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Old 27th October 2010, 02:30 PM   #11
BumblebeeMan
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Default Re: X-Plane plug in for ac3d animation problem

ok, i am not getting the lower part of the oleo to compress/extend so there is no point in messing with getting the scissor working, and the extend/retract actuator arms are not moving either. all i have managed is to have the oleo swing through it's arc.

I have placed the other items below the oleo group and their axis/ translation lines too in the hierarchy window.
any suggestions what I am missing here? i am sure it is something simple but i sure can't see it.
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Old 27th October 2010, 06:24 PM   #12
captainpeter
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Default Re: X-Plane plug in for ac3d animation problem

Maybe this screenshot of the hierarchy along with a screencapture movie helps:

movie is here:
http://www.xplanefreeware.net/peter/...20nlg_mech.mp4

cheers
Peter

Quote:
Originally Posted by BumblebeeMan View Post
ok, i am not getting the lower part of the oleo to compress/extend so there is no point in messing with getting the scissor working, and the extend/retract actuator arms are not moving either. all i have managed is to have the oleo swing through it's arc.

I have placed the other items below the oleo group and their axis/ translation lines too in the hierarchy window.
any suggestions what I am missing here? i am sure it is something simple but i sure can't see it.
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Old 28th October 2010, 12:52 AM   #13
BumblebeeMan
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Default Re: X-Plane plug in for ac3d animation problem

Thanks for the response Peter.
I will compare mine to your hierarchy and see if that fixes that part of my problem.
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Old 28th October 2010, 01:28 AM   #14
wizzardworks
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Talking Re: X-Plane plug in for ac3d animation problem

Bumblebee man. I have not attempted anything with this many components however I think you are better off collecting the several objects such as landing light, and lens under a single name for the group that applies to the rotation or translation. It seems like several instances have a list of items assigned to a rotation. The other thing is as I currently understand it you would be rotating the upper strut with everything else under that main rotation. The next rotation of the upper scissors link would consider the upper strut as it's base just like the wing pivot was the base for the upper strut. From the upper scissors link as a base point you would have the lower scissors link as a rotation. From the lower scissors you could group the oleo strut, wheel yoke ,axle and brake caliper as a group called "strut". this could be a rotation about the scissors link instead of a translation from the upper strut, Then the wheel and tire would consider "strut" as their base point and also be a rotation. Except for the wheel all the other rotations are through a designated arc from some starting angle to their respective end of travel angle. Get these angles by copying the parts to the end of travel and measuring the angle changes of each part from the item above it in the heirarchy. The wheel would be a constant rotation. There is a test button in AC3D to cycle the motion. If the lower strut doesn't stay in line with the upper strut some of the travel angles will need adjusted.
As far as I know you can key the three landing gears off of the same X-ref but each has to have it's own heirarchy list under it. It would be pretty much three copys of the same heirarchy list with the objects changed to the gear leg parts for the one you are annimating.
If the wheels all go up do they look like your wheels or the generic default ones you defined in the flight model in planemaker. The plane maker ones should be set to invisible ( the bottom item in the expert tab of planemaker) and your gear would be in the objects folder inside your airplanes folder. Then each object is identified in the standard/miscelaneous objects list in planemaker.
My computer is currently apart which makes it hard to look at the program but make sure you are getting the yellow axis line in AC3D lined up with your parts for your rotations. Also AC3D uses meters as it's unit of measurement while planemaker uses feet and CAD programs use inches. Obviously when you make the planemaker model invisible you should see your plane when you open it in the sim. The first step is to get all the individual parts defined as miscelaneous objects and on the screen. If you enter it all as a single object that is what you get, just one object. You might as a test just make the rudder or elevator move. If you get one part to move the complicated stuff will mostly need getting the heirarchy list straightened out.
wizzardworks
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Old 28th October 2010, 08:29 AM   #15
captainpeter
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Default Re: X-Plane plug in for ac3d animation problem

There certainly are easier ways to set it up (and keep parts grouped together) but to my excuse, the shots are from a project in development, nothing is complete yet. I keep parts like the landing lights + glass seperate for easier texturing later. In addition AC3D has some serious limitations selecting groups nested within other groups with the mouse.

<hijack>(Does anyone know a fix for that? It either highlights the top group when in group mode or the contents of the group when in object mode.)</hijack>

Regarding hooking up the geometry via the torsion links - I didn't do it because I wanted to take actual values from the handbook for strut compression (easier with anim_trans) and because the torsion link isn't really the load-bearing part in the game but rather the part that gives way a bit to keep the tires from blowing every time you land with some lateral movement versus terra firma. I'm not sure yet if details like that would be visible in the sim though. Could be a lesson in futility too.

Don't use one dataref for three gears! You may end up with a stuck nose gear only but in the sim all woud be drawn in the retracted position. Besides, tire rotation depends on tire radius, oleo compression on actual force applied,....to name a few.
simply add [0] [1] [2] for gear number 1, 2, 3 to the respective datarefs.

cheers
peter

Quote:
Originally Posted by wizzardworks View Post
Bumblebee man. I have not attempted anything with this many components however I think you are better off collecting the several objects such as landing light, and lens under a single name for the group that applies to the rotation or translation. It seems like several instances have a list of items assigned to a rotation. The other thing is as I currently understand it you would be rotating the upper strut with everything else under that main rotation. The next rotation of the upper scissors link would consider the upper strut as it's base just like the wing pivot was the base for the upper strut. From the upper scissors link as a base point you would have the lower scissors link as a rotation. From the lower scissors you could group the oleo strut, wheel yoke ,axle and brake caliper as a group called "strut". this could be a rotation about the scissors link instead of a translation from the upper strut, Then the wheel and tire would consider "strut" as their base point and also be a rotation. Except for the wheel all the other rotations are through a designated arc from some starting angle to their respective end of travel angle. Get these angles by copying the parts to the end of travel and measuring the angle changes of each part from the item above it in the heirarchy. The wheel would be a constant rotation. There is a test button in AC3D to cycle the motion. If the lower strut doesn't stay in line with the upper strut some of the travel angles will need adjusted.
As far as I know you can key the three landing gears off of the same X-ref but each has to have it's own heirarchy list under it. It would be pretty much three copys of the same heirarchy list with the objects changed to the gear leg parts for the one you are annimating.
If the wheels all go up do they look like your wheels or the generic default ones you defined in the flight model in planemaker. The plane maker ones should be set to invisible ( the bottom item in the expert tab of planemaker) and your gear would be in the objects folder inside your airplanes folder. Then each object is identified in the standard/miscelaneous objects list in planemaker.
My computer is currently apart which makes it hard to look at the program but make sure you are getting the yellow axis line in AC3D lined up with your parts for your rotations. Also AC3D uses meters as it's unit of measurement while planemaker uses feet and CAD programs use inches. Obviously when you make the planemaker model invisible you should see your plane when you open it in the sim. The first step is to get all the individual parts defined as miscelaneous objects and on the screen. If you enter it all as a single object that is what you get, just one object. You might as a test just make the rudder or elevator move. If you get one part to move the complicated stuff will mostly need getting the heirarchy list straightened out.
wizzardworks
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