Simple Carrara Hard Bodied physics for demonstrating cam and gear linkages etc

HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987
edited September 2023 in Carrara Discussion

Greetings, 

Been playing with making things in a real world to try and escape the curse that ai imagery has bestowed upon us....

Had reasonable success with hard bodied physics and cams and not so much with gears as of yet.

Of course it's not real simulation - just a way of exploring concepts.

This first  one is a simple cam to animate a penguin flapping it's wings.

The bottom checkered circle cam is animated by a spin modifier. In real life it would be wound by hand.

It drives the rest of the objects via  hard bodied physics (note - the penguin body is added later) 

One trick with hard bodied physics is to do the basic physics sim and then add the child objects (in this cvase the penguin bits) later to the pieces that youy have simmed - and don't run the physics sim again!

The rack and pinion is driven by the rack moving ----- both objs courtesy of Rack and Pinion Gear Set Example by dreyfusduke - Thingiverse

The car file is attached as txt file - just change the suffix to 'car' and not 'txt'.

Feel free to do something with it 

To get the penguin animation (it's pretty lousy but it serves as an example) I duplicated the attached scene and reimported it back in to the originel - to gibve both sides of the penguin.

sorry can't seem to post a video

https://youtu.be/UT4nDzk3afM

 

 

 

txt
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pen2package.txt
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Untitled-1.jpg
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txt
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rackpinionupload1.txt
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Post edited by Headwax on
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Comments

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 8,611

    Bumpy ride !!!

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,169

    One trick with hard bodied physics is to do the basic physics sim and then add the child objects (in this cvase the penguin bits) later to the pieces that youy have simmed - and don't run the physics sim again!

    Good tip.  Thanks.

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987
    edited September 2023

    thanks el bunyip02 and Ted, just a little interest I have at the moment, I scored a good book on Japanese paper mechanical moving figures

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    What a fun bit of experimentation! Curious, have you ever tried DCG's Cognito? I looked through the tutorial example and that's as far as I've ever got. I don't really do that sort of stuff - yet.

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    Hi Dart , yes it is fun. Haven't tried the DCG's yet, thanks for the reminder.  I'm testing the waters with this, see if it's worth it. But yes, fun it is :) 

    Hope you are well!

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    another simple turning axle thingy

    the blue axel has a spin modfier - the rest of the attached objects is hard body physics

    the txt file is a car file just rename the file suffix

     

     

     

     

    txt
    txt
    UpadnDownPOST1.txt
    440K
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    Headwax said:

    Hi Dart , yes it is fun. Haven't tried the DCG's yet, thanks for the reminder.  I'm testing the waters with this, see if it's worth it. But yes, fun it is :) 

    Hope you are well!

    Well and having a Lot of Fun! Thanks! :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    Alberto makes physics plugins for Daz Studio, but Carrara just totally ROCKS for these kinds of things doesn't it?

    I love how easily we can manipulate the "hotpoint" in Carrara and do So Many things with that alone. Quick to set up and make it work. The biggest challenge, then, is thinking it though.

  • Dartanbeck said:

    Alberto makes physics plugins for Daz Studio, but Carrara just totally ROCKS for these kinds of things doesn't it?

    I love how easily we can manipulate the "hotpoint" in Carrara and do So Many things with that alone. Quick to set up and make it work. The biggest challenge, then, is thinking it though.

    yeah feel bad I haven't bought any of Alberto's D|S plugins

    but everything is easier to do in Carrara including things with his Carrara plugins

    I use morph eraser the most

    I love both Carrara physics engines and play with them a lot 

    not always to render, just to play 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569
    edited September 2023

    I'm going to eventually get all of his tools. His ABAS animated shader system is really nicely put together. Fluidos II will probably be my next, followed by his particles engine, then move on to the physics with his Greebles Creator in there somewhere as well.

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987
    edited September 2023

    hi re the hard bodied physics engine, been playing with it for a week and abit, I'm suprised how good it is actually - previioulsy I had guessed it was not worth the time.

    oddly enough I was actually reading the manual the other day - ther's a lot of untapped stuff (for me) in carrara

    Good Point abouth the hotpoint Dart. I used it last night mucking around with pseudo flippers like a pinball machine.

    Q: has any body noticed if I sim is more likely to fail the longer it goes for ? eg gears that work for ten frames start misbehaving at twenty - or perhaps it's a death wobble thing (if you ever ridden a skateboard on a steep hill you'll know the term) 

     

    Wendy: I'm interested in any findings on carrara physics you feel like sharing 

     

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,212
    edited September 2023

    Headwax said:

    hi re the hard bodied physics engine, been playing with it for a week and abit, I'm suprised how good it is actually - previioulsy I had guessed it was not worth the time.

    oddly enough I was actually reading the manual the other day - ther's a lot of untapped stuff (for me) in carrara

    Good Point abouth the hotpoint Dart. I used it last night mucking around with pseudo flippers like a pinball machine.

