Braid / Rope R&D

Here is a quick snapshot of my braid/rope workflow.

I think iv’e got all the kinks worked out i just need to optimise it a bit further.

It’s pretty robust, I have used this to make braids and rope on an upcoming film (delayed because of Covid).

It works by creating the shape of the braid with curves then making geometry from them. Then with a width attribute via a ramp I can control the width of the strand. From there I generate fur, use the geo to make a vdb volume and the curve as a backbone to advect the fur along the surface.

From there it’s all regular grooming.

This setup is almost completely procedural. The only input from the user is the path of the braid/rope. Even the fur has no guides.

In the future i will probably do a more in-depth article on the technique.