Rubber Band Inc: Caterpillar tracks.

[electronicfox]

Wheels are cool and all, but wouldnt you prefer wheels covered in more things? Of course you do, and so we present you the cutting-edge technology of caterpillar tracks (again, after a bit of a hiatus).

Behold the video!

That was just one of the prototype models, a proof of concept if you will.

Here is the most recent model, currently being textured ready for the latest tests.

Credit to EndlessWaves for the coding side of it all.

Edited April 24, 2013 by electronicfox

[ahappydude]

Aww yeah!Cheers

[Voidryder]

By my Great Aunt's Petunias, that is sweeeeeeeeeet! Excellent job!

[Camacha]

I feel crawler transporters coming up. And tanks. But I don't even have to mention those.

[ghost010]

thunder birds are go!!.sorry but that orange thing made me think of that

[Mekan1k]

Damn! That looks brilliant! I hope it becomes one of those 'must play with' mods.

Will you be making smaller versions for rovers or small cars?

[electronicfox]

We will indeed be making smaller versions for smaller vehicles, and a few variations too.

[Flixxbeatz]

I feel crawler transporters coming up. And tanks. But I don't even have to mention those.

Dude... don't give roleplay people ideas

[Swifty]

It's alive :-)

[KerbOrbiter]

Download, pleeeease

[electronicfox]

We are still undergoing some tests with the tracks, but for the most part all the functions are there.

As with all other modders here, I will be using the soonTM ability.

The tracks will be ready soon.

[ahappydude]

Take your time Looking forward to it when it comes

[TheCardinal]

It has been said over and over again: "Tracks cannot be made". I've never believed that and, judging by the video in the first post, you have succeeded in creating the impossible. (Ever thought about creating a perpetuum mobile?!) Well done!!

I looked at the 'proof of concept'video twice now and it really looks and acts like a tracked vehicle. I presume you would have released it by now if all obstacles have been removed and all problems solved. What are the things which still need to be addressed?

[ahappydude]

The collider setup must have taken some time ;O

[electronicfox]

Right now it would mostly be getting the textures for the tracks animated, and getting the suspension bars working, beyond that it would be making some final models and ditching the test pieces altogether.

This has been worked on since about January, but I have been pretty busy with work till now so progress went a little slowly, but Endlesswaves kept up the coding and made most of this possible.

Before the forums were nuked there was a thread where we discussed the theories on making tracks work properly (maybe they still exist somewhere in googles chache).

[electronicfox]

The collider setup is actually fairly simple, no more complex than a set of regular wheels. The tracks dont actually move at all, but rather bend with the movement of the wheels. A texture will then be animated over the tracks to give the illusion of movement.

[Itsdavyjones]

Excuse me while I plan my crawlers, rovers, and *classified* material.

[electronicfox]

By the way, if anyone has any particular track designs they'd want made for the pack, just let me know here.

[colmo]

By the way, if anyone has any particular track designs they'd want made for the pack, just let me know here.

I'd imagine there's a few Warhammer 40k treadheads wanting to build Rhinos, Chimeras, Land Raiders and the like.

[Tallinu]

This looks awesome. I hope there will be versions that can be side-mounted like the current rover wheels - I can't quite tell if the ones in the picture you posted are a single unit or just left and right track placed close together.

Also, I'm assuming these are electrically powered like the rover wheels, right? Is the sound playing during the video supposed to be an engine noise? That wouldn't make much sense...

Edited April 25, 2013 by Tallinu

[electronicfox]

There hasn't been any sound assigned to the tracks, so it may be the whooshy windy noise that occurs when you gather speed you're hearing.

they are currently electrically driven and can be side mounted (the set in the video is a whole single part, but the newer ones are two parts)

[TheCardinal]

We will indeed be making smaller versions for smaller vehicles, and a few variations too.

What models will you create? Will you include that proof of concept (or even larger ones)?

Ghost010 isn't the only one who has thought about the Thunderbirds (or more generally of the models used by Gerry Anderson).

[electronicfox]

The proof-of-concept piece will be replaced by better models, but I will likely keep a large set or two in the pack, as well as some probe-sized tracks.

[Blinkin]

It's time for the Thunderbirds with the Mole.

[electronicfox]

It's good to know there was a good demand for these

all I wanted to begin with was a small tracked rover, but now it's time to track ALL THE THINGS!

I can see these on large mining rigs when resource mining comes out.