That rope really bugs me, but it's 100% the fault of the sculpt.
Twisted rope (as opposed to braided) has a "lay", which is the direction of the twist. The tightness of the twist and its direction have applications with how strong the rope will be and how much of the environment it can stand.
I'm specifically thinking of marine rope, but there are many other uses. On boats, you want rope that's waterproof so that it doesn't soak in water and become too heavy to use. In the old days, if you went bankrupt they'd send you to a poorhouse and you'd end up in a factory making rope, the most menial of jobs. The lay of the rope would be to the right - a right lay - because most people are right-handed, so winding a rope by hand this way would be the easiest.
Left lay, or a left twist, is less common, although machines make rope these days and you can certainly order left-handed ropes for various uses.
The easy way to spot the lay of the rope is Z (right) or S (left). The diagonal of the rope when vertical will match the diagonal of the letter, if that makes sense.
In the picture, all of the rope looks like it fits a Z, so it would all be regular right lay. However, the character's hand hides a bend in the rope. In Photoshop, if you clip out the rope and "straighten" it out using copy and paste or puppet warp, you can clearly see that the lay changes from right to left. This rope would be useless, except as a curiosity.
That rope really bugs me, but it's 100% the fault of the sculpt.
ReplyDeleteTwisted rope (as opposed to braided) has a "lay", which is the direction of the twist. The tightness of the twist and its direction have applications with how strong the rope will be and how much of the environment it can stand.
I'm specifically thinking of marine rope, but there are many other uses. On boats, you want rope that's waterproof so that it doesn't soak in water and become too heavy to use. In the old days, if you went bankrupt they'd send you to a poorhouse and you'd end up in a factory making rope, the most menial of jobs. The lay of the rope would be to the right - a right lay - because most people are right-handed, so winding a rope by hand this way would be the easiest.
Left lay, or a left twist, is less common, although machines make rope these days and you can certainly order left-handed ropes for various uses.
The easy way to spot the lay of the rope is Z (right) or S (left). The diagonal of the rope when vertical will match the diagonal of the letter, if that makes sense.
In the picture, all of the rope looks like it fits a Z, so it would all be regular right lay. However, the character's hand hides a bend in the rope. In Photoshop, if you clip out the rope and "straighten" it out using copy and paste or puppet warp, you can clearly see that the lay changes from right to left. This rope would be useless, except as a curiosity.