P3D v4 Bicycle Avatar

[Christian Bahr]

Hi.

Just want to tell you that I'm working on a bike for the P3D. Technically, the Avatar mode comes into play here, which makes it possible to create an avatar as a cyclist. Currently the bike has three states: standing, driving and fast driving. A wheelie (driving on the rear wheel) should also be programmed.

Scenery PadLabs Tegel X (Germany)

Scenery ORBX LOWI Innsbruck (Austria)


It is clear that this is not a groundbreaking development and I have not reinvented the wheel. But in times of ever more complex sceneries, like for example PadLabs Tegel X and ORBX Innsbruck, one can now explore these very detailed sceneries from a new perspective. It's just a lot of fun.

Here is a short video:

*Bicycle in Jena (WIP)

 

[ronh]

That is hilarious!

People are having too much fun here .... Now take the bike and go off-roading on Lionheart's new mountain terrain scenery.

 

[Lagaffe]

Great, I love it.

A very good idea to visit sceneries.

 

[JP "Penz" Pedersen]

Totally awesome Christian, I love it!

Stay tuned for "Tour de Prepar3d".

- JP

 

[Christian Bahr]

Stay tuned for "Tour de Prepar3d".

Unfortunately, no Tour in France. But a Tour de Jena ...

The wheelie in the video is not working as it should

 

[Christian Bahr]

Hi all,

the bikes are ready now. In addition to the male bicycle avatar, there is also a female cyclist. The bikes no longer have sterile colors because the bikes have been textured. The bikes and avatars have four animations: standing, driving, fast driving, wheelie. And of course all bicycles have a working light

At factory visit in EDHI Finkenwerder (Aerosoft)

 

[JP "Penz" Pedersen]

That last picture is just so GTA ...

 

[lionheart]

LOVE THAT! lolol.. Very nice.

 

[Amengol]

Very nice, Christian.

Did you create a new Avatar for this or you're reusing the default GUID animations in modeldef.xml?

In the video with a bunch of cyclists, are you using SimConnect, PDK or SimDirector?

Cheers,

Jorge.

 

[Christian Bahr]

Hello Jorge.

Basically, the bike avatars are the same technology that was created for Aerosoft's Airport Avatars or the Bahrometrix Civil Avatars. The decisive factor is that the animations have been assigned something different here. The bike, on the other hand, is a normal object with animations. Both the avatar and the bike were then exported together as an single MDL file. This MDL file, together with the default folder structure, the textures, and the Sim.cfg will result in a SimObject.

The standard animation tags were used, as they are stored in the modeldef.xml, no changes were made to the modeldef.xml and nothing was changed. Everything is based on the standards of the PDK.

The group of cyclists are SimObjects. These SimObjects act as AI-Traffic, just like a AI-Boat/Ship following a predetermined route. This has been made quite simple: The route was created in the GIS software, exported and then compiled with the help of "TrafficDatabaseBuilder.exe" from the PDK to a BGL file. With the tool "Boat Traffic Compiler" (aibtc.exe) the route was refined a bit, so that the traffic appears already with the setting 1% "Ships and Ferries" and all cyclists start at the same time.

 

[Amengol]

Hi Christian,

Looking good. The Avatar system, the way it is, is quite limited though. You have to work around the same animations and GUIDs from what is already there.
Anyway, thanks for sharing!

Jorge.

 

[Jay Bloomfield]

...
The group of cyclists are SimObjects. These SimObjects act as AI-Traffic, just like a AI-Boat/Ship following a predetermined route. This has been made quite simple: The route was created in the GIS software, exported and then compiled with the help of "TrafficDatabaseBuilder.exe" from the PDK to a BGL file. With the tool "Boat Traffic Compiler" (aibtc.exe) the route was refined a bit, so that the traffic appears already with the setting 1% "Ships and Ferries" and all cyclists start at the same time.

I don't want to get the thread too far off track, but how did you manage to get around the problem of the ground-based SimObject not even starting it's route and then disappearing? The issue is described in these two previous threads:

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/t...as-ground-vehicle-traffic.438180/#post-753046
https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/t...-traveling-but-disappears.430161/#post-671600

I'm assuming that it's something specific to the entries in the route file prior to compilation. Or is that why you started with TrafficDatabaseBuilder and then only used AIBTC to refine the route?

 

[Christian Bahr]

I don't want to get the thread too far off track ... I'm assuming that it's something specific to the entries in the route file prior to compilation. Or is that why you started with TrafficDatabaseBuilder and then only used AIBTC to refine the route?

Hello Jay.

