Something Bugg(y)s Me

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Some project that I started recently. All modeled in Houdini.
Edited by - April 29, 2010 15:34:44

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Very nice so far.

But I got to say that as a hobby fabricator, to actually fabricate this frame as designed would take me a long long time and require a lot of welding passes and at least two welding methods (GATW and GMAW) and a lot of grinding and filler. In other words I'd be swearing at you under my breath with every fitting I had to weld in there. Only time I wouldn't get upset is with a chopper frame where you only have a dozen simple welds that need to be smoothed out.

What you want is a nice “stack of dimes” GTAW (aka TIG) weld fitting up the pipes.

Here's a hip file I whipped up this morning to do just that for many of the welds.

Remember when doing tube welding for real (none of this virtual crap), butting pipes is an art. Treat it the same in your cg model and the auto-welds will flow nicely. Your main tubes are the largest diameter (a bitch to bend and work with) then the smaller tubes form the braces. When you do have two tubes the same diameter meeting up I will usually scrinch down the ends of the butting pipes so that it is a slightly smaller diameter making for a stronger joint. Do the same in your cg modeling or better yet take a welding course and learn how to do this for real. Nothing like a “real” trade under your belt and get dirt under your nails and a few burns to know you're alive.

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tube_frame_welds.hip (1.1 MB)

There's at least one school like the old school!
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, I wasn't planing such a detailing modeling. Just doing fast model to learn rigging but anyway thanks for tip.
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Update

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Very cool! More please!
Houdini Models [learning3dfromscratch.blogspot.com]
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Yeah, cool!
IMHO
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Added couple help holders in the back of the cage for engine and also started to work on the suspension.

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I will revisit tires later to make them a little more belivable.

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Nice Swaan, looking forward to seeing it done

Also, very cool jeff on the welding. I was scoping out all the welding on my bicycle just last night.
Stephen Tucker
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Added transmission, exchaust, couple engine parts, reworked a little overall look.

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And here with all the pieces that I got so far turned on.
Cage is now a lot more detailed. All the small pieces of the cage are visible in the middle.

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Now we're talking.
Great job on all the little bevels everywhere. Looks much better.
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Still not everything is turned on here because many things are to small and I have to come really close to show them. As example, 8 picture from top shows wedge inside drive shaft. You can see it also on 6 picture but it's to small to see what is this.

Well, I'm replacing old, toy like, steering system with real world steering with hydrualics (4 picture). There are missing steering pump, reservoir, steering column, steering wheel and hoses. In the place of old stering there will be placed hoist. I don't wan't to play to much with engine so propably I go with toy like combustion engine.

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Well I think it is time Houdini could make inroads to areas where Solidworks and Pro Engineer reign…

Nice work Swann, are you copying all parts from a technical drawing or making them up yourself? Or do you happen to have a 1:1 model to cross around your backyard?
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It's a mix of everything. First I wanted to make Lego model. Then I decided to make small scale toy model and then I decided to go with real world car but I didn't found enought good references to build one. So I decided to make mix. In minetime I found couple service car and quad books that are detailed enougth to help build model so detailed like in linke below ( you could build even super detailed brake beam inside, something that you will not see even when you tear off wheels). But i found them to late to come back and rebuild everything. So now I'm adding things that I think are interesting but not specially realistical.

I wanted to do something more like this http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/undercarriage-car-gearbox-3d-model/513220 [turbosquid.com], but:

- Houdini lacks support for edge weights so I have to play with bevels instead. Sometimes I work all day on piece that I could model in one third of that time in Modo beause of that.
- In the time I started this model I didn't had such good references
- I don't wan't to spend year on modeling since this is one of two projects that I wan't to rig this year and second is I think more complicated (althrougth i have much better references for it, and on one of construction forums someone is building real small scale replica and documents it prety well with pictures, so it should be easier)

The best thing from this project is that I learned how car's are build so next time when I decide to make detailed model I know what to look for.
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Swann_
- Houdini lacks support for edge weights so I have to play with bevels instead.

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini10.0/nodes/sop/crease [sidefx.com] :?:
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Yeah creases are good, I used them on wheel rimms. But when you work on complicated model subividing it or rendering to see preview is not a solution. We need real SDS support in Houdini to see what we ar doing fast and use those tools easily.
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Update time.

1. Honk
2. Hydraulic pump (part of the engine)
3. Some other part for engine
4. Front axis is ready. Merged with holding tubes that goes to the cage.
5. Look closely to the end of screws, small wedges added
6. Hose connectors for hydraulics added
7. Cooler and reservoir. They are optional in hydraulics sytems but cooler looks so COOL.
8. Stering wheel (opside done here)
9. What the hell is this ?
10. Sterring column with cooler, reservoir, front axle.

Right know I'm stuck with engine and the next couple day I spend building it.

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Impressive work!
Really cool to see the attention to detail.

Definitely love to see more - I also hope you can put the same amount of effort in the rig/dynamics for this.

Great stuff! Is it just me or wouldn't you love to blow up & dent a model with that kind of pieces ?
Cg Supervisor | Effects Supervisor | Expert Technical Artist at Infinity Ward
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I hope to make something like this, with wheel denting etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD7Aief5pKA [youtube.com]


Great stuff! Is it just me or wouldn't you love to blow up & dent a model with that kind of pieces ?
I don't know do I will have a time. I have to make another rig (more human like, but sitll mechanical) this year. Need to prepare some portfolio for finding job. That's why i make it detailed, if I don't find work as junior TD or something similar maybe I find it as modeler.

Later this year I wanted to redo some of my tools with new knowledge that I gained till the time I made them, and make my own fur tools. Still heavn't found time to go thru your tesis

But that's enough about me , How's your SECRET project going ?
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