GMAX Animation Problem

[Guest]

My engine controls seem to have developed a problem with the animation. I revised the knobs for the throttle and prop levers after applying the animation. However, I must not have Attached the knobs to the levers, just Linked them. The engine controls are all in one group for ease of positioning.Now when I check my animation, the levers move but the knobs stay in their original positions.If I redo the Links between the knobs and the levers the animation works.But the knobs are now outside the group. They are no longer attached.If I go in an attach them, they appear outside the group.I cannot have anything outside the group becuase the VC can only contain groups: interior and exterior. So they must be part of the engine controls group or I must Attach them to the interior group. Either way I lose the animation.So is there some way to solve this problem without starting over and redoing the animation, being sure to include the replaced parts in the group?Steve

[Guest odog]

It shouldnt be a big deal, I think you may have done it backwards...you should select the lever, with poly selected, 'attach' to the knob.this will keep the right naming and animation, if you do it the other way it will rename it to 'knob' or whatever and erase the animation.

[Guest]

>My engine controls seem to have developed a problem with the >animation. I revised the knobs for the throttle and prop >levers after applying the animation. However, I must not >have Attached the knobs to the levers, just Linked them. The >engine controls are all in one group for ease of >positioning. >>Now when I check my animation, the levers move but the knobs >stay in their original positions. >>If I redo the Links between the knobs and the levers the >animation works. You're doing this the hard way...1) Select the knob2) Link it to the correct lever3) Repeat 1 & 2 for each lever/knob4) Select all levers/knobs5) Clone selection for VC set6) Group them into one named set, such as engine_controls_vc7) Reselect original parts and Group into another set...If you look in the Select List and check off show linked objects, it should then look like this (before step 4 of course!):lever_throttle...lever_throttle_knoblever_mixture...lever_mixture_knoblever_prop_pitch...lever_prop_pitch_knobI hope this will help!

[Guest]

Hmmm...I may have forgot that Attaching will rename the part, I knew it once...What I did wasDelete the original group on the engine controls.Delete all links between knobs and levers.Just so I could start with a clean slate, thenLinked each knob to its corresponding lever again.Selected all the controls.Created a new engine controls group.Hit play. Animation works!Checked the object tree. Only one engine controls group, yea! Nothing hanging out over the side!Of course, I will delete the prop control for the ultralight.Steve

[Guest]

There must have been something wrong with that mesh. It worked perfectly, but when I saved it and tried to open it again the file would not open. So I had to start over again with a backup. That one works.Steve

[Guest]

>There must have been something wrong with that mesh. It >worked perfectly, but when I saved it and tried to open it >again the file would not open. So I had to start over again >with a backup. That one works. But, at least you understand how to do it now! That's the important part...It's really quite easy, once you understand how it goes together, right? ;)

[Guest]

Well, your clear set of instructions was helpful and got me out of the woods, but I understood how to do the animation originally. That was working before I decided to change the knobs and got something all tangled up. I did have to look at the GMAX help and play around with the sequence of commands before I got the animation to work, but it was fairly easy to apply the animation to the levers compared to the rudder pedals. I am a little hazy on those because there is apparently only one part name for both pedals. How does that work?Steve

[Guest]

>I am a little hazy on those because there >is apparently only one part name for both pedals. How does >that work? The names are the same for each "pedal set" on each side. This is because you want them all to work on the same command; just in different directions!Working from a 'left view:'1) select left pedal on P1 side, and rotate leftwards to some angle, such as 30/45 degrees.2) select right pedal on P1 side, and rotate rightwards to same angle used in step #1.3) create an rotation key for right pedal at 0 and another at 100.4) Begin animation record and rotate right pedal leftwards 2 times the angle previously set (e.g., if you chose 30 degrees before, rotate 60 degrees now). Move slider to 0 and end animation.5) Select left pedal on P1 side, and create rotation key at 0 and 1006) From 0, begin animation record, rotate pedal 2 x angle set before, move slider to 100 and end animation.7) Test animation; if OK, select both pedals and clone for P2 side, move into position.Done! Go have a cold beer (or two!)...

