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Nevermind, I got it to work.
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my DC-8 Project
- Thread starter Mr.FaosFX
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Nevermind, I got it to work.
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Alright got the two pictures, exactly what I wanted to see even reveals other details. Thanks, I knew I could count on someone here. :-] Wish I could start modeling right now but I've got to get ready to go to work. However, when I return, I will get right on it!
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I would like to inform everyone that because of the upcoming holiday season. I will be working an 11 hour 5 days a week work schedule to meet customer demands at our company [where I work] this will leave very little time to work on the DC8 project, as I'll be quite exhausted each day.
This peek schedule will last until the end of December, so the DC8 project will kick into full gear again next year. I will work on the DC8 on the days I do have off but because it is only 1 day, progress will be rather slow.
The peek schedule starts next week, so through November & December, it is possible you may not see any updates at all, not until January of next year.
Remember that the poll closes on November 24th.
Best;
Rafael
This peek schedule will last until the end of December, so the DC8 project will kick into full gear again next year. I will work on the DC8 on the days I do have off but because it is only 1 day, progress will be rather slow.
The peek schedule starts next week, so through November & December, it is possible you may not see any updates at all, not until January of next year.
Remember that the poll closes on November 24th.
Best;
Rafael
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Updates will continue until this Saturday, remember that the holiday season at work starts for me next week. This means I won't have my usual 3 days off but instead only 1 day off and after working 11 hours, Id rather rest then mess around with gmax.
A little status update on the landing gear work so far...
The nose gear work is almost done and several modifications will follow to correct a couple of things, observed from pictures.
22,797 polygons on the whole model so far...
Later folks.
A little status update on the landing gear work so far...
The nose gear work is almost done and several modifications will follow to correct a couple of things, observed from pictures.
22,797 polygons on the whole model so far...
Later folks.
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Heretic
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Always funny how this bird dives for landing.
The polls ought to go crazy on the 24th of this month. If there is a tie by the 24th, the next vote will be the leading vote after that. I find it amazing that we have a 50/50 here always.
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Update!
I thought I had finished the landing gears and then I realised, OOPS, I forgot about that part, lol.
I thought this gMax shot made picture of the day for me!
I am currently working on the assembly that steers the nose gears left and right, doing a little bit of improvising here to get it as accurate as possible as for the animation, it is going to be interesting how this plays out or how I will implement the articulating hydraulic shafts when the wheels turn left and right to make it looks realistic ... I think some XML coding is required for this.
You will also NOTE that the squiggly part is part of the spring, represented as a cylinder. I thought about this for a while and asked myself, oh dear, what it is going to happen when that thing swivels down and the spring gets stretched out!? Something I've never done before is animate the vertices of a model to stretch it but this would be transforming the object in real time which, I do not think FlightSim allows. Eventually I will get to it but if anyone has any feedback, that would be helpful.
I was also thinking about modeling the real actual spring, altho it would be a hit on polys, it not be a big deal since I would keep it simple but this part is so small, you can't even see it unless you walked around the aircraft and decided to go look at it. It's one of those things that makes you indecisive! I feel like adding it and then I don't, going crazy here. It would be call to have a stretching spring, I think a lot of folks would think that is cool to see as they watch the nose gear compression doing its job...again to stretch the spring, I would have to transform the object in real time, possibly with a modifier and then again, FlightSim probably does not allow this.
Getting back to work here, this the last week, i'll have two days off so i'll enjoy while it lasts :-]
I thought I had finished the landing gears and then I realised, OOPS, I forgot about that part, lol.
I thought this gMax shot made picture of the day for me!
I am currently working on the assembly that steers the nose gears left and right, doing a little bit of improvising here to get it as accurate as possible as for the animation, it is going to be interesting how this plays out or how I will implement the articulating hydraulic shafts when the wheels turn left and right to make it looks realistic ... I think some XML coding is required for this.
You will also NOTE that the squiggly part is part of the spring, represented as a cylinder. I thought about this for a while and asked myself, oh dear, what it is going to happen when that thing swivels down and the spring gets stretched out!? Something I've never done before is animate the vertices of a model to stretch it but this would be transforming the object in real time which, I do not think FlightSim allows. Eventually I will get to it but if anyone has any feedback, that would be helpful.
