With a background in science from the University of Delft in Holland, Theo Jansen's kinetic sculptures inspire a sense of wonder at the complexity of nature. For the past 10 years, he has explored the idea of making mechanisms that walk in the wind, ultimately generating a series of "beasts" that rome the beaches living out their own lives. While there are a full series of sculptures, I found the Animaris Rhinoceros sculpture particularly interesting. I decided that I would need to create an interactive digital model of the system to understand the mechanics behind the design. The digital model uses Inverse Kinematics and Bones in 3D Studio Max to create the connections needed for the machine. Essentially, each side of the model is rigged with Inverse Kinematic solvers and then parented to an invisible "Crank" in the middle. By rotating the center crank (named Crank1) around the Y-axis, the system begins to "walk" forwards or backwards depending on the rotation of the crank. Once the initial rig is created, it can be instanced to create the full system as shown in Mr. Jansens actual sculpture.
Download Animaris Rhinoceros.zip (3D Studio Max 9 size: 39k)
Note: This software and its documents are in the public domain and are furnished "as is". The author, Andrew Payne, makes no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the usefulness of the software and documentation for any purpose. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/