What is a 'Root Node'

[Wing Nut]

... and why do they hate me so much?



Anybody?

[Fr. Bill]

Answered at FS Developer.

Briefly, to recapitulate...

The "root node" is like the root of any disk... it is the lowest level folder...

All aircraft models must have either "exterior" or "interior" as the top, or "root" node name. All other objects in the scene are Linked to that node.

Code: Select all

exterior
   engine  
   fuselage
   wings
   etc.


[Alejandro Rhodes]

Nah, I never Use the Verify in exportLOD tool,I don't even rename names like "Right Wing or R_Wing, L-Flaps_01 Nah nah.(This is not FS9-SDK anymore). I leave as it is Lines,Object Box chamferbox etc, All I do is LINK what needs to be link , create the animation and make it work fine in FSX ..

But I guess that's me I'm a little bit a mess

By the way you haven't set the friendly name ,won't export like this ,Hit Create "it will make the Gui code" and then hit edit and put a name like "Kevin" or anyname the name of the model..

[HarvesteR]

Basically you have to set a link hierarchy for all your parts... to define which are attached to which (as in, ailerons attached to wings, and other parent/child relations such as that)

Cheers

[Fr. Bill]

Nah, I never Use the Verify in exportLOD tool,I don't even rename names like "Right Wing or R_Wing, L-Flaps_01 Nah nah.(This is not FS9-SDK anymore). I leave as it is Lines,Object Box chamferbox etc, All I do is LINK what needs to be link , create the animation and make it work fine in FSX ..

[color=#000000]
Please, Alex...

I'm trying to teach folks how to build an FSX model that can be easily "downconverted" to FS9...

[Alejandro Rhodes]

Nah, I never Use the Verify in exportLOD tool,I don't even rename names like "Right Wing or R_Wing, L-Flaps_01 Nah nah.(This is not FS9-SDK anymore). I leave as it is Lines,Object Box chamferbox etc, All I do is LINK what needs to be link , create the animation and make it work fine in FSX ..

[color=#000000]
Please, Alex...

I'm trying to teach folks how to build an FSX model that can be easily "downconverted" to FS9...

[Wing Nut]

At any rate, I think I have it now.

[HarvesteR]

i would link that fuselage part to a dummy (call it exterior), so the dummy is the top node... this way, you can put the dummy at position 0, 0, 0 and move the aircraft about if you need to

makes for greater flexibility

[Fr. Bill]

i would link that fuselage part to a dummy (call it exterior), so the dummy is the top node... this way, you can put the dummy at position 0, 0, 0 and move the aircraft about if you need to

Well, since it's required for FS9 models, I would too just as a matter of habit...

[Wing Nut]

Can you explain more how to set up a dummy part?

[Fr. Bill]

Can you explain more how to set up a dummy part?

There are two methods, Kevin.

1. Use the Max/GMax "Helper/Dummy" to create a Dummy object and place it at 0,0,0 in the scene. Name the part as required.

2. Create a tiny planar object at 0,0,0 and name it as required. I typically will rotate the part so it's face is down, to there's absolutely no chance it will ever be seen.

Understand that any animated parts atttached to a true Dummy (a la #1 above) will lose all animations when compiled. For this reason I stick to pseudo-dummy objects a la method #2.

For convenience, I have a defalut hierarchy set of 'pseudo-dummy' objects which I can Merge into any new project. Any additional 'pseudo-dummy' object needed can be cloned from them quickly.

[Felix/FFDS]

Can you explain more how to set up a dummy part?

2. Create a tiny planar object at 0,0,0 and name it as required. I typically will rotate the part so it's face is down, to there's absolutely no chance it will ever be seen.

For this purposes, then will it suffice for the dummy object to have only two points (therefore no polygon to even be remotely visible) or MUST it have at least one 3-point face?


(Note - Rhetorical question, for discussion, since I have the habit of making a very small hidden "cube"  as any dummy object I may need)

[Fr. Bill]

The simplest geometric object allowed is a triangle, which by definition has three points...

[Wing Nut]

So I actually name the part 'Dummy' then?  I did that the named the fuselage 'exterior' and the cockpit tub (wich is at the top of that hierarchy) as 'interior'

[Felix/FFDS]

[quote]So I actually name the part 'Dummy' then?