reading gear compression with xml....is it possible ?

[elche 5]

Hello! is it possible to read the gear compression using xml ?The reason that i ask is that i would like to model a tyre as real as possible. Meaning that when an aircraft is taxiing or standing still, the tyre is not perfectly round, giving the impression of having some weight on top.thanx.http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/Genera...a_fl_md_wht.gif http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/Genera...a_fl_md_wht.gifDiego CoslovichWebsite: http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/index.htm (under construction)E-mail: elche@ihug.com.au

[Guest Lionel Goh]

that sounds interesting , if you know how to .. could you care to share it ? :)

[elche 5]

sure, I'm almost there, just need to get some xml stuff to work properlyhttp://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/Genera...a_fl_md_wht.gif http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/Genera...a_fl_md_wht.gifDiego CoslovichWebsite: http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/index.htm (under construction)E-mail: elche@ihug.com.au

[spokes2112 179]

I donot think there is a direct way to read the gear compression in xml but may be a way to work around it.Use radio altitude and aircraft on ground variables.(A:RADIO HEIGHT, feet) !5.4f!(A:SIM ON GROUND, bool)maybe try setting the empty weight of aircraft to near zero and measure radio alt using 3 or 4 digits after decimal point, then grdually add weight until MGW, find the point where you decide the aircraft has weight on compressed gears.(A:SIM ON GROUND, bool) (A:RADIO HEIGHT, feet) ((compressed height)) < & if{ 1 (>L:WeightOnWheels, bool) } els{ 0 (>L:WeightOnWheels, bool) }maybe will help... hope so.Regards,Romanhttp://home.new.rr.com/spokes2112/images/Image2.gif

[spokes2112 179]

there may be a couple of variables that could provide gear compression... not tested. (A:GEAR ANIMATION POSITION, ) (A:GEAR CENTER POSITION, ) (A:GEAR LEFT POSITION, ) (A:GEAR RIGHT POSITION, ) (A:GEAR TOTAL PCT EXTENDED, ) ????of the first 4 use "keyframe" or "keyframes" as the data type. If I remember correctly the keyframes for the gear are 1-100 retract and extend and 101-200 = compression.Maybe this will work correctly ???Regards,Romanhttp://home.new.rr.com/spokes2112/images/Image2.gif

[elche 5]

Hi Roman,Thank you for your suggestions, greatly appreciated.There seems to be quite a few ways to animate tire compression in FS using XML, my main problem right now is getting my head around XML! :-hmmmI was thinking of using the TOTAL WEIGHT and SIM ON GROUND variable and animating the tire compression accordingly... Also (not sure if this would work) but I was thinking of using the INCIDENCE ALPHA variable to be able to detect when the front tire is off the ground?Like i said above, my main problem is XML and it's Reverse Polish Notation way of coding. My mind is pretty much set for Visual Basic, and even HTML confuses me :(If I was to type out the function i would like to use for the animations in Visual Basic code, can some one translate that into XML??thanxhttp://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/Genera...a_fl_md_wht.gif http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/Genera...a_fl_md_wht.gifDiego CoslovichWebsite: http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/index.htm (under construction)E-mail: elche@ihug.com.au

[elche 5]

I forgot to mention that i'm also looking at getting rid of the c/l/r_tire_still/blurred animations and making my own. The advantage in doing this would be reducing the poly count and allowing a nice smooth tire shape to be modelled (I don't use textures for the tires). But i can't fugure out how to make something spin!!Would you animate the tire spin in GMAX or is there something in XML like: L_Tire Z axis 360 degrees :(I have the formulas to make the wheel spin back and forth depending on speed so i just need to pass it over to XML.http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/Genera...a_fl_md_wht.gif http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/Genera...a_fl_md_wht.gifDiego CoslovichWebsite: http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/index.htm (under construction)E-mail: elche@ihug.com.au

[elche 5]

