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gdbaldw / BlenderAndMBDyn

Combines Blender's graphical interface and rendering capabilities with MBDyn's multi-body dynamics, aerodynamics, and aeroelastics simulation and analysis, for rapid modeling and realistic rendering of physics based multi-body simulations.
GNU General Public License v3.0
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Blender 2.69 Ubuntu 14.04 - MBDyn addon - No 'Actions' tab for 'Run MBDyn' #5

Closed timgow closed 8 years ago

timgow commented 8 years ago

Hi, I have Blender 2.69 and MBDyn 1.6.1 installed on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. I would like to use the github.com/gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn addon for Blender. The addon goes ahead within Blender but I don't get the 'Actions' tab to select 'MBDyn file', 'Run MBDyn' etc.. Please give any suggestions. blendermbdyn-gdbaldw_installvideo blendermbdyn-ubuntu1404lts Tim

louisgag commented 8 years ago

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your question. Unfortunately the addon is not very stable with Blender 2.69. The tabs don't show clearly and the pop-ups are delayed. I strongly recommend you download the latest Blender version from the official website, on Ubuntu that download is ready to run out of the box without even compiling.

Have a nice week-end,

-Louis

On 18-Sep-2015 01:35 PM, timgow wrote:

Hi, I have Blender 2.69 and MBDyn 1.6.1 installed on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. I would like to use the github.com/gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn addon for Blender. The addon goes ahead within Blender but I don't get the 'Actions' tab to select 'MBDyn file', 'Run MBDyn' etc.. Please give any suggestions. blendermbdyn-gdbaldw_installvideo https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/14345444/9958432/b749b35a-5e01-11e5-8339-7f9c2ee6057e.JPG blendermbdyn-ubuntu1404lts https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/14345444/9958433/b74e6058-5e01-11e5-9339-f1ad6fb0bbd3.JPG Tim

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn/issues/5.

Louis Gagnon, Ph.D. Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali Politecnico di Milano

timgow commented 8 years ago

Hi Louis, Thank you for your quick reply, much appreciated. I'm looking forward to using MBDyn within Blender, this is a fantastic project. Enjoy your weekend too Tim

p.s. Do you have any experience using FEA flexible elements with MBDyn and Blender?

On Fri, 18/9/15, louisgag notifications@github.com wrote:

Subject: Re: [BlenderAndMBDyn] Blender 2.69 Ubuntu 14.04 - MBDyn addon - No 'Actions' tab for 'Run MBDyn' (#5) To: "gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn" BlenderAndMBDyn@noreply.github.com Cc: "timgow" tim@gowingeng.co.uk Date: Friday, 18 September, 2015, 12:49

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your question.

Unfortunately the addon is not very stable with Blender 2.69. The tabs

don't show clearly and the pop-ups are delayed.

I strongly recommend you download the latest Blender version from the

official website, on Ubuntu that download is ready to run out of the box

without even compiling.

Have a nice week-end,

-Louis

On 18-Sep-2015 01:35 PM, timgow wrote:

Hi,

I have Blender 2.69 and MBDyn 1.6.1 installed on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. I

would like to use the github.com/gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn addon for

Blender. The addon goes ahead within Blender but I don't get the

'Actions' tab to select 'MBDyn file', 'Run MBDyn' etc..

Please give any suggestions.

blendermbdyn-gdbaldw_installvideo

https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/14345444/9958432/b749b35a-5e01-11e5-8339-7f9c2ee6057e.JPG

blendermbdyn-ubuntu1404lts

https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/14345444/9958433/b74e6058-5e01-11e5-9339-f1ad6fb0bbd3.JPG

Tim

—

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub

https://github.com/gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn/issues/5.

--

Louis Gagnon, Ph.D.

Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali

Politecnico di Milano

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

louisgag commented 8 years ago

Personally I don't, but you may find some tips on the "Cantilever" video posted by Doug Baldwin: https://www.youtube.com/user/baldwintechnology/videos Doug is also actively coding the interface at the moment and looking for as much feedback as possible, so don't hesitate to request any missing feature! -Louis

On 18-Sep-2015 02:46 PM, timgow wrote:

Hi Louis, Thank you for your quick reply, much appreciated. I'm looking forward to using MBDyn within Blender, this is a fantastic project. Enjoy your weekend too Tim

p.s. Do you have any experience using FEA flexible elements with MBDyn and Blender?

