propeller rotation

[Anonymous]

hi, ive seen this question many times, but never seen an answer that applies to my situation / barely seen any answers at all.

i have a propeller, and i have to rotate it. i linked it to a point helper, wich is positioned in the rotation axis, and will be animated. if i manually animate it, i'll have to calculate the RPM, divide by 60 and multiply for the number of seconds my scene will have, and then i'll have to manually rotate it 360º multiplied by how many seconds i want. this isnt a proper way to do that, specially if i want to change RPM in the middle of the scene, or have multiple scenes.

so i need a way to make it automatically rotate at certain speed.
i created a spline object, to put custom attributes on it and made a spinner to control the RPM, now i "only" have to find a way to make it spin in certain axis, according to the RPM. if my RPM is 0, then its stopped.

ideas?

[Anonymous]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, you are not going to get the results you are looking for by using “real world data.” In order to get a spinning look and feel you also have to take into account the # of blades/fins on your propeller. Any multiple of that in a 360 degree rotation and the frame will be the same and you will get no motion. I assume you saw this? http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/animation/rotating-propeller-animation/

[Anonymous]

well, obviously if i rotate a box, in a way that it will rotate 90º each frame, i'll get no motion, following that logic im aware. but as i said, i will control different RPMs, and the propeller will have acceleration until it finds a costant speed, also motion blur, etc. so the blade object does not really matter. what i need is just to control the rotation the way i said.

and ive seen that thread 😉

[Steve_Curley]

and ive seen that thread 😉

Re-read it - see the post by "lucpet" on page 2.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that Steve...You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink...lol