In this video we look more closely at the steering mechanism linkages. We start out by creating a few ball joints and linkages for the steering. We then work on the rigging of the linkages via some Xpresso and the Range Mapper node.
Tag: video
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In this part of the Razorback series, we tackle the steering mechanism of the machine. I explore a bit of the setup necessary to make the steering work without a human involved and even get into some Xpresso.
You can see where I use a combination of the Target tag and the Xpresso Range Mapper node to get the desired effect of the servo steering system. Read on to see the video, and leave me a comment if you like what I’m doing with this project.
The Flywheel
There’s not much talk in Daemon about the flywheel. We know that it’s a “Graphite-epoxy flywheel spinning at seventy thousand rpm in a vacuum. Floating on a bed of magnetism.” This detail is interesting as it would be easier to float the flywheel if it were horizontally mounted, and it would likely have better gyroscopic characteristics if it were hard mounted using bearings—again, I’m not an engineer.
Blades
The blades are currently simple proxy objects. If any of you think you know what kind of blade it should be, post a comment and let me know what it’s called. If you have specs and an idea of why the blade should be that particular type, let me know.
Read on for the video; this time it weighs in at around 20 minutes.
Removing Components
The first step in the makeover process is to remove the components that will no longer be needed. We start by removing all the controls and instrumentation. Then the air box area gets stripped and we create a space for the flywheel and batteries.
Strengthening the Front Wheel
The XB12r front wheel is a great looking piece of engineering. It has a rotor that is directly attached to the front rim. Although it’s a great looking piece of engineering, I wanted something that was a bit more proven and robust. I took the front end from the Generic Sport Bike and used that instead. Below is a video of the next step in the process.
Concept Daemon Operative
The Razorback; a sword-wielding robotic riderless motorcycle. It sounds like something from a childhood saturday morning cartoon… but deadly. A motorcycle designed for killing and driven by a computer; Razorbacks are truly the stuff of nightmares. Daniel Suarez’s Daemon describes these machines, Read More
After one of my commenters requested a tutorial on the creation of this cushion, I started thinking about how to go about doing this.
Unfortunately a lot of folks request tutorials on topics too broad or lengthy for me to cover in a simple one-screencast sitting, but the Papasan request was manageable. My commenter’s request was simple and to the point.
I’ve been watching a lot of How It’s Made recently. One of my favorite things to see on the assembly line is the robots welding parts Read More
Here’s a quick preview of my latest 3D fiddling. I wanted to create a piece based on type and a concept. The concept I came up with was the word disconnected and the associated movement that comes along with it. Read More
Here are two simple videos of the Champion Sound checkout process. I worked on several version of this site with my co-worker Matt Lackey at digital-telepathy. The “cart” logic was a focal point as the purchasing of credits was awkward. in the videos you’ll see a landing page and an upgrade page. The landing page was presented to users who were not logged in, while the upgrade page was for authenticated users. Read More
Here’s a quick tip that I found while trying to setup special annual holiday reminders for my father in Australia. If you wanted to setup an annual recurring event on the first Sunday of every September for instance, follow these steps: Read More
While editing one of my website pages I wanted to see what would happen if I compared the same revision with itself. It’s nice to see that the WordPress developers have a sense of humor! Read More
If you’ve been experiencing strange behavior on your Android handset, the culprit could be the official Twitter app.
Recently my podcasts refused to play without a reboot of my phone. The first few times it happened I simply chalked it up to Android and its quirks. But then it became consistent. Not necessarily scheduled, but regular enough to be annoying. I found myself dreading the moment when I would grab my phone to listen to Tech news Today or Security Now and my phone would spit that annoying error at me.
What to look for:
Once I figured that it was a real issue, I started to notice it in other areas; do any of these seem familiar to you?
- YouTube app: “Cannot Play Video”
- Camera app: “Camera Failed”
- Doggcatcher: “Error -17” (or something similar)
- Listen: “unable to play file”
- Pandora: It just sits and spins, no verbose error.
So basically it’s an epic fail of any audio and video. A fix that I figured out that was (arguably) faster than a reboot was to unmount and re-mount the SD card. Something was definitely up. Even worse than the error itself was the fact that the above errors were so numerous and app dependent. Searches online turned up nothing; that’s what this post is for. Read More