I was also thinking about modeling the real actual spring, altho it would be a hit on polys, it not be a big deal since I would keep it simple but this part is so small, you can't even see it unless you walked around the aircraft and decided to go look at it. It's one of those things that makes you indecisive! I feel like adding it and then I don't, going crazy here. It would be call to have a stretching spring, I think a lot of folks would think that is cool to see as they watch the nose gear compression doing its job...again to stretch the spring, I would have to transform the object in real time, possibly with a modifier and then again, FlightSim probably does not allow this.
Getting back to work here, this the last week, i'll have two days off so i'll enjoy while it lasts :-]
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Update!
It is 4:55 AM I watched SCRE4M or Scream 4 the thought of a sexy chick that kills you, kind of sexy but anyway, gladly, I would rather much stay alive!
Here are some pictures of how the steering assembly is looking now.
Still some more finishing touches.
Next, I have to move the doors apart more, photographs reveal this. The issue is, my doors are swiveling on their edges, in order to correct the issue, they must swivel on 'hinges' more on this when I actually get the work done and you will see what I mean.
Anyway, that is all the work I have for now, I'm heading to bed. Tomorrow is Saturday, another day off from work before the madness begins. Although I'm not looking forward to working the long hours, I am looking forward to those big checks. I plan to pay off my car loan and pay my student loans to push the due dates several months out to give me some room for breathing.
Later guys. ZzzZzzz
It is 4:55 AM I watched SCRE4M or Scream 4 the thought of a sexy chick that kills you, kind of sexy but anyway, gladly, I would rather much stay alive!
Here are some pictures of how the steering assembly is looking now.
Still some more finishing touches.
Next, I have to move the doors apart more, photographs reveal this. The issue is, my doors are swiveling on their edges, in order to correct the issue, they must swivel on 'hinges' more on this when I actually get the work done and you will see what I mean.
Anyway, that is all the work I have for now, I'm heading to bed. Tomorrow is Saturday, another day off from work before the madness begins. Although I'm not looking forward to working the long hours, I am looking forward to those big checks. I plan to pay off my car loan and pay my student loans to push the due dates several months out to give me some room for breathing.
Later guys. ZzzZzzz
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hairyspin
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So you have to move the pivot off the door edge - it's no big deal. Re animating the spring in the nose gear, Gibbage posted something about that over at SOH lately which puts the details dilemma in context. If a user is spending time looking at such fiddling details while flying a bird as big as this, perhaps it's time to get out more!
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You are definitely right about that!
lol! But you'll be shocked to know that people do infact look a little details like this 
Have you seen the close up shots some simmers take of engines, gears and other intricate cockpit details?
I will have to agree with Gibbage tho, I've looked at the gear myself and I can't even see the squiggly wire I modeled in there unless I use DBS walk and follow and go to the nose gear to have a closer look. So I'll keep it as is and just texture a spring type texture on the cylinder, I will also reduce the poly count on the coil wire a great deal.
I know this is completely not needed but it sort of adds a 'fun factor' to the project.
As for the doors, that is what I will do :-] and then I will model the required modifications on the fuselage and parts to create the hinges, as you said, no biggy, takes a couple of minutes.
What am I doing awake? I was out rock solid, went to the bathroom and peeked in here, lol.....I think the one that needs to get out more is me
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I've seen many modelers add something which could be unusual, as a kind of signature, some detail which is not in the schedule, or something have not bee seen before, not great things but something particular to that airplane
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Oh the spring in gMax I can make...
The animation of it is what the question was, lol.
This nice looking spring has 14,420 polygons!
I created one for FlightSim...
This spring had 2,860 polygons! And I kept it simple, so I will definitely NOT be adding this type of detail into the project.
However, none of the animations applied worked to stretch it. This spring was a Helix spline, you can actually stretch it
by adjusting the height of the Helix. You can animate the height but it will not work in FlightSim if done, already tried it.
And, nope ... it neither works if you throw an 'Edit Mesh' modifier on top of the stack and if you convert it, you'll loose the
animation. Also, stretching this object about the vertices will not work either. FlightSim animations seem to work only on pivots.
You can never transform or deform an object in real simulation time.
