Daemonspike, you might find this thread useful too, we had discussed your project in it yesterday along with other solutions.

https://forum.reallusion.com/338593/Animating-a-locomotive-wheel-set

(from the above thread...):

TonyDPrime (8/26/2017)

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Kelleytoons (8/26/2017)

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TonyDPrime (8/26/2017)

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I am late to this thread, I know, but could one separate the wheel/motion part of the model from the base and then import as 2 parts, and then set motion to one while moving in tangent with the other, that way you achieve a fake-rig?  Or link both to a 3rd dummy prop of some type that would be the primary path mover?

Tony,

In essence that's what I did.  This wasn't so much about animating the move part of the loco as it was trying to get the wheel mechanism to work automatically once rigged right.  I still think that's doable with iClone physics, but rather than waste more time trying it I just went ahead and animated it by hand.  After I did that I linked to the rest of the train and animated its movement (calculated by the circumference of the wheels, so the movement matches the wheel rotation -- that particular part I could do via a script when Python ever arrives.  In point of fact I might have done most of this via scripting and may give it another shot when we have that ability).

Okay, I see.  Ironically, I got the idea from you.  In the other thread about an orbiting path, you had mentioned you could orbit an object by linking it to the center object, which itself would be rotating.   In that case I also imagined a nucleus having multiple electrons, protons, etc. at different speeds, and so you could have a stable nucleus with no motion, or its own animation, but in its same geography have multiple dummy sphere-movers as the axis points for the other orbiting sub-atomic objects.  

Sometimes it takes a dummy to think of dummies...  ;)

Glad I could contribute something helpful.

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

Yeah, as soon as Dennis wrote the word "dummy objects" I hit my head with the back of my hand.

He definitely has it scoped out -- I forget how powerful using dummies are (mostly because in other programs you can adjust things a bit easier without needing them).

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

:alien:

BRAVO!!!!! Holy badgers whiskers.... SOMEONE has their head  s c r e w e d  on the right way. :P
KEY INFORMATION... "I AM NEW TO ANIMATION."  Therefore:- Simplicity to start the ball rolling.

Nice one Viking. YOUR way you can spin the planets at one speed, then spin the moons at another and spin the orbits as you wish.
Quick! Clean! Concise!

Armstrong.
And, Yes, before you ask.... I AM an Animator. xx

One way to get a FULL CAPABILITY model of both rotation and orbiting...  Example: Planet and Moon...

It requires two dummy props and two spheres.

a) Start with a central primary "planet" dummy prop
b) Attach the planet to the primary dummy
c) You can now rotate the planet relative to the primary dummy prop to make the planet rotate

d) Attach a secondary "moon" dummy to the planetary dummy
e) Rotate the moon dummy around the planetary dummy... its orbital speed is independent of the planet's rotation
f) Rotate the moon relative to the moon dummy for it's revolution speed (or leave as-is if it is Earth's moon)

Repeat steps "d/e/f" for any additional orbiting bodies.

If your spheres are a uniform color and perfectly smooth, there is no need to rotate them (just orbit), in which case you can skip half of these steps.

There you are.  Total control.

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

See Screenshot.
1) Props/3D Blocks/ Sphere
2) Add 2 Spheres.
3) Re-size 2nd Sphere
4) Centre 1st Sphere in middle of Path, by Moving it.
5) Put 2nd Sphere on Path (Select Path / 1st Way-Point. Position 0. Drag Timescale Scrubber for desired speed. Select last Way Point Position 100) Play-back
BTW, Attaching Spheres as prev advised, wouldn't  have the desired result.













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I ended up doing this instead :)

https://youtu.be/yRu-npnd7vc

Will start experimenting with pivot points as it seems.
Thank you for the idea and your time Ani : )

Great idea that worked with one sphere.
Hmm, maybe copy the both of them and just rotate the other two with the second also being at world zero.
Thanks

Like Kelley suggested.

But, if you want the center sphere to be stationary because you have more than one secondary sphere rotating around it, you would move the pivot of those spheres so that they coincide with that of the center sphere.

From then on it's a simple key frame animation.

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