Hey everyone, I am currently trying to animate a piece of technical equipment that i have converted from a solidworks file into 3D studio max via iges files. My problem is that the model which looks sort of like a mechanical arm has these accordion looking bellows at the joints that would expand and contract as the arm bends and i don’t know how to this. I cannot post a screen shot since the model i am working on is currently confidential but i hope that you all understand what i am trying to do and that someone out there can help me.
Please help, Thank you,
~Pippi

If the bellows object already exists as a mesh, then by applying and animating a bend modifier the ‘folds’ will behave properly, at least to look at.

If it doesn’t exist then take a look at the Hose primitive, which can be given a bellows-style shape by increasing the cycles parameter in the ‘flexible section’ rollout. It’s animated simply by sticking a dummy object onto each end and moving them about and doesn’t have to be circular in cross-section.

:: UVSAR :: Dave Merchant :: Adobe Community Professional ::

assuming the technical equipmet has a two joints, the base and arm joints, ... you may relocate the pivot of both arm where they are connected. then animate it one by one see image below

http://renderworks.webs.com/

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This is the easy way.
Use a Hose object, found in Extended Primitives. They are made for exactly this type of job.
Create Point Helper objects where you want to attatch the ends and attach them to the apporpriate mesh. Create a Hose, In End Point Method choose Bound to Object Pivots and select the point helpers for the top and bottom Binding objects, you may need to reorientate them with rotate, tweak the other hose settings to get the look you want.

Here’s another alternative… this one wires the pieces together so that they “scissors” automatically.... wiring a scissors-like folding action.

Bruce Hammond
e-nimation.com
Peterborough, NH USA

Max8-32 SP3, Max9-32 SP2, WinXP

Bruce,

I really appreciate your tutorials.  A step-by-step process that even I can follow.  Thanks for sharing your bits of wisdom.

Mark

Aw, shucks :lol: .  I just hope that it was of some help.

Bruce Hammond
e-nimation.com
Peterborough, NH USA

Max8-32 SP3, Max9-32 SP2, WinXP

I just did your accordian style joints tutorial and it was really nice!

Not only did it explain how to do that particular thing but helped me understand wiring procedures a lot better than I had in the past.

Being Deaf, I especially appreciate the captions rather than voice-over narration technique.

Please point me to any other tutorials you have done this way.

I keep asking Autodesk to do their Max upgrade tutorials this way, but so far I haven’t had much success. Same goes for all the other people who provide instructional materials.

You are special!

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