FSX Gmax Animation Extravaganza

[ibanez737]

I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out the new Gmax animation tools included with the SDK SP1, and was hoping to get some help from the experts. Here's the story:

I'm trying to re-create a wind-turbine farm near where I live. I can get the BGL file compiled, and the wind turbines show up, but their rotors do not spin like they should. I created a new ModelDef.xml entry as follows: <Animation name="Wind_Turbine" guid="FFB37CAB-4775-4062-9A22-5088E0FAD798" type="Standard" typeParam="Random" /> I followed the SDK's instructions to select the part to be animated (called Tick18_Rotor), open the Animation Manager, select Wind_Turbine from the Animation List, enter "0" for Start and "50" for end (the frames for the animation) and clicked Create. Everything seems to go smoothly; I save, export, and compile, but the rotors still don't move. Please help, any thoughts?
Thanks,
Scott

 

[n4gix]

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps you haven't enough 'keys' in the animation track...

I would have used 0-100 for the range, and placed a 'key' every 25 frames with 90º rotation for each step.

Also, for testing purposes I'd use Non-Random in the <Animation> entry, as with Random you may or may not see any movement when you look!

 

[stevenroyals]

Anyone else know how to get animations working? I'm having trouble as well. The object shows but does not move in the sim.

Steve

 

[frank_racis]

I was working on a wind turbine too. I got the rotors turning, but couldn't figure out how to get it to turn into the wind.

I think the part in the animation manager has to be the one with the keys applied to it - try using Tick18_Rotor instead of Wind_Turbine.

/Frank

 

[ronh]

I have been able to get animation working - I have an animation of Loc Ness monster that dives down under the water - moves his/her head etc.

Did you export animations. - there is a check box to check on export to MDL.

What does your animation summary say - have you set any Ambient animations?

*********edit *************

The animation tool in GMAX is flaky - it will error out if you don't have things selected.

Ensure that you have:

1. a dummy object - box - surrounding the windmill
2. links dummy to your actual object
3. animation tool summary shows objects for ambient - and the start/end frames 0-100 (sometimes this is 0-0.016 wrong)

see attachment

 

[stevenroyals]

Hi Ron

Thanks for your help. I followed your suggestions closely. Unfortunately I am still unable to get an animation working in FS.

I noticed that you used the default 'Ambient' from the drop down list. Have you altered this at all or created a new one as suggested in the SDK?

When compiling the XML file, which guide do you use, Gmax guide or the one from the 'Ambient' section as written in the modeldef file? Or perhaps they are supposed to be the same.

thanks
Steve

 

[ibanez737]

Looks like animation issues are a common complaint... I still haven't been able to get mine working, though I think I'm making progress.

I changed Random to Autoplay in the <Animation> entry, and the rotors started flipping back and forth 180* between the top and bottom, but they still do not rotate. But at least I can see that some kind of animation is exporting.

I changed the frames from 50 to 100 with four 90 degree turns, but the flipping rotors just slow down by half speed. I changed the animation type to Ambient and now I get random flipping of the rotors. I added the dummy bounding box but there was no change. I messed around with the Auto Rotate options, but the rotations jump around instead of turning in a nice 360, and after exporting it the rotors still did their weird flipping dance. I've tried using the Tick18 -> Ambient button in the lower left, but I get a message that says --Type Error: Call needs function or class, got: undefined. Can anyone make sense of all this? I'm now completely at a loss.

Also, if I change the frames to 100 instead of 50, won't the animation be slower because all animations in FS run at 18 fps? I have quite a bit of experience modelling but not much with animation, even with FS9, so sorry if this is a dumb question.
-Scott

 

[ronh]

I will try to show what I did in detail.

1. I create my objects (windmill) has a cylinder and then three cones.
2. The three cones are copies of one cone rotated and then grouped together.
3. The name of the pole is tick18_cylinder01
4. The name of the cones are tick18_cone01, tick18_cone02, tick18_cone03.
5. The name of the group is tick18_group01
6. Animate the tick18_group01 object by using 0-100 (default) - I assume you know how to animate. - press animate button - move slider to 25 - rotate object - move slidet 50 - rotate - move 75 - rotate move 100 rotate press animate buttton to stop animation step.
7. Test animation - press play
8. Add in box and make as dummy (Menu Animation | dummy)- give it a name windmill (no need for tick18)
9. Now link the dummy to tick18_group01 and link dummy to tick18_cylinder01. ( use the select and link button - select the child (tick18_group01) press hold left mouse and drag to parent (dummy) - do same for pole. - right click properties to check parent.
10. Now comes the fun part. - Select the dummy (MUST SELECT DUMMY) and select menu FS tools|animationmanager menu. (you get the screen in attachment previous note)

Edit *********
- I am not quite sure why selecting dummy works and just selecting say tick18_group01 - sometimes does and sometimes not. I use select dummy. You can experiment.
End Edit ***********

11. Select ambient and enter 0 and 100 for the start and end and then press create. You should then open summary and see your object with ANIM 0-100 etc. - like screen shot from previous message note- above.
12. Save the gmax file.
13. Export MDL and ensure you check animations. - you will be asked to save FS9 textures as FSX - say yes.

attatched is the gmax animation file - hope it helps

EDIT *****
With GAMX - I don't see or do anything with modeldef - that is 3ds I think.

