Pilot Animation in GMAX

[N2056 33]

I've been working on a pilot to place in my plane, and would like to animate him so that his hand stays on the control stick when it moves, and the motion of the arm looks like it would in real life. Is this possible?See the project here: http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...d=128706&page=6Robert

[Guest Firestriker]

Robert,Have you looked at the Curtiss_Jenny.gmax sample which comes in the fs2004_sdk_gmax_setup.exe archive? It has an animated pilot.Lou

[N2056 33]

I have not...and I have that SDK! Guess it's time to do a little homework. Thanks for the info!Robert

[Guest Kobie1244]

This is possible. What you need to do is create the pilots arm as neccesary. Then you need to set the pivot points on each part of his arm that moves.Take a part of the pilots arm, and name that part as you would for an aileron. Then you would name another part as you would for an elevator. Then you would link those parts together to work in conjuction with each other to move the pilots arm with those control surfaces.This is generally how it would work...... hopefully I explained this clearly enough for you. If not...... maybe somebody else can chime in and give a better explantion.Good Luck! Keep up the great work!Kobie :-wave

[N2056 33]

Hey Kobie,Between your description of the process and studying the pilot in the Curtiss Jenny example from the SDK it is just a matter of time. Thanks again for your continued interest!Robert

[Guest Kobie1244]

No problem......... :)If you have anymore questions.... you can shoot me an e-mail, and I will be more than happy to help you out :)bpaynekobal@hotmail.comKobie :-wave

[Guest LilSki]

I few tips I thought I would add are to try not to have a huge amount of stick movement. The more stick movement you have the harder it is to get the arms to stay in a realistic form. Also only do one movement at a time. Do the left and right movement first and then after that lines up and looks good do the for and aft. Do not adjust any left and right if you are working on the for and aft, sometimes it can get confusing to what you are working on. Those are some general rules I follow for which the end result is very pleasing if it works right. Kevin

[N2056 33]

Kevin,Thanks for the tip. I was battling that exact problem, I currently have the stick pivoting 20 degrees, and it looks good in some areas, and not in others (especially full fwd/right!)I'll go back and tone down the amount of travel...Robert