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Aircraft Animations

S

Southwest

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unitedkingdom
Hi All,

I have almost finished creating the animations for my Shorts 360 model. I am now onto the gear doors and spoilers, rudders etc....

With the rudders and spoilers and aelerions when you rename and ''affect pivot point'' ''align to world'' in FS the animations work yes, yaw, bank etc and the animations work accordingly but not correct, the rudder for instance moves on one point where as i want the whol of the edge to connect to the tail, pelase see image:

aaaaaaayo4.jpg


This is also the case for hte gear doors, the conenct to the fuse bay.
I am using GMAX

Any help would be most appreciated.
 
Last edited:
Hey Piran,


No worries there. Simply adjust the angle of the Gismo to be in alignment with the turning hinge point center. Use the Rotate tool when in Gizmo mode and rotate the Gizmo.

I think the guys know of a way to use an Alignment option with it, but I never learned it.

If there is a point at which you wish to animate their movements yourself, simply use the 'key' animation name tags, then animate them yourself. (Do not attempt to animate the 'standard' call tags like rudder or ailerons, etc, as this will only cause them to not function).

Bill


PS: Great looking model. Nice work on the Smoothing.
 
Many thanks for the both posts, im not sure what you mean by the Gismo, sorry, it isn't you it's my lack of knowledge, it is a modifier of some sort?

Thanks for the kind words a bout the model, i am hoping to release it someday with a custom sound set.

All that is left is ofcourse the rudder bits above and making the front wheel rotate when i yaw, which i presume you add as a rotate animation in GMAX.

Thanks once again, you've been a great help!
 
The "gizmo" referred to isn't a modifier in this instance...

Click on the pivot point and choose "Affect Pivot Only". Use the red/blue/green "axis gizmo" to rotate the desired axis without affecting the actual part.
 
n4gix said:
The "gizmo" referred to isn't a modifier in this instance...

Click on the pivot point and choose "Affect Pivot Only". Use the red/blue/green "axis gizmo" to rotate the desired axis without affecting the actual part.
Click to expand...

AND when actually doing the animations in gmax, use "local" view to see the pivot correctly aligned.
 
Cheers chaps, But have run into another issue!

When i export, i get the message ''Makemdl failed to convert the......... etc etc, found that if i reset the XForm, all works finw again with the export but everything is out of place!

Please helpe! :(:(
 
Try resetting your 'Scale' on the object that you had reset the X-Form on. Then save as next build up, like Plane 125. Then again adjust the axis with the Gizmo (cross hair that is on each part), and see if that will allow you to export. Scale is an important thing per the FS compiler.


Bill

EDIT: I encourage people to save as 'next number up' extremely frequently, from every 30 min's to every 5 min's at times, depending on how deep into a set of parts you are in. Its not uncommon to have a total of 100 to 400 build level saves.. Really helps in Gmax crashes and corrupted saves and you can backup (should) the saves onto CD's so if the worst happens, you have backups to restart from.
 
Last edited:
Cheers, the only thing is that the whole scene seems to require a complete reset of XForm for it to export properly....

When i do this, it also moves items and spins the animations around....

Unless of course it is once piece on the model that needs the XForm reset?
 
Managed to sort it out thanks, started again from a previous scene.


Thanks fo rthe help chaps once again.... My model is looking that little bit closer to real...
 
Thanks for your kind words, im not trying to add the front wheel animation so it moves with the ''Yaw'' command in FS, Plue is it possible to add such as doors to the model as it came with no things like this, or is it hard to cut into the model?

Many thanks and your efforts are much appreciated....

texturing next! argghhh
 
Southwest said:
Thanks for your kind words, im not trying to add the front wheel animation so it moves with the ''Yaw'' command in FS, Plue is it possible to add such as doors to the model as it came with no things like this, or is it hard to cut into the model?

Many thanks and your efforts are much appreciated....

texturing next! argghhh
Click to expand...



Hey SouthWest,


If you are using Gmax or 3DS Max, you can cut windows and doors into your fuselage with either Boolean process using 3D objects as the cutting plugs, or with Shape Merge (more stable) using Splines (line objects, 2D only, which burn a pattern cut into the side (one side only) of an object).

There is a tutorial on cutting windows out at the FreeFlightDesign.com site in the tutorials section. The Gmax tutorial also shows you how to make cutouts with Boolean in the 'power charger' section, (the big gun looking thing. You have to cut round openings into its sides).

Remember, do all the cuts in one hit. Dont do one window at a time or it becomes a huge mess and extremely unstable and difficult for the mesh program to do.


Bill
 
lionheart said:
Remember, do all the cuts in one hit. Dont do one window at a time or it becomes a huge mess and extremely unstable and difficult for the mesh program to do.


Bill
Click to expand...


To add to Bill's comments:

Also, there is a subtle difference when doing boolean cuts with the object as an editable mesh or editable poly (ePoly) mode.

I believe that there are less "extra" points created when in ePoly mode.

Another way to avoid boolean cuts, if they are relatively simple "cuts" would be to create edges to form the overal shape and then chamfer the corner points to "round out" the door, etc.

This may take more time than other methods, but sometimes it's the difference between a hammer (boolean), stamp (shape merge), or scalpel (cutting edges, chamfering points). As always, which method to use is personal preference.
 
Thanks chaps, now have a fully working door in FS using a boolean...

M y nly trouble now is to get the texture so it lines up correctly with the fuselage?

Many Thanks
 
Southwest said:
Thanks chaps, now have a fully working door in FS using a boolean...

M y nly trouble now is to get the texture so it lines up correctly with the fuselage?

Many Thanks
Click to expand...

You didn't texture the fuselage BEFORE you cut it out? :)

Attach the door as an element to the the fuselage mesh and map it. Once mapped, you can detach it again.
 
Many thanks,

My only only problem is when i detached the part, please see below the part when i apply the animation spins around the red highlight area, it isn't affected by the pivot as i have tried this but something else is wrong?
shorts1jb5.jpg


Any clues please?
 
It appears to me that you didn't align the door's pivot point with the edge of the door! IOW, the pivot point for the door is still in the fuselage's pivot point, presumably 0,0,0...

Select your door while at frame zero, select Affect Pivot Only, and then relocate the pivot point with the gizmo to the door's left edge (or wherever it's hinged).
 
Perfect, cheers now i have one correctly opening door. All to do next is apply the front wheel animation, textures and some more doors...

Cheers
 
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