulate button once more in the cloth modifier settings. Wait for the Simulation to finish processing, and you should see your Balloon inflate automatically! For a final touch, add a Turbosmooth modifier on your balloon on top of the cloth modifier. 9

10 That should smooth out any jagged edges on your balloon when it is wrinkled up in a lump and as it inflates. That's it, you are all done. Now try adding things like an animated Gravity in the other direction to make it float... wind to blow it around, build some stairs to knock it down, etc. Hope you enjoyed learning about this very under used modifier! You can see a finished animated preview of this effect by downloading the.mov here: 10

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