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Blender to FSX - Skinned meshes mini-tutorial

capt_x said:
@steveh2112
Hi Steve :)
If by automatic weighting you mean using envelopes, then yes, there is a workaround to make that work in FSX. Check out this thread:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/skinned-mesh-with-envelopes.432482/
Click to expand...

i've been using the 3rd option down on the Armature deform list, 'with automatic weights' because most of the vids i've seem about character animation show that option. i haven't played with this for a while since i got stuck on scenery design so i've kind of forgot about it a bit, anyhow, today i'll take a close look at that thread and try again. thanks. i'm using the 0703 plugin, i assume that still the safest one to use right?

i animated my mesh like this
at 10:18
i posted my results at
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/th...-to-animate-in-fsx-or-mcx-please-help.433035/

thanks again
 
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@steveh2112
I'm currently looking at your anibear1.blend file. When I export it with my development version of the toolkit (which I had planned to have released by now :stirthepo), the front left arm animates, but not the body. I haven't yet found out why :( something with Bone.001 doesn't fit.

I'll get back to you soon.
 
thanks, i really appreciate and all the work you and arno and others do for this forum. i just hope i can help in some way with my mission creation tutorials and stuff.
 
@steveh2112
Hi Steve :)

Sorry it took so long...

The problem with using envelopes or automatic weights is that vertices may end up with more than four bones influencing them or with no bone at all. FSX has this limit that every vertex in a skinned mesh object must have at least one and at most four bones that influence it, i.e. every vertex can be in at most four vertex groups at the same time. Some vertices of your bear exceeded this limit. Here is what I did: I deleted three bones and kept only the static (Bone), spine (Bone.001) and the front feet bones (Bone.003 and Bone.005), deleted all vertex groups and re-parented the armature to the bear with automatic weights. This way, no vertex can have more than four bones.
Another problem was that your bear (object AA_LOD_100) had a wrong scale. All objects need to have a scale of (1,1,1)! You can check the scale in the object properties (Hit N) in the 3D viewport. When the scale is not (1,1,1), hit Ctrl+A > Scale to apply the scale transformation and get a scale of (1,1,1).

But all of this probably didn't prevent the animations from showing in FSX. The actual problem: there was something wrong with the keyframes of Bone.001 (spine). I had to rekey it. Only after that all animations showed fine in FSX. So when you insert keyframes, make sure to insert either of Location, Rotation or LocRot.

So, just try rekeying the bones and see if that helps.

Cheers :)
 
And also, you can reuse the same animation tag on multiple objects/bones, no need to use up all of the "Ambient" tags. I think the difference between the Ambient, Ambient2, etc is the execution speed of the animations, but I'm not sure.
 
I am having some trouble with skinned meshes. I am trying to animate flexible hydraulic hoses on the landing gear. The hoses flex as the landing gear suspension compresses up and down. So long as the first bone is fixed in place, everything works as it should. But the hose needs to be attached to the landing gear so it swings up with it when the gear retracts. Any attempt to apply a bone constraint to the first bone so as to get the hose to follow the gear leads to distortions of the hose. It appears the subsequent bones are somehow displaced they should be.

Any ideas as to how to get this to work?
 
Constraints are still a bit difficult to deal with. Is it occuring in Blender itself or in FSX?
Is parenting not enough for your case?
 
It looks OK in Blender. But the exported model ends up distorted. The vertices controlled by the first bone are ok, but the others are displaced from where they should be.
 
Then it's either FSX or the Toolset's limitations. We had some troubles with bones and constrains lately.
 
Hi Mr. Felix!

Excellent video tutorial on how to make skinned meshes and using bones.

Thank you, Mr. Felix!

Kris:)
 
Hi Felix @capt_x,

For over a week, I try to run a skinned mesh ...! And it works ... just a litle!

My mesh uses a bone that moves (position) and turns (rotate); it is based on a TAG of the elevator axis. After exporting the .mdl file in FSX I found the result not exactly like in Blender ... Worst, the X axis is reversed! :eek:

I must say that, for the reasons you know (my landing gear ...!), I use the 0703 Blender2FSX's version.

Any idea...? :scratchch

Thank you for the assistance you bring me!
 
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Hey Rico, I had the exact same problem you had after following the video tutorial, and try to export ambient(did the same procedure you did but did not succeed). Can you explain how you were able to get it to work? Or anybody who is willing to tell us how blender ambient animation to export?
 
Hi Felix

Do you know what I did wrong? My skinned meshes are really messed up. I have checked skinned meshes in materials, rest position is the position on frame 0, scaling is 1:1:1
See the canopy on the picture (the glass part is a separate part and lays down in the cockpit):
skinnedmesh2.jpg


Thanks in advance!

Daniël
 
Hi @capt_x, @Dutchessenblend, @krispy1001, and everyone,

Sorry to insist, but I'm just finishing my Morane D-3801, and I'm totally blocked ..: !!

The end point of my project is the realization of the pilot with skinned mesh. For reasons known by Felix, I use the 7.03 version of Blender to FSX (complexity retract landing gear ...). With this release, the mesh skinned work very badly: my pilot mesh is found in all directions, according to an incomprehensible sense to me!

It seems that version 8.4 works much better for skinned meshes, but does not work for my landing gear ...

Anyone have a solution to my problem? Can I expect a next version of Blender2FSX that would save my project?

Thank you for the help you can give me ...
 
Hi @Chrismot!

How is your landing gear set up?

I use 8.4 (I believe) and everything is working fine, so you might need some help.

Cheers, Daan
 
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