Pain in the Chain

[svetlik]

Ah distinctly I remember, a tool that once had been there....

I know it's gone now but at one time AM constraint to path could make an object twist and turn along a path without making all the bones constrained. I know cause I did it and thought "that's really cool".

I made a bicycle chain and sprocket assembly that turns but it was ridiculously painful to accomplish. Each chain link's bone was constrained on the path and offset from it's mating link and they each had to be animated along the path. The sprockets were just rotated to match the movement of the chain so none of it was actually driven by the rotation of the sprockets.

Is there any other (easier) way to accomplish this????

[robcat2075]

This is a bit like the tank tread problem.

For keeping the link properly oriented as it traverses the path I'd put a Null in the middle of the path and use AimRollAt on the the link to target the Null.

To not have to recreate  the Path and AimRollAt constraints for each link, I'd export the Chor with the link and Path stuff done and everything else deleted.

I could import that chor as many times as needed and then progressively offset the ease channels to space them on the path.

Something like that.

 

[svetlik]

Yes the AimRollAt was used with this. Sounds like importing the chor for every link won't save me any labor/time. Need to make several different sized sprocket/chain mechanisms for this project and was looking for a easier way.

Thanks for responding Robcat.