Update

The brief of the project has slightly changed...instead of just rigging the beam engine manually, I am trying to use a modular approach to the rigging with scripting to reuse certain parts.

The first part that is being rigged using Mel Scripting, is the part of the beam engine which drives a belt around two wheels. This could be reused for, i.e. tank tracks, bicycle chains etc.

This is still a work in progress but here is a quick update.

WIP - Modular procedural mechanical Rigging from Angelika Aibel on Vimeo.

Beam Engine

My next project is some mechanical rigging- I want to animate a beam engine like the one shown here.

I think it would be an interesting project. At the moment I am trying to figure out how the engine works and try to see differenr ways of rigging different groups of elemts of the engine in order to get a clearer idea of what is required.

I am also trying to come out with a more comprehensive idea of what is needed in the rig to make it the most flexible and user-friendly for animation.

ANY THOUGHTS OR COMMENTS WOULD BE VERY APPRECIATED!