I bet it could be done in FSX tho using IK --- I doubt it would work as intended but anyway, the spring idea
is ditched and will not be added to the project, everything will remain "as is" for the moment.
The animation of it is what the question was, lol.
This nice looking spring has 14,420 polygons!
I created one for FlightSim...
This spring had 2,860 polygons! And I kept it simple, so I will definitely NOT be adding this type of detail into the project.
However, none of the animations applied worked to stretch it. This spring was a Helix spline, you can actually stretch it
by adjusting the height of the Helix. You can animate the height but it will not work in FlightSim if done, already tried it.
And, nope ... it neither works if you throw an 'Edit Mesh' modifier on top of the stack and if you convert it, you'll loose the
animation. Also, stretching this object about the vertices will not work either. FlightSim animations seem to work only on pivots.
You can never transform or deform an object in real simulation time.
I bet it could be done in FSX tho using IK --- I doubt it would work as intended but anyway, the spring idea
is ditched and will not be added to the project, everything will remain "as is" for the moment.
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I feel I have to bring this up, I'm getting close to animation of the nose gear assembly. For my articulating hydraulic shafts ... I was wondering if I could code and XML animation that would read input from the joystick.
I am unable to use the rudder method for steering because the original HJG setup is designed so that the rudder does not operate unless the aircraft is traveling fast enough and airborne and I was advised not to tamper with the original data and I would rather not as it is the culmination of years of work by them.
I also don't want to use the technique where you turn the steering gear 360 degrees because during a replay, the nose gear appears turned to the left 90 degrees, this looks very bad...I noticed this a lot with many of the fantasy aircraft I created.
I was thinking maybe there was a more efficient way. I don't want to go crazy with XML animations, I want to use as little of them as possible as they really impact the performance of the simulation due to the 'mathematics' that has to be done to make the calculations while the sim is running.
Update
I see what I was doing wrong now...i'll use the c_wheel method and I have a pretty good idea how I'm going to make this work. I'm very anxious right now to see this stuff working. I would say another video is in demand to show you guys the results, keep tuned as always. I have not animated anything yet but I did create some sample objects to test drive and I still have some more details to add to the gears before I do anything.
I am unable to use the rudder method for steering because the original HJG setup is designed so that the rudder does not operate unless the aircraft is traveling fast enough and airborne and I was advised not to tamper with the original data and I would rather not as it is the culmination of years of work by them.
I also don't want to use the technique where you turn the steering gear 360 degrees because during a replay, the nose gear appears turned to the left 90 degrees, this looks very bad...I noticed this a lot with many of the fantasy aircraft I created.
I was thinking maybe there was a more efficient way. I don't want to go crazy with XML animations, I want to use as little of them as possible as they really impact the performance of the simulation due to the 'mathematics' that has to be done to make the calculations while the sim is running.
Update
I see what I was doing wrong now...i'll use the c_wheel method and I have a pretty good idea how I'm going to make this work. I'm very anxious right now to see this stuff working. I would say another video is in demand to show you guys the results, keep tuned as always. I have not animated anything yet but I did create some sample objects to test drive and I still have some more details to add to the gears before I do anything.
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n4gix
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Argh! Somehow I thought you were modeling for FSX, which is why I suggested using a helix spline object, then creating bones for the vertices, adjusting the envelopes, then animating the bones!
This of course is not possible in FS9...
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Argh! Somehow I thought you were modeling for FSX, which is why I suggested using a helix spline object, then creating bones for the vertices, adjusting the envelopes, then animating the bones!
This of course is not possible in FS9...
It would take a while, to setup up all those bones! lol
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Update!
Arrgh! It's Sunday already. How fast that went by! I tried to adjust my poll to close at the 24th of this month but the thread on longer allows me to do this. It seems that once a poll is started, you can't change it...well that sucks, maybe a moderator can do something, you have my full permissions to modify the main thread and configure the poll to close on the 24th if it can be done otherwise, I will remain open for ever...I was in a hurry when I did the poll and didn't realize there was an option to implement an auto shutdown.
I am done with the steering assembly...
All I did the last hours was model in some hydraulic lines, compare with the pictures from the previous update and you will see what was added :-] Only 175 polys on the addition, pretty neat.
Things left to do still.
