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I'm trying to create tank tracks and I've followed the steps outlined in the answer of this question How can I duplicate a mesh along a curve?

As long as the curve is somewhat straight the tracks align quite perfectly, but as soon as there is bend in the tracks, the connector thingy of the tracks do not want to align (red arrow in image) tanks tracks

I've tried moving the pivot of the individual track but I didn't improve the situation much..

How can I make sure that all my tracks align even if there's a curve in the path they follow?

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Markus-ipse
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1 Answers1

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There are generally three possibilities to cause such problem in this particular case:

  1. The resolution of the curve path, which is the least possible factor here;
  2. It seems that you are using Dupliface, it will also be curved by the Curve modifier see Figure 1;
  3. The edge of per panel should better coincide with the joint, in order to minimize the disjoint look. See Figure 2.

enter image description here enter image description here

I think the most accurate way is to use rigid body constraints, but that would be way too complicated comparing to this way. Hope it helps.

Leon Cheung
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  • I don't quite understand how you do this. Do you have an extra "panel" object that you use to dupliface? @Hummlas used a dupliframes, if I understand correctly. I don't get how you set the distance of the objects so that they overlap. – his Jan 24 '14 at 21:41
  • I must confess that I didn't quite under stand either, and yes I used dupliframes. regarding step 2: I do not use a Curve modifier and regarding step 3: when you say "edge per panel" do you mean the mesh origin? in that case moving it away from the center only seem to make the alignments worse. – Markus-ipse Jan 24 '14 at 22:09
  • @Hummlas Then would you like to upload the .blend file for better analysis? – Leon Cheung Jan 25 '14 at 05:21
  • @Hummlas There is no accurate way to do this just by using Duplications, because you need two hinges for each belt section, which is beyond the capability of Duplications. My suggestion is that you can either use Dupliface and follow my 3rd point, or use rigid body dynamics to do it accurately. – Leon Cheung Jan 25 '14 at 13:34
  • @LeonCheung ok, I was afraid of that, I think I'll just live with the poor alignment for now and if I need to close-ups of the tracks I'll look into body dynamics, thanks for the help :) – Markus-ipse Jan 26 '14 at 20:23