Strandbeest simulation

Hi guys,

I’m trying to simulate the walkcycle of Strandbeests in Blender
here you can see how it works and here are the dimensions

it is quite easy to model
the problem is that I’ve never done anything with the physics engine but basically only hinges and 2 fixed points

can anybody give me a hint on how to simulate the physics of these?

Oh those are neat! I guess if its just hinges then it could be done quite easily with the hinge constraints between all the pieces. A quick pythonless way to create the hinges is to use the rigid body joint constraint in the object section of the buttons panel. It even shows you where the hinges are when you are working.

I’ve found out how hinges work after looking at the blender physics test files.
The next thing I have to find out is how to make the part that drives this thing rotate and then hinge all the other parts to it.
How do I make a cylinder rotate about its tip instead of it’s center?
I’ve never animated anything, so I have to learn a lot :yes:

EDIT: seems like I still don’t know how to use the hinge constraint properly…
but I found out how to rotate stuff (this will help me get this thing into motion)

EDIT2: I finally found out that Object with a hinge conatraint can only rotate around the local x axis of the hinge
now I think I know everything I need to know and can start building this beast (pun intended :stuck_out_tongue: )

EDIT3: AARRRGGHH!! the hinges still don’t work as expected. Here you can find the .blend file so you can take a look at it. I’m starting to wonder if it would be easier to make this with an armature instead of rigid body physics…
I’d really appreciate if you could help me with this.