Sjack Abeling Gravity Wheel and the Worlds first Weight Power Plant

[Omnibus]

@Jubjub,

I was able to open it but haven't used the program for a long time. How do you start the motion? Just clicking on the Start button won't do any good. Probably it has to be rendered first or something.

[AquariuZ]

@All,

Check this out (see attached) at default values (air resistance off etc.) which I take to represent ideal conditions. The CCW rotation is observed also with much less grainy accuracy conditions, so it isn't an issue.

VERY interesting.

[AquariuZ]

I'm using 3ds max - A 30-day trial can be downloaded from http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=5659302&siteID=123112

I have uploaded my max-file to http://rapidshare.com/files/227559769/GravEng08_1.max (It's for Max 2009 and later)

@Omnibus,

You are both right and wrong about the whole trajectory thing.
If you model a a stone with a given weight, an unyielding groundplane, add some gravity and use max's Reactor to simulate the whole thing, the stone will drop to the ground (and bounce around depending of the amount of elasticity, friction and general surface shape).
However if you want to create a scene with a football penetrating a window you would set the animation up as you stated.
Something like animating the ball over 10 frames, and then let the physics system take over.

I've been using Max for more than 10 years, so I believe I've got the hang of it over the years. (My job is creating commercials, and visual effects for video and movies - how cool is that?  )

Downloading....

Thanks a lot!

AZ

[Jubjub]

@ Omnibus,

I wanted to make you a file with just one wheel, and decided to take the one that I allready uploaded and just delete the barriers and dumbbells on the far side.
Just for kicks I started the simulation... - And it kept running...
I don't rule out that I may have made some kind of mistake somewhere. That sort of thing happens all the time in my line of work (usually we are going by the "As long as it looks good it doesn't have to be realistic"-rule).

In my earlier attempt, where the wheel would come to a stop, I started to work with the size of the dumbbells, their weight, the wheels details and so on - When I decided to put in the extra wheel it actually might have been working with just one wheel - or my settings where too low. I really can't say.

Yes, I'm running the 2009 version - 2010 is lying next to me on the table, but I haven't gotten around to install it yet.
So just open the file, delete the far dumbbells and you should be ok to press the simulate button 

[Jubjub]

About the "How to start the simulation" question:

I think it will be enough to just watch this short video from Youtube - A reactor tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbVIu61fQcA