Roller Coaster CAD Modeling - Part 1
Summary
TLDRIn this instructional video, Nick demonstrates a method for modeling a roller coaster in 3D CAD software, specifically using CATIA V5. He outlines the process from creating an axis system and overhead sketch to defining major features and side profile. The tutorial covers adjusting dimensions, applying formulas for automatic updates, and using the 'Law' command to wrap the side profile around the layout. Although the video focuses on a basic model without banking, Nick promises a follow-up to add more complexity, showcasing a hands-on approach to roller coaster design.
Takeaways
- 🎢 The video demonstrates a method for modeling a roller coaster in 3D CAD software, specifically using CATIA V5, which is commonly used in the automotive and aerospace industries.
- 🛠️ The presenter suggests that there are multiple ways to model a roller coaster, and this is just one of them, acknowledging that it may not be the best way but serves as an example.
- 📊 Matt from Print My Ride Detroit is mentioned for his videos on using No Limits software to design roller coasters and exporting vertex data to an Excel spreadsheet for further use in CAD programs.
- 📐 The process begins with creating an axis system and an overhead sketch of the roller coaster layout, starting with simple shapes like an oval for the example.
- 🔄 The model is adjustable, and dimensions can be modified later, but the presenter emphasizes the importance of having a complete circuit for the method to work properly.
- 📍 Major features of the roller coaster are identified and marked with points, such as the top of the lift, the bottom of the first drop, and the top of bunny hills.
- 📏 The use of formulas in the sketch allows for automatic updates when points are moved, providing a dynamic and flexible design process.
- 📉 The side profile of the roller coaster is created next, with the presenter detailing how to sketch the coaster's features, such as the lift hill, drops, and turns.
- 🔲 The 'Law' command is introduced to vary the value of a parameter, allowing the side profile to wrap around the layout track, creating a more realistic representation of the roller coaster.
- 🛤️ A reference surface is created to represent the ground, and the presenter discusses the process of adding banking to the roller coaster in a future video.
- 🛤️+ The final part of the script shows how to create the roller track, including the load-bearing wheels and side wheels, and how to adjust the design for a more realistic appearance.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video script?
-The main topic of the video script is demonstrating a method of modeling a roller coaster in 3D CAD software.
Who is the presenter of the video?
-The presenter of the video is Nick.
What CAD software is used in the video for the example?
-CATIA V5 is used in the video for the example, which is commonly used in the automotive and aerospace industries.
What is the first step Nick takes in the modeling process?
-The first step Nick takes is creating an axis system and an overhead sketch of the roller coaster layout.
Why does Nick choose to make an overhead sketch of the roller coaster layout?
-Nick makes an overhead sketch to establish the basic layout and dimensions of the roller coaster, which will serve as a foundation for the 3D model.
What is the significance of creating points at major features of the coaster in the modeling process?
-Creating points at major features helps to define key locations and heights of the roller coaster, making it easier to build the 3D model accurately and adjust the layout if needed.
What is the purpose of using the 'Law' command in the video?
-The 'Law' command is used to vary the value of a parameter, allowing the side profile of the roller coaster to wrap around the layout track dynamically.
How does Nick approach the design of the roller coaster's side profile?
-Nick sketches the side profile of the roller coaster, including the lift hill, drops, and turns, and then uses formulas and references to ensure accuracy and adjustability.
What historical reference does Nick make regarding the design of roller coasters without CAD software?
-Nick refers to Bob Kerr's design of the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, where he had to manually draw the side profile and overhead view on paper without the aid of CAD software.
What is the final step shown in the video script for the roller coaster model?
-The final step shown is creating the track of the roller coaster by drawing the shape of the track and mirroring it, which represents the load-bearing wheels and side wheels.
Does the video script cover the topic of roller coaster banking?
-No, the video script does not cover the topic of roller coaster banking. Nick mentions that he will cover it in a part two of the video.
What additional elements does Nick plan to add in a follow-up video?
-In a follow-up video, Nick plans to show how to add banking to the roller coaster model and possibly details like cross ties.
Outlines
🎢 Introduction to 3D CAD Roller Coaster Modeling
Nick introduces a method for modeling a roller coaster in 3D CAD software, emphasizing it's not the only way but one of the possible approaches. He references Matt's videos on 'Print My Ride Detroit' for an alternative method involving 'No Limits' software and Excel spreadsheets. The focus is on using CATIA V5, common in automotive and aerospace, to create an axis system and an overhead sketch for a simple roller coaster layout. Nick outlines the process of creating a basic oval-shaped layout with adjustable dimensions and explains the importance of constraints in the sketch.
