Forum - Craft Animations - 3d animation tools

Hi,

I am using the 4WheelerExt (Director Tools 1.8.1 in Maya 2008 32-bit) to create something similar to a Peterbilt with trailer.
I'm just going through the 4WheelerExt manual but any tips or pointers would be much appreciated. Are there any tutorials around on rigging a truck with trailer?
Right now I am wondering if it matters that I move the rig's wheels outside of its body (I cannot scale the body as it is the top node)... or if that would be a bad idea for any reason...?

Hi and welcome to our forum Fredrik!

A tip is to check out the Craft Trailer manual as well. This manual is more aimed for semi truck trailers.
Trailer manual

I also made a picture set of how I would rig one of those trucks:



As you can see in this image the 4-Wheeler (Extended) has its rear wheels behind its chassis. You can scale and move the wheels of the 4-Wheeler nearly as much as you like. If you don't want the rear wheels to turn, remember to also move the TurnBaseMesh.

VERY nice!
Thank you!

My highres trailer model that I've got is way much more wider than the Craft trailer. I'm trying to simply move the craft tires out but the weirdest thing happens ...

(save link as... + open in Quicktime player)

Hi Fredrik.

Yes this is an issue. The simple solution is to scale the trailer so that it fits your wheels width, then you will have a stable situation (and of course you need to move the hook to the same point as before).

Good luck!

Thanks!
This works nicely.

Would the above solution apply to a model like this?

Hi Solomon.

The latest version of Craft Director Tools (released 2008-08-11) solves this problem:

- It enables a vehicle to have a much larger turn angle on the wheels and therefore this type of 8-wheeler rig is possible together with ExtraWheel.
- The suspension should be quite stiff.
- For the turret you should use two 1DRotators and a FirePower (and in the 4wExt you choose as input the firePower's virtual input to drive the external force, also parent the externalForceMesh to the turret).

// Luigi TA

WOW!!

Awesome!! I am so glad I asked - I will definitely give that a try. Thanks Luigi

O-Goh! Thx gentlman's!

I am rigging a truck and trailer, I had planned on using the TRuck and trailer template in CDS 9.31 but my model does not fit, is there a tutorial to doing this. Can I scale all aspects of the template? Basically I will be tipping a tanker truck, and ideas where to start?

Thanks

BradFred wrote:I am rigging a truck and trailer, I had planned on using the TRuck and trailer template in CDS 9.31 but my model does not fit, is there a tutorial to doing this. Can I scale all aspects of the template? Basically I will be tipping a tanker truck, and ideas where to start?

Thanks

If you want to use the template you can just scale it to the size you want (make sure to scale using Object Mode, if you're using CINEMA 4D). You can also view the turbo video tutorial for Craft Trailer here: Craft Trailer Turbo Tutorial

What is funny is that you have an animation of the semi-truch and trailer that I am using 3d animation Craft Director Tools (truck & trailer). I was wondering is these was a tutorial using tht truck and trailer?

BradFred wrote:What is funny is that you have an animation of the semi-truch and trailer that I am using 3d animation Craft Director Tools (truck & trailer). I was wondering is these was a tutorial using tht truck and trailer?

BradFred,

Which animation are you referring to? But to answer your question, I'm pretty sure we don't have any tutorials for rigging a semi-truck, unfortunately. It's not that hard though, just create a Craft 4-Wheeler Extended, load the truck configuration profile for it, create a Craft Trailer and rig it as instructed by its help documentation and then just add Craft ExtraWheels for the remaining wheels and you're set.

I will give it a shot. There is a video on youtube of a semi truck and trailer driving around on a white floor.

BradFred wrote:There is a video on youtube of a semi truck and trailer driving around on a white floor.

This one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ub4OKZqxd8

It's user-created, not something we've done. But let us know if you have any questions during the rigging process. You should be able to find most answers in the help documentation though.