make=ing a driv belt
 

Hi

Can anyone tell me how to make a drive belt, I have 3 pullys and I want to not just make some which looks like a belt running over them but I also want to rotate it. I have drawen a curve with the cv tool and I can get a cube to run around it by attach to motion paths but if I make somethinng which goes all the way around like a belt and attach to motion path the whole belt spins on the center point rather then runing around!

Any ideas

Just an idea from something I've seen, with a new thought. There's a similr problem when trying to do tank treads, or chain drive systems.

Though, they differ in that it's lots of little pieces, rather than a single belt.

What I'd try, would be to create the belt and then an IK chain - you know, heaps of bones. This would give you the flexibility to move around corners, but still no movement. From there, I'd see if I could attach the joints to the curve you've drawn and see if you can get them to run around it. If so then the belt should follow and even flex in al the right spots.

Then you'd just have to chuck some writing on the belt, to rotate as it did and voila! One moving belt.

S.

Thank you

IK chain is something I need to look into but there is a good reseaon to do just that.

I am going to try and post a copy of a simple project I am trying thing out on.

It was made in V7

you can geta good mel script for that from high end, 'davys gears and pullys'.

Thank you. What is "high end"? all so are Mel scripts easy to use as I an still find my way in Maya and have not tuched any scipts yet.

Thanks
Thikeman

Good call Mirek, I'd forgotten all about that one.

Highend3d.com is another similar site to this, albeit with a different 'flavour' as it were. The name should give you an idea what it's all about.

Here's a link to the download page for MEL scripts: Highend MEL downloads.

Mel scripting's dead easy when you get the hang of it, it's very similar to programming in C, and if you're fortunate to have done this previously you're 3/4 of the way there. If not, it's not a big deal to get started, there's lots of examples in the help system and you can get a good feel for it there.

95%+ of what you can do with a menu option or dialog check-box can be done with mel. If you're doing repetitive stuff it's a god-send.

A site worth checking out belongs to Kari Brown. This guy is a wiz with it, he's got well documented code and explains the ideas behind what he's trying to do. You can find his MEL tutroial page here: Kari Brown's MEL tutorial

S.

Hi

This is fantastic thank you all.

Hi

I can't get Kari browns site to load, can someone who knows the site just try the link above and let know how you get on

Thanks
Trikeman

i just hit simons link (enzelphlep)that he gave you and it loaded no problem

trikeman,
Here you go mate, here's the page I was speaking of, and the download you need to get from the page to make it all work.


Simon.

Thank you.

Trikeman

sorry to but in, Simon, that 'pdf' , you sent me, just checked it again.., wow.., thanks!

Butt in? Not at all, (or if that was butting in, I'm a terrible offender ;))

Cool, glad the pdf helped you. Was that one of the ones I sent you on a disk? I've sent that many things to that many places, to be honest I don't have a clue which one you're referring to. :blush:

You've got me really curious now Mirek. C'mon, put me out of my misery, which one was it eh?

I may even have something better/supplimentary to it by now...

Do modem's suffer from heatstroke? :p

Simon.

modems do suffer heart attacks, mine does regularly and I am becoming an expert at 'electric shock to the heart therapy' at saving my modem that 'services' three computers. (turn power switch off.., turn power switch on)

yes, the disc with a million pdfs. (ect)

the script for the explosion is for 6-7, i use 8.5, will it still work??

what else yu got.., don't have a lot new myself but am recovering from the total paranoia I was suffering at that time (pressure from many places, strange things, not much sleep and too much work.) which retarded any communication I had with any human via computer, maybe via anywhere?? Probably made a lot of enemies around that time.

might have a couple of things that might interest you?? e-mail me if you want, you have the address, lost all mine when the motherboard went down .., or.., when I went down via intense paranioa. (easy and not a stupid thing to be on a computer.., paranoid that is, I think we talked about that.)

LOL Mirek,
you crack me up.. :D

Ah! :light-bulb:, I think I know which pdf you mean..

Don't really know about the explosion script, to be honest. Not too sure what makes it okay for one version of maya and not okay for the next. Possibly nothing - it may only be a backwards compatible thing, i.e the one for 6 will run on 7, and if that's the case - the one for 7 would be okay for 8.5.
BUT, you can also put checks into the things (scripts,plugins,etc) so that they will only work on a specific version. Don't know enough about the internals of that specific one to be able to say.
Something I do recall from _somewhere_ though I may be entirely innacurate here (I've never paid much attention, on account of it not affecting me) is that you need different plugins for maya(pc) and maya(mac). It may only be a matter of changing file extensions, but that I can only see that working if you're using a pc version on the mac, and running it under bootcamp or the equiv. A version of maya that was meant to run natively on the mac would need native mac plugins for sure, although .MEL scripts should be fine. It's the .MLL files that wouldn't fire up, on account of them being (windows) .DLL files with the extension changed to .MLL. So they're not interpreted anymore (hence the speed boost possible when using plugins as compared to MEL scripts), and would have to be re-compiled specifically for the MAC's operating system.

Ha, ha - know what you're saying. Do you want my plans for a tin-foil hat? Fully MKUltra proof. :D(cold-war joke - google search for "mkultra" if you're up for some "light" reading...:smirk: )

I've got all kinds of new stuff since I sent that disk, I'll look around and drop you an email when I know where I'm at with it all - my record-keeping skills are severely defficient at the moment..

Simon.