Constraining a Crane

[staale]

Not sure if this is the correct forum, but I'll give it a try.

Hi,
I wonder if someone could help me with my modell. I’m trying to “assemble” this Cranesystem I have buildt in Inventor, to make an Animation in 3DS Max. I am VERY new to the 3DS Max, but I have read a lot of guides and of ccourse looked at a lot of youtube videos, without really getting an answer to my problem.
What I’m looking for is to center and lock the cranefot to the underlaying skid, problem is that the center of the skid is not in the hole, but rather on the back beam.
I have been able to constrain center vs. center on Crane house and cranefoot, but not “lock” the faces together.
I have been using Link Constrains under Animation menu. Have tried aligning, with no big success.
Hope someone could take their time to look at this, and give me a little pointer.
I have attached a picture, to better explain what I'm trying to do.

[Anonymous]

you're trying to use 'CAD-style' constraints in MAX, this is not possible. You can't for example 'concentric' constrain two cylindrical surfaces. Very disappointing, I agree.

In MAX you'll need to make sure that the object's pivot point is located at the required center of rotation. Or, preferably, create a Point Helper at the required location, link the object to the Point Helper and animate (or rig) the Point Helper.

[staale]

Yes, I think I was looking for something that was not really there. I will try to make a custom Pivot-point, since the pivotpoint for several of these parts are not where it should be, it may be in the center of the part, when I want it in the center bottom of the part.
Thanks a lot for the reply 🙂

[Anonymous]

you should be able to put the pivot point, at for example bottom center with "affect pivot only" then the align tool