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FSX FSX Exported mesh won't move

JohnC1

JohnC1

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I join the legion of animators who export a simple animation into FSX,only to find it JUST WON'T MOVE.

I want some mesh to rotate 360 degrees in the xy plane, like a beacon or radar dish.

I create a dummy object, and link a mesh to it.
I rotate the dummy object in the xy plane and the mesh rotates with it. No problem.

I use the motion assign controller to assign TCB rotation to the dummy object, and now the mesh has link parameters Location/Rotation/Scale.

I setup 10 keys between 0 and 100, rotation only.
The dummy rotates smoothly exactly as I want in playback, and the mesh follows along.

I'm thinking...this is easy....

I use Arno's Library Creator to export the mesh and the dummy, checking the export animation box, it compiles, appears in FSX and doesn't move.

The FSX SDK documentation, IMOP, is worthless here.

Can someone suggest a possible cause?
 
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You must:

Use the FSX Tools Animation manager to apply a tag to your parts (usually Ambient Non-random)

(BTW, there is no need to create a dummy and rotate that, unless you specifically need a dummy reference for some other purpose.

When you export your model, you must Check the Export Animations box
 
Ambient tag...

I'm not home right now but I do believe I tagged the rotating part as Ambient...don't remember the non-random part. I will try it, and respond.

I assume that the dummy part is there so that if you had 20 parts all rotating at the same angular velocity, it would simplify things if you rotated the dummy and then did 20 links to the dummy, instead of setting the keys for each part..

I'm getting there but airport building designers don't have/need the same level of expertise as aircraft designers.

Once you have a rotating radar and a hangar door going up and down, there isn't much left to do.

Much obliged, and g'day.....

P.S. Export animations box was checked.

 
Rather than creating a separate dummy part I just pick one of the visible parts, link all other parts to that part, and give that master part the animation required. No dummy part required.

Hope this helps,
 
NonAmbient results..not good....

This is what my animation summary looked like after setting it as you suggested:

Box01
ANIM:NonRandomAmbient(start=0.0125 End=0.01875) :eek:

I have no idea what the units are, or how to expand them...

Everything goes according to plan, until I open up FSX. The item bgl is there, and it IS a fresh compile.

Or should I say "fresh pile". :D
T.G.:
I see your point about unnecessary dummy targets, but I gotta tell you...my sorry experience with SDK documentation has taught me not to wander too far off the reservation..
 
When you created the anim tag there was a box for first and last keyframe which you would usually set as 0 and 100.

I would delete the anim tag (select parts, start animation manager, delete option)

Reapply the tag with correct start and keyframes .... Sounds like you are close.
 
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When you get this part correct it will look like this.

Box01
ANIM:NonRandomAmbient(start=0.0 End=100.0)

DG:eek:
 
Thank you for the animation help..

I actually produced a rotating object, but I need more practice.
Everyone learns by repetition and practice.
 
Rotating radar progress......

Well, I have a rotating radar (thanks) but I am not satisfied.

First, when I set the keys up, I set the snap/rotate to 36 degrees and placed 11 keys with 10 spaces from 0 to 100.

Just doing that on my system has the animation run up to 90, then to 100 with no rotation from 90 to 100.:eek:

OK, I erase the 100 key, and select the other 10 keys .... that allows me to grab the 90 key and stretch it out to 100. The others follow along proportionately.

Now I have 10 keys with 9 spaces a little greater than 36 degrees, but I still get a stutter whereas I want smooth rotation. The transition from 100 back to zero is the main issue. I cannot seem to get consistent angles locked into the same keys.
I have tried smooth rotation and linear rotation but so far at least, no joy.

Secondly, my support structure which is probably close to the Syracuse one someone is doing for FS9 in this thread has a LOT of triangles to resolve, so I am wondering whether I can use 2-sided rectangles instead of a solid box for girders, etc.?

I don't like the results using DXT1 with alpha to see through a maze of girders.

..and KBTV has a number of areas with mesh type girders...
 
Hi,

First of all, if you don't like the effect of DXT1 textures because they are too pixelated, you need to use a larger texture to minimize that. You can use up to a 1024 x 1024 texture. If you are already using that size, use two (or more) of them and make the girders larger on each texture.

With only 100 keyframes, your rotation will be a little jerky (look at many of the default radars, they are much the same). You can increase the total number of keyframes, but that will change the speed of rotation too. I forget the maximum, but in FS9 it is many hundreds of keyframes.

And yes, you can use double sided rectangles - for FS9 just put ds_ in front of the material name. Probably a way to do that for FSX too.

Hope this helps,
 
The DS_ suggesiton

Thanks Tom...I will try your suggestions and report back.

This is for FSX....

I have a radar that not only has outside girders but significant stuff inside the girders so it will be intersting to see if I can put DXT1 w/alpha inside DXT1 w alpha and get transparenct properly.

Thansks again.
 
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