HI jnow - do you mean something like this?
When I did this project a few months ago, I had in mind the community theatre that I used to work in (many years ago now). Each curtain is a separate prop and is animated independently. I've looked back over the project and here are the three basic steps to recreate this effect.
- Open each curtain prop using a simple horizontal Transformation. For a little bit of realism, I added some deceleration over the final stretch: edit the relevant keyframe's Transitions Curve.
- Each curtain is approximately rectangular, but I wanted the dragging effect as they were pulled open. Use the Prop Key Editor and apply a little Deformation.
- Repeat the deformations from step 2 several times at the end, to get the effect of the curtain swinging as it comes to rest. Use decreasing amounts of deformation in opposing directions. It's subtle and a little fiddly to implement, but it is effective.
You could really go to town and get a pretty realistic effect, or keep it simpler - it all depends on the effect you're after. The timing is probably crucial here - how long from closed to open? Get that sorted and then fit everything else around that. Hope this helps?
NB1 The manual page says the Transitions Curve feature is for CTA Pro and Pipeline only. I think you're okay with the Prop Key Editor for all three versions of CTA.
NB2 The stage set I used here is Warwick Hays' "Stage Right – Deluxe", which is available from
Props 'n' Stuff. Be aware, this comes as a series of flat PNG files and you assemble it yourself - it comes with several options. Of course, this allows editing in Photoshop (or similar) so increases your flexibility. I had to edit one of the components to get my moving curtains - it won't do this straight out of the box.
Cartoon Animator 4 Pipeline (always the current production version, unless otherwise stated)
Mac mini M1, macOS Big Sur (11.6.5)
Signature data last updated 2022-05-15