1. Model the part that connects the lights to the struts, nothing too fancy.
2. Model hinges for doors, pivots already adjusted for proper location.
3. Modify tires for nose gear to resemble well the tires for the nose gear.
4. Add some more struts/levers that open and close the doors.
I'll be on this for the next hours or so and eventually all that will remain is to animate the gears but since the peek schedule starts next week, I may not do this until next Saturday, the only 'FULL' day I have off next week. So it seems I may have some time to fool around with gmax after all but not much, anyway, keep tuned for updates.
Thanks guys.
Later all.
Arrgh! It's Sunday already. How fast that went by! I tried to adjust my poll to close at the 24th of this month but the thread on longer allows me to do this. It seems that once a poll is started, you can't change it...well that sucks, maybe a moderator can do something, you have my full permissions to modify the main thread and configure the poll to close on the 24th if it can be done otherwise, I will remain open for ever...I was in a hurry when I did the poll and didn't realize there was an option to implement an auto shutdown.
I am done with the steering assembly...
All I did the last hours was model in some hydraulic lines, compare with the pictures from the previous update and you will see what was added :-] Only 175 polys on the addition, pretty neat.
Things left to do still.
1. Model the part that connects the lights to the struts, nothing too fancy.
2. Model hinges for doors, pivots already adjusted for proper location.
3. Modify tires for nose gear to resemble well the tires for the nose gear.
4. Add some more struts/levers that open and close the doors.
I'll be on this for the next hours or so and eventually all that will remain is to animate the gears but since the peek schedule starts next week, I may not do this until next Saturday, the only 'FULL' day I have off next week. So it seems I may have some time to fool around with gmax after all but not much, anyway, keep tuned for updates.
Thanks guys.
Later all.
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Update!
In this picture, the door hinges I talked about earlier, now I also need to model the area were they recede into the fuselage.
As for the support strut that holds the nose gear lights, you'll notice it is just a cylinder. I am not very happy with this but it seems to get the job done. I really don't know what the assembly looks like behind the lights. I have no close up shots of this area so for now it will remain like this until I find a good picture or until someone offers their help here to look for one.
I still have to do more little hinges for the bigger door at the front, as usual no biggy but its 4:03 AM now, I start the first 11 hour shift today, I start on Sunday, last work day is on Thursday and I come out of work the next day Friday morning, so in reality I actually have two days off, except that on Friday, I'm usually knocked out most of the day resting.
I have said before that updates will slow down, they will but I will do my best to continue with the project and provide any updates if I do infact get any work done at all on the DC8.
I am done working on the DC8 for this round, see you guys next week.
Again moderators, if you could modify the poll to close on the 24th, that would be appreciated, I can't seem to modify it once its set, so I figure moderators have more power and are able to get this done.
--- Rafael, signing off for now :-]
In this picture, the door hinges I talked about earlier, now I also need to model the area were they recede into the fuselage.
As for the support strut that holds the nose gear lights, you'll notice it is just a cylinder. I am not very happy with this but it seems to get the job done. I really don't know what the assembly looks like behind the lights. I have no close up shots of this area so for now it will remain like this until I find a good picture or until someone offers their help here to look for one.
I still have to do more little hinges for the bigger door at the front, as usual no biggy but its 4:03 AM now, I start the first 11 hour shift today, I start on Sunday, last work day is on Thursday and I come out of work the next day Friday morning, so in reality I actually have two days off, except that on Friday, I'm usually knocked out most of the day resting.
I have said before that updates will slow down, they will but I will do my best to continue with the project and provide any updates if I do infact get any work done at all on the DC8.
I am done working on the DC8 for this round, see you guys next week.
Again moderators, if you could modify the poll to close on the 24th, that would be appreciated, I can't seem to modify it once its set, so I figure moderators have more power and are able to get this done.
--- Rafael, signing off for now :-]
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Ask and ye shall receive...
Thanks Ztimbre :-] Now I have a good idea how to model it, this helps a lot. However, I very tired and arrived from work about 30 minutes ago, going to sleep now to wake up at 4 pm, I will have no time to work on DC8 =/
I'll keep the picture handy for this next Saturday, if I'm up to it, i'll get the modeling work done.
Later guys, zZZZzZZZ...