GearHeads Corner

Hi All:

I hope the summer is going well. The .msi installer in the files section has been updated , the only change is to ticker at version
1.2a. This version is still only usable to make 3d models, but the interface has changed some and the gears have been repaired
in a few small ways to ensure manifold integrity. I also found an error in the helical face width calculations that may have affected
meshing.

Instructions flash on the screen when placing gears on the table in terms of how to orient them and such. As the physics are not yet turned on the orientation is moot, but your still required to place them in a set sequence as explained as you do so. This is all to prepare the program for physical simulations when its development gets to that point. A delete all button is provided if the screen gets too busy. :)

Art

Thanks Art

many thanks!

But the update still says Gearotic2 - very confusing
also Ive never had the 3D head appear on the Project screen so cant revolve model

is there a way to get a previous version that corresponds to the tutorial
Its hard for a noob when the screens dont match together
cheers
Delce

we all had to start at the beginning

Hi Delce:

Understandable confusion. Ill post a background explanation here just to ensure there's an archived
answer to this. Gearotic originally at version 1.0 came out 12 years ago I think.. The videos were done
both during development and when updates or features changed. That original program is still in the
release but no icon is set to it. Its name is Gearotic1.0.exe and its runtime looks much like the early
video's. Its in the main folder.
Gearotic 2.0 was released something like 8 years back or so, videos from that point on look different
visually as things changed. The 3d head was not found to be particularly useful and was removed. Different
features took over and look different, sometimes even from the videos as changes were made, but
the general method of making it work remains essentially the same. Gearotic 2.0 hasn't changed in
some time, small bug fixes in the machining toolpaths and such as bugs were reported but no major
changes. Various free programs exist in the build such as Auggie, which turned out more popular than
I had anticipated, and Vexx which is a bad CAD program with some handy capabilities.

Version numbers on Gearotic dont commonly change, it is Gearotic 2.0 as the second version,
but I tend not to focus on sub-versioning as the main program rarely changes.

None of this is ideal of course, but as a single programmer team I focus more on code
than marketing, Myself and Bob, who controls distribution of Gearotic, try to make up for this
with support. Ask us anything at any time and we try to bend over backwards to make
sure your project works for you. We've a proud history of that, the software is designed to
be as accurate as possible and is why Gearotic 2.0 was made. Various aspects of things like
elliptical gears were made much more solid in the mathematical sense and the old
version 1.0's architecture simply wasn't good enough to handle it.

Gearotic v2.0 is now at the same place. Its architecture is old and worn, its code is
actually quite solid for what it does, but future work is now in newer software, likely
many months away from a full beta. Originally gear software was rare, only a few
had interest in the field. Now , you can pretty much get a gear outline anywhere
online as an outline anyway. I'm working towards new things now, with focus
on mechanisms and physical simulations from 3d models of the gears. Ticker,
though probably to be renamed as Gearotic 3.0 someday will become that new
architecture as it jumps me to the hardware of today where I can take advantage
of shaders, cuda and graphics card processing to perhaps create a better experience
when wanting to build a kinetic mechanism or ticker.

In these doldrum times however, yell at us with a question, we can usually either
solve it, or suggest a workaround of some kind. The video's will vary, the methods
mainly stay the same.

Thanks
Art

Thanks for the clarification Art, I like the Gearotic3 idea for the new platform, keeps things in perspective.
Cheers