STE Group Project: Marble Machine

For the STE projects, we could either choose from creating a Marble Machine simulation or creating a basketball through a hoop simulation. The group I joined in choose to make a rigid body simulation with Houdini. We each created 2-3 objects in maya, and layed them out together in Houdini.

For the fist section of the machine we started the little marble out on top of a small and simple podium.

Using the pin constraint and attaching an RDB object node to the marble, we used the location of the pin to cause the marble to swing forward as if it was being pushed by something. All of these nodes can be found up in the toolbar under the rigid bodies tab.

For the second part of the machine, the marble rolls down the first slide, which we assigned a static node to in order to keep the marble from rolling straight through it.

After the marble ran down the first slide, it goes into a cylinder that has also been assigned to be a static object to allow the marble to interact with it realistically. So, it ran around the cylinder in smaller and smaller circles until it went down the middle of the cylinder.

Once the little marble goes down the center of the cylinder cone, it slides down the second slide like it did the first. Like the first slide, the second is also a static object in order for the slide to work realistically with the marble.

After making its way down the slide, the marble hits a simple paddle (also with a static node attached to it)  and the paddle and hits the top of the paddle propelling it forward and downwards. 

Above is The paddle on its way down to the next object we have layer out in the scene- a teeter-totter with another marble on the other end of it. (the teeter totter being a static object while the new marge is an RBD object in order for its motion to work.)

The last image if of the marble being flipped off of the totter and into the final prop- a basket for it to gently rest in for the end!

To conclude, a lot of obstacles caused this project to last a bit longer then we originally projected: including a lot of bounding box issues to overcome as well as the static geometry not allowing the marble to roll down it correctly. Troubleshooting and some very loud screeching at the computer allowed eventual victory! It was a great way to learn a bit more about the way the rigid body systems work in Houdini. It's a bit different then maya, so it was different learning about the ways to do the same thing in maya through Houdini tools. 

The members of this team included 

Kaycee Kendrick (  http://kayceekendrick.blogspot.com  )

Drew Kedra ( http://drewkedra.blogspot.com ) 

Emily Childrey (current blog)