 

[stevenroyals]

Hi Ron

Thanks for your help. I finally got it working.

The file I was playing with must have been corrupted or something, no matter what I did I could not get it to animate in the sim. Once I started from scratch, new scene and everything, it worked first time.

My method was to -
Create a static object first (don't know if this is necessary for FSX)
Make the animated object. tick18_
Animate in Gmax
Creat a dummy and link everything into it.
Select the dummy first and then in animation manager, select ambient etc then create.
Then select the tick_18 object and then repeat selecting ambient etc.


By the way, you don't know how to make your windmill spin at different speeds depending on the wind strength do you?


Thanks Steve

 

[ronh]

Steve,

Thats good - you got it.

I was thinking about this myself - in order to get it to work you need to do something similar as what is done for props on aircraft. read the Aircraft Modeling SDK part - it talks about visibility - you may need to set up two or more Ambient animations with two or more animations of the cones.

The you'll need to get SIMCONNECT to tell you what the weather is and set the animation. I'm just thinking out loud here. Have not tried this.

Isn't there a variable you can set to get windsocks to point - showing the wind direction?

 

[stevenroyals]

I think part of my initial problem was that I was trying to get my object to spin too fast. Animations only seem to work at a slower rate. thats for a spinning object anyway. I'll read up about aircraft props that might help to increas the speed a bit.

I usually make the default windsocks so they always point in the correct direction and register the wind strength. I don't know if there is a way to tap into this though for other objects.

Steve

 

[n4gix]

EDIT *****
With GAMX - I don't see or do anything with modeldef - that is 3ds I think.

The modeldef.xml file is used by both Max7/8 and GMax. It is the "heart" of the new animation scheme...

Also, just to clear up some misconceptions, in FSX "partnames" have absolutely no significance any longer. They are purely for human readability/comprehension.

Granted, it only makes good sense to use rational names for parts, but truthfully, you could have named your windmill's blades "ronh" for all the sim cares!

The only thing important is the association created between your part and the modeldef.xml code provided by the Animation Tool and/or Attachpoint Tool.

There is no corresponding XML code for any of the "Ambientxx" animation tags, which suggests that this part of the new animation engine is hard-coded in one of the .dll files called by fsx.exe. If you wanted to have absolute control over the animation's speed for example, you would have to write your own custom <Animation> tag and related <PartInfo> code to define your own parameters. You could, for example, use any of the stock variables from the sim to provide the driving force, such as "AMBIENT WIND VELOCITY, knots" and another <Animation> tag and related <PartInfo> code to determine the direction of the wind "AMBIENT WIND DIRECTION, degrees" ,,,

Studying the examples for prop0_blurred will reveal the needed "pattern" you could copy/modify for your own use. Above all, have experiment and have FUN!

 

[frank_racis]

Have you gotten custom animations to work on non-aircraft scenery? I tried exactly what you described with Animation, PartInfo, and Ambient wind direction, but it had no effect. The basic animation setup was OK - it worked if I connected it to ambient, just not connected to the custom animation.

I'm not sure if I got something wrong, or if this just won't work on scenery that's not an aircraft.

/Frank

 

[ronh]

The modeldef.xml file is used by both Max7/8 and GMax. It is the "heart" of the new animation scheme...

Thanks for taking the time to explain this - still alot to learn.

 

[n4gix]

I'm not sure if I got something wrong, or if this just won't work on scenery that's not an aircraft.

/Frank

Since tick18 has been depecrated as an "animation driver," we can use instead something like ELAPSED SECONDS as an "animation driver" instead.

 

[arno]

Has anybody had success with using the Sim type animations on scenery objects yet? I have no problems with getting the Standard type animations to work, but so far no success with the Sim type ones.

If I look at the animations defined in the modeldef.xml file, it seems they are all for aircraft purposes. So I was wondering if somebody has a scenery example or at least something that works .

 

[martin_ktpa]

Any success with FSX animations that move along a Spline? (Path Contraint position controller)

They show up in FSX, but never move using any of the Ambient anims.

When I however Animate the same objects with old fashioned keyframes, they do animate fine in FSX.

I know I could just collapse the path controller down to keyframes, but I want to avoid that in case I need to change something later.

 

[frank_racis]

n4gix,
I didn't use the tick18 in my project, only the keyframes. I was just referring to the same name ibanez used

arno,
It seems like it's more than just the variables. I also tried using a coded parameter block with no variables: <Parameter><Code>30</Code></Parameter> This didn't effect the model either. I know it wouldn't move, but it didn't rotate a fixed amount either.

martin,
I'm not surprised that FS and the exporter can't deal with non-keyframe animations. You could always do all your work on the non-collapsed version and collapse it just prior to export. That's a pretty common practice in 3D; doing all your work on a "tweakable" version, then collapsing stacks, merging objects, etc. before merging it into a bigger scene.

/Frank

 

[Paavo]

I believe simulation variables are not available for static scenery objects, but only for "simulated objects" or simobjects, which can be created via SimConnect.

 

[arno]

I believe simulation variables are not available for static scenery objects, but only for "simulated objects" or simobjects, which can be created via SimConnect.

That was a little bit the impression I also get. Which is kind of sad of course, because that means we loose all the conditional animations for scenery objects.