Using Craft Trailer
 Optimizing the scene
It’s wise to optimize the scene before starting to recording the animation. The scene is optimized by decreasing the amount of polygons shown during the recording. This is achieved by hiding objects not crucial to the part of the scene to be animated. Another tip is to use Craft Bounding Poly, which temporary lowers the amount of polygons for selected objects and allows for a smoother recording. |
- Create a Craft Trailer.
- Position Craft Trailer so that the axel is in the same position as the high poly trailers axel.
Warning
In order to avoid errors, place Craft Tailer’s wheels at an equal distance from Craft Trailer’s center point. Do not move the wheels ‘forward’ or ‘backward’ from their original axis. This will cause the simulation to malfunction. Determine the length of the trailer instead by placing the trailer at a greater or lesser distance from the car that pulls it. - Re-scale Craft Trailer so that the wheels are in the same position as the high-poly wheels of your trailer model.
- Re-scale the wheels of Craft Trailer (WheelMesh00 and WheelMesh01) so that they are the same size as your high-poly wheels.
- Move Craft Trailer’s TowingHookMesh to the desired pivot-point (the pivot-point is located at the back of the TowingHookMesh) and link/parent it to the object that it will follow (i.e., your car).
- Link/Parent Craft Trailer’s GravityDirectionMesh to the ground mesh you want it to follow.
- Link/Bind your high-poly trailer model’s body to the TrailerBodyMesh and each high-poly wheel to the corresponding Craft Trailer wheel so that your high-poly model inherits the motion of Craft Trailer.
- If the scene is too complex, the recording will be slow and choppy. It is therefore advisable to hide the high-poly models until after the animation is finished.
- Press Record in Craft Director Studio’s main window in order to start the recording. If you have linked/parented Craft Trailer to another Craft product you will also want to highlight it in the control list so that you will be actively recording both the car and the trailer.
- Craft Trailer’s motion will be recorded and key-framed during the recording. Press Stop to end the recording.
- Render.
Input settings
Gravel Shake Amplitude
Simulates driving on gravel.
Spinner…
Spinners enables the change of parameter values with an input controller in real-time.
Config settings
General Modes
Hide Helpers
Hides the helper objects.
Hide Helpers during Recording
Hides the helpers during recording.
Trailer Parameters
Gravel Shake Offset Value
This value is added to the input device value for ‘Gravel Shake Amplitude’ as an offset.
Gravel Roughness
How rough the gravel shake is.
Suspension Parameters
Enable Suspension
Maximum Side Tilt Angle
The maximum angle the car body can have sideways.
Suspension Length (Radius Relative)
The Suspension Length (Radius Relative).
Stiffness
The Stiffness determines how much force the springs have.
Damping
The Damping determines how dull the dampers are.
Surface Edge Response Factor
Can be used as a wheel air pressure parameter. It softens the transition for the wheels when moving from one polygon face to another but may cause instability when too low.
Mass Multiplier
Mass Multiplier. A greater value = a heavier vehicle.
Input Property Parameters
Gravel Shake Amplitude Response Factor
The response time for the Gravel Shake.
Gravel Shake Amplitude Maximum
Determines how hard the vehicle will shake.