Forums Houdini Indie and Apprentice Tank Treads

Tank Treads

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jrgauthier
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Hi there!
I just did a basic setup to model a Tank tread…
I was actually wondering what would be the best way to animate it, make it roll? Anybody can help me?

Here's what I have done yet…

Attachments:
treads.rar (6.4 KB)

JR Gauthier
Character Animation & Design
www.turboatomic.com
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stu
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Personally, I'd animate a Creep SOP.

Attachments:
tank_tread.hipnc (55.9 KB)

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jrgauthier
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Sounds interesting Stu,
however if I add a creep Sop right now, I have no clue how to make it work, can you give me more details please?
JR Gauthier
Character Animation & Design
www.turboatomic.com
http://www.vimeo.com/user2847970 [vimeo.com]
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stu
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Download the file that I attached to my last post.
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jrgauthier
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Thanks man, I didn't see the attached file because I wasn't logged in when I read your post. ops:

I can't believe how this kind of stuff is simple to do in Houdini! (Once you know how…

It's clear now..I guess!

Thanks again!
JR Gauthier
Character Animation & Design
www.turboatomic.com
http://www.vimeo.com/user2847970 [vimeo.com]
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jrgauthier
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Here's another quick question,
would you know what would be the best way now to make those tread go forward relatively to the tread speed?
JR Gauthier
Character Animation & Design
www.turboatomic.com
http://www.vimeo.com/user2847970 [vimeo.com]
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probbins
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Here's another way that allows the bottom of the track rail to conform to the terrain.
Now someone else can sort out how to have the whole assembly follow the terrain.

Attachments:
tread_on_terrain_PR.hipnc (119.0 KB)

“gravity is not a force, it is a boundary layer”
“everything is coincident”
“Love; the state of suspended anticipation.”
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jrgauthier
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probbins:
Wow that's really nice man! Thanks

I noticed there are some treads tiles jiggling lightly when they are on contact with the ground, how could we avoid that?
JR Gauthier
Character Animation & Design
www.turboatomic.com
http://www.vimeo.com/user2847970 [vimeo.com]
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probbins
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hmmm, I haven't noticed that but it's probably due to the way the tread polygon is aligned to the rail.
It's aligned at one end and so the tread maybe flopping at the other end, since the pivot is at the rail.
To fix that would require a bit of trickery on the tread.
You'd convert the tread poly to a nurbs surface, so you can align it in both u and v, then convert it back to polygons after the align and before the extrude.
That way you can align the center of the tread to the rail.
“gravity is not a force, it is a boundary layer”
“everything is coincident”
“Love; the state of suspended anticipation.”
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jrgauthier
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Here's another quick question,
would you know what would be the best way now to make those tread go forward relatively to the tread speed?
JR Gauthier
Character Animation & Design
www.turboatomic.com
http://www.vimeo.com/user2847970 [vimeo.com]
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simonl
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Hi
I really liked your short film. Was it all the animation done in Houdini?



Regards

Simon
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