A little drilling and milling for fun...

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Hey all,

 

I've been tinkering with this model for a few days and got some good mechanical pieces done. I've hidden all the modeled machined areas and am in the process of animating the machining steps to make the real thing.

 

So, just for fun, here is the first step. Drilling a 3/8" hole in the end of some acrylic.

 

I have to make the material semi-transparent with some translucency to duplicate clear acrylic yet, but you get the idea. The yellow area at the tip of the bit is the particle emitter for the chips and is animating the emission rate.

 

Also, the chips are just square sprites. This was rendered with six Netrender nodes on my design machine in a period of 7 minutes and 2 seconds. I have multi-pass at 16 (4x4) and motion blur on. I may increase my multi-pass, but I'm very happy with the results of the bit turning a very near 3500 RPM in the shot.

 

Enjoy.

 

Hypower0000.mp4

[Rodney]

Nicely done. Between the motion blur and the particles it really sells the drilling effect.

[robcat2075]

that works well! Fast spinning is hard to do.

[Gerry]

Nice, Jody. do you have some Newton physics going to keep the particles inside the hole like that?

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Gerry,

 

No. This is strictly a sprite particle emitter with object collisions on and the initial velocity low enough to keep them from passing through the model.

 

I'll have some more updates this afternoon.

[KJ'd Beast]

Really nice. Did you actually animate the RPMs increasing on the drill bit because it looks as if it is. The motion blur is terriffic.

 

Would you show how you modeled the drill bit? I would like to see the profile curve.

 

It would be cool if you modeled tool markings, such as the bit size and manufacturer, on the bit. It would help show the spinning if the eye had a point of reference to focus on.

[MMZ_TimeLord]

KJ'd Beast,

 

I did actually animate three actions. Spin up from zero to 3500 RPM, running 3500 RPM and spin down to stop.

 

The RPM was off of 3500 RPM a bit and synced to 1 second intervals which is why the bit appears stationary at full speed. I have corrected my three actions to a true 3500 RPM high speed. This makes the bit appear to spin slowly with a lot of blur.

 

Here is the completed animation. It took over one hour on my old Pentium 4 laptop within A:M (V14.0c) as I don't have the subscription version on this machine.

 

Hy_power_Test002.mp4

I have also changed the bitmap for the chips to be a crescent moon shape drawn on the 20x20 pixel square image.

 

Lastly, I think I will take your advice for the stamped size and specifications for the bit on the shank. All of the surfaces are default at this point as I have not yet applied proper color or bitmaps for texture. That will come when I am happy with the animation. Steel type texture and surface properties will be applied to the bit and White opaque plastic surface properties will be applied to the material being drilled (Polypropylene). I am going with a white plastic instead of my first choice of clear Acrylic due to the nature of 'faking' the drilling of the material. It would show through a transparent or semi-transparent surface and break the effect.

 

The profile for the bit I actually found online through Google images and used it for a rotoscope for building the outline. It started as a single spline circle with eight control points. I then shaped it and then used the Duplicator Wizard to extrude and twist the shaft flutes. The cutting edge was simply closing the top.

 

Here is the part of the image I found through Google that I used, a closeup of the top and a view of the cross section for your viewing pleasure.

 

[robcat2075]

It took over one hour on my old Pentium 4 laptop within A:M (V14.0c) as I don't have the subscription version on this machine.

 

The problem with the particles being emitted in one-frame clumps has been fixed in current versions of A:M, I believe.

[MMZ_TimeLord]

It took over one hour on my old Pentium 4 laptop within A:M (V14.0c) as I don't have the subscription version on this machine.

 

The problem with the particles being emitted in one-frame clumps has been fixed in current versions of A:M, I believe.

 

Thanks for the heads up Robert. I'll be re-rendering tonight as there is more yet to do. I'll look for that on V17 Beta at home.

[KJ'd Beast]

MMZ,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

I'm a huge fan of SCI Channel "How It's Made" and the like.

 

I recently watched a great episode where they showed how "end mills" are machined.

 

Your animation reminded me of that and it truly is a nice animation for explaining how a drill bit works.

 

I agree that the change to a cresent moon shape for the particles is better.

[Gerry]

I guess when I asked about Newton physics what I had in mind was object collisions. Very nice solution overall!

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Another pass today. Getting MUCH closer to what I want. I'll probably add some material textures now and refine the lighting setup, maybe do an HDRI background for fun.

