Algodoo

Wow! Lots of buttons to push, and they do rather interesting things! This scene keeps getting better all the time!

Looks great, and no problems!

Nice!

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It functioned fairly well, but every now and then an empty casing would "stove pipe". Other than that (and the fact that it's missing the grip safety) you did a good job on it.

How 'bout the M134 "minigun" like the one Jesse Ventura blasted the forest with in the movie Predator? (I doubt that any person in real life could carry a few thousand rounds of ammo while holding and shooting a minigun!) The minigun is typically mounted on and fired from a helicopter or from a Hum-Vee. It's an awesome weapon, and I doubt that anyone could make one with Algdoo with the same rate of fire as a real one.

Thanks! Yes, that poor catfish is a bit freaky.

Thanks, ngphil!

Wow, now that's what I call confidence!

You said, "incredibly simple". Are we talking about the same gun?

Yes, I believe you're right. Every time I watch Predator (I've seen it probably 8 or 10 times) I always wonder where Jesse Ventura keeps the battery to run the minigun motor. I suspect that it's fairly large (I would guess about the size of a motorcycle battery).

Okay, I'm anxious to see how you are going to make a minigun. Good luck!

Your scene does not have a copy of the texture stored with it. If you load Carl00s01's "Realistic Fire" scene, you will see that it has the texture file stored along with it. You can get his texture this way:
1. Load his scene, and then save it in your Algodoo folder on your hard drive.
2. Using Explorer, Rename his scene from Realistic_Fire.PHZ to Realistic_Fire.ZIP.
3. Unzip the file and save the results. You should have two files and a folder. The folder is named Textures. Open that Textures folder, and you should see the texture file that you need. MOVE (or copy) that file to your Algodoo Textures folder. Next time you load and run your scene, the texture should be correct.

I did not actually try this myself, but it should work because I have done this with other scenes.


On second thought, why don't you simply load his scene? Then you would have everything you need! At that point you could add your own items for your own scene, but be sure to give Carl00s01 credit for the original design of the realistic fire.

Good job, Spider11!

You should take a look at the Algobox archives because there have been many other laser cutter scenes, and many of them are much better than this one. You may be able to get some ideas for making a truly awesome cutting machine!

I know that you are new here so I'm just trying to be helpful.

Welcome to Algobox!

After many tries and many fails, I gave up trying to add textures to this great looking gun, so I'm going to just leave it as-is.

Thanks!

Nice job overall!

Just a couple of minor problems to report.
1. When using the drag tool to fire the gun, and with the selector on SAFE, the trigger goes all the way back and therefore fires the gun in semi-auto mode! This does not happen when using the Return key to fire.
2. When loading the magazine the first time, I accidentally pulled it into the mag well so hard that the magazine popped out of the top of the gun and blew out a few mechanical parts along with it! So, I reduced the strength of the drag tool, and discovered it was then too light because it would not fully engage the magazine catch. So, after tweaking the drag tool strength, I got it to where it was just right.

I wish there were a better way to load a magazine into a gun without using the drag tool. That's a basic problem that ALL gun scenes seem to have (not just yours). Maybe if someone could design some sort of mechanical feeding system that would actuate by pressing a key. That would be awesome!

Yeah, I like this version much better! No futzing around trying to load a magazine with the drag tool! And the gun functions very well. I still have a little trouble with the drag too (so maybe it's just ME!). This time (without changing any settings) I tried to rotate the selector from SAFE to AUTO, and the knob kept slipping past AUTO and ended up on SEMI. That happened because the drag tool acted like I was pulling the selector with a rubber band. Even while trying to rotate the selector to AUTO from SEMI, the same thing happened. Because of the rubbery drag tool, the selector would slip past AUTO and land on SAFE. I had to wrestle with it a number of times until I finally was able to make the selector stop on AUTO. I may not be doing it the same way you are, but I'm using my logic and common sense which doesn't seem to be working! So, I have no idea what's going on.

If you were able to make a tutorial video that shows you loading, selecting, and firing the gun, it might give me (and other people who have similar problems) a clue as to how to properly do it.

