How to make an object follow wavy or bumpy paths?

Question

This is my second time using Blender after the doughnut tutorial. I managed to create this scene (1st img) by following a tire moving tutorial on YouTube using constraints, and keyframes and parented it with the bottom objects.

However, I want to learn how to make the object follow/move along bumpy or wavy surfaces or grounds (2nd img). What method should I use, since I can't find it on youtube or forums?

you could e.g. use follow path and animate the path with hooks. or you could use geometry nodes. or animation nodes. — Chris, Jul 15 '23 at 09:25
guys thanks for your help, i finally made it.

Make a curve.

Edit the curve to a wavy curve like ref video.

Use Follow Path to make the object following the curve path.

Duplicate the curve, convert to mesh and press E to adjust the width and use solidify modifier to make it thick, and adjusting the position until the object center and on top of the mesh.

is it the right way to do it? — awan, Jul 15 '23 at 20:43
Yes, you could also have done it the way around: model the bumpy object, select one top edge loop, duplicate and convert it to a curve, select your headphone and give it a Follow Path constraint with the curve as target — moonboots, Jul 16 '23 at 08:16
hi guys, thanks for sharing the tips. finally figure it out. — awan, Jul 16 '23 at 09:44
@moonboots you could post this as answer so it can be accepted — Yousuf Chaudhry, Jul 16 '23 at 20:05

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 17 '23 at 05:30

One way to do it is:

Make a curve.
Edit the curve to a wavy curve like ref video.
Use Follow Path to make the object following the curve path.
Duplicate the curve, convert to mesh and press E to adjust the width and use solidify modifier to make it thick, and adjusting the position until the object center and on top of the mesh.

score -2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 15 '23 at 11:08

-2

The Shrinkwrap constraint will project the owner object onto an arbitrary surface. It does so "on top of" keyframe animation, so you can start by animating your object along a straight path going over the bumpy surface, and the constraint will take care of the rest.

answered Jul 15 '23 at 11:08

Hadriscus

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The shrinkwrap constraint will only work on one frame, and you will move the object on every frame which means that it is useless and messy to use this technique – Yousuf Chaudhry Jul 15 '23 at 11:21
Not sure what you mean ? here is an example. – Hadriscus Jul 16 '23 at 14:13
Even though this may work (in some cases) on straight surfaces, this is not real-world movement and it makes the object intersect with the surface. Anyways, you have attached the modifier to an empty, which may not be suitable in some cases. I the modifier be applied to the object, it will modify the mesh. – Yousuf Chaudhry Jul 16 '23 at 20:01
@Hadriscus: change your height in GN setup to 2.6 and you will get: [1]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/arOuy.png -> i think that's why you got that downvotes - but an explanation would have been nice - i didn't downvote, but i wanted to find out why... – Chris Jul 17 '23 at 05:28
I'm not sure what modifier you mean. I've used a geonodes modifier to generate the "ground", but it's not the focus of the question. Empties cannot have modifiers anyway, they don't carry geometry.
However you're correct in that there's a little intersection, I didn't catch that. It shouldn't be difficult to solve, I just quickly projected on Z for the sake of the example.

(I don't mind the downvotes, what matters is the potential solutions and the help we bring)
– Hadriscus Jul 17 '23 at 07:35

How to make an object follow wavy or bumpy paths?

2 Answers2