FS2002/4 Animated Objects

[Guest RollerBall]

Just a quick question - I'm currently a bit out of touch with this.Before I get heavily into learning it, is BusyObjects still the best way to animate moving vehicles and other objects around a scenery?Thanks in advance.

[arno 1]

Yes, I think it is still one of the best options. Another option would be to use the old dynamic scenery format.

[Guest RollerBall]

Hi Arno, thanks for the reply.Do you mean DOD? I like DOD v3 a lot and managed to get various library objects moving quite nicely round a 2002 scenery. One of them, a cruise ship, does a 2hr circuit right round Hong Kong Island returning to where it started from and I don't think that is something you could do with BusyObjects, unless I'm mistaken.I did quite a few postings about DOD a few months ago but I couldn't for the life of me crack how to get 'new' objects into DOD dynamic libraries so they were at ground level despite receiving advice from Falko. Libtool remained a closed book to me!But in any case, I transferred my DOD stuff into 2004 and it didn't appear, so I think it's academic anyway.BusyObjects here I come I guess!:-)

[arno 1]

Yes, I meant DOD (or any other way to make the section 15 scenery). They should still work in Fs2004, are you sure the dynamic scenery was turned on in the display settings?On my website someone posted about making a new dynamic library from GMax objects with FsRegen. I am not sure if he has solved his problems already. Is that the kind of problem you are refering to or is your problem that object float and are not on the ground?For long animations like the 2 hour example you gave DOD is probably still best. For short animations GMax is easiest and for the middle range probably BusyObjects (altought I think it should also be possible with GMax, now that I understand the animation code).

[Guest RollerBall]

Yep I just checked again, dynamics are turned on. I thought they were.I looked back at some old emails dated May and it looks as though after what Falko told me I managed to get a 'new' primitive object into a DOD library and moving sideways like a crab(!) in my 2002 scenery. But it suffered from that well documented problem of floating about a metre above the ground.Someone, and I think it was Falko, a long time ago corrected several 'old' library objects using Libtool and the fuel truck and cruise ship I used came from those.But I just couldn't understand how Libtool worked - it looks very simple - but no change I made in object properties ever made any difference!But as I say, my DOD dynamics don't appear to work in 2004 anyway after installing them in exactly the same way as in 2002.

[arno 1]

I used LibTool once for a Fs2000 scenery, after some trial and error I had found a setting that worked fine and got my Cessna back on the ground :). If I remember correct it is just an transformation along the z-axis.Strange that your dynamics don't work in Fs2004, I haven't heard that before.

[Guest RollerBall]

:-) Good news about your Cessna:-( Wish I could have done the same with my primitive brick!If you think there should be no change between 2002 and 2004 maybe I'll take one more quick look.I still think that DOD was before its time and has so much going for it now that CPUs are so much quicker. Creating a track for an object is incredibly easy just using simple geometry on a background image.

[arno 1]

Or using the flight recorder module in FS, that was also fun :). Althought that could make the flights a bit long (if you took one point every second).I will try to dig up an old dynamics file and see if it works in Fs2004 as well.

[Guest RollerBall]

:) ;-) :D Arno, what it is to have an enquiring mind!This time I placed ALL the DOD dynamic stuff in an addon scenery folder above my airport scenery - the library objects and bgl in the addon scenery sub-folder and the object textures in the addon scenery texture sub-folder and...HEY PRESTO!It works!!!It also worked with the DOD library objects in the main Scenery folder but it makes more sense to put everything together in an adddon scenery folder I think.Now I am more convinced than ever that this HAS to be a good way to go and I just have to master this technology. The movement is MUCH smoother than in FS2002.Surely this is a system that has fewer constraints than BusyObjects - time, speed and direction are very easily controllable, there is effectively no time limit on any motion, objects can be made to stop, start and turn at will, as I've shown with my cruise ship, boundaries of movement can extend way beyond the boundaries of the scenery and so on.What do you think :-)

[arno 1]

Great to know it still works :).Yes, if you only want some simple contraints on the animation and/or want long times or areas of movement the old dynamic scenery still is the best I think :).