Universal Joint

Modeled in Sketchup, rigged with Poser Pro.

Nice work Mike http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif


Lots of fun and games they can be to put together as well eh...http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Lots of fun and games they can be to put together as well eh... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Stu, yes setting the joint attributes to work without distorting the mesh was a bit tricky, was a fun little model.

Doh!,sorry meant to say universal joints "are" fun and games to put together,have done it a few times.They have those nasty little needle rollers eh http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> They have those nasty little needle rollers eh <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh....Ok http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif, I just put a blob of grease inside the end caps to stick those needle bearings in place. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Hey Mike, sorry I missed this before. Great modeling of the U-Joint. How did you manage to not distort the mesh? Curious minds want to know http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Yeah, that blob of grease works great on those needle bearings. My ex-wife always hated when I'd wipe the excess grease on my jeans http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif But she hated it more when I used the guest towels http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Great U-Joint Mike ... GEE, I don't think I've ever said THAT before http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Good job!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> How did you manage to not distort the mesh? Curious minds want to know <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi Bill, The joint is rigged with 2 bones. I adjusted the inclusion and exclusion zones to avoid stretching the mesh, I disabled twist (Z) on bone 2, Limits are set on the X and Y axis of the joint not to exceed +25 deg. through -25 deg. of movement.

cool stuff Mike http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Thanks Mike. Now, once I can understand what you said http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif maybe I can do something like that http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I'm still trying to figure out that old song about leg bone connected to some other bone http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Now to be serious, I'm curious as to why you selected +25 to -25 degree of movement.

I'm curious why you chose to use Poser to rig this one. Surely there are other easier ways to do this.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>

Yeah, that blob of grease works great on those needle bearings. My ex-wife always hated when I'd wipe the excess grease on my jeans http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif But she hated it more when I used the guest towels http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Hahahaa,I have so many old pairs of Levis with grease stains and patches etc from playing with my Sportster and the cars we used to race around in as kids its not funny also http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Nice bones Mike http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif..


Another way to do is make your t joint one piece and model the other parts around it,that way you dont need to use bones,and you can use nulls for animation and there is no distortion.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Surely there are other easier ways to do this. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I could have the 3 objects set up with a common origin in the center of the cross, then I could simply rotate each piece into place.


Maybe we could have a simple challenge.

Refer to the u-joint illustrated in the upper left corner of the image. The right end of the u-joint is angled down and to the left, aligned on the cone. Create a simple u-joint model angled as illustrated, animate the model by making it rotate 360 degrees without loosing the alignment of either end. Thats how a u-joint is supposed to work.

Anyone interested?

Yea, I am totaly interested... here's my u-joint thus far...

I will have to look up some stuff as I can't remember the last time I banged out on a u-joint, and I am having some trouble with "seeing" from memory here...

will work on the animation part soon as we finish the modeling of this here challenge...

Cool idea Mike http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

I haven't played with doing animations, yet. Here's my version of a u-joint.

hey, very cool Bill, I really like the texturing http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif Look forward to the animation http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Thanks Gidget. You sure put in a lot of detail in your image. I love the c-rings!!

yea, but I put em in the wrong part... and then I notice I didn't have the rubbers on the inside ends of the u-joint either.... DOH

Damn, my ole brain is sure not a sharp as it once was... ugggggg... hehe http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/confused.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

so here is a fixed up version... Still not sure about the shape of the yokes either... hmmm...

stay tuned http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Looking good Gidgit. I see you remembered to make the shafts with angles. Mine would simply stay in place and slip, nothing to get a grip on http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

I've been playing around with animation, and it's a lot harder than I thought.

http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif Bill... keep at er Bill, you will be kicking butt in no time... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Well, the splines have been fabricated, and one of the yokes has been rotated down, as well to the side... just using axis constraining along with object rotate... of course ya have to set hotspot for rotation center...

Stay tuned http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

very nice work there Gidge http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif


Bill you are doing really well,there was no way I could model a joint like that when I was new to C4D.... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif


A quick .mov example of my joint and its rotations.Quick and nasty for small file size.

Ooh forgot,nice circlips [thumbsup]....I aint doing any though http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

hey, thanks Stu...

and whoa... very smooth ani there buddy boy... covered all the criteria of movement very nicely... so [thumbs up] back at ya... good job Stu... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

here's mine... not sure if this will be read by you mac user's or not... if so then great, if not then tell me what I need to do in order for you to be able to read/view this here file...

Wow, all these U-joints are great. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Gidgit, nice modeling job.
I made a quick animation to illustrate the rotation. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

Quite a challenge. Sorry I spoke too soon. True, it was harder than I thought. But I learned a lot from this, too. Thanks for the push Mike. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Wow, some great animations. I've never used the C4D animation features, and finding there is a lot more to it than working with animated gifs. Back to more reading and playing, maybe I'll have a working C4D animation sometime in the forseable furture http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Nice going G-man, http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I'm curious why you chose to use Poser to rig this one. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Rigging a model with bones is initially more work but animating a rigged model is rather easy. Poser has nice dials that move the model, I can set the sensitivity to fractions of a degree. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Take your time Bill, once you get the hang of it you can use 3D animation to make the images for Xara animated .gif

hey, way to go guys... these ujoint's and ani's are terrific...

I like that you guys have actualy got the ani going the way it would work in real life application... I will have to give that a go... and yea, maybe we will finish with a smaller gif file http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/redface.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

who knows, if we get this down we might have to throw in some more connections and contraptions... go nuts guys, this is fun...

thanks for this Mike... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>we might have to throw in some more connections and contraptions... go nuts guys, this is fun... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Gidgit, I was thinking the same thing. Some crazy machinery could evolve. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

right on Mike... I can hardly wait to see what verybody comes up with from here... great stuff http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Hey Gidgit, looks great ! I love the details...
Just came back from a vacation (road trip style)... no computer allowed http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif
Got to catch up and school start next week...

connections and contrptions theme sounds like fun. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

This is a great thread. Good going!