Got back to work on the Saab today. I figured out why the cockpit windows looked wrong and revised them for about the 11th time. Then I started working on the gear. I spent ages learning to use Applied IK to do a nice compression animation, and it looks beautiful...in GMax. Unfortunately, the gear doesn't appear at all in FS.Below is a shot of the Track View heirarchy, which shows all the names and how things are linked. You can see the animations...the top part is animated for extension from 0-100, and then there's a bunch of animation of other parts from 100-200 for compression. In FS, it looks like the gear is either permanently retracted or invisible...I can't see any sign of it. Anyone seen anything similar, or have any ideas?Mattps...also attached is a preview shot from just before I started on the gear. Yes, I have a starboard wing and hstab! Cloning and then applying a mirror modifier did the trick. I had simply mirror-cloned before, and, well, you know the rest...

Wow! Unless Im missing something, I see you have a dummy object in there, I dont think FS supports their use. I learned that from yoke animation.Im also wondering about Applied IK, Ive used it in tutorials but never for FS animations. I just set the keys, link, and animate.

Hi Matt,I am not using the IK stuff either, so I can't help you out with this one. I think you are making it a bit difficult for yourself, since this is a rather simple process to do. Time consuming, yes, but simple. I assume you are using the right tags also.If you are still having problems, please drop me a line.Take care,Udo.:-wave

>>Hi Matt, >>I am not using the IK stuff either, so I can't help you out >with this one. I think you are making it a bit difficult for >yourself, since this is a rather simple process to do. Time >consuming, yes, but simple. I assume you are using the right >tags also. Further on the topic of "making things a bit difficult..."Unless you have some compelling reason to want uneven retraction/extension on the main gear...Create one main gear (right or left, doesn't matter), do all the animation, texturing, etc. and THEN AND THEN ONLY "Clone and Mirror Mod" the main gear to the other side!Voila! Perfectly symmetrical, fully textured, and animated main gear... :)BTW, I've never even tried IK animation, because I'm under the impression that FS2k2 simply ignores it...

Hey guys,Great news...FS2002 deals just fine with both Dummy objects and Applied IK.What it doesn't deal with is animating objects that are actually groups. The top-level object in that heirarchy (c_gear_topstrut) was a group, so FS just ignored the entire heirarchy. I attatched, instead of grouping, the static parts, and it works perfectly in FS now.Nose gear is working beautifully, and I've moved onto the mains. The Saab 2000 has a great four-bar system (any other mechanical engineers on here?) on the main gear retraction, so I'm playing with getting the links the right length to make the system work right (since my only drawings of them are isometric and it's hard to measure the real length). In any case, Applied IK on the gear retraction there as well, and it's coming along nicely.Matt

ps...I'm using Applied IK for these animations because some of the movements are non-linear. In other words, if one part moves at a constant rate, an attached part has to move at a non-constant rate. In order to do this manually and make it look good, I'd have to set at least a dozen or so keyframes, and it would take me much longer.Matt