On Fri, 18/9/15, louisgag notifications@github.com wrote:

Subject: Re: [BlenderAndMBDyn] Blender 2.69 Ubuntu 14.04 - MBDyn addon

  • No 'Actions' tab for 'Run MBDyn' (#5) To: "gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn" BlenderAndMBDyn@noreply.github.com Cc: "timgow" tim@gowingeng.co.uk Date: Friday, 18 September, 2015, 12:49

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your question.

Unfortunately the addon is not very stable with Blender 2.69. The tabs

don't show clearly and the pop-ups are delayed.

I strongly recommend you download the latest Blender version from the

official website, on Ubuntu that download is ready to run out of the box

without even compiling.

Have a nice week-end,

-Louis

On 18-Sep-2015 01:35 PM, timgow wrote:

Hi,

I have Blender 2.69 and MBDyn 1.6.1 installed on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. I

would like to use the github.com/gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn addon for

Blender. The addon goes ahead within Blender but I don't get the

'Actions' tab to select 'MBDyn file', 'Run MBDyn' etc..

Please give any suggestions.

blendermbdyn-gdbaldw_installvideo

https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/14345444/9958432/b749b35a-5e01-11e5-8339-7f9c2ee6057e.JPG

blendermbdyn-ubuntu1404lts

https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/14345444/9958433/b74e6058-5e01-11e5-9339-f1ad6fb0bbd3.JPG

Tim

—

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub

https://github.com/gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn/issues/5.

Louis Gagnon, Ph.D.

Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali

Politecnico di Milano

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn/issues/5#issuecomment-141441940.

Louis Gagnon, Ph.D. Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali Politecnico di Milano

timgow commented 8 years ago

Louis, I have removed Blender2.69 and installed version 2.75a, but I have the same issue: No 'Actions' menu within the MBDyn tab (image attached). I downloaded BlenderAndMBDyn-master.zip from https://github.com/gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn. Is the MBDyn executable location or working directory set within the Python script or interface within Blender? Tim

--- On Fri, 18/9/15, Tim at Gowing Engineering tim@gowingeng.co.uk wrote:

From: Tim at Gowing Engineering tim@gowingeng.co.uk Subject: Re: [BlenderAndMBDyn] Blender 2.69 Ubuntu 14.04 - MBDyn addon - No 'Actions' tab for 'Run MBDyn' (#5) To: "gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn" reply@reply.github.com Date: Friday, 18 September, 2015, 13:43 Hi Louis, Thank you for your quick reply, much appreciated. I'm looking forward to using MBDyn within Blender, this is a fantastic project. Enjoy your weekend too Tim

p.s. Do you have any experience using FEA flexible elements with MBDyn and Blender?

On Fri, 18/9/15, louisgag notifications@github.com wrote:

Subject: Re: [BlenderAndMBDyn] Blender 2.69 Ubuntu 14.04 - MBDyn addon - No 'Actions' tab for 'Run MBDyn' (#5) To: "gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn" BlenderAndMBDyn@noreply.github.com Cc: "timgow" tim@gowingeng.co.uk Date: Friday, 18 September, 2015, 12:49

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your question.

Unfortunately the addon is not very stable with Blender 2.69. The tabs

don't show clearly and the pop-ups are delayed.

I strongly recommend you download the latest Blender version from the

official website, on Ubuntu that download is ready to run out of the box

without even compiling.

Have a nice week-end,

-Louis

On 18-Sep-2015 01:35 PM, timgow wrote:

Hi,

I have Blender 2.69 and MBDyn 1.6.1 installed on Ubuntu

14.04 LTS. I

would like to use the

github.com/gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn addon for

Blender. The addon goes ahead within Blender but I don't get the

'Actions' tab to select 'MBDyn file', 'Run MBDyn' etc..

Please give any suggestions.

blendermbdyn-gdbaldw_installvideo

https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/14345444/9958432/b749b35a-5e01-11e5-8339-7f9c2ee6057e.JPG

blendermbdyn-ubuntu1404lts

https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/14345444/9958433/b74e6058-5e01-11e5-9339-f1ad6fb0bbd3.JPG

Tim

—

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub

https://github.com/gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn/issues/5.

--

Louis Gagnon, Ph.D.

Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali

Politecnico di Milano

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

       

 

louisgag commented 8 years ago

Hi again Tim, I think you have to open the simulators pane and click "+" to create a new "initial value". Then you can write the proper MBDyn path and once this is done you can click the "run simulation" button which appears. Cheers, -Louis

gdbaldw commented 8 years ago

Hi Tim, Yes, the GUI has evolved and is becoming stable. The "Actions" panel was removed, and replaced with the "Simulators" panel. The more recent videos show: 1) Create an Initial value simulator in the Simulators panel, 2) Run the Initial value simulation, 3) Animate the objects. When you change your model after creating the simulator, your button labeled "Run the simulation" disappears, until you select you simulator again, at which time an updated MBDyn input file is created. Cheers, -Doug

timgow commented 8 years ago

Hi Doug, Thank you for your mail; I was a bit slow to realise that the BAM v2 videos were BlenderAndMBDyn related and not a different topic of yours. I am developing and scaling-up an experimental heat engine, and wish to use MBDyn to calculate bearing loads and check dynamic activity of a slender guided rod. I am so pleased to discover your Blender project and I'm looking forward to gaining from the many advantages. My ambitions included accounting for rod to bush clearance and the use of FEA flexible elements (component mode synthesis). In the previous BAM interface, it was possible to import a .mov file, is this also possible in v2? (useful for existing MBDyn simulation runs) Can FEA flexible elements currently be included in a BAM analysis? Can the 'tessellated surface' of an FEA mesh be used for the representation of the body within the Blender environment?

I really appreciate all of the work that has gone into developing this interface for our multi-body simulations.

Tim

On Fri, 18/9/15, gdbaldw notifications@github.com wrote:

Subject: Re: [BlenderAndMBDyn] Blender 2.69 Ubuntu 14.04 - MBDyn addon - No 'Actions' tab for 'Run MBDyn' (#5) To: "gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn" BlenderAndMBDyn@noreply.github.com Cc: "timgow" tim@gowingeng.co.uk Date: Friday, 18 September, 2015, 15:10

Hi Tim,

Yes, the GUI has evolved and is becoming stable. The "Actions" panel was removed, and replaced with the "Simulators" panel. The more recent videos show: 1) Create an Initial value simulator in the Simulators panel, 2) Run the Initial value simulation, 3) Animate the objects. When you change your model after creating the simulator, your button labeled "Run the simulation" disappears, until you select you simulator again, at which time an updated MBDyn input file is created.

Cheers,

-Doug

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

timgow commented 8 years ago

Louis, Thank you for the BAM v2 video links also, the penny hadn't dropped, B-and-M Duh! Thanks, Tim

On Fri, 18/9/15, louisgag notifications@github.com wrote:

Subject: Re: [BlenderAndMBDyn] Blender 2.69 Ubuntu 14.04 - MBDyn addon - No 'Actions' tab for 'Run MBDyn' (#5) To: "gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn" BlenderAndMBDyn@noreply.github.com Cc: "timgow" tim@gowingeng.co.uk Date: Friday, 18 September, 2015, 14:28

Hi again Tim,

I think you have to open the simulators pane and click "+" to create a new "initial value".

Then you can write the proper MBDyn path and once this is done you can click the "run simulation" button which appears.

Cheers,

-Louis

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

gdbaldw commented 8 years ago

Hi Tim,

A stand alone .mov import tool is available here: https://github.com/zanoni-mbdyn/mbdyn-blender. An Import feature may be integrated into BAM v2 later, though we've yet to make a decision on its implementation.

BAM v2 is capable of modeling and simulating all MBDyn entities. If you need an MBDyn entity that is not code yet, just let me know so that we may prioritize it.

Blender can import, for example, STL file formats. Once imported, your tessellated surface mesh may be linked to a new Blender Object, and then link the Blender Object to the motion data of an MBDyn animated node.

You are welcomed! Enjoy!

-Doug

timgow commented 8 years ago

Doug, Thank you for the STL / surface mesh direction, I'll read up further. The .mov import tool should work for me until I'm fully transferred over to BAM. Enjoy the weekend Tim

On Fri, 18/9/15, gdbaldw notifications@github.com wrote:

Subject: Re: [BlenderAndMBDyn] Blender 2.69 Ubuntu 14.04 - MBDyn addon - No 'Actions' tab for 'Run MBDyn' (#5) To: "gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn" BlenderAndMBDyn@noreply.github.com Cc: "timgow" tim@gowingeng.co.uk Date: Friday, 18 September, 2015, 16:34

Hi Tim,

A stand alone .mov import tool is available here: https://github.com/zanoni-mbdyn/mbdyn-blender. An Import feature may be integrated into BAM v2 later, though we've yet to make a decision on its implementation.

