here's a different project i did last year, that was fun. I don't usually get to fun ; )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ax39wQ4zU0

well that's about as perfect as I dare ask for. thank you for your help!!

gets us almost all the way there, but i can't seem to control the shape. would like the creases to go the length of the middle part, with a smoother overall shape. right now the sphere field is leaving two lumps on the ends, followed by low rings, then the good distortion starts.
I tried FFD/Mesh deformer, but it only affected the lumps on the ends?
also would be nice if it used a single vertex map, so i could draw in a little more randomness. thank you.

winner!! always so simple...once you know the answer. thanks again!

also, was there supposed to be a file attached/linked? thanks

good morning. I tried that, thank you, but the distortion is asymmetrical. I want to introduce wrinkles going the long way. My second post above is close but the distortion isn't affecting the Y axis.

I put two linear fields bookending the area I want to affect, and then another linear field coming up from below, which allows me to inflate just the bottom, which is my goal. but the overall displacement is only happening on the Z axis, like the middle image above.

BubbleNew_test.c4d

hello fellow explorers. I am trying to collapse this bubble a bit like a raisin, a normal move towards the center axis, with longitudinal wrinkles, keeping the end tubes undistorted, with a gradual transition. Displacement Deformer seems to only want to do it on one axis. Using a Texture to do it, the middle is pretty but restricting it with a Polygon Selection, as shown in the top image, gives bad transition.

Thank you for any help.

this almost solves the problem, but the connection is still too floppy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLnyucafG8U

thank you, the throat distortion is looking good but the piece on the end is not flexible, it has a metal rod inside, so can't use Spline Wrap, only Attach to Spline.

it needs to have its axis down near the base, because i need to be able to steer it once it enters the stomach. When I turn it, the end of the tube needs to stay attached and flex with it. I can sort of cheat it by putting a Bend deformer on the end of the tube, but i'd rather they behaved as a single object if possible. thank you