📏 Sketching the Roller Coaster Layout and Key Points
The paragraph details the process of sketching the roller coaster's layout by placing points at major features such as the top of the lift hill and the bottom of the first drop. Nick discusses the importance of these points as reference for the side profile and mentions the flexibility of the method, allowing for adjustments later on. He also introduces the concept of using formulas to automatically update the layout when points are moved, providing a visual reference for the side profile of the roller coaster.
🛤️ Creating the Side Profile of the Roller Coaster
Nick proceeds to create the side profile of the roller coaster by sketching the major features and using lines to represent the layout in a straightened form. He explains the use of formulas to ensure the lines update automatically with any changes to the points. The paragraph also covers adjusting the angles and heights of the roller coaster's features, such as the lift hill and bunny hills, to create a realistic profile. The process involves refining the sketch to ensure the roller coaster's design is visually coherent and functionally sound.
🔗 Utilizing the Law Command for Profile Extrusion
In this section, Nick explains how to use the 'Law' command in CATIA to extrude the overhead layout and create the 3D form of the roller coaster. He describes selecting the x-axis and defining the profile from start to end, then using the 'Law' command to vary the value of a parameter, allowing the side profile to wrap around the layout track. The paragraph covers the steps to create the centerline of the roller coaster and adjust the curvature for a more realistic and smoother design.
🛤️ Finalizing the Roller Coaster Track Design
The final paragraph covers the process of turning the centerline into an actual roller coaster track. Nick demonstrates how to create a Rocky Mountain Construction iron horse steel track, detailing the positioning of the load-bearing wheels and side wheels. He shows how to mirror the profile and use the 'Part Design' and 'Profile' commands to finalize the track shape. The paragraph concludes with a brief mention of adding banking in a future tutorial and a summary of the roller coaster's design without banking, inviting viewers to look forward to part two of the video.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡3D CAD Software
💡Roller Coaster Model
💡Axis System
💡Overhead Sketch
💡Lift Hill
💡First Drop
💡Bunny Hill
💡Side Profile
💡Law Command
💡Radius
💡Track
Highlights
Nick introduces a method for modeling a roller coaster in 3D CAD software, emphasizing it's not the only way but one of the possible approaches.
Mention of Matt's videos on 'Print My Ride Detroit' showcasing an alternative method using No Limits software and Excel for designing roller coasters.
Nick's past article on 'coaster101.com' from 2011, which details the process of turning a sketch into a free roller coaster model.
Use of CATIA V5, a CAD software predominantly used in automotive and aerospace industries, for the demonstration.
Creating an axis system and an overhead sketch for the roller coaster layout, starting with a simple oval shape.
Explanation of the adjustable nature of the roller coaster model, allowing for modifications and refinements later.
The process of trimming the sketch to end before a full circuit is completed, with plans to fill it in later.
Placing and renaming points at major features of the roller coaster, such as the start, top of the lift, and bottom of the first drop.
Introduction of the concept of using formulas in the sketch to automatically update when points are moved.
Creating a side profile of the roller coaster with lines and points to establish the major features' positions.
Use of the 'Law' command to vary the value of a parameter, allowing the side profile to wrap around the layout track.
Extruding the overhead layout to ensure it's taller than the tallest part of the side profile for proper modeling.
Adding radius to the roller coaster model to ensure it stays above ground level and to mimic real-world roller coaster design.
Historical note on how Bob Kerr designed the Matterhorn bobsleds without CAD software, using only paper and drawings.
Demonstration of adjusting the roller coaster's side profile to correct steepness and curvature for a more realistic design.
Creating a reference surface to act as the ground and using it to guide the roller coaster track's design.
Quick demonstration on how to turn the center line into a roller track, including the design of the track's load-bearing elements.
Plans for a part two of the video to show how to add banking to the roller coaster model and further details on construction.
