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[johnar]

Hi   

 
 Its hard to see the exact mechanics of this beautifull machine, but got me thinking of pistons and rods.

 I made a short test of a 'very simple' setup, which seems to work ok in its basics.

 Possibly the idea of using morph targets for any 'in/out' movement, might free up the rig a bit..?

 I realise your rig is far more complex, but, just thought... maybe...

I feel for you man, and wish i could help more...

[ENSONIQ5]

Nicely done johnar, very smooth.  I may well use morph targets as a way of adjusting for the not-strictly-sine-wave motion of the pistons and valves.  I have made pretty good progress using the scripting method, I'll post early results soon

Also, the concept of quaternions was clearly invented by a sadist.  I've been trying to wrap my head around these mathematical nightmares used in element rotations and now my brain hurts a lot.  I've managed to distil a workable solution for calculating sinusoidal linear motion from a rotating object... more through trial and error than an actual understanding of the mathematics but it'll do!

[ENSONIQ5]

Near-side gear running reasonably well, short test animation below:

There's a bit of wobbliness where the valve rods link to the gear slider mechanism, should be able to fine tune that out.  All motion is driven from the rotation of the crankshaft with the exception of the valve itself which is currently keyframed, it will be possible to script this from the crankshaft orientation once I've tuned the motion of the gear slider properly which currently isn't strictly sinusoidal (ie. rocking back and forth smoothly, evenly and rhythmically, like a metronome).  I will transfer all scripts and motion control targets to the far side gear, phase-shifted 90 degrees, once the near side is sorted.  Then I can get back to completing the modelling.

[Blick Fang]

Congratz ENSONIQ5, you just blew my mind yet again!!!  Nice work!  I guess you'll soon be doing a Union Pacific Big Boy next? 

P.S.  Do you play keyboards?

[ENSONIQ5]

Cheers Blick Fang.  I kinda plan to plonk this engine in the bowels of a paddle steamer at some stage in the future, I love those old boats and would enjoy attempting to construct one in Anim8or.  I have little doubt that this will end up another unfinished project among many that litter my hard drive but I am enjoying the process so far and will see how far it goes.

Yes, I do play keyboards... hence the Ensoniq tag (the 5 is totally random, some forum a long time ago needed a number in the username so I just mashed at the num pad and hit 5!).  I have a somewhat vintage Ensoniq SQ-80 that I bought back in the early 90's (still used and loved daily), plus recently acquired Korg digital piano and King Korg synth.  Also have an oldish Technics keyboard that's used mostly as a drum kit and extra MIDI controller.  My first synth was a Roland Juno 6 bought for $600 when only a couple of years old, unfortunately I sold it in the 90's "when analogue was dead" for very little $.  These days they sell for well over $1000 on eBay!  *slaps forehead*

[johnar]

  Yes!!!   

 Nice one ENSONIQ5 Gr8 to see the movements happening. I'm totally Amazed how you can do that through 'scripting'.  (what type of magic is this. lol.  Not a real question. But mind blowing it certainly is)
 Awesome.

 re keyboards: Am a bit of a fan myself. Loved to hav an old piano handy when living in a house, but living in a bus doesn't suit 'old iron-framed piano'  At the mo i hav a full size casio keyboard, and a neat little MIDI controller, but these both put away for now, till i get a sound card in my PC.  (actually, a new PC is the plan).
 I hav 'fruity loops' as main music software. Works great with MIDI.

 anyway, must dash, cool stuff, bye for now...

[cooldude234]

It seems we've got a few music making goers on this forum. I my self have a Yamaha Kx 49 keyed midi controller. I also use fruity loops and various software like wavasaure (for creating my own sampled instruments).

Great work on the engine ENSONIQ5, I just think it needs more of a fluent velocity feel. It starts up and stops very suddenly which is unnatural.

[ENSONIQ5]

This is very much a test animation only, to get everything moving together properly.  Once done I plan to animate a more carefully timed run/stop/switch to reverse process.  Having said that, with no flywheel (a smallish gear at each end of the crankshaft drives a large gear on the transverse shaft to which the paddle wheels are attached) these engines actually do stop and start pretty sharply once the gear is centred, I guess the compression in the cylinders is a pretty effective brake.  I might actually fit a small flywheel on this engine though...just because they look cool!

[johnar]

I guess the compression in the cylinders is a pretty effective brake.

