Animating Flaps

[Moach]

i know this is rather newbish... but i have to ask

how do you animate the flaps?

do you just move and rotate them or is there a smarter way?

i'm asking because i found it to be very hard to simply rotate the flaps...  everytime i spin it i have to compensate for the dihedral and the wing sweep

i don't know if maybe gmax has some sort of function that allows you to rotate an object around it's relative axis... instead of the absolute XYZ ones

(altering the pivot point doesn't seem to have any effect on how the objects are handled in gmax.)

i might be way off here, but it would be a lot easier to animate my flaps if there were an easier way to rotate an angled part.

tnx in advance

Moach

[Felix/FFDS]

Accurate placement of the pivot point via the hierarchy tab->affect pivot only is the key to setting the correct flap rotation for the l_flap and r_flap parts, which are default animations.

For keyframed animated flap parts, they need to be tagged with one of the following names, after which you can make the slide,slip, rotate, somersault with a double-twist..... er you get the picture.

l_pct_lead_edge_flap0
r_pct_lead_edge_flap0
l_pct_lead_edge_flap1
r_pct_lead_edge_flap1
l_pct_trail_edge_flap0
r_pct_trail_edge_flap0
l_pct_trail_edge_flap1
r_pct_trail_edge_flap1

[Firestriker]

It depends on the type of flap you are trying to animate. If it is a simple hinged type flap, just name it l_flap_XXX or r_flap_XXX and line your pivot along the hinged edge. On the other hand, if it needs slide AND rotation action, you're kinda stuck. You have to use the key framed animation tags and just resign yourself to spending the time to work on them till they are what you want... it ain't easy.  :) IMHO those are the most difficult animations of all and everything else is a piece of cake in comparison.

Lou

[Moach]

what i wanted to know was an easier way to do the rotating....

the 737's flaps are swept back and tilted up, so everytime i rotate the flaps down, i have to rotate them sideways and back and forth

i can align the pivot to the edge of the flap, but how do i ROTATE the pivot so i only need to rotate the flap around ONE axis?

[Felix/FFDS]

what i wanted to know was an easier way to do the rotating....

the 737's flaps are swept back and tilted up, so everytime i rotate the flaps down, i have to rotate them sideways and back and forth

i can align the pivot to the edge of the flap, but how do i ROTATE the pivot so i only need to rotate the flap around ONE axis?

hierarchy tab ->affect pivot only

move the pivot to the hinge position, then click on the rotate icon and rotate the pivot as you would a part, etc.

[Moach]

yes, that would rotate the pivot point...

but what i want to know is, after you align the pivot point with the part, is it possible to do something like aligning the transform gizmo with this pivot point so it lines up with the part and not with the world?

tnx

Moach

[Sterk]

I think you have to change coordinate system you work in-you know Gmax has several different coordinate systems-you have to work in "Local"-dropdown menu is located on top tool bar,where is "move","rotate" "scale" tools are located...

I think thats the problem...

[Milton]

The issue goes beyond the answers here if you have a curved and swept wing and flap. (You can see why if you use selection brackets)

You can get around this issue by:
1. creating a small object,
2. align it with the flap leading edge,
3. set its LOCAL coordinate pivot for proper alignment,
4. link the flap to it,
5. then name the flap something else,
6. and rename the new object the flap name