I’d love to see a hanging chain example. Bongo is more than just animation it’s a collision simulator as well?
It looks like it might include a lot of what I’m missing. Lots of this stuff can be done in Grasshopper (in theory) but for now I’m getting my butt kicked pretty hard.
In WIP 19 it isn’t easy to figure out the meaning and use of the various Physics Properties and Settings – certainly without documentation. The team is currently looking in to simplify and clarify this.
I’ve also yet to fully explore the physics properties but plan on doing so soon (that chain video seems really promising!). Super cool to see the all of the new features the team is making.
This is great to see. Even the ability to allow a chain to come to rest in its natural hanging position under its own weight when both ends are restrained would be a massive help for visualisation.
Out of curiosity, what would have happened if the chain in that clip had come to rest slightly overhanging the lower plane, blocking the path of the descending block?
We need a Bongo 2 license to try out WIP I’m guessing?
This would be asking for way too much: I’d love a video tutorial on how you created either of those chains. But I’m happy to wait as I don’t really have time to learn something new and different (to me) anytime soon.
Impressive work Joseph. We seem to share the same passion for mechanics.
Tell us, did you use (for example in the Stewart Platform) the Connections, new in Bongo 3 WIP, or was it done with Inverse Kinematic?
Luc
Thank you, I appreciate the kind words! I primarily used the new connections feature in all of the animations, though for the ones that require a deformable link(such as the springs in the roller clutch and the green link in the jar) I changed the object type for that link from ‘connected’ to ‘IK’ and allowed scaling in one dimension.
It greatly simplifies the set-up and is really intuitive to use! I’ll also attach the Stewart Platform file below in case anyone is curious. The process I followed after setting up the CAD model (for posterity) was to add spindle connections for the universal joints, sliders for the linear actuators, and clamps to tie the joints to the platform surfaces and the bottom platform to the world. Then I just set keyframes for the top platform. Also of note though, is that I decreased the goal errors (in Bongo > Inverse Kinematics > Document Properties > Inverse Kinematics > IK Tolerances) from .001 to .007 to allow the solver to run a bit faster.
I’d be happy to answer any other questions you may have as well!
Link to the Stewart Platform Model: Link (Uploaded to google drive as the file size (125MB) is too large to upload to the forums directly)
This last month, I’ve been playing around with an idea of a Mac alternative for Bongo.
This is really not even at embryonic stage, but perhaps something someone might be interested in.
I wanted to do kinematic (physics) animation of a design I was playing with. I had the idea of exporting the model as USD, then import it into Xcode and create a little app which does the animation.
Apple has SceneKit (seems to be abandoned) and the newer RealityKit which does all the physics stuff on 3D models. Plus it can be shown in AR if that’s your thing.
If someone was clever, they could probable create a utility which could be user friendly (I was using code to specify where joints etc were).