Animating Apple Peel

[richtann]

Hi all,

So i'm not actually animating an apple but the concept is the same. I;m actually modelling a type of lathe used to reduce the diameter of metal cylinders. it rotates against a blade that shaves off chunks to reduce the width. the metal comes off much the same way the peel might come off an apple... in a long spirally line if you get what i mean.

My question is, how best to go about animating this 'peel'. i've set up a cylinder the structure of which is based on a spiral or screw, so the sections are ready to come off, but having to split each individual face seem like a lot of work. If i try to animate each face or vetex manually, the edges are visible when you smooth the poly cylinder.

Any advice greatly appreciated. Also please let me know if that description is massivley inadequate.

Cheers

[drblacksnake]

depends on thickness of peel and how fast You want that cylinder to spin.
if this is fast, then just fake it - make paintFX peels or e.g. polyHelix (bind it to bone chain, then splineIK).. afterwards animate nurbs curve in some jiggly manner and voila!
on other hand, if this is slow spin and thick peel, then most probably You should model peel and "wrap" it around cylinder.. bone chain and splineIK again, or at least bend deformer.