MAXON Computer Cinema 4D Tutorials: Turning Pages with Cloth

Tips & Techniques - MOCCA

MOCCA:
Turning Pages with Cloth
Download:
Project Works with:
R9, MOCCA Requires:
Version 9.012

Special Notes: Special Thanks to: Gustavo Fiorenza

Animating paper turning, or just paper in general, can be a difficult task. But using Cloth from the MOCCA module, can make this task much simpler!

Step 1: Create the geometry of the page that will be turned. Create a plane with the settings shown (Objects=>Primitive=>Plane). Make the plane editable (Functions=>Make Editable).

The duration of the animation is going to be longer than the default setting. Go to your Project Settings and increase the Maximum to 120.

Activate the Points mode and select the left column of points as shown. These points will serve as the pivot for the page to turn about.

Step 2: Now create a Cloth Tag for the plane object (Object Manager: File=>Clothilde Tags=>Cloth). The settings for the tag should be visible in the Attributes Manager.

Under the Dresser tab, use the Fix Points: Set command. This will fix the selected points to their current position. Play the animation to view the simulation.

Step 3: You will be adjusting the Gravity of the cloth to simulate the pages turning. In the Forces tab alter the Gravity to 9.81 instead of -9.81. Play the animation.

To get the cloth to behave like a page, you will need to animate the Gravity parameter. At Frame 38 set a keyframe for the Gravity parameter. This is the frame that the page begins to lose its velocity.

At Frame 39 change the Gravity parameter back to -9.81 and add a keyframe. Now the animation is getting closer to the desired result.

Step 4: There is now one obvious problem with the page simulation: it has no colliding mesh! Create another Plane object with the settings shown.

Move the plane to the coordinates shown. In order for the object to be calculated by the cloth engine, the object must have polygonal points. Make the plane editable (Functions=>Make Editable).

Apply a Collider Tag to the new plane object (Object Manager: File=>Clothilde Tags=>Collider). This will allow the cloth to collide against this object.

To enhance the animation you may want to spend some time adjusting the wind settings in the Forces tab for the Cloth Tag. Be carefull to not set the Wind Strength too high.