Problems animating rollercoaster train

Support Animation and Rigging
#1

After designing rollercoasters in NoLimits Rollercoaster Simulator, I decided to take up the challenge and create one in blender. This way I can animate surrounding rides, ride effects and it looks ten times better. After much trial-and-error, I didn’t archieve what I was hoping for. I’m not capable of making the train/wheels follow the track as they should.

The train consists of 6 cars. Every car has his own front axle, and is attached to the front axle of the second car with some kind of universal joint (this principle is used on Vekoma’s MK1212 trains)

I can’t get this to work properly, so what is the best way to animate this?

Attachments


#2

One way is to vertex parent the cars to a subdivided plane. Subdivide the plane so each car gets it’s own little face. Then apply a curve modifier to the plane and drag the plane along the path.

Attachments

26_roller_coaster.blend (519 KB)

#3

That seems to work, thanks a lot! When my test coaster is finished, I’ll post the result of the forum.

#4

This seems to work, thanks a lot!