Houdini Controlling Servos!

Who needs Maya when you have Houdini!

I've been wanting to do this for ages but not knowing houdini's api has blocked me. Thanks Alvin for this awesome video! If it works with houdini apprentice, I will be very excited!

My First Bezier Curve

Taken from the math on this page. Apparently this is about as simple as it gets as far as bezier curves go. I'm hoping to try and recreate a few of the examples on this page before going any further.

Servo Tools For Maya Tutorials

Well it took a little longer than a few weeks. But finally I have the first three video tutorials ready for viewing! There is still more to come, but this should be enough to get you started.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have any questions about installation, I've created a thread on the creative crash forums. You can get to it from the Servo Tools For Maya download page . Just click on the forum tab.

Enjoy!

Servo Tools For Maya Release v1.0.1

I have finally taken the plunge and released Servo Tools For Maya to the world!


Servo Tools For Maya is a Python Plugin that sends rotational values over USB the the Arduino Micro Controller. These values are then converted in to Pulse Width Modulation which is used to control multiple Hobby RC Servo Motors.

Applications for the plugin are only limited to your imagination. Some popular examples could be to drive complex animatronic puppetry or kinetic sculpture art installations.

Current Features Include:
- Control up to 4 Servos simultaneously. (see tutorials on how to add support for more)
- High Level GUI for building servoWrite node network.
- Ability to calibrate you servo's range and limits directly from Maya.
- Serial Connection over USB cable to hardware

Hardware Requirements:
- USB Cable
- Arduino Micro Controller
- At least 1 RC hobby servo

Software Requirements:
- The Scripts and Plugin available from this page
- Python (separate from the one that comes with Maya 8.5+)
- PySerial Python Module for Serial Communication
- Maya 8.5 or Higher (32-bit only)
- Latest Arduino Software

PLEASE NOTE:
I'm still prepping the Documentation in Video Form. So unless you are familiar with all of the above concepts, I would wait for the videos before you dive in. They should be ready in a week or two when I get back from holiday.