GMAX animations

[Mike Thurman]

   Lately, I've been developing for FS2002 and FS2004 and was wondering for both how to:

1. Make a contstantly repeating animation for FS

2. Make animations that perform with a command


I REALY REALY need someone to help me with this...



        Mike T.

[Felix/FFDS]

Give an example of each type of animation you're trying to do.

The two statements are a bit generic - for example  

#1 - a constantly repeating animation:
      propeller, ferris wheel?

#2 - animations that perform with a command - spoilers, flaps, doors....

[Mike Thurman]

When I say repeating animation, I mean like A prop or like you've seen on the JN-D4, those piston knobs constantlay go up and down.

And the second thing a meant was like spoilers, flaps, ailerons, rudders, VC contorl sticks, etc.

[Felix/FFDS]

There are two types of animations that FS supports- the default (prop rotation, basic control surface deflection, tire rotation) and key-frame animation.

With default rotation, the animation of the part depends on the part name, part axis location/orientation, and, in some cases, an entry in the aircraft.cfg file to determine the extents of the animation/deflection.

For example - a rudder part must be named "rudder" (if you have a twin rudder, one can be named "rudder" and the other "rudder.1") .  You model the part and move the part axis to the correct hinge line.

Your aircraft.cfg file will have a line indicating the rudder deflection angle, say 11 degrees to the right and left of the vertical hinge.

That's all you need.


In a key frame animated part you control the animation completely.  You still have to name the part correctly.  This is how you can have such things as fowler flaps, landing gear extension and retraction, special animations to control surfaces.

For detailed descriptions of the correct part names (tags) for both the default and key-frame animations, and the entries to be made in the aircraft.cfg files, check out the proper Flight Simulator SDK documents:

http://zone.msn.com/flightsim/FS02DevDeskSDK00.asp

You want to read and be very familiar with the MakeMDL and Aircraft Container SDKs.

[Mike Thurman]

I'm 100% familiar with MakeMDL. I've made some stuff like Rudders, elevators, etc. I understood your explenation but what i need

1. Names of parts

2. I need to know how to do a CONSTANT repeating animation like a prop motion or cylinders quickly moving up and down

[Felix/FFDS]

I'm 100% familiar with MakeMDL. I've made some stuff like Rudders, elevators, etc. I understood your explenation but what i need

1. Names of parts

2. I need to know how to do a CONSTANT repeating animation like a prop motion or cylinders quickly moving up and down

The NAMES of the parts are given in the MakeMDL SDK, if you're looking for a control stick part, your tag should be lever_stick_l_r, or lever_stick_fore_aft, etc.

For a prop motion - the tags are propX or propX_still, propX_slow, propX_blurred; where "x" is the prop number from 0 to 3 for a four engined plane.

Animated rockers is something I can't help you with...  I've heard of some people doing something with a tick18 key, but I haven't come across an explanation I can understand.

[Travis]

Here's another animation question:

I want to make an aircraft capable of cloaking (using the opacity control in the material editor).  I have tested it in Gmax.  Set the opacity to 5-10%, which creates a nice "cloaked" effect in the game.  What I want to do is make it able to go from cloak to solid on command.

I have tested it and found that the opacity will change gradually if an animation sequence is applied to it.  So my question is, can I map this animation to a command in FS?  I've read the SDKs, but I can't seem to find a function (besides maybe userdefined) that I can map for this animation.

[Felix/FFDS]

[quote]Here's another animation question:

I want to make an aircraft capable of cloaking (using the opacity control in the material editor).