How To Create A Windmill
Constructing a Windmill
1. Insert any color brick. This will be the base of the windmill. Shape it to the length you want.
2. Insert a second brick of a different color. Size it the height of the windmill, and put it at the back of the base.
3. Copy this brick, and paste it onto the left and right sides of the base. Do not put it on the front.
4. Next, make a brick for the door. Size it to the height you want. Go to Properties, un-check CanCollide, and set the transparency however you like.
5. Fill in the two spaces beside the door with the same color bricks as the rest of the mill walls. Put in another and stretch it to the top of the mill. Cap it off with a roof, group it, and anchor it.
6. Put in one more brick the same color as the walls. Make it a 2x2 brick and center it near the top of the mill. Set the visible front surface as motor. Anchor it.
7. Make a square brick that is not the same color as the rest of the mill. Give it a fair size, but still square, and set the side surfaces to weld. Put bricks on these welds and size them how you like. Group them, but do -not- anchor it.
8. Line up the center of the newly grouped piece with the motor brick. Select the motor brick and go to properties. Somewhere a piece will say left or right tread. Change that to constant. Above that there should be a number different than the rest of the tread sets. The higher it is, the faster the mill will spin. I suggest a value of "5".
9. Do whatever you want with the rest. For example, add stairs on the inside, a flag to the top, decals, textures, etc.
How to create a wind generator without a motor
- Insert > object > part
- Resize this part to be tall, thin and narrow. This will be your tower.
- Anchor your tower.
- Insert > object > part
- Resize this part to be 1x1x1. This is more for aesthetics.
- Move this part near the top of your tower.
- Anchor this brick.
- Insert > object > part
- Resize this object to be an odd number (13x1x1). This will be the wings of your wind generator.
- Click on the wings of your wind generator and:
- Insert > object BodyPosition and
- Insert > object BodyAngularVelocity
BodyPosition is easy: it's where the wings of your wind generator will be. Drag your wing up into place, and note where the Properties menu tells you where the bar is. Put those numbers into the Position entry of BodyPosition.
You can now change how the wind generator rotates by changing the BodyAngularVelocity from a positive to a negative number. Positive rotates one way, negative rotates the other way. You will only need one number -- the other two can be "zero". If you find that your wind generator is rotating on the wrong axis, simply fill in the number for another dimension (e.g., if "2,0,0" doesn't work, try "0,2,0" then "0,0,2").
NOTE: If you copy or move one of these, you have to tell it where the new position of the wings are, otherwise they go flying off back to the original position.