Transcripts
hey this is nick quickly show you one
method of how to model a roller coaster
in 3d cad software now there are lots of
ways to do it i'm not saying this is the
best way i'm just saying showing you
this is one method how you might do it
matt over at print my ride detroit has
been uploading some great videos on
another way you can actually go and
design a roller coaster no limits to
software and then export all the vertex
data into an excel spreadsheet and then
you can
actually upload that directly into your
cab program whether that's solid works
or something else so that's that's
another method the way i'm going to show
you i actually wrote an article about
this back on
coaster101.com back in 2011 and it's
basically just taking a couple
of and turning that into a free
rollercoaster model so let's get started
here
so i'm using the
catia v5
for this example
which is mostly used the
automotive and aerospace industries
so the first thing i'm going to do
i'm going to make an axis system
where everything's going to be based off
of
and i'm going to make an overhead sketch
of the roller coaster layout
okay
oh i'm just going to make simple
kitty roller coaster so it's just gonna
be essentially like
an oval
layout
0
all right so
let's put a radius here so
12 foot diameter
turning
and
from here to here i'm just making up
these
dimensions
so in the end this thing they look kind
of wonky but
it's adjustable it can be fixed later
slap some
rinsing on here when it's all green that
means it's fully constrained
but however i don't think
for this method to work i don't think i
can have a complete
circuit exactly
but it can be filled in later
i'm going to just
trim this sound
dripping one of the wrong sides
i just want to end it right before
all right so the way that i'm looking at
this is station's going to be in
somewhere in here i'm going to go up a
lift hill
first drop somebody going to curve down
this
on this turn and then maybe like a bunny
hill or two on the street and then turn
around back in the station
that is our
overhead layout
maybe like the shorter
so if the lift starts maybe here
i don't know we'll figure it out
so there's the overhead lamp of the
coaster
so next
um i want to make some points
oh i know
uncurved
how far away
things are
curve
curve
zero
right there
forwards point
so i'm going to put the points at the
major features of the coaster so let's
say i want the top of the lift to be
here
it's going to be 12 feet in
so i'm going to rename these points
start
[Music]
too much
top of lift
this part you don't have to do
you could get by without this
let's say i want the bottom of the first
drop to be here
so that's going to be 32 feet from the
start
drop
it was eating the bottom of the first
drop is the reference point now the
start
i'll make sure the start is the
reference point
bottom of the first drop
so next i want to do the top of bunny
hill
make it there for now sure
and
say
bottom
video
whatever you want to call it
a little hill going around the curve
here at the the end
midpoint of the curve
right there
maybe we'll outside make that turn or
something i don't know
and then it's one final point
to bring it home
whenever we want to be flattened back
out so the station area is
flat
okay
next
i'm going to make sketch
and i'm just going to put lines
i'll start to here
so i want this
this tends to be the same as this
when i make my side profile
coaster
i know where
i
kind of wanted my major features to be
and you don't have to do this you could
kind of just eyeball it and
tweak it later but
it works and the reason i'm using
formulas here is if i move these points
around
these lines will automatically update
the length of these lines doesn't matter
a visual
reference
there's
all right
these are the lines
if you take this layout and lay it out
straight all the points on this curve
would coincide with these lines
right now you're probably thinking what
that
was like a waste of
time
hold on with bear with just bear with me
a minute here okay
thanks for hiding so next we're gonna
make the side profile of the coaster
should have put them in their own
geometrical step and i could just
hit that
oh all right so here's
our lines now we can start sketching the
coaster
start here
arrow
straight so this line
is where we wanted to have the top of
the
left hill
how high do we want to make our coaster
12 feet
down like this is a
backyard roller coaster or something
well that is a
very steep uh lift fill here angles that
48
45.
