Since I got the idea that my digital peoples should go to an amusement park, I have been looking online for free models that I could use. I found a Ferris wheel [assuming it doesn’t give my computer a hernia :p ], bumper cars and a water park [also assuming that it doesn’t give my computer a hernia either]. I could not, however, find for free a model of my most favorite amusement of all time: the merry-go-round.

Just now, though, I figured out how to kitbash a simple, static digital model of a merry-go-round using a combination of models I already have, primitives and freely available stuff. I used the skills detailed in my entry about stalking the elusive 1:6 scale electric wheelchair, in which I broke down my target item into easily replicable forms. Essentially, a merry-go-round has several basic components:

• round platform for the whole thing to sit on
• thick central column to house motor [and, optionally, operator] and support roof
• torus platform around motor housing to provide deck for ride-on units
• thin columns around perimeter of deck to additionally support roof
• shallow dome or conical bowl, inverted, as roof
• ride-on units that go up and down
• poles through the center of each mobile ride-on unit
• cross-pieces near the bases of these poles to help riders mount and dismount
• stationary ride-on units

Pretty much everything on this list can be generated by the primitives available in Daz [hey, maybe Poser has some too…]. In fact, I could simplify the construction greatly by using an existing free model of a dome, gazebo or pergola as the merry-go-round frame. The stationary ride-on units can be sleighs, of which many free models exist. So far, so good.

The most complex elements are the mobile ride-on units. I’m thinking that I’ll use horses, since I have a horse model hanging around, in two positions: prancing or running with all feet off the ground [good for mobile ride-on units]. I’ll scale and pose the horse appropriately, then export as an obj to delete all the unnecessary rigging information. Then I’ll take it into Hexagon and reduce the level of detail as much as I can get away with. When I import it back into Daz, it should be a relatively low-poly model that won’t give my computer acid reflux when I put several in a scene.

Stay tuned…

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