Sorry for the rambling.

ngphil - Because I have so much trouble with my drag tool, I wonder if maybe mine works differently from most other people's. Without changing any settings, it still acts like I'm pulling things with a rubber band. Does your drag tool operate that way too? If you tell me NO, then I'm sure that something is different in how my drag tool is set up. But if you tell me YES, then I have to assume that it's just ME, and for some reason I can't seem to use it correctly. Please let me know.

Thanks

Take a look at this video and see if you don't have the same issue with a rubbery grab tool:

http://youtu.be/MOfLtm9iPJI

But isn't that how a person would switch the selector on a real rifle? That's the way I moved the selector on an M16, with my thumb! How else can it be done?

Interesting scene! I never heard of Hottel or his string theory (or whatever it's called). I noticed that if I rotate either surface past 90 degrees (now facing away from other surface), then the F12 values become negative. But if I rotate BOTH surfaces so that they are both facing away from each other, then the values become positive. This doesn't seem logical, but not knowing anything about Hottel and his strings, it may be perfectly normal.

BTW - The surface 2 name is F21 (rather than F12). I assume that's a typo.

I learned something new today! (now I need to research Mr. Hottel and his amazing strings!

Nice! Your rubber band works better than the built in chain or rope because it doesn't explode when you stretch it! Good job!

Yes, I know Algodoo isn't real life (but thanks for telling me just in case I didn't know that). That's not a valid excuse for not making something as close to real life as possible. There are many things that we humans are used to doing in real life, such as pulling the trigger with your index finger. But since we cannot use our index finger in Algodoo, we have to improvise an alternative method, and (in my opinion) we need to explain in detail how the improvised methods are supposed to work since they are not usually intuitive. On a real selector, I use my thumb to change its position (as most people do) but since the author of a scene must use an alternative method to operate the selector, the procedure should be explained in detail in order so that people don't fumble around trying to figure out what was in the mind of the author.

I'm looking forward to seeing your video!

Burst mode works great! And using the arrow keys to work the selector is an excellent idea. I know that you don't like to write script if you can help it, but there are times when it surely makes things a lot easier and simpler! GOOD JOB!

Sure, if you want to! I'm sure it will look great!

Excellent video demo! And I see that your drag tool works exactly like mine. i.e., it has a rubbery pull to it. And now I see the trick to moving the selector with that rubbery drag tool. I also enjoyed the "X-ray vision" image of the mechanical components while the action was cycling. Very cool! It also adds to my amazement of how you were able to assemble all those parts and springs and hinges in such a tight space, while at the same time having them all work the way they are supposed to. I am totally impressed by that!

If you want me to, I could add some script that would make the selector move to any desired position simply by clicking the mouse on it. Of course you would get total credit for the gun, and I will only take credit for the script. If Okay with you, I'll give it a shot (pun intended! )

Yeah, people sometimes don't bother Rating a scene even if they like it a lot. I have some older scenes that have way over 1000 downloads, and great comments, but no ratings! I don't understand it.

Okay, question about the Bullpup. I want to modify the hinge that allows the selector to rotate, but in order to get to it I see that I have to go down through a couple of layers of other things like the frame polygon, and then the circle for the selector. I know that I have to ungroup a bunch of things that you grouped in order to get to that hinge, but can you give me some help here? I need a list of instructions that will allow me to get to the hinge, modify some of its parameters, and then put everything back so that it looks and functions correctly. How can I do that?

Cool! So what exactly does that do? And when finished modifying the hinge, do I reverse the action (scroll backward)?

Okay, I finished adding script to make mode selection with mouse click. BUT during the process I caused a jam, and so I need you to fix it. I cannot pull the bolt back to chamber a cartridge. I don't know what happened. After you fix it and upload it, I'll delete my temporary scene. Let me know how you like it (or hate it). I also added code that automatically makes the tool bars disappear while sim is running. The user has only the drag tool. I like using that feature because it prevents inexperienced users from accidentally moving things with the move tool. Let me know how you like that too.

It's my bed time, so I'll upload the scene and then hit the sack. I'll chat more with ya tomorrow.