so it's pretty steep left hill
so i want to have a little more flat
here
here i think i'm actually going to move
our
top of our
still
so here this will show you how
everything
moves if i go back here
make this a little longer
hopefully this doesn't screw everything
up
all right
that line
all right
obviously i just want to know where this
line is because if the lift hill extends
past this it's going to start to be on
the curve the left hill needs to all be
all on this
straight
it's going to be like this
so we'll have a little flat at the top
the lift so then this one is the bottom
of the lift
we're going to start going down
bunny hill
back down
i'm going below
zero here
i'll show you why in a minute
and then we have one more little hill
here
back down
then flat into the station
this is our last
we're gonna
make sure that lines up
look at the roller coaster pretty sweet
wow
all right
now it's time to add some
radius in there
this is basically the ground
well i want to make sure everything ends
up being
above the ground
now in a real roller coaster i think
you'd have varying
varying radiuses to
make make sure the forces on the
trains or within the
allowable limits but for just for
example just a simple
curve is all we're going to do
radius they're going to be smaller ones
at the top left here
i think the
point up the lift i think is steeper
than the drop oh well
we'll change that later
pretty tight uh
curvature here only
three
two
two foot there
okay
on our little bunny hill
three big radius there
relatively speaking
there
and there
and this this line is dotted because
it's a construction line so you can see
when i go out of the sketch uh it won't
be there it'll just show the side
profile
so if i go here
and hide these
there's the side profile view of our
rollercoaster
a little funky but
get the idea
now the crazy thing to me is this is
relatively how
bob kerr designed the matterhorn bob's
bobsleds he basically on paper he didn't
have cad software on paper he had to
draw a
side profile on the overhead view and
come up with the layout that way
not just one code track but two tracks
and you have to avoid the supports for
the balance structure as well
which is crazy to me
all right
so next we need to get this side profile
to wrap around the layout track
that's one thing we're going to do we're
going to use what's called the law
command which allows you to vary the
value of a parameter
so reference
select the
x-axis
here
the definition will be profile
like that start to end
okay
there in the tree come back to that
second
so we're going to
extrude our overhead layout
i want to make sure it's taller than the
tallest part of
the side profile
now we do
parallel
curve command
curve is going to be overhead layout
plane is going to be
surface we just made
now for constant we're going to go to
law
we're going to select the law
just made
see here the tallest part of the ride is
12 feet
second hill's 5 feet and so on
close
now
let's see
there is our
center line of our roller coaster
now it's looking like something
a little thicker
change the color
see there's our lift hill
first drop
your time hill
crazy funky
turn at the end
so the radius on here is pretty tight so
that looks kind of funky so
let's go back in
to our sketch
just like this
bigger and more smooth
back to here
[Music]
update this
more of a gentle
turn
all right
so we've got the center line
uh
next
we're gonna make a sweet
reference surface
a little guide curve
like this reference surface it's going
to be the ground essentially
we're going to choose
xy plane
and for now i'm just going to make it so
it's zero
come out the foot on each side
so for this video i think i'm just going
to
keep it like that i'll do an uh part two
later where i show you how to add
banking but basically you're just gonna
take this
you're gonna make you're gonna make
another scat 2d sketch just like your
profile but that sketches where the
angles
and over here instead of having zero
degrees happen instead of having the
track essentially
parallel to the ground the whole time
you just make another
sketch and make another law and then you
apply the law here and that will rotate
that angle
using uh the laws now using the method
we kind of just used
but i just want to quickly show you this
oh
so the next thing you can do
you want to like if you have a service
here how do you make uh turn this into a
roller track
draw
track here
so let's say i want to make like
rocky mountain construction
iron horse steel track
um so typically if this is your center
line of where the riders are the track
would be
you know much lower here because that
needs to be where that roughly where the
heart of the riders are
but for this
purpose of this quick demonstration i'm
just going to make the track basically
tangent with the
center line
the here mount construction
tracks especially this sort of shape so
you have the
weight bearing load bearing wheels on
top
and side wheels like friction wheels
here and then the upside wheels here
so
just make this shape
and mirror it
except this profile here
part design
profile
center curve
put that reference surface in there so
that's what you need to select this
there now it will look better
i will hide
[Music]
there
like that
and change the background color to white
on this the macro
automatically switches it
there is just
a quick
roller coaster
again it looks a little
funky because the
videos
let's go back in
to your
my profile sketch
and that's hard to see because i changed
it to white change it back to purple
you can make
those a little
vary the angles
make these
more smooth
so on and so on
you get the idea
make the first drop
and steeper
we're probably gonna screw up something
we have more of a flat on the top
but we can get bigger
radiuses up here
and just drop let's see how that looks
date
there's a little flat on the turn
that starts to go down this drop
nice little airtime hill here
and this little mermaid turn and back to
the station
so again that's with no banking
i don't want to make this video too long
so i'll leave it at that and then
later i will do a part two show you how
we make this turn
and then you can start adding
cross ties
and yeah turn into a roller coaster so
yeah
again this is just one method there's
lots of different methods of
water roller coasters so if you have any
questions or comments uh
in the
comments below thanks for watching
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