Thanks Dave, that is a very nice animation. Most of what I create has multiple parts that move in an integrated fashion with each other. In animation there are concurrent motions (the motions of the parts happen at the same time) and sequential motions (one part moves, stops, then the next part moves). I found complex inter-mixed variable speed and variable geometry concurrent and sequential motions in SU are not easy to do. I was never able to convince myself that they can even be done in SU. My workaround was to create a Stop-Motion approach, make a rendering of each stop-motion scene and stitch the scenes together with a video editor. At 30 frames per second, that’s a lot of stitching. If you render each scene first in one of the renderers that make images look really beautiful (I use KeyShot) then you can stitch together good looking videos, but lots of time is needed. I have some of those videos at my website. My current heavy lift drone will need a linear actuator to move the control valves that modulate the power output of the propellers so the drone can be controlled to make it stable. I’m working on an interconnect to allow the linear actuator to properly move the control rods without “slop” in the connection even if the two rods are not completely aligned. Animating that linear actuator would be fun, but I don’t think SU can do it. Dr. Gray
Just the Linear Actuator v211.skp (4.7 MB)