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Animation of floatplane with boarding steps

jgarnold

jgarnold

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australia
I have created an animated DHC2T amphibian (pitches and rocks slightly to imitate action by waves)) and have created boarding steps for it however the boarding steps need to be fixed (non animated) at the end which 'sits' on the dock.

Is this possible and if so how do I achieve it ie the flpoatplane animated to move slightly and the boarding steps to remain stationary at one end? Currently the steps are a separate model.

dhc2t_steps.jpg


Thanks
 
You are thinking there is something easier than making it all one model? Nothing goes anywhere, right? The dock, the steps, the stairs? In fact, the dock itself should have it's own, unique rhythm, so really the stairs need to be a biaxial teeter totter. Or you could just go fly, doubt you'd notice any of it from the cockpit, even idling up to the dock. These are docks without pilings? That seems hard to believe, how convenient for the pilots, but without pilings those docks are going to be all over the place, like moored surfboards. It looks very strange to see that long straight plank of wood over what is presumably seawater and all that is associated with it. Tides, storms and of course Jack Sparrow.

I actually went and looked and it seems like this particular location uses a series of boxed off parallel docks. As near as I can tell, they have an inner dock with the pilings and not overly many at that and then they run an outer dock that just floats, which the wings can freely pass over. Everything is boxed off with returns at each end and intermediary walkways and presumably they have cables strung diagonally across the open areas to keep everything square. Bear in mind your raised edge curb is in reality a very low rail, set off by blocks which allows a place to tie off without having to set divots.

pilings.png
 
Thanks Rick,

Thanks for your reply.

Firstly I don't want to even consider animating (floating) docks although they would move with the waves but probably not nearly as much as the floatplanes.
Yes I realised that the floatplane model and the boarding steps need to be one model but still wonder how to 'lock' part of the model, ie the bottom of the boarding steps, so that everything else is animated.

I still have a lot to learn using Blender and so maybe the answer is to ensure that the 3d cursor and origin is set to the base of the boarding steps but still do not know how to or indeed if it is possible to animate an object around a pivot point?

Although I went back to my model and set the 3D cursor and origin, from the center of the entire model, to the edge of one of the floats and ran the animation but it still 'rotated' around the centre of the mass of the floatplane. Maybe animation has to be created AFTER the 3d cursor/origin points have been set?

BTW this is for MY scenery (CAX3 Sechelt/Porpoise Bay water airport available at flightsim.to)



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I proved (to myself) that setting the origin point to the base of the boarding steps before adding animation results in the base of the boarding steps remaining almost stationary and as such the boarding steps remain in contact with the aircraft at one end and on a dock at the other.
Problem is that when adding animation on the axis which is the same as the wings, the rolling motion is not 'normal' in that the wingtip furthest from the boarding steps rises and falls more the wingtip closest to the boarding steps which is understandable as the aircraft and boarding steps are on the same 'plane' with the 'fulcrum' at the base of the steps.

Maybe I need to use 'manifold'? That looks to be quite 'labour intensive' and maybe not worth the trouble.
 
Manifold software? For MSFS animations? It is a small mesh on a prop in a flight simulator. If you removed it entirely, only you and I would know. If you don't, anyone who sees it will think, "oh ya, seaplane with boarding ramp, simulation complete" and anyone who crashes their airplane over the inadequate representation of reality, is probably too entitled. I would already have just glued it to the plane, maybe add an extra step or too if it's not too much effort and let it saw away at the dock for all of eternity, but I'm lazy.
 
Maybe I used the incorrect 'name' (manifold). I have seen it used to animate a flag and windsock to simulate the 'flapping' in wind.
I get your 'drift'.
 
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