Industrial Cable Carrier

[ddustin]

Here's an example of an industrial cable carrier.

 

It'll hold electrical cables. (got the compression low enough to post)

 

I'm trying to do it using a constrain to surface, but can't get it to work.

 

Ended up doing it in a chor.

 

David

Wire_trough.m1v

[Gene]

Hey Dave,

 

Very nice! This has a nice realistic feel.

 

I am not sure if you were intending the movement on the bottom pieces, but I think it makes it looks more believeable....kind of like when hydraulic hoses are pressurized through the track.

 

I will need to do the same thing for the chain on my forklift. So, did you simply tweak each piece/animate in a chor?

 

Nice job.

 

Eugene

[steve392]

oh thats nice ,must have taken a bit of modeling never mind the bone settup ,looks very good to me

[ddustin]

Guys,

Thanks for the kind words.

 

Attached is how I did it in a chor.

 

Yes it took longer to model the part, mainly because I started over so many times, and all the beveling (uhg...).

 

You're right Gene, that it looks like hydraulic hoses or other motion might be bouncing it around. That was a pleasant by product of how it was done.

 

What I wanted to do was move the parent bone and have the child bones follow a path/spline/surface. There has to be an easier way (man I say that a lot).

 

It works OK doing it this way, but I was hoping to nail the very end child bone down, so it wouldn't move all over. When I did it this way, I had to move the child bones, back into position.

 

Ultimately I want a couple of these models, at different lengths to use in my library for equipment.

 

You can try this with a few blocks, connected to see how it works.

[Gene]

Dave,

 

Yes, this is how I do it as well. I think it beats trying to rig something up with constraints and stuff...it get's really complicated otherwise.

 

Just curious, but for what kind of machine is this for?

 

Cheers,

 

Eugene

[ddustin]

Gene,

 

I also tried using a bone that I could rotate, then applied constraints to orient like the bone I was rotating, with a progressively large lag on the subsequent bones. Didn't work very well.

 

I just know there HAS to be an easier way to do this.

 

It's generic at this point.

Most larger equipment will use this type of cable carrier to convey the electrical, pneumatic and communications.

 

It's a cool addition to any piece of machinery.

 

I still want to add cables. EDIT: added vid with cables.

 

Did you work on the Far Star project?

 

Thanks,

David

Wire_trough_w_cables.m1v