Rube Goldberg Machine - Autodesk Maya Render Animation - "The Orb"

Due to limited time available to complete this assignment, and that it is primarily an animation assignment not a 3d modelling one, I needed to build an interesting and nice looking rig quickly.

To do this I started off using many primitive objects such as cylinders and cubes (both of which are polygonal in nature as NURBS variants are made up of many planes which were harder to model with) to make basic structures and components. For more advanced components extrudes and bevels were used to create the desired effects.

The whole scene was encased in a giant cube so I could better light and shade the scene.

Whilst dynamics could theoretically be used for the whole scene, I chose against this and only used it for parts which would take a long time to key frame.

Dynamic physics:

• Orb rolling down the half pipe this would have been very time consuming to accurately make the ball rotate with frictional forces along the tube to its destination. Once complete this was then baked to ensure consistent results when playing the animation back.

To truly finish off the animation, camera composition had to be taken into account to ensure the end movie was interesting to watch and thus keep the user entertained. Simply following a ball along its path would clearly be boring and dull.

Thus a combination of cuts, panning, zooming, and camera constraints were used where most appropriate to create an exciting and original end result, which was aided by using a camera with aim.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• technicallyCreative
• rube goldberg
• machine
• rube goldberg machine
• maya
• autodesk
• autodesk maya
• animation
• physics
• dynamic simulation
• simulation
• orb
• glass
• elegent
• beautiful
• shiny
• nurbs
• polygons
• modelling
• 3d
• mental ray
• render

[gleetooth]

can the dynamic physics simulation also simulate stuff like breaking after falling on a surface?

[technicallyCreative]

@gleetooth I did not use it for this - I think breaking objects up is a lot more complex - you have to define where bits will break eg separate geometries etc. There is probably a 3rd party plug in by now though that does this but I have not needed to do this yet.

[arikarik2007]

how did u rotate the ball ?

[technicallyCreative]

@arikarik2007 Ball uses a dynamic physics simulation in Maya so it is as natural as possible!

[technicallyCreative]

Thanks. Glad you like it. I believe the glass was blinn based although this is going back a few years for me now! Ah the joys of the hypershader window in Maya :-)

[gleetooth]

@technicallyCreative cool thanks

[arikarik2007]

@technicallyCreative CooL .. Very noce work 

[arikarik2007]

Nice work man ,, how long did you work on it ?

[DemiousStudios]

Good stuff. Nice mirror/glass reflectivity . What material for the clear glass tubes?