Gmax gear animations not working

[Guest mucksmear]

Hello,Hopefully someone here can shed some light on my problem!I have a B-47 I'm working on in Gmax, for fs2004. I'm having difficulty getting the steering animation on the forward main gear to export.The gear is composed of a small cube named "c_wheel" which has the steering animation applied to frames 100-200.The gear strut is a cylinder named "c_gear" and has the retract animation applied to frames 0-100. It is linked to "c_wheel" so that it too rotates 360 counterclockwise along with "c_wheel".The tires are "c_tire".In FS2004, the tires roll, the gear strut and tires retract, but there is no steering.Is there something in the MakeMDL SDK that I'm missing?Thanks for any helpRegards-E

[Guest Firestriker]

Try moving your first key frame for c_wheel from 100 to 101 and re-export. Keys 0-100 are for gear extension and retraction, and key frames 101-200 are for suspension motions.Lou

[Guest mucksmear]

>Try moving your first key frame for c_wheel from 100 to 101>and re-export. Keys 0-100 are for gear extension and>retraction, and key frames 101-200 are for suspension>motions.>>LouHi Lou,thanks for the tip. I must be doing something else wrong too since it's still not working. Odd think is that it used to work, and I have no idea what specifically did to change/corrupt it (I've been adding other animations to the model as I slowly go about finishing it).My hierarchy looks like this:c_wheelwell c_gear (retract animation keys 0-100) c_wheel (steering animation keys 101-150-200) c_tire (no keys - default fs2K4 animation)What are the respective axis for each?Also, I read something about the need for the animations to be linear, however I did not find any thing specifically called linear, although I did set the continuity to eliminate any ease-in or ease-out around the keyframe.thanks-Elliot

[Guest mucksmear]

oops, double post

[Guest Firestriker]

Hi Elliot,Have a look at this, perhaps it will be of some help.ftp://oregon-coast.net/c_gear_sample.zipAs for the liner controler selection, with the animated part selected click on the Motions Tab of the Control Panel, then Parameters, then Assign Controller. Highlight Position in the box then click on the Assign Controller icon just above the box. This will open a list of avalible controllers. Select Linear Position, then click OK. Repeat for the Linear Rotation Controller and your done. Linear controllers divide the motion evenly between key frames so there is no "rubber band" effect. I usually set mine to be the default when I remember to...LOLLou

[Guest mucksmear]

Lou, thanks for the link. That was just they type of example file I was looking for. Interesting thing is it doesn't work either when I export to fs2004. Does it work on your system? If so, I'm thinking maybe my fs2004 installation may have become corrupted. I export directly from Gmax - makeMdl does not allow me to alter any settings.thanks again.-E

[Guest Firestriker]

Elliot,Yes, it works as it should. Here is a flyable version.ftp://oregon-coast.net/Nose_Gear_Test.zipAll I have done in this version is to move everything to fit the contact point information in the aircraft.cfg file for the center gear. Perhaps that is where your problem is. You need to make sure that the gear is steerable.Lou

[n4gix 4,947]

>Lou, thanks for the link. That was just they type of example>file I was looking for. Interesting thing is it doesn't work>either when I export to fs2004. Does it work on your system? >If so, I'm thinking maybe my fs2004 installation may have>become corrupted. I export directly from Gmax - makeMdl does>not allow me to alter any settings.>>thanks again.>-EJust what are you expecting to see, and under what conditions? You do know that the "nosegear" won't "steer" unless the a/c is moving, right? ;)The advantage of using c_wheel over rudder_xx is that the animation will respond to either rudder OR aileron input when on the ground and in motion.

