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Post by denniss on Feb 9, 2006 10:57:58 GMT -5
Hello, All,
I've finally upgraded to FS9 MakeMDL, primarily to get its engine_rocker_arm animations for my Avro Type F.
The rocker arms work fine, all 10 of them. But then I thought I'd animate the pushrods as well.... ("If one elephant is good, then 100 elephants are...).
I defined them as engine_rocker_arm_k, k=11, 12, .., 20.
The animations look great in Gmax, but only the rocker arms translate to FS9. The pushrods don't move.
Any thoughts on engine_rocker_arm animation limitations? Certainly the Jenny's look cool.
Thanks.
Dennis S
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Post by Roger on Feb 9, 2006 13:09:39 GMT -5
Stuart Green's the rocker arm king so I e.mailed him with a link to this post to see if he can shed some light.
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Post by denniss on Feb 9, 2006 19:30:14 GMT -5
Hello, Roger,
Thanks much.
I've done an acceptable cheat, putting a sphere at each pushrod/rocker contact to mask the former not moving while the latter does. It looks ok, but...
I'm wondering if it might be a video card limitation? On the other hand, the Jenny's layout is more complex and functions well.
All in good fun.
Dennis S
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Post by Roger on Feb 9, 2006 19:33:18 GMT -5
Hi Denis, Here's a gif of Stuart's Albatross   |
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Post by denniss on Feb 10, 2006 1:06:48 GMT -5
Hello, Roger,
Fabulous!
Dennis
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alain
FS Addict
Posts: 121
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Post by alain on Feb 10, 2006 1:52:25 GMT -5
Hi Astonishing, absolutely fabulous...  Will the fiction exceed reality? Certainly, but the question is not that one... The question is: when?  Alain |
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Post by windrunner on Feb 10, 2006 6:16:51 GMT -5
Hey Dennis! no previews of that babe? or am I missing something?  Avro...always sounds good to my ears.... ;D |
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Post by denniss on Feb 10, 2006 10:31:30 GMT -5
Hello, WR,
Actually the Avro is pretty far along, but I'm not smart enough to upload a photo. One of these days, I'll seek out instructions on doing so.
Regards.
Dennis
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Post by denniss on Feb 10, 2006 12:46:19 GMT -5
Hello, All,
Stop the presses! (I think...)
I believe I have cracked the puzzle about my mysteriously immobile pushrods.
Namely, they push. (As the kids say, "duh.")
That is, the engine_rocker_arm animation appears to be hard-wired for rotation only, not for displacement.
I found quite an easy workaround: Animate only the necessary top bit of the pushrod, the part that interacts with the rocker arm. Then put its pivot far enough away, and a rotation approximates a linear motion (i.e., an arc of a sufficiently large circle looks like a straight line locally). Essentially, the top bit, defined as engine_rocker_arm_11, telescopes into and out of the stationary pushrod to fill the gap as the rocker rocks.
A good challenge, to be addressed later today once I get this office jazz out of the way, is how to position the pivot point so it accounts for a slight angle of the pushrod.
My first proof-of-concept already looks better than my sphere-on-top cheat, but I believe some descriptive geometry would identify a line on which the pivot point should be placed. The farther away on this line, the better the linear approximation of the motion.
All in good fun. Thanks for the inputs along the way.
Dennis S
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Post by windrunner on Feb 10, 2006 14:15:53 GMT -5
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Post by denniss on Feb 10, 2006 15:01:16 GMT -5
Hello, WR,
Thanks sincerely for your kind words and for the lead on learning how to upload pics. I'll offer an Avro Type F happy snap before long.
Dennis S
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Post by stuartgreen on Feb 10, 2006 16:17:37 GMT -5
Hi Dennis, I'm a strictly FSDS user so haven't had to get involved with gmax and makemdl (until I bite the bullet and use FSDSversion3). The way I animate my rockers (ooer missus) is to use a variable based on where the prop position is. So, I have 2 parts for every rocker, one that only appears when the prop is in position A, one that appears only when the prop is in position b ... they don't actually rotate around a point. To do pushrod movement I would do the same thing. Hope this is of some help
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Post by denniss on Feb 10, 2006 16:27:57 GMT -5
Hello, Stuart,
A clever (and obviously very effective) approach. I especially admire your artistic sense in texturing these and other elements.
Now that I've cracked the engine_rocker_arm code, I believe I'll be comfortable with it.
Thanks for sharing another approach.
Regards.
Dennis
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