I have always been fascinated by the design of Theo Jansen’s Strandbeest. He designed a mathematical and natural leg system and extended it to giant Strandbeesten (StrandBeasts) moving on the wind. Be sure to check his site if you find it interesting, because it goes further. Storing wind pressure in plastic bottles, the “brain” of the beast, feeling water…
Dynamic leg setup
in Cinema 4D
Animated walk cycle
with keyed non-circular gears
A compact version of the Strandbeest:
FBX: 1 million+ triangular polygons
To have the model printed, you most likely have to provide an STL, you can do this simply by exporting your FBX from Cinema 4D to STL (where the file size increases 4x:)
Dimensions: 130x105x83mm.
Don’t print the model much smaller. This may result in the “connecting plugs” not being printed right.