A peek at the project!!

[Guest]

Thanks for being a part of this forum all you who contribute. I have only 2 weeks of experience with this FS stuff and nights and weekends only. The prototype in the garage is what I should be working on but a guy has got to have some fun some time. Thought I might see how well it might fly. The geometry part went OK it's making it look cool and making it work right that is a challenge. Attatched is a peek at the project. Here is where I could use some help.1. How do I get the amphibian to float. I have 4 contact pionts already set up. What else needs to be done.2. Can not see the gear annimation in FS. I have all the gear contact point set up with 5 second extention times and named the parts L_gear... ect. The annimation works fine in gmax.3. Water rudder spins in circles when I apply and rudder deflection. Also how do I made it deploy?4. Didn't have much luck guessing my way thought the maping. Can't see the image if the simple paint strip I aplied to the fusalage.5. Gave up on the VC stuff for now.

[Guest azflyboy]

That looks really good already, an awesome start!You may want to contact varoius flightsim modelers who have been around awhile for help on the problems. PS what kind of plane is that? it looks like a Seabee on steroids

[Guest PhLem]

Hello,1: In the aircraft.cfg you have a special entry for the floats. I can't recall what number it has ( 0=none, 1=wheels, etc ) but you can always look at the default floatplanes.2: What are the exact names used for the parts ? Are they all linked ?3: If the water rudder spins around try minimizing the animation. It only needs to rotate about 90 degrees. Shift+W.4: Can you explain how you mapped it ? Did you convert the texture to a format FS can read (16/32 bit, DXT1/3 )5: For the VC there are tutorials around. I am not a hero on that subject either.Take care,Udo :-wavewww.Yeodesigns.com

[Guest]

Hay there, thanks for responding,1. the contact point for a float is #4 I have followed John's Lake file and the Caravan 208 Amphib very close.I have six float points similar to the Lake.I even tried making a copy of the fusalage and naming the part "float"That just makes the model impossible to export. I renamed it "hull" but to no avail. This guessing game is geting old. Is the a master list somewhere we can refer to in naming parts?2. Here are my part names for the left gear. They are identical for the right and tail except fot the first letter "l" in those cases I used "r" and "c" respectively.PART is in capitol letters and part name is listed like it is in the file.STRUT=Strut01 (a copy of the right thus 01)AXLE=axle01 (again a copy of the right thus 01)WHEEL=Wheel01 (another copy of the right thus 01)TIRE=L_tire (R_tire on right and C_tire for tail tire)I then group all four part and named the group "l_gear"that did't work so I tried this name "l_gear_LOD_100"still nothing happens in FS2k2. Whats missing? What do you mean by linked?3. The "rudder_water_rotate" is not in the annimation of the gear because I do not want it to deploy eveytime I raise the gear. I though FS would see the name and deploy it when I move the water rudder lever. I have to find one yet but I know the Caravan 208 uses one. What FS is doing now is spining the water rudder in a cirle about the part z axis when ever I just touch the rudder. Wierd stuff!!by the way "Shift W" has no effect at all.4. get back to this one later5. I did down load a tutorial but have now studied it yet.

[Guest]

Success finally!!points 2. and 3. the word "link" tipped me off. I ungrouped the parts then renamed the gear parts with the c_gear prefix followed by my part name. then I linked the parts to the strut and annimated the c-gear_strut and ta..da!! Of course I had to redo the whole this again because the entire animation shows up backward in FS. 50/50 chance and I guessed wrong again. This is why I don't go to Vega or buy lottery tickets.Now onto the sinking amphib.

[badderjet 181]

Linking? Ever used the thing below?It's just kind of 'connecting' a particular object to another. That is important for the animation since. By linking object A to object B you'll get a hierarchy which can look like a Win-Explorer 'tree', see second pic below.Ok now. You have you uppermost part of the gear (c_gear_top), the gear strut. As a simple example, press the LINK button and select your tire (c_tire_blurred). Then point your mouse cursor and HOLD the mouse button down. Now move the cursor over the gear strut (you'll see a line drawn). Now RELEASE the button. Now the tire is the lower object in the hierarchy. That has the following consequences:- You can move the tire like you want,- If you move the gear strut, the tire will move with it.So I can't really understand how the animation works in gMax but not in FS, must be the parts' names.The animation must've been some work without knowing the link tool, eh? ;-)Don't worry, I am also *really* new to all this gMax stuff... hehe :DEtienne :-wave

[Guest]

Sucess!! 1. I got it to float. Needed entries in the static compression max static compression and dampening registry. Didn't guess the float behaved like a wheel strut, but then there is alot of strange this in the Sim World.Later