Animating a cable using Softimage cloth

The project files used in this tutorial can be found at:
http://www.redi-vivus.com/Caffeineabuse/Cable_Using_SoftimageCloth.zip


Softimage Cloth
Start by open the scene cabel.scn from this issues CD. Select the Cable_Cloth object and press [T] to set the selection filter to points and select the two vertices at the right end of the object. From the Edit menu choose Create Cluster with Center. Press [4] to switch to the Simulate Toolbar. Select the Cable_Cloth object and from the Create > Cloth menu choose From Selection. Different types of cables obviously has different characteristics. Use the values in the above screenshot as a starting point and experiment on your own.

Local Cloth Cluster

Now, select the two vertices again and from the Create > Cloth menu choose Local Cloth Cluster. Make sure you check the Nail checkbox in the Cloth PPG. Select the object again and from the Get > Force menu choose Gravity. Select the Cable_Cloth again and from the Modify > Environment menu choose Set Obstacle. When prompted, pick the Floor object. Right click to end the picking session. In the Floor_obstacle PPG increase the friction to 0.8 or so to stop the cable from sliding all over the place. Set the Push length to 0.1 to compensate for the cable’s thickness.

Extract from edge
Select all the edge along one side of the cloth object. Press [1] to switch back to the Model toolbar and from the Create > Curve menu choose Extract from Edges. This creates a separate curve object from the selected edges and because it’s a live operator the cloth simulation will automatically be propagated as well. Name the curve Cable_Path. From the Primitive > Curve get a Circle and set the Radius to 0.05. From the Create > Poly.Mesh menu choose Extrusion Along Curve and pick the Cable_Path curve when prompted. Animate the Null object and your cable will follow perfectly.