how to animate a chain on a chainsaw

David_T

hey guys been trying to animate a chainsaw, and been having a slew of issues when using common techniques and cant figure out why its happening: my chains teeth get angled which is the main biggest issue i cant wrap my head around, it is upright when i setup the bones and such but once i apply the SplineIK solver it slightly skews the teeth any ideas ?

monster

Can you post a screenshot?

Is this for a game? If so, you should use a tiled and scrolling texture.

If not, just a path constraint should work well.

David_T

this would be intended for a game in a FP view so a tiled scrolling texture wouldnt be optimal, and i tried path constraining it but it keeps coming up with it being skewe instead of upright

monster

I attached a max file (2017) as an example.

1. Uses Path Constraint (not Spline IK)
2. Each object has a Look At target to the object in front of it.
3. Each object's Look At upnode is set to the same look at target.
4. There is one extra object that the last can target.

David_T

Awesome ill look into it ! , PS u should totally make a video explaining this, there is a huge lack of info around this online haha found 1 but was with a splineIKsolver

kwyjibo

If the end sections are perfectly circular and all the links are identical, it may be possible to rig up using only 4 bones. One bone for each straight section (animate these bones' translation) and one bone for each curved section (animate these bones' rotation). Animate it so that each section only moves the distance of one link, and then loop the animation. I have done this before for a tank like rig.

David_T

i got it! thanks again man, karmapoints galore your way haha