I've long had an interest in marble rollercoasters, which you also find under searches for marble runs, kinetic sculptures, and rolling ball sculptures. Here are examples of what I'm thinking of. Of course, I think this would be a great thing to try out Newton Physics with! There's even an example of a funnel and spiral in the samples which has some similarities. But I was hoping to make a simple example to learn the concepts, not yet using the extended materials.

I've been trying all kinds of settings changes, and it seems to get worse with each go-around. And I learned the hard way that I have to delete out the old keyframes before re-simulating. I've looked at the plugin page, but it is rather vague on what reasonable ranges are for Softness, Elasticity, Static Friction, and Kinetic Friction, as well as what lower values do vs higher values (one exception to this is Density, where it says "In the real world the highest known density has Iridium with a density value from 22.42", which is very helpful, although a couple of examples of other real-life materials through the spectrum would be helpful.). Also, does the patch density of an object make a difference? There is no information on Newton Physics in the Reference Manual.

Anyone want to give it a go? Anyone with suggestions and a little more explanation on the values?

I've attached my project, but as I've said, I've changed all of the values and it's not working right.

Mouseman---

GREAT usage example for newton!

I did not download your project file...but instead was inspired to give it a whirl with a fresh start(sorry). I performed possibly 40 simulations to get this: (V15 Project attached) AND I am rendering a movie to post as soon as I can... WARNING: Do not try to stop a simulation until it has finished or you will be 'shown the desktop'...

I found that the density was best left at around 1...I may have dinked it 'heavier' to 1.03 or so... YES, you DO need to delete all the simulation keyframes before you re-simulate or you can get a weird 'additive' mix with your new and old sims...

MOST of the work I did was adjusting the track to hold the ball... I noticed some of the 3D max examples you posted had the ball 'contained' by 4 track-rails. That would have been a good cheat. I also adjusted and readjusted the 'softness'-'elasticity'-'static friction' and 'kinetic friction' for both the ball and the track...


I also noticed, that like in real life... one sim will be totally different than the next-even though the settings remain the same. If anyone wants to play with RE-simulating this project simply click on the BALL in the chor and delete all of it's animated keyframes (EXCEPT for the ones on frame 1...those contain the location data for where the ball starts off) and then right click on the chor or in the main window and select PLUG-INS>simulate Newton...and stand back and watch as A:M and Newton animate the gravity in your scene...

WARNING: Do not try to stop a simulation until it has finished or you will be 'shown the desktop'...

I'll post the movie once it commences render.

I'll be happy to try to answer any inquiries.
THANKS for getting the ball rolling-figuratively- on this, MOUSEMAN! If I get a chance I'll peruse your project...

HERE's that YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2OynevFsF4

And the project is in the above post...Have FUN!

very neat - love that little jump of the marble as it's rolling down the track (towards the end of movie)

Nice sample John .
For the desktop thing I will look tomorrow :-)

And for the threadstarter . What I#m seen from Your project is , that you are using a very small model , that should be simulated . In this case set "Scale world" to ON in the choreography newton properties.
Than the project will be simulated correct .

And another hint , before You simulate Newton , save Your projectfile , than You can simple "Revert" the whole project without needing to delete the created keyframes .

John, that's pretty cool.

Steffen, good tip to revert project, rather than deleting the keyframes.

I get "this video is no longer available"

Stefan---GREAT! It pays to post a project file!

RobCat--- I just checked... the YouTube link 'seems' to still be working just fine...there's been 22 views now. Try again, maybe in another browser...?

John, I loved your demo! Brilliant! Very inspirational!

Stefan, thanks for the hint! That was exactly what my (main) problem was! By the way, how small is small where "Scale world" makes sense? (oh, no, I have It's A Small World Afterall running through my head)

Thanks MouseMan! You started it all!
I *think* that another way to do what Stefan is telling you to do (Once again...haven't looked at your .prj) would be to scale up the model IN the model window...so that in the chor it dispalys at it's true size, 100%. And make sure it is perfectly centered... and be ready to do LOTS of simulations...

sim...tweek...sim...tweek...sim...tweek...sim...tweek...sim...tweek...sim...twee
k...

John, you got it wrong, it's sim...revert...tweek...sim...revert...tweek...sim...revert...tweek.

Ok, it finally played. Makes me want to recreate "Mousetrap". that would be a cool Newton demo.

That's the EXACT sound the hard drive on my PC makes right before it reboots and I get the Blue Field of Fatality.



-vern

Let Newton write his logfile , this is telling such problems

From the logfile

Shortcut to Ball
dynamic object (convex hull)
Model too small . Simulation for this model may be not correct
density 1
volume 0.001
mass 0.001 kg
mass center 0 0 0

So Stefan---

If MouseMan were to scale-up his model in the model window and leave it at 100% in the choreography things should go better for him...right?

OH--- and for anyone who downloaded my project... I realized that my NORMALS were flipped on the ball and on 1 of the track-rails and that is a NO-NO. Newton Dynamics LIKES it's normals 'out' and it's models 'centered' on all 3 axis and at 100% scale in the choreography.

Your right MTPeak, AND...Sim...revert...tweek...SAVE...sim...revert...tweek...SAVE...Let's see Vern's Mac make that sound.

Yes , a dynamic object should have at minimum a radius from 3 cm , otherwise you need the scale world option .



That's right