Rigging a motorcycle front wheel

giuseppetonello — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 15:30:36 GMT

I've tried different approaches but none of them works as a complete solution for a partial motorbike rig.

I need to rig only the front wheel. Here's the image for clarity.

The whole system can go up (like a wheelie movement) or down (like a hard braking).

How do you make the forks go partially inside the sheath(the green part) while going down, and follow along as it goes up?

Moreover, the wheel should ideally collide with the ground.

Re: Rigging a motorcycle front wheel

leeminardi — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 01:25:59 GMT

I'm not sure of all the requirements you have but I came up with this work-in-progress that shows some promise. I created the following crude motorcycle.

The linking hierarchy is:

The piston has a Float Script for its Z position (the axis direction of the piston).

v = normalize(ForkBlockT.row3) dumzW = (DumPos * FrameT).z if (dumzw < 14.0) then s = -dumzW /(dot v [0,0,1]) else s = -14

v is a unit vector in the direction of the piston.

It's necessary to determine when the center of the wheel is less than the radius of the wheel from the ground. Dummy001 is linked to the frame. Its Z coordinate is used to determine the amount of piston compression. The wheel's radius if 14.0. To get its position in world coordinates we multiply its position relative to the frames times the transform matrix for its parent, the Frame. The z coordinate (.z) is then extracted.

The amount of compression of the piston is:

(vertical displacement) / (cosine of the angle the piston makes with the world z vector)

If dummy001 has a z coordinate greater than 14 the piston is assumed to be fully extended.

Try moving the frame up or down or rotating it and see the compression of the piston.

topic Re: Rigging a motorcycle front wheel in 3ds Max Animation and Rigging Forum

Rigging a motorcycle front wheel

Re: Rigging a motorcycle front wheel