I am trying to turn lights on and off such as flasher lights on a moving vehicle for an animation. I am not sure if this is the right forum plase to ask the question because I am new to this stuff. but any help would be appreciate. help with turning them on on a stationary vehicle would also be helpful
thanks in ad vance
You should probably ask this question in the Simulation Forum. Just kidding. I doubt I can help at this point (unless you are looking for ray trace help) but if you post what software you have available then someone that can help will! Welcome to the forums!
I am using solidworks 2010 profesional
Ok, this is a lot easier in something like Max or Maya, but it's totally doable in Solidworks. The short explanation is you use a an illuminated material. If you look in the stock appearances, there's a category called lights that further breaks down in to LED, neon tube, etc.. You apply that to your blinker bulb and animate it transitioning to an innert material.
Here's the process broken down
1) time line: you want to activate your motion study and set the time slider on the 0 second frame
2) initial material: select the component, right-click and go to appearances and pick your inert material (I used rubber). Make sure you apply the appearance at the compoent level, not the part level.
3) move time frame: right-click in the frame and select "move to frame": enter the your strobe length for the position (I used 0.5 seconds). The time slider will move to that position
4)LED material: Same part as before, right-click on it and select appearances Browse to lights and pick out a material that suits your purposes. This will create an appearance key at the current frame. It will connect to the key at the 0 second mark with a pink line.
5)interpolation: right-click on the key you just created and select interpolation and set the interpolation to 'snap'. This makes the part instanteneously change materials at this time instead of transitioning smoothly from the inert color
6)copy and paste first two keys: select the first and second keys, rightclick and select 'copy'.
7)move time frame: right-click and select 'move time frame.' Click the 'offset' button and specify your strobe length for the offset value. The time slider will move to the new position. paste the keys by right-click and selecting 'paste' from the context menu. Two additional keys will appear. right-click on the first of these and set the interpolation to 'snap' (this was the initial key so interpolation wasn't set)
8)rinse and repeat: you can then copy those keys, move the time slider over by one complete cycle and paste new versions and flesh out your time line.
I uploaded a zip file containing a video and sample model that employs the technique. You'll notice that the the blinker casts a red glow on the neighboring parts.
Let me know how it works out.
John
Thank you very much I will let you know in a day or two thanks again
John thank you very much for your help it worked. Your the man.....Thanks again.
Thomas
Thomas, could you post a video of your finished part? Be interesting!
Sure, John's direction have been very helpful....the clip that I am attaching is only the concept that I needed....the presentation version is still days away from what I intend to show. Once again John thanks
Ok, this is a lot easier in something like Max or Maya, but it's totally doable in Solidworks. The short explanation is you use a an illuminated material. If you look in the stock appearances, there's a category called lights that further breaks down in to LED, neon tube, etc.. You apply that to your blinker bulb and animate it transitioning to an innert material.
Here's the process broken down
1) time line: you want to activate your motion study and set the time slider on the 0 second frame
2) initial material: select the component, right-click and go to appearances and pick your inert material (I used rubber). Make sure you apply the appearance at the compoent level, not the part level.
3) move time frame: right-click in the frame and select "move to frame": enter the your strobe length for the position (I used 0.5 seconds). The time slider will move to that position
4)LED material: Same part as before, right-click on it and select appearances Browse to lights and pick out a material that suits your purposes. This will create an appearance key at the current frame. It will connect to the key at the 0 second mark with a pink line.
5)interpolation: right-click on the key you just created and select interpolation and set the interpolation to 'snap'. This makes the part instanteneously change materials at this time instead of transitioning smoothly from the inert color
6)copy and paste first two keys: select the first and second keys, rightclick and select 'copy'.
7)move time frame: right-click and select 'move time frame.' Click the 'offset' button and specify your strobe length for the offset value. The time slider will move to the new position. paste the keys by right-click and selecting 'paste' from the context menu. Two additional keys will appear. right-click on the first of these and set the interpolation to 'snap' (this was the initial key so interpolation wasn't set)
8)rinse and repeat: you can then copy those keys, move the time slider over by one complete cycle and paste new versions and flesh out your time line.
I uploaded a zip file containing a video and sample model that employs the technique. You'll notice that the the blinker casts a red glow on the neighboring parts.
Let me know how it works out.
John