Rigging Rope and a Winch in Cinema 4D

One time, Benjamin Ring showed how you can essentially “hack” an animation together to make it seem like a rope is winding up in Cinema 4D. To achieve this, the solution is to break up the animation into two difference pieces. One segment is for the rope, while the other is for the winding bits. What if you wanted a more elegant solution to rigging rope and a winch?

…So this one is a bit more advanced: how can you winch a rope on a coil…

Again, Cinema 4D offers some great tools that you might think of for a solution. What about dynamics? The Wrap deformer? SoftBody or cloth dynamics? Some of these might work in certain situations, but in others, they might end up being way too complicated.

Here, Lars Scholten, otherwise known online as CyBear, shows rigging rope and winch for animation using the humble bend deformer. There are a few caveats, and things to fix, but, this technique offers a really elegant and simple solution.