 

Lastly, in Version 17 Beta 4, there were options in the Choreography to Bake both the particle emitters AND the Dynamic systems. I did both, but still ended up with the 'dancing particles' problem when using multiple nodes in NetRender. Is this a known issue?

 

Not even sure where to look anymore... been far to long.

 

Ended up rendering this on a single node over night. Took 11 hours 24 minutes to do. YIKES!

 

Still some tweaking to do with the particle emitter shut down on the bits, but VERY close to what I'm after. Oh, and particle life is at THIRTY SECONDS!

 

Enjoy!

 

Hypower_0001.mp4

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Okay, so I'm pretty happy with the new particle simulation. I will probably turn up the 'lifespan' to keep them all showing during the whole animation next. (Upwards of 16 to 20 seconds is all that is needed.) There are still a few 'stuck' particles, but they will probably be hidden better when the main sheet is turned to opaque white plastic.

 

On to material texture application and maybe some HDRI set up.

 

Enjoy!

 

Hypower_0002.mp4

[Shelton]

Very nice Jody

 

Love to the setup on how you created the hole and routered area

 

Steve

[robcat2075]

that's going well. You could use a force to blow the particles away if you need them gone but not disappearing.

 

I presume you are going to do something more with the lighting?

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Shelton,

 

I was thinking about a compressed air type of force blowing all the particles away later as an added animation 'bonus' but, nah. Not necessary.

 

Robcat,

 

Yeah, I suck at lighting, I'll be fighting with that over the weekend. Need to utilize some Occlusion maybe. Again, I'll mess with it this weekend.

 

Cheers!

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Well, looks like particles will be out if I want any kind of realistic lighting. They do not accept shadows, nor do they make good shadows when that is turned on in the particle system.

 

Here is part of a render with particle shadows off, but some better lighting setup in the scene.

Second one has particle shadows on. Again, same scene lighting. Particles look all wrong with shadows in this case.

 

The main thing that makes these look wrong is they don't accept shadows cast upon them and are not truly three dimensional.

 

It's too bad we can't emit models as particles... THAT would solve this problem.

[MikeV]

Now how come I can never get holes that smooth when I drill them?

 

Seriously.. that's pretty awesome!

[Kamikaze]

Don't know much about the Newton but could it be a consideration? ....

[Darkwing]

Well, looks like particles will be out if I want any kind of realistic lighting. They do not accept shadows, nor do they make good shadows when that is turned on in the particle system.

 

Here is part of a render with particle shadows off, but some better lighting setup in the scene.

Second one has particle shadows on. Again, same scene lighting. Particles look all wrong with shadows in this case.

 

The main thing that makes these look wrong is they don't accept shadows cast upon them and are not truly three dimensional.

 

It's too bad we can't emit models as particles... THAT would solve this problem.

 

 

Thats something Ive wanted for a while myself, especially after learning that other programs could do it. It makes asteroid fields a lot simpler to create for one...

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Well, I've been doing some stuff NOT related to the drilling and milling aspect of this project. This is part of the assembly animation.

 

I've tried HDRI for fun. No extra lights at all. Small render worked well and only took a bit over an hour to do. (1,020 frames!)

 

I may adjust the lighting (add another light to make the shadows better and give it another go at higher resolution overnight.

 

Opinions? (WIP... not finished animation by a long shot!)

 

Hdritest001.mp4

[robcat2075]

Second one has particle shadows on. Again, same scene lighting. Particles look all wrong with shadows in this case.

 

If that's a highly reflective or clear surface you wouldn't see shadows anyway.

[robcat2075]

Well, I've been doing some stuff NOT related to the drilling and milling aspect of this project. This is part of the assembly animation.

 

I've tried HDRI for fun. No extra lights at all. Small render worked well and only took a bit over an hour to do. (1,020 frames!)

 

I may adjust the lighting (add another light to make the shadows better and give it another go at higher resolution overnight.

 

Opinions? (WIP... not finished animation by a long shot!)

 

Hdritest001.mp4

 

Good looking parts. I'd suggest some ease as the first few parts fly in instead of having them hit a wall.

 

Lighting is rather flat for my taste.

[John Bigboote]

COOL! I like the drilling action... looks like the particles are set to additive making them all-white, whereas the material being cut is a sort of grey... maybe try turning the additive to OFF in the sprite's properties?

