Do you know how to do this plz?

[Guest Claviateur]

Hello, I designed in Gmax a person that should behave like an FS vehicule, walks etc.. (check the screenshot attached ; I did not put texture on it yet). I set the keyframes for the moving legs and arms when walking but since I am not an aricraft designer, i do not know how to make the guy animates when we apply power for it to move. I know there are tags etc in Gmax for aircraft parts animations but in case of a non aircraft object, how can we make the legs and arm move. Should we give them aircraft part names? Can you please give me hints to do that? (screenshot attached)Thanks!Michel

[Guest]

Michel,As far as I understand, animations related to power are done by rotating a labelled object (e.g. prop_blurred_01) around it's Z-axis. Since the legs do not do a full 360-degree rotation (more like a 45-degree, then negative 45-degree, then repeats), I'd say this can not be done. There are no provisions for this kind of animation.Regards,Rotorhead.

[Guest Claviateur]

Thanks for the reply. However I noticed in some retro airplanes that the pilots sometimes move their legs but I wonder if those are done with powerCheersMichel

[Guest Firestriker]

I think it can be done, however you would have to revert/recreate your model back to FSDS where you have more control over non standard animations using SDLEdit. It would also require extensive .air file modifications to limit velocity to about 2mph as this is the normal pace for walking. If you have created your model in gWax, you might try using the Tick18 tag, but the limbs would be moving all the time wheather actually moving forward or standing in place, not bad if your making a marching band.... LOL!

[Guest AAF]

maybe you could smack him on a bike? :(

[Guest]

In *many* cases, these are animated as part of control motions - rudder, etc., so that the legs/arms/head are tagged/animated as rudder/ailerons, etc...Hope this helps>Thanks for the reply. However I noticed in some retro >airplanes that the pilots sometimes move their legs but I >wonder if those are done with power >>Cheers >Michel

[Guest cwright]

Michel, I've been experimenting with animated figures for some time. In my Constellation the co-pilot and some of the passengers are animated, although so far limited to the head. I trigger animations by pressing shift E (the same animation as for doors). The co-pilot's head moves left-right with the yoke. By using a dummy object the head responds to both kinds of animation. shift E also causes the third crew member to climb the ladder to the astrodome and look around (shift E works both in the virtual cockpit and for the external spot view). tick18 works for the virtual cockpit, spot mode and for scenery as well. I believe you can use up to 1024 key frames, so it might not be too repetitive if used carefully. Of course all these animations are done by using the appropriate tag names. I'm experimenting with walking, fully animated figures - the most difficult part is actually generating the animation movements so it's realistic! Also I'm experimenting with a figure holding the yoke. This can be done by using dummy objects, so that two different animations(forward-back and sideways) apply to the arms. This works, but I still can't get the animation sufficiently accurate - the problem is that there are two degrees of freedom that have to be right for every combination of forward-back and left-right. One small tip, if you're not already doing it. Use the link tool to create animation heirarchies. This means that if you rotate the upper arm, the lower arm and hand move with it, which makes life much easier. Also inverse kinematics can be used. My aim is to eventually get lifelike figures that can look around, move their bodies, control the flight yoke - and get up and walk around to stretch their legs! But it'll take time.... Here's a shot of the Connie co-pilot. So far only his head is animated. Best regards, Chris http://www.kline.demon.co.uk/connie_301.jpg