EDIT: The UnityPackage for all this madness is here. (If you aren’t familiar with what a .unitypackage is, don’t bother)

Next project has to do with Jellyfish for a client and we’ve bitten off quite a large chunk. Not a chunk that is un-biteable mind you, use a rather large bite.

This is what we’re trying to do in realtime:

In attempting to create a realistic movement in realtime that responds with the appropriate “feel” to visitor input, I started looking on line for examples of fluid motion in Unity 3D. The Skinned Cloth component is great for dresses and cloaks, but after several hours of messing with it, I couldn’t come up with a really nice fluid motion.

After then messing around with the Interactive Cloth component for a few hours, I realized that I was going to approach it from another direction.  A buddy of mine from the Atari days suggested I check out this video (around 0:40) from Unite 11, which actually got me on the track I’m on now.

Starting with some bone objects and attaching rigid body and hinge components, I’ve been able to create a super low-res jelly.  The problem I’m running into right now is that as I copy and then rotate the “arm” chain around, the physics start drifting after a minute or so which eventually causes the jelly to lock up.  It’s the “Sea of Dead Jellies” exhibit!  No.

What I’ve got so far (you’ll need the plugin):