BAM v2 is capable of modeling and simulating all MBDyn entities. If you need an MBDyn entity that is not code yet, just let me know so that we may prioritize it.

Blender can import, for example, STL file formats. Once imported, your tessellated surface mesh may be linked to a new Blender Object, and then link the Blender Object to the motion data of an MBDyn animated node.

You are welcomed! Enjoy!

-Doug

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

timgow commented 8 years ago

Doug, I've followed the BAM_v2 rigid body tutorial, navigated my way around blender and now have an animation of the falling body from MBDyn results - that's a lot of fun. I noticed a couple of differences between my interface and that in the video, I reckon that's down to your development of the code: 1) now there's no need to go off and create the 'Constant drive' as it's in the list when defining the structural force and 2) the Rigid offset instance has no location xyz or Euler rotation angle fields.  This second item didn't effect the current example case but I not sure about adjusting the position and attitude of the offset in a more complex case; do I use the blender 'transform' tool rather than a BAM tool?

In the post-processing stage of the tutorial, I get a problem when attempting to plot the force on the 'body', please see the attached screen shot. ImportError: No module named 'pandas' Is the graphing task performed by Pandas Python Data Analysis Library from http://pandas.pydata.org ? I'm using Ubuntu 14.04 with Python showing up as version 2.7.6, do I need a particular version of Pandas, current download is release 0.17.0 ?

I appreciate your provision of this interface for our multi-body dynamic simulation. Tim

On Fri, 18/9/15, gdbaldw notifications@github.com wrote:

Subject: Re: [BlenderAndMBDyn] Blender 2.69 Ubuntu 14.04 - MBDyn addon - No 'Actions' tab for 'Run MBDyn' (#5) To: "gdbaldw/BlenderAndMBDyn" BlenderAndMBDyn@noreply.github.com Cc: "timgow" tim@gowingeng.co.uk Date: Friday, 18 September, 2015, 16:34

Hi Tim,

A stand alone .mov import tool is available here: https://github.com/zanoni-mbdyn/mbdyn-blender. An Import feature may be integrated into BAM v2 later, though we've yet to make a decision on its implementation.

BAM v2 is capable of modeling and simulating all MBDyn entities. If you need an MBDyn entity that is not code yet, just let me know so that we may prioritize it.

Blender can import, for example, STL file formats. Once imported, your tessellated surface mesh may be linked to a new Blender Object, and then link the Blender Object to the motion data of an MBDyn animated node.

You are welcomed! Enjoy!

-Doug

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

       

 

gdbaldw commented 8 years ago

Hi TIm,

Blender Object orientation and position may be set with the Blender interface, and for convenience it is also provided in Elements Panel, Selected Objects -> Object Specifications. This convenience function may not be in your version, but will be posted to github in a day or so.

Pandas for both Python v2 and Python v3 are required, v2 for you Linux environment and v3 for the embedded Python within Blender. I believe most any recent version of Pandas will do.

-Doug

timgow commented 8 years ago

Doug, I will look out for the next BAM release wrt object position and orientation, and install Pandas for plotting results, thank you. I am really appreciative of the existence of the BAM open-source interactive multi body dynamics simulation. A while back I worked with loads provided by MDI/Adams for finite element stress models of engine components and later used FE flexible body data within MSC/Adams to determine crankshaft stresses inclusive of system dynamic effects. I have ambitions of using the component mode synthesis capability within MBDyn to predict loadings within a low mass crank train; the finite element stress prediction will have to be decoupled from the MBDyn, for now. What are your future plans for MB simulation? Do you see CMS flexible bodies within the BAM environment? The output of MBS-FEA coupled component stresses would be fantastic, in open-source. Tim

On 21 Sep 2015, at 20:33, gdbaldw notifications@github.com wrote:

Hi TIm,

Blender Object orientation and position may be set with the Blender interface, and for convenience it is also provided in Elements Panel, Selected Objects -> Object Specifications. This convenience function may not be in your version, but will be posted to github in a day or so.

Pandas for both Python v2 and Python v3 are required, v2 for you Linux environment and v3 for the embedded Python within Blender. I believe most any recent version of Pandas will do.

-Doug

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

gdbaldw commented 8 years ago

Tim, Latest is released. At the moment, this is a hobby for me, and my interest is having stable code and an active user community. The MBDyn "mode" element appears to be for CMS, so yes it may be possible. The use case is more complex than usual, with perhaps many nodes, etc., so a workflow would need to be developed, etc. I have no specific plans for this, but on a quick survey it appears doable. -Doug