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Helo Animation Problems

A

ajweber

Banned
Messages
64
Hi,

Downloaded a helo source file for Gmax and I need help. Haven't done any aircraft, only scenry thus far, in Gmax so I need some pointers on getting this thing to work. I've got the main rotor anmation to work correctly, but the tail rotor doesn't spin at all. I also need any tips on how to get the main rotor to tilt, and pedals and stick animations. Is it all through naming conventions or do I need to "animate" these parts? The tail rotor is my main concern right now. Any info would be appreciated!! Thanks.


AJ
 
You don't say what sim you are modelling for and that is very important for animation.

I will assume for the moment we are talking about fs9 which does use naming conventions
First I am afraid you are going to have to bite rthe bullet and (re-)read the SDK's to get the animation names and the number of keyframes (something like "the Gmax bible" by Kelly Murdoch will also help).

Your tail rotor problem is probably just a naming error. Don't name your tail rotor as "prop2_still/blurred/whatever" but add it as a second version of prop 1 by putting numbers at the end.
Thus the main prop is "prop1_blurred_00" and the tailrotor is "prop1_blurred_01".

The problem is caused because prop 2 runs off engine 2 and you don't have an engine 2.

To make your other animations you would use the animation key at the bottom right of the Gmax window. lick on it and your view borders will turn red to show you are in animation mode, enter the last "keyframe" (usually 100) in the little box next to the animation button and press enter to go to the last frame in the animation and move your part to the end of it's travel. Deselect animation mode and click the play buton or move the keframe slider and you will see that Gmax has worked out all the keyframes between 0 and 100 for you. If the part is named corectly it should then work in the sim.

Helicopters get a very raw deal in fs and animation is no exception so not all of the animations that fixed wings get can be used in a helicopter but the basic controls/doors are covered.

For fsX there is an "animation manager" which comes as part of the SDK pack and is much better covered by the SDK's.
 
Hi,
I have another problem. I`ve animated my main rotor and fenestron.
I named the main as rotor_blurred and fenestron rotor_blurred.fenestron.
The animations and views are ok. But the fenestron is rotated ever.

I`ve try it with other names e.g. prop0..., prop1....
But then i see nothing. No animation.

This model is for FSX, build with FSDS 3.51 and compiled with FSDSXTweak.
I hope it can help me anyone.
 
you need to put this in the fsds section...its under scenery design....the techniques for fsds are different than gmax,3dsmax,etc....and fs9 is different from fsx....jim
 
Jim - this section's right for the question. It IS an aero-modelling question.

I would suggest that an admin/mod split this off to a separate thread.

MijoBerlin, my first question, and it's probably my misinterpretation of semantics, but when you say "But the fenestron is rotated ever" ... do you mean that the fenestron does NOT rotate? or that it is rotating, but around the wrong axis?
 
aahh
described incorrectly.

The fenestron is rotating of course.
The problem is that all parts are always visible.
The blurred, slow and still fenestron is visible when the main rotor rotates and
when stop. all 3 parts are always visible.
 
The answer is the same as described above in post #2.

It is a question of proper naming of parts.

Both the main and tail (fenestron?) objects must be rotor_something...

Main Rotor...
rotor_still_01
rotor_slow_01
rotor_blurred_01

Tail Rotor
rotor_still_02
rotor_slow_02
rotor_blurred_02
 
Last edited:
MijoBerlin said:
I`ve try it with other names e.g. prop0..., prop1....
But then i see nothing. No animation.
Click to expand...

I`ve really NO animation when I named the parts as prop..... .
______________
prop0 = no ani at main and tail rotor
prop1 = no ani at main and tail rotor
 
MijoBerlin said:
I`ve really NO animation when I named the parts as prop..... .
______________
prop0 = no ani at main and tail rotor
prop1 = no ani at main and tail rotor
Click to expand...

Oh gosh! I forgot this is for FSX! In that case see my edited previous reply.

The names must those used in modeldef.xml file of course!

rotor_droop (optional)
rotor_still
rotor_slow
rotor_blurred

It's also critical that all variations use the _01, _02, _nn suffixes.
 
here are the part and names

rotor_blurred(anim)
lever_collective_arm.blade1 (anim)
lever_collective_arm.blade2 (anim)
lever_collective_arm.blade3 (anim)
lever_collective_arm.blade4 (anim)
rotor_blurred.fenestron (anim)
------------------------------------------
rotor_slow (anim)
rotor_slow.fenestron (anim)
------------------------------------------
rotor_still (anim)
rotor_still.fenestron (anim)
 
Try changing the names to: (especially, changing the .fenestron to _01)

rotor_blurred(anim)
lever_collective_arm_01(anim)
lever_collective_arm_02 (anim)
lever_collective_arm_03 (anim)
lever_collective_arm_04 (anim)
rotor_blurred_01 (anim)
------------------------------------------
rotor_slow (anim)
rotor_slow_01(anim)
------------------------------------------
rotor_still (anim)
rotor_still_01(anim)
 
Have you used the attach tool to attach a visibility state to each object?
The correct visibility state should be listed in the pull down menu under the same name as the animation you applied to the part.
 
MijoBerlin said:
it`s the same.
i can named the parts what i want.
fenestron is always visible
Click to expand...

SkippyBing made a good point - and one that I'd forgotten. I assume that your PartDataDefs.txt file has the entries for the rotor_stil _slow _blurred, but not for the _01, ...

Try adding to the PartDataDefs.txt file and recompile:
Code: 
rotor_blurred_01  	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?> <FSMakeMdlData version="9.0"> <Visibility name="rotor_blurred"> </Visibility> </FSMakeMdlData>
rotor_slow_01  	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?> <FSMakeMdlData version="9.0"> <Visibility name="rotor_slow"> </Visibility> </FSMakeMdlData>
rotor_still_01  	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?> <FSMakeMdlData version="9.0"> <Visibility name="rotor_still"> </Visibility> </FSMakeMdlData>


... (and no, I didn' come up with this on my own. Skippy juggled my mind and I checked with Adam at Abacus, since I remembered we'd worked on something similar)
 
i don`t use the PartDataDefs.txt. This model is for FSX SP2/ACC Pack.
I use the modeldef.xml.
This files has the right entries
rotor_blurred, rotor_slow, rotor_still.

when i named a part e.g. rotor_blurred.fenestron the ani will be played properly. this part is then a part of rotor_blurred separated by the point.

if it is wrong, please write correctly.
 
I have it :D

All parts must be a child of blurred, slow or still.
but the tail rotor can not go visible or unvisible.
All fenestron parts haven`t a parent part.

I`ve made new entries in my modeldef.

tail_rotor_blurred ---> same entries as rotor_blurred, other GUID
tail_rotor_slow ---> same entries as rotor_slow, other GUID
tail_rotor_still ---> same entries as rotor_still, other GUID

I`ve test this with my main rotor as blurred. I named it as rotor_blurred.1.
And what i see? The blurred main rotor was visible allways.
Solution: New entries for tail rotor. That`s it.

I write the solution for other developers who have the same problem.
 
The PartDataDefs.txt file is the FSDS3.5.1 way to set the visibility conditions without creating new modeldef.xml entries, like you did.

Either way should work.

I assume that your new entries basically copied the rotor_xxxx entries?
 
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