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Datum Point

L

lancaster123

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42
Country
unitedkingdom
Hi
I am making an aircraft in FSDS for fsx and I am not quite sure where the datum point is so I can't place anything else is it just the center point in FSDS or is it somewhere else.

Thanks
 
The Reference Datum Position is a completely arbitrary location. Unless you specify differently, it is always assumed to be the project's center-of-origin, XYZ:0,0,0 as designed in the modeling program (aka: FlightSim Reference position).

Every other defined point in the model is relative to the Reference Datum Position, which as stated above is always relative to the model's origin.

The hierarchy used by the sim is as follows:

Code: 
FlightSim Reference position (0,0,0 @ 1/4 chord, centerline, waterline)
...Reference Datum Position (x,y,z @ arbitrary position)
......empty_weight_CG_position
......station_load.[I]n[/I]
......Engine.[I]n[/I]
......[contact points]
......[Views]
......et cetera

The purpose of the Reference Datum Position is to allow one to plug in the exact spatial location specified by the manufacturer's engineering blueprints. Most real world designers use an arbitrary point that's located somewhere ahead of the nose of the aircraft, at the centerline and waterline, which allows for every measurement aft of the Reference Datum Position to be a positive number. :teacher:

From the modeler's point of view, if you don't have real world diagrams or blueprints, then leaving the Reference Datum Position unspecified or set to be congruent with the Flightsim Reference Position (0,0,0) might be the simplest approach to take, and is -in fact- what most modelers do... ;)
 
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