Making a moving Model for start up business

[NMN]

Good day all and thanks for a great community. I am looking for help on making a realistic model of my product for our website. I have dabbled with Sketchup and have various designs but only know enough to get myself in trouble. The basis of the model would be a working aggregate conveyor with a hopper conveying aggregate into a pile. I guess my first question would be: can this be done with sketchup and if so what version would I need to get started. Any help would be greatly appreciated as well as questions as I am new to the forum and am unsure of how much information would be to much or to little. Thanks in advance and I hope this finds some interest.

[RTCool]

An animation like TDahl’s example?

Viking '75 Mars Lander Surface Sampler Collector Head

For the past couple of months I’ve been working on a video that describes how the Viking lander’s actual surface sampler hardware works, using my SketchUp model for much of the presentation. Here is a short clip showing the parts of the collector head being assembled together. The animation was done with Fredo6’s Animator extension. - Tom [Viking Lander Surface Sampler Animation Test]

[NMN]

Wow amazing work! Thanks for the link. What I am looking for would be a conveyor belt that would move rocks from the hopper to the pile. I would then have to add my product to the conveyor. Figuring out how to make the conveyor is just the first step. I guess what I am saying is if I had a 30 foot long aggregate conveyor with a 36" belt, I would add my product to it and then take video for the website. unfortunately I do not have the conveyor so I am trying to do the same thing via Sketchup. Am I asking to much ?

[RTCool]

I haven’t used Fredo’s Animator, but I’m blown away by what TDahl has produced with it. I’d have to defer to someone who does have experience with it.

[NMN]

I agree there work is great, thanks for your time and information.

[TDahl]

If you want to use SketchUp to create an animation of the machinery, then you need a SketchUp model of the machinery. The effort to create such a model depends on the detail desired. Maybe the 3D Warehouse has some existing objects that might serve, if you don’t care about any particular conveyor and hopper etc.? Regarding what version of SketchUp to use, If you intend to employ the resulting model or output for commercial purposes then I believe a SketchUp Pro license is required.

As to the animation aspect, Fredo6’s Animator extension is wonderful for creating scripted animations (meaning all object motions are pre-defined “by hand”). For the animation test referenced above I used Animator for controlling the object and camera motions.

You might also consider Anton’s MSphysics extension which uses a rule-based approach to define how objects can interact, and then let’s the extension’s physics engine determine the actual detailed motion. You could animate a stream of blobs falling out of a hopper onto a conveyor and then being carried along and falling off the end. I have experimented some with Animator and have had lots of fun with it.

With either approach - scripted motion via Animator or rule-based motion via MSphysics - you will need SketchUp models of the machinery.
- Tom

[NMN]

Thank you very much Tom, I have accomplished some of what you speak of, I have a conveyor from the warehouse as well as designed and attached our device. Our device is mostly a steel frame structure with a hinge actuated by a hydraulic cylinder. MSphysics I could not get to cooperate with my laptop but I found Sketchyphysics extension. I am far from experienced enough at the moment to get to the animation I want in a timely manner. Sounds like I need to hire someone? What would be a decent hourly rate for such work or kind of deals would be reasonable to expect? I definitely do not want to offend anyone, just ignorant to how this works. Thank You,Nathan M. Newingham
Roodhouse Water Departmentroodhousewater@yahoo.comMobile:1-217-371-0524Water Plant Office: 1-217-742-0262

TDahl
November 28 |

If you want to use SketchUp to create an animation of the machinery, then you need a SketchUp model of the machinery. The effort to create such a model depends on the detail desired. Maybe the 3D Warehouse has some existing objects that might serve, if you don’t care about any particular conveyor and hopper etc.? Regarding what version of SketchUp to use, If you intend to employ the resulting model or output for commercial purposes then I believe a SketchUp Pro license is required.As to the animation aspect, Fredo6’s Animator extension is wonderful for creating scripted animations (meaning all object motions are pre-defined “by hand”). For the animation test referenced above I used Animator for controlling the object and camera motions.You might also consider Anton’s MSphysics extension which uses a rule-based approach to define how objects can interact, and then let’s the extension’s physics engine determine the actual detailed motion. You could animate a stream of blobs falling out of a hopper onto a conveyor and then being carried along and falling off the end. I have experimented some with Animator and have had lots of fun with it.With either approach - scripted motion via Animator or rule-based motion via MSphysics - you will need SketchUp models of the machinery.

• Tom Visit Topic or reply to this email to respond.
  In Reply To

NMN
November 28 |

Wow amazing work! Thanks for the link. What I am looking for would be a conveyor belt that would move rocks from the hopper to the pile. I would then have to add my product to the conveyor. Figuring out how to make the conveyor is just the first step. I guess what I am saying is if I had a 30 foot l… Visit Topic or reply to this email to respond. To unsubscribe from these emails, click here.