No problem

The group of cyclists in the video was meant as a fun contribution with a wink, they will not be included in the current Jena project. The project will only contain the three cyclists depicted - but without a route. You can then control it yourself as an avatar.

But I understand what you mean. The problem is still not solved. It is said that the group of cyclists disappears after reaching the end point of the route after a short time. Admittedly, I do not know much about programming SimObjects as AI-traffic. However, I know someone who is well versed in the programming of routes for ships. I will address him on occasion and ask him what you can do there. Maybe there is a solution.

 

[Jay Bloomfield]

Christian,

Thanks. At least you got the bicyclists to follow a route. With a looping route that returns to the starting point

AC#1,B1001,1%,2Hr,00:18:19,00:24:06,1754,reverse,ferry,01:18:19,01:24:06,1754,normal,ferry

for me the SimObject appears at the correct time of day, is visible for a few moments and then just disappears.

Jay

 

[Christian Bahr]

So if I see that correctly, then your route is 6min. relatively short and the question is whether that is so intended. For a correct route, two factors must be correct: The length of the route measured in nautical miles. And the speed of the Sim object measured in knots. Both factors must be coordinated. For example, if your route is 1 nautical mile long and the programmed speed of your Sim object is 50 knots, then this is likely to cause problems.

Here are the route strings of the cyclists:
AC#1,B53840,1%,4Hr,02:00:16,02:29:15,4,reverse,ferry,00:02:17,00:31:15,4,normal,ferry

But as I said, that's an area where I'm not really good at it. Maybe someone else can give better information.

In one project I had an avatar running a route. The route was then compiled with the TrafficDatabaseBuilder to a BGL file. Maybe it will help you a bit further, see Zip archive attached.

 

[Jay Bloomfield]

Actually, I copied the plan from the AIBTC download page:

http://lc0277.gratisim.fr/boat/

The original AIBTC version is:

AC#14,B60264,60%,2Hr,00:18:19,00:24:06,1754,reverse,ferry,01:18:19,01:24:06,1754,normal,ferry

But your point is well-taken. The parameters in the plan are very sensitive and even if they are off by a tiny amount from optimal, the SimObject doesn't follow the route. Unfortunately, I've experimented a lot with editing the plan statement and nothing works for me except but boats.

It's been a while since I tried this with P3d4, but there's a thread here somewhere on FSDeveloper where someone (Gary GB?) made a ground vehicle work using AIBTC and FSX. I tried the exact files that he did in P3d4 but with no success.

 

[Christian Bahr]

May I ask what kind of Simobject you want to assign a route to and which route it is. I'm sure that's easy to solve.

 

[Jay Bloomfield]

I created the route with Google Earth and used a variety of stock P3d4 ground vehicles commonly found at airports. I used a 1% activity level and a speed of 10 in the plan. The vehicles appear for a minute and then disappear without moving. My ship and ferry activity level in the sim is 10% and I have the freeware AI ship package installed. All the ships show up in the sim and move along their routes.

Unfortunately, I'm away from my PC or I would zip up the files. I'll be back home early next month.

 

[Jay Bloomfield]

I have a feeling that any BGL compiled with TrafficDatabaseBuilder only works with 1. ATC-controlled AI aircraft, 2. AI boats on waterbodies and 3. AI avatars on land. I wonder if LM disabled stock vehicle use? It might be easy to check by changing a vehicle's sim.cfg CategoryID (or creating a new version with a different title). It's also possible that ground weapon SimObjects might work too, just not stock ground vehicles that were inherited from FSX. I wonder if it has anything to do with altitude. An avatar, like the user's aircraft, will follow terrain. A boat will sway in heavy seas, but will not move on land. A submarine will do that plus submerge and surface but will stop when hitting the sea bottom as defined by bathymetry. I always thought that ground vehicles will follow highway vectors up and down slopes, but I can't honestly say that I've ever looked that carefully.

<Sigh> I guess I picked the wrong time to take a vacation.

 

[Christian Bahr]

I have a feeling that any BGL compiled with TrafficDatabaseBuilder only works with 1. ATC-controlled AI aircraft, 2. AI boats on waterbodies and 3. AI avatars on land. I wonder if LM disabled stock vehicle use?

I can not confirm. With the topic "Simobjects as ai traffic" I have done some tests in the past time and experimented a little bit around.

It works:

- Ground vehicles such as tanks, mil. Vehicles, trucks, etc
- Standard animals of the FSX / P3D such as elephants, giraffes etc
- P3D avatars

This already gives you a lot of possibilities to create different ground traffic for different requirements.