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FSX VTOL engine animation

Balto657001

Balto657001

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us-california
First of all, I apologize in general, there is nothing I hate quite as much as joining a community primarily to ask a question, a most likely trivial one at that. However, after several days of searching, here and elsewhere, I cannot seem to dig up the answer.

About a week ago I started my first addon aircraft (for FSX), as seen below:
a72belugasar.jpg

(modeled in solidworks)

In retrospect it was probably the worst idea for a first aircraft ever, being a complex VTOL style. However, it was not originally intended to become my first plane, I just looked at it finished and decided I needed it in flight sim.

I had no trouble getting the model to render into GMAX, then into FSX. (duct tapped it onto F-18 config)

However I ran into trouble in animating its central lifting fan. Separating it from the rest of the model and making it animate in GMAX was not an issue, and I hooked it up to one of the N1_0 animation tags (first tried blurred, then slow, both resulted with the same effect). The fan did animate in FSX, but it jumped two and fro (or maybe spun imperceptibly fast). I spent a day on the issue, googling it as well as trying several tactics in messing with the framerate and keyframes in GMAX, however I could not resolve the issue. I know I'm probably missing something obvious, but I would really appreciate it if any of you could help clear that up for me. Thanks in advance.
 
First, you need an engine in the airfile set that spins a prop, like a turboprop. A pure Jet will not power a prop, but.... You should be able to animate it with the jet fan animation, like the turbine intakes use.

Note; FSX has horrible animations for the props. They all twitch, change spin direction, flitter, then start the cycle all over again.

Using flaps with last stage of flaps using a high lift setting will get you to lift off at perhaps 3 to 5 knots. High drag though, but it works. Use a program that modifies the hex code in the "AIR" file in the flaps section to adjust it to be a VTOL, then use and tune flaps until it works properly to get you the vertical climb you want.

Nice looking model! Welcome to the FS Dev world. Please.... dont laugh at my eyebrows. They are born from stress in trying to make FS models more better... IT can be difficult...



Bill
 
lionheart said:
First, you need an engine in the airfile set that spins a prop, like a turboprop. A pure Jet will not power a prop, but.... You should be able to animate it with the jet fan animation, like the turbine intakes use.

Note; FSX has horrible animations for the props. They all twitch, change spin direction, flitter, then start the cycle all over again.

Using flaps with last stage of flaps using a high lift setting will get you to lift off at perhaps 3 to 5 knots. High drag though, but it works. Use a program that modifies the hex code in the "AIR" file in the flaps section to adjust it to be a VTOL, then use and tune flaps until it works properly to get you the vertical climb you want.

Nice looking model! Welcome to the FS Dev world. Please.... dont laugh at my eyebrows. They are born from stress in trying to make FS models more better... IT can be difficult...



Bill
Click to expand...

Thanks, much appreciated. Is there a way I might be able to get it to spin while the flaps are extended (beyond clean) and reciprocate its rotation instead of stopping when the flaps reach full? Alternatively I would be happy with it spinning all but when the engine is on. Ambient animation looks great but the engine being active does not effect it. Also I don't see how I could pull a smooth speed change that way. (Spooling up and down)
 
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The answer (as stated above) is to use it with a turboprop flight model. Then you can tag the prop with an animation using the prop0_still value. If you want a slow and a blurred prop make those disks separately (prop0_slow and prop0_blurred animation tags). FS will swap those three parts at specific RPM values.

Hope this helps,
 
tgibson said:
The answer (as stated above) is to use it with a turboprop flight model. Then you can tag the prop with an animation using the prop0_still value. If you want a slow and a blurred prop make those disks separately (prop0_slow and prop0_blurred animation tags). FS will swap those three parts at specific RPM values.

Hope this helps,
Click to expand...

Thanks. Should I be rotating the actual blades in the blurred stage of exchanging them for a solid textured disk, and if so how does that effect the model as it is exported from gmax, as I figure ill wind up with both the still blades and blurred blade disk existing at once, unless there is something I'm missing. Going to give it a whirl in the next few hours.
 
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No, you won't. That is the purpose of the <Visibility> sections of the animation's code. Only one "prop" will ever be seen at any one time.
 
If you mean a pivot assembly that goes from vertical to horizontal, you could assign that to Flaps. If you are using flaps to control VTOL, then this would be ideal.


You 'could' create an exotic little custom animation that says 'move when flaps are zero setting, otherwise go to full setting' but I think flaps would be sufficient.


Bill
 
lionheart said:
If you mean a pivot assembly that goes from vertical to horizontal, you could assign that to Flaps. If you are using flaps to control VTOL, then this would be ideal.


You 'could' create an exotic little custom animation that says 'move when flaps are zero setting, otherwise go to full setting' but I think flaps would be sufficient.


Bill
Click to expand...

I wasn't talking about animation, but rather the flight dynamics. Its doing a lot of nose diving at the moment
 
lionheart said:
Balance, cg. Get it balanced and it should hover nicely.
Click to expand...

I've managed to get the liftoff down to 7 knots, but the issue is once It gets airborne, the control surfaces are insufficient to control it. Increasing effectiveness works, but then they become too effective at high speed. Is there a way to get it to recognize prop draft over control surfaces, or simply to increase performance only at low speed?
 
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