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Robcat,

 

Yeah, I only realized the sudden stopping AFTER I rendered this new pass. Nearly ten hours at 720p resolution. Not too shabby.

 

I have corrected those keys to be zero-slope. The lighting is WAY better now in my opinion. Critiques?

 

John,

 

Thanks for the catch on the Additive Color. Turned that off. Also switched from a PNG to a TGA. For some reason A:M still does not always recognize the transparency of a PNG properly. *sigh*

 

Here's a render at frame 665. I actually like the shadowing and the colors now. It's set to a gradient of very light gray to white. Works well I think. Added the HDRI set from the other Choreography and Sun light for shadows. Works pretty well even if you can't really see the shadows in this one... bad angle on the camera.

 

Cheers!

 

Hdritest002.mp4 (Caution nearly 5MB!)

 

[robcat2075]

Is that thing being drilled sitting on the surface below it or floating above it?

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Is that thing being drilled sitting on the surface below it or floating above it?

Floating above for now. Just trying out the HDRI lighting setup mainly. I may put it on a platform of some sort. (more modeling... whee!)

[robcat2075]

OK. The perspective was ambiguous and I thought maybe it was on something but casting no shadow.

[Rodney]

Very impressive rendering in that sequence. The HDRI really makes a difference.

I have no idea what the object is that is being put together but it's very cool seeing it piece itself together.

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Thanks all. Mainly I'm looking for critiques regarding the lighting and shadowing on the subject. Not really worried about the background just yet.

 

I will probably use a different HDRI setup with a basic set to mimic objects in it. Not quite sure yet.

 

Hopefully the materials are also coming out well. The 90 degree barbed elbows are supposed to be black Nylon. The thickest plates are supposed to be cutting board material (white plastic). I would have to use SSS to REALLY make it look right. The plates are supposed to be sanded Stainless Steel and the gaskets (more shiny plates with slots or more like a square frame) are supposed to be gray flexible PVC rubber gaskets. I'm thinking the gaskets are still a bit shiny and I want the Stainless Steel to have a blurry reflection. The orange bolts are supposed to be Copper bolts, washers, spacers and nuts.

 

Any ideas how to achieve this with the texture on the stainless? I think it's a Darksim Material and only has a 'reflect' property. Not reflective percentage.

 

Thanks again for all your attention to this little project.

[robcat2075]

I'm thinking the gaskets are still a bit shiny

 

You can dull the highlight by making spec size much larger and intensity weaker

 

 

 

and I want the Stainless Steel to have a blurry reflection....

Any ideas how to achieve this with the texture on the stainless?

 

Instead of using real reflection you could use a reflection map material with a blurred reflection image. This would also probably render faster, too.

 

A similar tactic might do well for the copper surfaces also.

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Okay, so I think I'm done with this fun little project. For now at least.

 

The device fully assembles itself... wheee!

 

Comments and critiques are encouraged...

 

HDRITest003.mp4

[robcat2075]

Good looking shot

 

two ideas...

 

-I think they would look more "there" if they cast a visible shadow on the ground

 

-The copper parts would benefit from a much wider and somewhat weaker specular highlight.

[markw]

Neat, the true meaning of the phrase "self assembly"!

Can I ask;

1, what is it?

2, the black hose connectors? Are they really counter threaded? Looks a little odd them turning counter clockwise as they go in, instead of clockwise.

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Neat, the true meaning of the phrase "self assembly"!

Can I ask;

1, what is it?

2, the black hose connectors? Are they really counter threaded? Looks a little odd them turning counter clockwise as they go in, instead of clockwise.

1. It's a design for a HHO cell I'm working on ... still lots to do with it. Not sure it's complete yet, but I wanted a better visualization for my drawings.

 

2. HAHAHAHA... I totally missed those things turning counter clockwise! LoL! Now I WILL have to go fix that!

 

I think I'll take care of that and adjust the copper, per robcat's suggestion too. Whee!!!!

[Gerry]

This is looking just great Jody!

[thejobe]

i could never figure out how you do that high spinning stuff. looks awesome! love the reflectivity!

[MMZ_TimeLord]

i could never figure out how you do that high spinning stuff. looks awesome! love the reflectivity!

thejobe,

 

You have to rotate the object at least once in the Choreography to create a key. Then right click on the 'rotate' section of properties and choose "Convert to..." and select "Euler" (Pronounced "Oiler").

 

Then you can set the rotation to say... 72,000 for 200 full turns.

 

Cheers!