It seems unlikely that I'll ever finish this, so I have decided to share the models with you. It was modelled from images so sizes are approximate (note i have modelled the whole thing 10 times actual size). I think most things are reasonably well split into groups/components.

Separate files for convenience:
frame.skp - 13.40MB
disc_brake.skp - 0.06MB
chain.skp - 0.41MB
pedal.skp - 0.80MB
gear.skp - 2.24MB
saddle.skp - 0.55MB
wheel.skp - 1.18MB

Thought it may be useful for someone

Enjoy!!

@slimdog said:

Hi Richard. I just came across this thread. Its a shame that I can only see the last couple of pix that you have posted. I have been wanting to model my mountain bike as well. It will be a long time before I can come any where near your quality of work. VERY impressive detail. I am also a welder by trade and was hoping to see what your welds turned out like. My first attempt is ok but I am not sure how I would wrap them around the miters in the tube. I have also tried to model some chain and cogs. The chain isnt to bad but I see where you came across the problem of making the teeth the same distance apart on different size cogs.

If you are ever up in the Vancouver area PM me and we can go for a ride.

S

Slimdog,
I changed servers on my website a while ago, and didn't transfer all the images over - I've uploaded most of them back to their original locations, so you (or anyone else who is interested) should be able to see these now.

The spacing of the gears was quite difficult hence why I ended up using autocad. I seem to remember finding the chain quite difficult aswell - taking the non-uniform shape that the chain followed and making sure it was made up of an equal number of uniform sized segments was quite awkward.

Unfortunately I haven't had time to work on this since my last post. I haven't really had time to work on any other sketchup models either (apart from work related ones). One day I'll get more time and start doing stuff like this again and visit these forums more often.

I also posted the 'welding' tutorial here aswell.

I doubt i'll ever be in the vancouver area (i'm in the uk), but thanks for the offer!

Richard

I hadn't even realised that the site had any ads.

I wonder how many other people have the same setup? and does it bother you that we don't see or click on the ads?

I assume that the refreshing of the main forum page every 60 seconds has something to do with the ads?

Website is looking good so far.

The different levels of tutorials are good, and they seem to be clearly set out, which makes them easy to follow.

The extensions list will be handy, and works well.

Not sure if this will change, but the forum at the bottom of the front page looks out of place at the moment. Instead of the forum being part of the front page, could you have a short list of the latest posts/topics from the forum?

I have to agree with others about the two accounts needed for the site, in my opinion one website should only need one user account per user. However I understand that there are technical problems with getting it to work properly.

All in all though its a thumbs up from me

Just messing, not sure what it is, but thought i'd share it here.

Not sure about exporting direct to a pdf, but I've always found printing to a pdf via cutePDF writer works well for any size sheet.

@schreiberbike said:

Very good stuff. This thread has been fun to watch. Aren't modern rear cogs now on a spider rather than put on individually?

I'm modelling what was on the standard spec bike (which is no longer listed on the marin website and shows how long I've been doing this thing!!), which according to the details I have was an SRAM pg970 cassette

Maybe I'll upgrade the SRAM 970 for a SRAM pg990 - (if I ever finish this)

As these images are intended to show the impact (or not as it seems) of the proposed structure, it would be interesting to see before images/photos as well - I am particularly interested in how well the trees match what is actually there.

Very nice images and interesting project.

I think drop.rb will do what you want...

OK, this has taken a few attempts to get right - the first time went completely wrong, the second time I modelled the whole thing at the wrong size. The difficult bit was making sure the distance between each tooth was the same for each gear, and in the end I resorted to using autocad to set the basic shapes up.

I still need to model the final two gears and connecting parts but here are the first 7 gears.

Excellent model and renders

Looking forward to seeing eye-candy 3!!!

Haven't done anything with this for a long time, but got the urge to resurrect this model yesterday...

So here are the new parts...
The chain...

and
A Pedal...

@pbacot said:

1. The second angle, straight on to the corner does not do the building justice.
2. The grass actually looks too large to me, too much detail beyond the building, as if it is a small model sitting on grass in the foreground.
3. Containers have been used in modern buildings. See DWELL. If you want to get away from this, perhaps more detail and a different color will help.
4. More suggestion of realism: landings at the sliders (are they doors?). Have the walkway lead off-camera to the access to site.

Thanks for the comments pbacot.

1. The image straight on the corner may not do the building justice, but it does show how the building increases in height to that corner - an intentional design element.
2. The grass etc will change significantly - infact the building would actually be in a very urban environment - the current background and grass is temporary.
3. As I said to begin with this is an incomplete model, so I will be making changes to the model which will hopefully improve the 'container' element.
4. You are correct that landings do need to be added - for some reason the original design did not have doors here, but can't think why, as there doesn't appear to be any logical reason.

@daniel said:

Another suggestion, Richard: change the concrete material to something grayer - the white is too harsh.
Design question: why is there blue brick at the bottom (at grade)? Why put such a deign element at the very bottom, where it will get covered by grass/plants?

Daniel, i assume you mean the paths around the building, these will be changing anyway - in fact at the moment the material is only the default su material.

As for the blue/grey brick at the bottom, this would be an engineering brick - to be honest the site is quite tight, so by the time i've put paths, parking etc in as they should be there will be very little grass up against the building anyway.

Thanks for the comments, I probably won't get chance to update this much over the next few days, but will post when I do.

exactly what i was looking for! will try that later. thanks

@frederik said:

Have you seen some of the 3D trees and scrub available at the KT download section..??

For some reason I missed those. I would rather place these from within sketchup rather than kt but can't see how to do that??...

@johnsenior1973 said:

Why the choice of the grey container-like material in this part of the building?

It is intended to be a vertical standing seam like material, although you may be right that it looks too container/industrial like.

All: Thanks for the comments. I have changed the camera angle, and it does look better!

Frederik: Can you suggest any shrubs, trees etc that will render well in kerkythea? I had added a bump map to the brick anyway, but have increased the amount in these next renders.

Richard: I have increased the eaves depth slightly, although I think I may change the detail of the roof later anyway.

Adjusted first render and render from a different angle:

Although I've modelled a number of buildings in SU I have always presented them as straight su output. I've made various attempts in the past to learn to render these, but have never had the patience, and always seemed unable to achieve the desired results. Recently I've had another go with more success.

This is an incomplete model, there are some windows and doors missing, I intend adding in plants, fencing etc and a more suitable background/context image, but comments/suggestions on how else it could be improved are definitely welcome.

Rendered in Kerkythea (grass added in photoshop after)

Found this the other day via bldgblog

Not sure where that image is on the OneGeology site though (other than at smallscale on the index page of their website)

@plot-paris said:

was the base for the first one the skull of a buffalo? looks a bit like it

nope, didn't start out as anything really, just an amorphous blob, didn't even start out intending doing a spaceship, just messing with ffd

Ok, couldn't resist doing another quick one!