Just thought you might want to see what i have so far....It's still a bit rough and the touchpoints have not been set properly but i think it still looks pretty cool :)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/79675.gifIn the gif above the aircraft is traveling roughly around 80-90knts on very bumpy terrain, and i have no idea why the engine is disappearing. :-hmmmI still haven't figured out how to rotate a part, any ideas ? :-zhelpthanx, :-beerchughttp://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/Genera...a_fl_md_wht.gif http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/Genera...a_fl_md_wht.gifDiego CoslovichWebsite: http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/index.htm (under construction)E-mail: elche@ihug.com.au

[Guest Lionel Goh]

looks great so far ;)

[n4gix 4,947]

Note: Not tested! Just a WAG (Wild Arsed Guess)... :) nose_wheelXCenter Wheel RPMrpm01Use these XML tags to retrieve the rotational data:CENTER WHEEL RPMLEFT WHEEL RPMRIGHT WHEEL RPMBill

[corinoco 22]

Rotating tires? Easy...As with all good SDKs, some things were undocumented. I had the same issue with the Rutan Boomerang I am building, but I found some tags that do the trick in the very helpful TagTool utility from Fsalpha.Label a part (I labled the wheel hub, and linked the tire to that) c|l|r_tire and that's it! As for the axis of rotation, erm, ah, well, you always get it wrong the first time, I know that. I think it is Y-axis, but don't quote me.My heirachies for undercarriage looked like this: r_gear_axle r_tire <--- this is acutally the hub r_tire1 <--- this is the tire.In the above example, note the lack of an underscore (eg. r_tire_1) I find that putting the underscore in tends to stop the animation. A number at the end works perfectly.As to how this ties in with XML... I find that it produces a nice rolling wheels look; they even keep rotating after you lift off.It looks like you are a bit more advanced in the XML gauges than I am - that is my next task for the 'Rang.Trust me to pick a nice easy plane for my first FS2004 model!BTW the link to TagTool is http://www.fsalpha.com/cgi-bin/filecount/p..._tagtool102+zipCheers,Adrian

[n4gix 4,947]

>Rotating tires? Easy...>>As with all good SDKs, some things were undocumented. I had>the same issue with the Rutan Boomerang I am building, but I>found some tags that do the trick in the very helpful TagTool>utility from Fsalpha.Thank you. However, we both already know of those tags. Diego was looking for an alternate method that wouldn't interfere with the use of his new, "tire compression animation." The "stock animation tags" won't work with this new compression scheme... In addition, he's using a method that reduces polys and doesn't require textures at all :)We're both working on some new animation possibilities that the XML encoded MDL file will permit. It's pretty amazing what can be done, provided you have a good imagination! :)

[Guest dek]

Hi Diego, instead of rotating the wheel, how about rotating something on the wheel that would give the impression the wheel was turning. Something like dirt or words, or even a smaller "wheel". That way the "wheel" would always be depressed on the bottom.don

[elche 5]

Sorry for not responding any sooner, i've been away for a while, this is just a quick stop before I'm off again tomorrow :-abductBill: Thanx for the code, the tag has given me some new ideas and made things a lot clearer. Now I just have to put all the bits and pieces of xml that I have into one big piece of xml and I should be done :-walksmile Adrian:If I understand correctly, you are talking abut the default c/l/r_tire_still/_blurred tags ? If so, I was originally using those tags, but since I won't be using textures for my tires, I find that having _still and _blurred parts to be a waste of poly's. My model has now dropped roughly 3000 polys using my way, which I can now use on other things (like a good looking pilot :)Don:I had thought of that, and even made the wheel hub rotate while keeping the rubber part (tire) still, but I still had to duplicate the wheel hub which increased the poly count...Thank you all for youre replies, greatly appreciated.I'm off to bed now, I have an 8 1/2hr drive tomorrow morning to Melbourne (from Sydney) with nothing to look at out the window but grass dried out from Australias severe drought. Bill, I should be back by monday, but if you need to get in touch you can e-mail me at diegocoslovich@yahoo.com.auIf any of my replies make no sense....it's because i'm sleeping as i'm typing... sorry :-eekhttp://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/Genera...a_fl_md_wht.gif http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/Genera...a_fl_md_wht.gifDiego CoslovichWebsite: http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~elche/index.htm (under construction)E-mail: elche@ihug.com.au