Athanasios “Noseman” Pozantzis shows an easy way to move simulated rigid bodies on a spline in Cinema 4D.

In the latest quick tip tutorial, Athanasios “Noseman” Pozantzis shows how to move simulated objects along a spline in Maxon Cinema 4D.

The tutorial shows how to make a flow of blood cells using the Bullet Simulation System in Cinema 4D.

Here are the techniques summarized in the video and a step-by-step process for creating simulated objects that move on splines:

Techniques:

• Using multiple overlapping splines creates the illusion of objects forking in different directions.
• Use a cloner object set to “object mode” to distribute objects along a spline.
• You can add a few Random effectors to the cloner to introduce randomness in the object distribution.
• Rigid body tags and bullet physics simulations can make objects collide and bounce off each other.
• The “follow” option in the bullet tag settings allows objects to stick to the spline while moving.
• The “rate” parameter in the cloner object controls the speed of the objects along the spline.
• Add Bullet collider bodies to the scene to create blockages or other interactive elements for the simulated objects.

Step-by-step process:

1. Create multiple splines in your scene. The splines should overlap if you want the objects to fork in different directions later.
2. Create a cloner object and unselect the “Weld” option. Drag all the splines into the cloner object to combine them into a single multi-segment spline.
3. Create a model of the object you want to simulate and add it as a child to the cloner. Set the cloner to “object mode.”
4. In the cloner settings, set the distribution to “even” and adjust the number of clones you want. You can also use the transform settings to rotate the clones along the spline.
5. Add two random effectors to the cloner object to introduce randomness in the position and rotation of the cloned objects.
6. Add a rigid body tag to the cloner and go to the project settings to turn off gravity.
7. In the bullet tag settings, set the “follow position” and “follow rotation” values to make the objects stick to the spline.
8. Adjust the “rate” parameter in the cloner object to control the speed of the objects along the spline.
9. (Optional) Add a bullet collider body to another object in the scene to create blockages or other interactive elements for the simulated objects