Bounce and Dangle a spider from a tree.

Report · Feb 17, 2022

Hi, I am new to Character Animator and this is my first project. I am animating a children's book that I have written, illustrated and self published... anyway... I am looking to have a spider (sally) appear from the tree, bounce at the bottom of the web, and dangle.

I have watched so many tutorials but feel I cannot figure this one out. To someone with a bit more experience I think this is probably simple enough. I did consider using keyframes to manually make the bounce but I feel the Physics and Transform properties will do a much better job.

I have keyframes set for her to appear from behind the tree, and later to climb back up so I would really like to apply a bounce (maybe a bit of 'squashiness' too) for both.

This is my first post on here, hope I have given enough information. Screenshot of character timeline (Sally) in particular and configurations. Thanks in advance. 🙂

Report · Feb 17, 2022

Just a note, I have reduced the stiffness by 10% and it seem ok... the only drawback to this is that it feels more like a liquid movement instead of a bouncy ball kind of effect that I am after.

Report · Feb 17, 2022

I've not spent much time with the CH physics settings, but have you tried adjusting the gravity for the spider?

Report · Feb 17, 2022

Thanks for getting back to me and your suggestion. I have given it a go. I had to put stiffness back to 100% and gravity set to 35%, This yields pretty much the same results. I think I should perhaps create a link to the string of web and attach the spider to that? This may give it a bit more bounce by applying physics to the web (like an elastic band) so that the spider does not lose too much shape.

Report · Feb 17, 2022

One trick some people have used (for tails rather than spider webs) is to put a series of short (short as you can draw) sticks down the tail (with small gaps between the sticks). Think of it being like a stick per bone in the tail. I have no idea of it will help in your case, but you could try to see if that reduces the liquid movement feel.