Mechanical Linkage Question - GMAX IK

[Guest Ryan1966]

Here's something I'm working on, and it seems I've hit a brick wall. I am modeling a GMAX airplane model which has an extremely detailed suspension linkage. It consists of a wheel on a suspension arm that moves up and down and is dampened by a damper.It also consists of a pushrod for steering - a rod that pushes the wheel left and right. This rod is connected to the steering linkage on one end, and to the wheel on the other end. So, this rod moves the wheel left and right, plus it moves up and down with the wheel suspension. One end of the rod is attached to the wheel that moves up and down, and the other end to the steering linkage that moves right-left. I'm using L_Gear_ and Rudder_Key_L_ prefixes for the components, and while I have set up IK correctly (and in many different permutations), I can't get the pushrod to obey both the up/down motion or left-right motion. It's either/or, but not both. When I assign L_Gear_ prefix to the pushrod, it works well in unison with the wheel but loses the reference to the steering linkage, and when I use Rudder_Key_L_ prefix, it moves properly with the steering linkage, but no up/down motion that would follow the wheel. Does anyone have any ideas on how to set this mechanical linkage properly?Thanks,Ryan

[n4gix 4,947]

Unfortunately, in FS we can have only one controller assigned to any single part.As a result, we need to construct a Linked hierarchy whereby one controller is Linked to a parent.For only those parts that MUST be affected by steering, add a dummy node for rudder_key_L control:...rudder_key_L //controls l/r direction.....l_gear_01 //gear up/down, suspension

[Guest Ryan1966]

Thanks Bill! Trust me, I tried every permutation I could think of, including the binding (as opposed to linking). Binding seems not to be translated during the conversion to MDL. The basic problem is, I need to have the steering pushrod behave as rudder_key_L on one end, and as l_gear on the other end. Are you suggesting that adding rudder_key_L dummy to l_gear_pushrod might solve this?Thanks,Ryan

[n4gix 4,947]

Ryan, what I'm saying is that every single part that will require two separate rotation/movement commands will require two separate control nodes (one of which may be the part itself).So, your "steering_pushrood" can use the l_gear variable, but will need to be Linked to a higher node that is animated with the rudder_key_L variable.

[Guest Ryan1966]

Okay - let me chew on that for a bit... I thought I covered all of the angles. Would you consider taking a look at this if I sent you a very simplified, linked, animated and compilable GMAX file?Ryan

[Guest Ryan1966]

Alright - I'm at my wits ends! I thought I was good at this but I just can't make this work. A simple mechanical linkage, that appears not to be possible in FS2004. I tried it every which way, defining the chains both ways, linking to multiple properly named dummies, binding, terminating and setting biases - nothing. Did anyone run into a problem like this before? Is this possible to accomplish? Please let me know if anyone has any suggestions - I can post screenshots or send you a simple GMAX setup.Thanks!Ryan