[Guest mucksmear]

Just for the purposes of testing, I grouped the test file, named it "Exterior", and moved the pivot point to 0,0,0 world coordinates (that actually placed the gear many feet above the runway surface, but I'm not concerned about that (so long as it's not below the runway as it would be hard to observe any animation in that case).Once I throttle up and get the model moving, I work the rudder to see if the nose wheel will exhibit its steering animation - it does not.The odd thing is that everything was working several weeks ago. Don't know what I did to break it and can't think or don't know what other things would/could break it. I was adding new animations to other areas of the model and was not working on the nose gear section when I noticed the problem.thanks-E

[Guest mucksmear]

Thanks for the flyable version of the nose gear. You may have helped me narrow the problem at least a little here.I tried it out and of course it works fine.But if I start with the working gmax version of the nose gear and do the export through Gmax, it doesn't work. This leads me to believe that my modeling/animation is not the problem but perhaps my Gmax installation, or the settings in makeMdl. uh, or something else.-E

[Guest mucksmear]

Ok, I spent some more time with this tonight.I successfully exported the Nose_Gear_Test.gmax file as an mdl, and it worked fine in FS2k4 when used with the provided cfg file, etc.When I "grafted" the Nose_Gear_Test.gmax onto my B47 and exported, it did not work. Possibly something in my aircraft.cfg file or else something in my B-47 model is conflicting or otherwise causing a problem.For my B-47's aircraft.cfg file I simply copied and re-purposed the stock .cfg file for fs2K4's 737-400 to include 2 centerline wheel contact points (front and rear) and 2 out-rigger wheel contact points (left and right). Maybe one of you can spot an error here?[contact_points]point.0=1, 15.7, 0.00, -11.50, 1574.8, 0, 4.55, 45.00, 0.75, 2.5, 0.9, 6.0, 6.0, 0, 220.0, 250.0point.1=1, -20.8, 0.00, -8.45, 1574.8, 1, 4.55, 0.00, 1.0, 2.5, 0.9, 6.0, 6.0, 0, 220.0, 250.0point.2=1, 5.7, -21.60, -9.50, 1574.8, 0, 1.44, 0.00, 1.0, 2.5, 0.9, 3.5, 3.5, 1, 220.0, 250.0point.3=1, 5.7, 21.60, -9.50, 1574.8, 0, 1.44, 0.00, 1.0, 2.5, 0.9, 3.5, 3.5, 1, 220.0, 250.0point.4=2, -14.17, -47.33, 0.00, 787.4, 0, 0.000, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 5, 0.0, 0.0point.5=2, -14.17, 47.33, 0.00, 787.4, 0, 0.000, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 6, 0.0, 0.0point.6=2, -54.00, 0.00, 2.83, 787.4, 0, 0.000, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 9, 0.0, 0.0point.7=2, 42.67, 0.00, -3.75, 787.4, 0, 0.000, 0.00, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 4, 0.0, 0.0max_number_of_points = 21-E

[Guest Firestriker]

Elliot,First make backups. Try renaming your rear centerline wheels with the aux_gear_ prefix in the model. Rearrange the cfg file so it is the last wheel point and change the sound value to aux also. As it is now, you have 2 center gears, one steerable and the other isn't.point.0=1, 15.7, 0.00, -11.50, 1574.8, 0, 4.55, 45.00, 0.75, 2.5, 0.9, 6.0, 6.0, 0, 220.0, 250.0point.1=1, 5.7, -21.60, -9.50, 1574.8, 1, 1.44, 0.00, 1.0, 2.5, 0.9, 3.5, 3.5, 2, 220.0, 250.0point.2=1, 5.7, 21.60, -9.50, 1574.8, 2, 1.44, 0.00, 1.0, 2.5, 0.9, 3.5, 3.5, 3, 220.0, 250.0point.3=1, -20.8, 0.00, -8.45, 1574.8, 0, 4.55, 0.00, 1.0, 2.5, 0.9, 6.0, 6.0, 1, 220.0, 250.0Lou

[Guest mucksmear]

Hello all, it's been awhile.Now I'm running fs2K4. but still having some problems.What are the common reasons why a tire will not spin (aircraft on the ground and in motion)?I

[n4gix 4,947]

The most glaring error are the names for the tires!c_tire_still // this is the "stopped/very slow" copyc_tire_blurred // this is the "fast spinning" copyThe missing "keywords" are of course "_still" and "_blurred"... ;)

[Guest mucksmear]

I will try renaming the tires this evening, thanks!I doesn't explain why c_tire and l_tire function correctly however.