[Guest]

Do you name the pedals lever_pedals_l_r_00 and lever_pedals_l_r_01 similar to animating several parts by giving them the same prefix? Or is this the group name for both left and pedals (not set---this is a single place a/c)?On step 4, do you start animation from 0 or 100?On step 6, do you rotate rightwards?The crazy thing is I had the animation working. The only problem was that the left pedal started out permanantly full left rudder.Then I started to "fix" it and ended up with only one pedal working and the other not moving at all.I will upload the gmax file. It's very small.http://www.city-gallery.com/vpilot/gmax/rudderpedals.gmaxYour browser should ask you to save as file when the download completes.Steve

[Guest]

>Do you name the pedals lever_pedals_l_r_00 and >lever_pedals_l_r_01 similar to animating several parts by >giving them the same prefix? Or is this the group name for >both left and pedals (not set---this is a single place a/c)?All of the part(s) are treated as though they were one part with regards to animation. That's why the name lever_pedals_l_r_xx>On step 4, do you start animation from 0 or 100? zero... actually, an alternate way to guarantee that you will have the rotational movement in perfect unison, would be to create one pedal, animate, clone, move clone, then simply rotate the pivot point... There's always more than one way to accomplish the task! :)>I will upload the gmax file. It's very small. >http://www.city-gallery.com/vpilot/gmax/rudderpedals.gmax Unfortunately, that file must be corrupted, because gmax 1.2 won't load it... :(Bill

[Guest]

Hmm, I am still on v1.1This file opens for me, but I did have a previous version suddenly refuse to load. I have a feeling it is related to heavy editing of the animation.I'm lazy, so I didn't zip it. The browser might corrupting it, so I have zipped it.http://www.city-gallery.com/vpilot/gmax/rudderpedals.zipI downloaded it and confirmed it opens.Thanks!Steve

[Guest]

>Then I started to "fix" it and ended up with only one pedal >working and the other not moving at all. OK... I just created and animated a set of rudder pedals in GMax. Total time for task... 2 minutes... :)Assuming that your pedals are identical, delete the right one now, and go to Left Viewport...1) rotate the one pedal so that it is vertical...2) create a rotational key at 0 and 100, move slider back to 03) rotate the pedal x degrees towards the front of the a/c (clockwise rotation.4) click on animate5) rotate pedal counter-clockwise 2 times x (x being the degrees of rotation you used in step #3, move slider to 100.6) click again on animate to stop recording.7) move slider to test for proper animation.8) clone pedal, switch to Front View, and move the clone into position.9) rotate "pivot only" 180 degrees on the clone, to reverse rotational animation.10) switch to left view and check for proper movement.11) export to .mdl, load in FS2k2 and check for proper movement.12) if 'backwards,' then simply rotate both 'pivot points' on the pedals 180 degrees to correct.I hope this method is easier for you!

[Guest]

That did it. Why use rotate? Because the example is easier? :-) I had used position to create motion like the Cessna pedals, but these should do for now. Some UA and homebuilts use pedals that rotate hinged at the base or top (Europa?, I've looked at too many to recall which one it is). I was going to use the position change back and forth to model the pedal being mounted at the top of a control arm.Steve

[Guest]

>That did it. Why use rotate? Because the example is easier? >:-) I had used position to create motion like the Cessna >pedals, but these should do for now. Some UA and homebuilts >use pedals that rotate hinged at the base or top (Europa?, >I've looked at too many to recall which one it is). I was >going to use the position change back and forth to model the >pedal being mounted at the top of a control arm. You could just as easily use 'position,' and simply keep track of how much you've moved the pedal forwards (check the little boxes at the bottom of the screen), so that you can then multiply that distance times two... :)Glad it works for you now!