P3D v4 My first custom jetway (skin n'bones)

[pinkjr]

Took me 5 days to get it to work......this is hard! But finally got it to work. Still very basic, need to add more detailing, but now that I understand the process it should be straightforward.

Very happy right now!

 

[Marc L]

Congratz

 

[pinkjr]

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

 

[jtanabodee]

Congratulation.
You can use SODE to do the jetway as well. You just name the components of the jetway as the program require. The script will do all the things for you. But there are a lot of work to do on folders and texture placement. Go to this https://sode.12bpilot.ch/?page_id=9 and download the SODE Jetway SDK V1.6 [17MAR2017].

 

[Walter Almaraz]

I'm planning to start learning how to do jetways, today I achieved custom taxilights

 

[kalong]

5 days of hard works is paid, that is a beauty.

 

[linbuckfan]

GREAT JOB, now if i can learn it I will be happy....lol

 

[pinkjr]

I'm planning to start learning how to do jetways, today I achieved custom taxilights

Arm yourself with LOTS of patience buddy!

BTW, can you see your taxilights from a distance?

 

[Walter Almaraz]

Arm yourself with LOTS of patience buddy!

For sure, I'm ready for that lol

BTW, can you see your taxilights from a distance?

Well I have not tested it so much, I'll check that and I'll share a pic tomorrow

 

[Walter Almaraz]

It needs some improvements, but here are the pics:

Close

A little bit far

 

[pinkjr]

It needs some improvements, but here are the pics:

Close

A little bit far

They look great but i think the default lights are the ones showing up at the distance.

When you make 3D lights, you need to make a set of "reversed LODs". As the light is further away, the LOD increases in size. You play with that until you get the desired results. There are good sources here on FSD on this topic. 3D Runway lights are also done this way, except the LODs are significantly larger so you can see the lights 6M away.

 

[Ronald]

Smooooth!

 

[Walter Almaraz]

They look great but i think the default lights are the ones showing up at the distance.

When you make 3D lights, you need to make a set of "reversed LODs". As the light is further away, the LOD increases in size. You play with that until you get the desired results. There are good sources here on FSD on this topic. 3D Runway lights are also done this way, except the LODs are significantly larger so you can see the lights 6M away.

Thanks for your advice, I saw some interesting posts about that.

 

[pinkjr]

Prototype #2, with HD Textures, Transparencies and better hood animation:

 

[pinkjr]

Look Ma', no sinking wheels!

 

[Walter Almaraz]

Amazing! Nice jetway, also the movement looks very smooth, how you did it?

 

[Ronald]

Holy canary, that looks great PinkJr!

 

[jtanabodee]

Is that a CTRL-J jetway?

 

[pinkjr]

Is that a CTRL-J jetway?

Yes it is!

 

[pinkjr]

Amazing! Nice jetway, also the movement looks very smooth, how you did it?

The video is half speed, to show the kinematics. But the trick to smoothness seems to be related to number of bridge nodes, and the stroke limit of each one. I.E., three bridge sections with short strokes seem to prevent the jetway from jumping to stretched position, vs two that stretch a long distance. The location of the airplane relative to gate also plays a factor. Same applies for Z direction (up and down). You want the neutral height of the bridge as close above or below as possible to the airplane door.

What you see here is probably close to 60hrs of fiddling with skin n bones. All this to prevent my customers from having to use SODE. The simplicity of a CTL-J just has no match, but the development effort is UNREAL! LOL