Automated wheels that works in multiple axes

Rigging
1

Hello everyone,

I had posted this before the server went down. When it came back up, the thread was gone. So here is my question again.

I’m in the process of rigging a wheel that works in multiple axes. So I can move it in both the X and Z axis and it will calculate the amount it needs to rotate. I realize this needs some math, specifically using the Pythagoras theorem to calculate the distance. I even used a tutorial by Marcus Dorr (http://www.2cos3d.com/Tutoriales/Part%201-Wheel_tutorial.pdf) but whenever I implemented the setup the wheel rotates to insane amounts. So if my control moved 2 units in the X and Z, or even just one axis. The wheel would rotate about 3000 degrees. Which isn’t right.

This is probably just a simple math problem, but I haven’t quite figured it out yet. Math is something I’m trying to brush up on. Though, I’m hoping someone here can help me with this.

Thank you so much for taking your time to read this!

Kindly,
Ray

2

Without having read the tutorial i suspect it might be a mismatch of Degrees vs. Rad ?

3

Yeah, degrees vs radians was to have been my guess as well.

4

DegtoRad((X_Position360.0)/2.03.141663.0) this is for 3d Max for wheel rotation
-DegtoRad((X_Position360.0)/2.03.141663.0) or to reverse it.
So you may well just have to convert degrees to radians.

5

Also…not sure what software you’re using, but Maya has an inbuilt automatic roll function… << just throwing that out there

6

Hey guys,

Thanks so much. Actually. The original expression did the conversion. Though, there was a line there that added the current value plus the calculated value. Once I removed that. It was rotating properly. Though, this brought up other issues, where the wheel would start flipping when I moved into the negative values of the axis and then it wouldn’t rotate at all sometimes. It seems really unstable.

Any ideas?

[QUOTE=dgovil;17170]Also…not sure what software you’re using, but Maya has an inbuilt automatic roll function… << just throwing that out there[/QUOTE]
Thanks so much. I totally forgot about that (yup. I’m using Maya). Though, I’m having issues with that as well. The wheel starts flipping out when I move around alot. It rotates in two or more axes. I’m guessing the problem can be solved by editing the expression. I’ll try to take a look at that.

If anyone has any ideas as to why these issues are showing. I’d really appreciate any advice.

Thanks again!

Kindest regards,
Ray

7

Well I have same query but i couldn’t get the way from where to start… Maya is the language in which m working but getting confused during the procedure…