    Q: has any body noticed if I sim is more likely to fail the longer it goes for ? eg gears that work for ten frames start misbehaving at twenty - or perhaps it's a death wobble thing (if you ever ridden a skateboard on a steep hill you'll know the term) 

     

    Wendy: I'm interested in any findings on carrara physics you feel like sharing 

     

    how quickly you forget blush 

     

     

    many others, mostly bullet though

    Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    oh sorry Wendy, I know your amazing animations, I just meant sharing titbits of knowledge for beginners like me

  • Headwax said:

    oh sorry Wendy, I know your amazing animations, I just meant sharing titbits of knowledge for beginners like me

    I don't really have any

    just trial and error 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    Perhaps this will have some cool ideas for you:
    Carrara Physics and Particles page at Dartanbeck.com

    Regarding the Manual, I love that thing and I'm glad I took the 'forever' to print out the entire 853 pages of it and keep it by my desk. Though, embarrasingly I haven't picked it up for quite some time now. It has a lot of great information in there.

    Regarding Carrara's endless possibilities, yeah. I hear ya. I don't think I'll ever have conquered all it has to offer before I eventually return to the cosmos. There's always something untapped to discover.

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    WendyLuvsCatz said:

    Headwax said:

    oh sorry Wendy, I know your amazing animations, I just meant sharing titbits of knowledge for beginners like me

    I don't really have any

    just trial and error 

    thanks Wendy, that itself is a major titbit 

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    Dartanbeck said:

    Perhaps this will have some cool ideas for you:
    Carrara Physics and Particles page at Dartanbeck.com

    Regarding the Manual, I love that thing and I'm glad I took the 'forever' to print out the entire 853 pages of it and keep it by my desk. Though, embarrasingly I haven't picked it up for quite some time now. It has a lot of great information in there.

    Regarding Carrara's endless possibilities, yeah. I hear ya. I don't think I'll ever have conquered all it has to offer before I eventually return to the cosmos. There's always something untapped to discover.

    that's a beaut page thanks, you really have done a gem of a job correlating Carrara resources, thank you

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    'Tis work of pleasure. 

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    Dartanbeck said:

    'Tis work of pleasure. 

    I think it has a great chance at attracting more Carrara users 

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    I was hoping for that, as well as to give them a little spot to find some help and/or inspiration.

    It's got links and stuff for things like plugins, Cripeman's video index, GKDantas' video index, Carrara Cafe, C3DE, 3DXtract magazine, and a whole lot of Carrara info. Even a nice little History of Carrara with the text of Eovia's Carrara Studio 1.1 Promo ad that I scrounged up. 

    I'll keep working on it regardless.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,169

    Headwax said:

    WendyLuvsCatz said:

    Headwax said:

    oh sorry Wendy, I know your amazing animations, I just meant sharing titbits of knowledge for beginners like me

    I don't really have any

    just trial and error 

    thanks Wendy, that itself is a major titbit 

    Trial and error is under rated.

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    yes @Diomede, the qwuicekr we make mistakes the bestest we getter ;)

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987
    edited September 2023

    An experiment in a wheel driving flippers to get a springback effect.

     

    -only the wheel is not driven by physics,

    -the flippers have a ball joint and a restricted movement in the y plane.

    -the interesting PITA thing is that the planes (eg y plane) arent related to  the object orientation  in the assembly room, but related to the model room - so if you re orientate  in the assemly room your planes wont make sense

    -the flipper hotpoints are on the skinny ends - not sure if that makes a difference

    I rendered the animation as a gif file then converted it to avi  via this GIF to AVI | CloudConvert - saved a bit of time

    https://youtu.be/OTrdx2fZrIs

    once again the car file is txt - or the txt file is a car file - just rename the suffix if you are interested in exploring the parameters

    the balls are just for fun, but that goes without saying

     

     

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987
    edited September 2023

    sorry doubleganger post

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    That is Really Freaking Cool!!!

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    Dartanbeck said:

    That is Really Freaking Cool!!!

    ha ha thanks :)

     

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987
    edited September 2023

    I'll just leave this discussion here for reference Metal falls through metal ? - Daz 3D Forums

    I admit to missing Joe and andy

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    this is also a good video explaining bullet

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    Wow. No wonder so many people trying to do very similar things can have such radically different results!

    I haven't played in Bullet for a  l o n g  time. How do you think this all translates to Carrara, pretty well? Does this info help?

    Certainly is a great study and he certainly explains it well. Almost had me feeling like opening Blender before I caught myself! ;)

     

    If I recall correctly from when I was experimenting, Carrara really has some nice Physics capabilities. I mean... cloth isn't nearly as slick as other apps, but the physics engines work well, don't they? Have you ever tried physics on a human (or otherwise bipedal) figure? I was always tempted to try "Convert Keyframes to Physics", but chickened out every time!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,569

    I love this little intro to physics in Carrara. It's just a basic walkthrough and he shows converting from physics to keyframe and it came out perfectly. Pretty cool stuff. I like that because then it can be "Artistically Altered" via graph editor, tweeners, what have you.

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