how to build your own
building basics: masses, springs
to start building select "construct" mode or "new" from the file menu
you can select to add free masses or fixed masses. free masses are useful most of the time. fixed masses can be dragged but do not move due to other forces; they are useful for hanging things on
click in main window to create masses and springs
click once on a mass to start building a spring, click on a second mass to make the spring
to cancel drawing a spring click with the right mouse button or click again on the start of the spring (=double click)
drag to move masses. springs have a fixed length at which they are 'at rest' which is decided when the spring is first made. stretching a spring in constuct mode does not change this fixed length
to delete masses or links select "delete" from the drop down mode menu and click on masses or links
making muscles
openconstructor muscles are just like springs, the only difference is that they do not have a fixed length; their desired length changes as the muscle wave passes over their corresponding muscle bar
to turn a spring into a muscle select the spring in the main window (a blue circle on its mid point shows if it is selected)
its corresponding muscle bar in the control panel will go blue
drag this bar up to the muscle wave to make the muscle expand and contract according to its position on the wave
drag the blob on the muscle bar left or right to decrease or increase its relative amplitude
to make the wave move select "forward" , "reverse" or "auto reverse" from the second menu button while in "simulate" mode
drag the slider on the left to control the speed of the wave, drag the wave itself left/right to decrease/increase its amplitude
building things that won't fall down
if you want to make structures that stand up you should know that some shapes are more stable than others
triangles are ever so stable. make structures out of triangles and they're much more likely to stand up
a simple square probably won't stand up, it's not stable
add a diagonal spring and you make two triangles, making it much more stable
using muscle power to make models move
to make muscles useful you have to pay special attention to their relative position on the muscle bar
consider two muscles joined together; they look a bit like one of daintywalker's legs
if the muscle bars are completely out of phase (when one muscle is at its biggest, the other muscle is at its smallest) that results in a side to side motion which wouldn't make daintywalker walk, it would just lurch back and forth
alternatively the muscles could be only half out of phase with each other (the muscle bars are half the distance apart from their positions in the previous version)
the result is a circular motion. this circular motion resulting from a half phase difference is really useful for making walking models
there are all manner of ways of making muscles work for you, be creative and who knows what you might come up with
if at first you don't succeed: play!
don't worry if your first openconstructions are a bit of a flop, it takes practice to make moving models
openconstructor is all about play, so don't be afraid to experiment, try new ideas and learn from the results