Hello dear Bongospecialists
I have to say right away—I’m new to Bongo, and I’m sure I’m making a mistake while working through the PistonStart tutorial, but I just can’t find it and can’t get any further.
I think I’m doing everything exactly as instructed…
I think I’m on the trail.
I’ve now entered 180° instead of 360° and noticed that Bongo does something – but in one step and right when I press PLAY.
I don’t seem to understand these sliders – it says “Move slider to 99” – yes, but which one? The front one or the back one?
That could be causing the problem here – but no matter which one I use, I don’t get any animation, just the sudden rotation from the start to the end position.
At 360° I didn’t see anything because the starting and ending positions were of course exactly the same…
So!
I found the error.
Am I the first person who encountered this?
The tutorial should mention what those red things are called “TimelineSlider”—I’ve always moved the gray ones—but I still can’t figure out what they’re for…
Maybe my problems are also because I’m using the German version and always have to translate the tutorial to understand it.
I’m stuck again.
In the picture you can see what I’m supposed to do; in the video you can see what I’m doing.
The tutorial should be more detailed here, too, to make it easier for beginners to understand.
In any case, I’ve been working on it since noon, and now it’s 8 PM - I’ve really lost interest because I’m frustrated.
I feel like the result is very poor after 8 hours of work.
Hi,
A beginner who works through a tutorial learns from the problems and mistakes that are made. That is inevitable and therefore takes time. Moreover the tutorial you have chosen is also ‘Advanced’.
As for the terminology (Timeline, Ticks etc..) I can advise you to read these 2 pages in Bongo’s documentation:
Regarding your last entry (The simple constraint issue): the tutorial indeed forgets to mention that it uses guide lines. These can be seen in the images and also in the final video. I do not see them on your screenshots.
The lines are (unfortunately) ‘Hidden’. You can make them appear with the command “Show”.
Sorry to hear about your frustrations. Your post came after work hours, so unfortunately you didn’t get a fast reply.
Don’t give up. You might enjoy my Youtube channel @ladritube
These 2 tutorials are very popular.
Take care,
Luc
hi Luc
Since my first construction to be simulated is very similar to yours in the scissors simulation, I’ve started applying your steps.
I haven’t gotten very far yet, but I already have a question for you.
At 1:44, you somehow trigger a movement to show how the arm behaves after connecting it to part 1.
Unfortunately, I can’t see how you trigger this movement. Since this step would certainly help me check my project, I’ll pause here and ask you how you achieve it.
…then I can continue from here.
Thanks
Hi,
The rocking rod at 1:44 of the tutorial is a cinematic trick that I use to illustrate the importance of correctly placing a pivot. It is not a feature you can use in Bongo to help you build IK chains. It is done with video editing.
Sorry.
The rocking at 2:12 and 2:55 is also electronic tinkering. I hoped to show the core task of a Hinge (freedom of rotation) and also the need for a Constraint to get everything in order. What you see happening from 3:06 is pure Bongo, no illusion anymore - except for the red structure lines that appear at 3:40 and of course the final scene of the video.
Glad to be of further help if needed. It’s brave that you picked up the thread again.
Luc
That’s totally crazy ;o)
I think I’m on the right track.
I want to quickly explain what it’s going to be, and that raises another question.
I have a pickup truck with a variable camping setup, and at the rear edge of the loading area is a cooler (the red part). It naturally has the lid on top and is usually too high to comfortably load things in or out.
Now, this construction, the box, should be easily pulled by a handle (which I still have to construct), then lifted over the small green edge (behind the box) and swung backward out of the pickup so that the two arms overlap and the box hangs comfortably behind the loading area at a comfortable height.
Now for the question, which I’m sure you can answer.
How can I attach the red cooler to the upper plate of the construction so that it moves and follows the movement of my levers?
Hi again,
Looking fine.
In order to have the red box follow the movement it simply needs to be ‘child’ of the upper plate of your crank, and that’s it.
Have fun,
Luc
I messed it up.
I had to change something on the levers because they weren’t lifting over the rear edge.
So I’ve deleted the old levers and constructed completely different pivot points.
Now I’m trying to create the entire simulation again, but I seem to have some old animations or links stored in Bongo.
Where should I check to see if this is the case, and how can I delete all the Bongo things to start from scratch?
Hello again – you must be thinking too – he’s really too stupid.
I’ve just started linking the parts again and deleted the old animations with the eraser beforehand.
I actually think I’m doing everything in order like in the tutorial, but I can’t seem to link the parts in the chain. Why? – I’ve managed that before, haven’t I?
Why doesn’t part 1 include part 2?
It’s much easier for me to help you if you post the model, in the current state it is in.
Luc
PS By the “model” I mean the 3dm file.
Never mind the model, I think I see it now.
I guess ‘lever 2’ must be child of ‘lever 1’.
Remember the snake in the “Whys…” tutorial.
Have fun,
Luc
Now I’m completely lost - I don’t understand it anymore - why is everything so rigidly connected, like it’s welded together?
I didn’t even know I could upload the model here…
I can’t keep up with the tutorials - I seem to have a problem with the translations. Many of my menus are in German, but the submenus in Bongo are in English.
I’m not very good at English and have to translate everything with Google Translate.
Hebelei 1.3dm (399.1 KB)
Hi,
Thanks for posting the model. There are 2 problems in it.
First, there is no Constraint. You have a chain of hinges but no constraint to force them to work. Without constraint, no IK. You can see this in the Animation manager. The IK part remains empty.
.
The action should come from the keyframes of ‘lever1’, but you have (by mistake) also given it a Hinge property. That is problem 2.
It is a phenomenon that is not explicitly mentioned in the documentation: Rotation keyframes for Hinges have no effect at all. Actually, it is somewhat obvious: a hinge cannot be free and set in motion at the same time.
The remedy: remove ‘lever 1’ from its IK properties.
Hence it is a “normal” object at the beginning of an IK chain. The head of the snake
It is part of the chain, but has no “IK Joint” properties.
Finally Hebelei 1 002.3dm (339.4 KB)
Best regards,
Luc
PS Unfortunately I cannot help you with your issues with the English language.