 It certainly is. My 7 litre diesel engine needs no glow plugs to start. And it stops  amazingly suddenly.
Compression = EXPLOSION.   When forced compression stops, so does everything else, but when you get an explosion inside going, step back.
 The compression in your beast, ENSONIQ5  would be,  ,  more-so comparible.
cooldude234 They start quick, they stop quick., If they're running, get the heck out of the way .   lol

 (Reminds me of the broken arms /wrists we got by hand-cranking 'BIG EFFING BEASTS')

 Awesome

[ENSONIQ5]

7 litre diesel!  O.O

I used to love doing compression lockups in my first car ('69 Hillman Hunter).  Get some speed up, drop gears from 4th to 2nd, and dump the clutch.  The engine's compression would act like a brake and the rear end would loosen up very nicely!  Went through a few clutches of course but buttloads of fun!

There are some pretty good home videos of steam engines much like this one running in the bowels of a paddle boat and going through reverse cycles etc., so I should be able to get the speed and timing pretty accurate.

[johnar]

('69 Hillman Hunter).  Get some speed up, drop gears from 4th to 2nd, and dump the clutch.  The engine's compression would act like a brake and the rear end would loosen up very nicely! 

Lol. Classic
 Interesting thing about using gears to decelerate, it actually cools the engine really quicjkly. If you ever get to the top of a large hill, (or mountain  ), and vehicle is overheating, dont stop at top of hill to allow engine to cool. (they actually get hotter doing that). Best thing to do is go down the other side, using engine/gears as brakes. Used to do a small mountain here, (takaka hill), would be overheating at top, then go down in second gear and engine was back to 'below running temp' in only 5 or so minutes. Could 'literally' watch the temp gauge drop'.  (funny that)
 The '7 litre' is in my bus. Its a Ford Commander, 11.5 metre 'home'
 Slightly off topic here, hope you don't mind, but was revisiting Terranim8or yesterday.
 (Leslie done awesome stuff there. Needs more recognition. Should be linked at Anim8or Home page.)

 Was thinking, when it comes to 'Fire' for your 'steam engine', maybe worth a revisit.
 http://biederman.net/leslie/terranim8or/terranim8or.htm

 (but then, you probly got some other 'magic' way of making fire...
 

[kreator]

(but then, you probly got some other 'magic' way of making fire...

Yep, Carrara I would expect for Steam, smoke and (heaven Forbid Fire!!) If I Know Tony

[ENSONIQ5]

Carrara is very tempting... but if possible I'm really trying to keep this all within Anim8or so I don't have to re-jig the motion (also just because it's been ages since I've done an Anim8or-only project.... though I am remembering why that is!).  I've done smoke before in Anim8or, it was a bit rough but the concept might be transferable.  In fact, since these engines burn redgum blocks (Redgums are massive Eucalypts that grow along the banks of the Murray River) rather than coal they don't actually smoke much when nice and hot.  I haven't really thought about the fire yet, mostly it'll just be an orange/yellow glow with a few flicking tongues of flame licking out when the door is opened which shouldn't be too hard to simulate.  Some experimentation is in order for this I think... which is the enjoyable bit about projects like this!

[kreator]

Tony:

Don`t know if you have this controller script , but may be useful to dissect. Originally posted by Kubajzz on CG-Nation which has now evaporated.

 

Code: [Select]

/*--Pendulum script - created by Kubajzz--*/
float $Period, $AxisAngle, $Amplitude, $Brake, $Decrease, $time, $finalamplitude, $stopmoment;


/*--Replacable parameters below--*/
$Period = 1; /* Enter value in seconds */
$Amplitude = 0.2; /* Set the range of the movement */
$AxisAngle = 0; /* Set the horizontal angle of the axis */
$Decrease = 0.3; /* If you want the pendulum to lose it's energy, set enter any value higher than 0 (values 0 - 0.5 recommended); set 0 for constant motion */
$Brake = 0.05; /* Maybe you want the pendulum to stop swinging when ti loses it's energy; set value 0 - 1 (values lower than 0.1 recommended) */


$finalamplitude = $Amplitude*(1-tanh(time*$Decrease));
$stopmoment = ($finalamplitude/$Amplitude)*1/$Brake;
if ($stopmoment<1) $time = 0;
else $time = 0.7854*$finalamplitude*cos(time*3.1416/$Period);
$orientation = (sin($AxisAngle*0.0174533)*sin($time), 0, cos($AxisAngle*0.0174533)*sin($time), cos($time));


[ENSONIQ5]

Thanks Kev, it all makes sense in terms of operation.  Just having trouble understanding quaternions...slips straight through my head without leaving any impression at all!  That's not quite true, I understand the basic concept, but wrangling quaternion/roll+pitch+yaw conversions requires a higher level of mathematics than my hardened old synapses can handle.  I'm pretty much abandoning scripts for some things and instead making use of invisible rotating objects and the point-at function, which is far easier to manage and adjust.  I'll still be using scripts for some things (rotations, reciprocal sliders).