There are really five things that go into racing (Ameoba's), at least if you use both the constructor and xml editing....
1- Think of your best approach to the terrain....i.e. five spokes, four, three? which kind of bracing to use, whether to have a central mass point or not..... etc.
2--- Build it--- Generally in sodacontructor, then get out the trig and calculate the perfect lengths for the unstressed springs... time the muscles perfect and set their individual amplitudes as well, in xml....
3--- Tune it--- Xml is usually no good for this, you need to watch the model as you go... tuning consists of amplitude, frequency, spring constant (k), friction, and gravity...
4--- Size it--- mess with the size of the window, and when you input it into sodarace, the size varies... you'll catch on fast, just dont use it ridiculously... nothing you couldnt feasibly build w/o scaleing, just use as a time saver...
5--- Input Model---open both soda race and soda contructor so you can see them both on screen, and click accept model at different times to see what starting point is optimal... lets say its uphill, you may want to start in a wheely or soemthing...
Thats all really... also save your models, variations of them, lots of similar ones.... helps for later races... I haven't had to BUILD a model in years, i just tune my old ones up for different terrains.
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