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Making my boat go around
- Thread starter Fern
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It depends on how long you want the animation to be.
You could just use GMAX to animate along a path, but you are limited on the amount of frames. (Soon to be resolved with AniLinker)
The way I did it for the EISG scenery was to use BusyObjects. Takes some learning, but works well.
Cheers,
You could just use GMAX to animate along a path, but you are limited on the amount of frames. (Soon to be resolved with AniLinker)
The way I did it for the EISG scenery was to use BusyObjects. Takes some learning, but works well.
Cheers,
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Boat moving
Hi, Jon
I don't know how to do that. I though AFCAD was for Airports.
Please elaborate. I'd like to know how to make a boat (or any vehicle) be an AI object. I can do AI traffic with Traffic Tools, but the planes go from airport to airport.
I'd appreciate a pointer to where the information is.
Thanks!
Fern
Hi, Jon
I don't know how to do that. I though AFCAD was for Airports.
Please elaborate. I'd like to know how to make a boat (or any vehicle) be an AI object. I can do AI traffic with Traffic Tools, but the planes go from airport to airport.
I'd appreciate a pointer to where the information is.
Thanks!
Fern
JonPatch
Resource contributor
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Hi Fern,
Look for an AI boat download at the usual sites from Holger Sandmann: ai_ships.zip. In the readme you will find instructions. Numerous other folks have done them as well, including Larry Silsbee (grand_coulee.zip)(who also published some boats: ai_boat_collection.zip) and myself (vicenh03.zip). Holger has also published some effects so your boats can have wakes (ai_shipx.zip)
Essentially the boats are aircraft that spend all their travel time taxiing. You create an AFCAD with such a taxiway that follows the route you want the boat to take. It can't be circular, in general you start from a dock (just a parking spot), taxi to the runway, where the boat is paralyzed for 5 minutes or so, then blinks out.
The runway is too short, and the boat parameters modified (reduced power or such) so that they can't take off.
I have run taxiways as far as Seattle-Victoria-Vancouver with no problem. I have used hama's cruise ship on this route. Holger also has used this technique with his Misty Fjords scenery.
If you are into boats, you might want to spend some time at www.fs-shipyards.com.
Jon
Look for an AI boat download at the usual sites from Holger Sandmann: ai_ships.zip. In the readme you will find instructions. Numerous other folks have done them as well, including Larry Silsbee (grand_coulee.zip)(who also published some boats: ai_boat_collection.zip) and myself (vicenh03.zip). Holger has also published some effects so your boats can have wakes (ai_shipx.zip)
Essentially the boats are aircraft that spend all their travel time taxiing. You create an AFCAD with such a taxiway that follows the route you want the boat to take. It can't be circular, in general you start from a dock (just a parking spot), taxi to the runway, where the boat is paralyzed for 5 minutes or so, then blinks out.
The runway is too short, and the boat parameters modified (reduced power or such) so that they can't take off.
I have run taxiways as far as Seattle-Victoria-Vancouver with no problem. I have used hama's cruise ship on this route. Holger also has used this technique with his Misty Fjords scenery.
If you are into boats, you might want to spend some time at www.fs-shipyards.com.
Jon
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I think for your 2 hour boat trip AI would almost be the only solution. Even when AniLinker is finished it would require around 140 source files to make a 2hr trip. So I guess for such long distances AI is best.
But when we tested it in our scenery team it also gave some strange effects. Like a flying boat or bus sometimes and you can hear them on the ATC as well. So it is not really perfect.
But when we tested it in our scenery team it also gave some strange effects. Like a flying boat or bus sometimes and you can hear them on the ATC as well. So it is not really perfect.
JonPatch
Resource contributor
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Parameters can be tweaked to ensure they don't fly, but that can be tricky. One of my boats tries to take off and goes into a tight spin in the air, looks like a ferris wheel spewing water! I left it that way to see if anybody noticed or cared, and I never received a comment.
You do end up with extra AFCADs which can clutter up the GPS for sure.
I found this to be a simple solution though. The only tedious part is creating the taxiway.
Jon
You do end up with extra AFCADs which can clutter up the GPS for sure.
I found this to be a simple solution though. The only tedious part is creating the taxiway.
Jon
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AFCAD taxiways for boats
I see now how it is done, and I must say I much admire whoever came up with the original idea. I have to say I finished reading laughing at the possibilities.
The boat here is a sort of a "bateau mouche" (I think that is the correct French spelling), it moves extremely slow (the wake is barely visible from the air) while people have lunch or dinner.
So, I think I will just have 8 or 10 of them appearing at differente times in different places using the hour-of-day with MDLTweaker, and dock it for the night, as well as making it disappear from the lake and appear at the dry dock 25 km from here from October to May.
Thanks, guys, this was excellent! I just love this forum. I have learned so much with it that I started doing my North Bay all over again, as I think I have to raise the quality of my work. This is the boat in question. I wish we could get together for coffee sometime.
Fern
I see now how it is done, and I must say I much admire whoever came up with the original idea. I have to say I finished reading laughing at the possibilities.
The boat here is a sort of a "bateau mouche" (I think that is the correct French spelling), it moves extremely slow (the wake is barely visible from the air) while people have lunch or dinner.
So, I think I will just have 8 or 10 of them appearing at differente times in different places using the hour-of-day with MDLTweaker, and dock it for the night, as well as making it disappear from the lake and appear at the dry dock 25 km from here from October to May.
Thanks, guys, this was excellent! I just love this forum. I have learned so much with it that I started doing my North Bay all over again, as I think I have to raise the quality of my work. This is the boat in question. I wish we could get together for coffee sometime.
Fern
JonPatch
Resource contributor
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Hi Fern,
I think this foolishness was largely Holger's idea, with some other culprits I'm sure.
If you're going to have many boats, best to try to run as many as possible on the same AFCAD taxiway. It is a pain in the butt to keep traffic out of the way of each other. I have a seaplane AFCAD, boat AFCAD and cruise ship AFCAD intermingling, and when I then allow for all the static boats that folks have put into the area, it's a mess. Lots of trial and error with scheduling and routing.
Your ATC and GPS will also be less cluttered if you can minimize AFCADs.
Glad you see the possibilities, there's much fun to be had with boats, and no limit to the degree of silliness: did I mention that I have flocks of animated birds landing and taking off at the seaplane base? (birds courtesy hama)
Don't hesitate to post if you run into any problems.
Jon
P.S. Nice looking cat!
I think this foolishness was largely Holger's idea, with some other culprits I'm sure.
If you're going to have many boats, best to try to run as many as possible on the same AFCAD taxiway. It is a pain in the butt to keep traffic out of the way of each other. I have a seaplane AFCAD, boat AFCAD and cruise ship AFCAD intermingling, and when I then allow for all the static boats that folks have put into the area, it's a mess. Lots of trial and error with scheduling and routing.
Your ATC and GPS will also be less cluttered if you can minimize AFCADs.
Glad you see the possibilities, there's much fun to be had with boats, and no limit to the degree of silliness: did I mention that I have flocks of animated birds landing and taking off at the seaplane base? (birds courtesy hama)
Don't hesitate to post if you run into any problems.
Jon
P.S. Nice looking cat!