Caterpillar Ride

Artistic Support Animation and Rigging
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Hi Guys,
Im a amateur modeller for some years in software like sketchup and stuff…
A few days ago I discovered Blender. And i’m now trying to improve my skills.

15 Years ago i modelled a ride after one that was owned by my family years ago.
Now I wanted to learn if there was a possibility to make the ride actually move/operate in 3D.

The idea is the blue centerpiece spins, wich brings the red axles in motion, every axe has a wheel wich follows a route.
I have tried hours watching tutorials about rigging wheels and such. Bit I cant get the physics right…
Is there someone out there with a good tutorial/explanation or who is willing to help me understand these…
Many thanks in advance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NPmFqh6xW8 (example of the movement)

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Hey, welcome aboard!

Yes, you can make this move/operate in 3D in blender, but for someone new to blender, it won’t be easy.

First, I would strongly suggest using an armature to get this working. Commonly referred to as rigging. Basically an armature is a bunch of bones that can be used to control how objects move. I would actually use 2 armatures to animate this.

The first armature would be the controller for the animation. It would be a single bone in the center of the rotation. The second armature would be all the mechanism bones that move all the other parts around, the red rods and the wheels. Once set up, you’d have one controller that you rotate, and everything else would follow along.

Have you imported this model into blender?

Randy