CFS 2 Aircraft animation GMAX

[tobob]

GMAX Masters,

Using GMAX, how do I get animations for the throttle, prop pitch, mixture, and stick to work in the interior view?

For instance, for the flight stick, I animated them according to the 2002 sdk(1 up/down and 1 left/right). So they are key-framed and named, but don't work in the game.

I am using the fs2002 mkmdl and makemdl and exporting as a CFS2 model

Could it be the older compiler? Or should I export as a fs2002 or '04 then covert it back.

I know they work because I have used planes like Thicko's B6N which has a working stick.

Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Tobob

[Milton Shupe]

Well, I cannot remember if these work in CFS2 but this what I use.

Lever_Stick_Fore_Aft animation controls = Key 0 = Max Forward or In, Key 50 = Neutral, Key 100 = Max Backward or Out

Lever_Stick_L_R : Key 0 = Left, Key 50 = Neutral, Key 100 = Max Right

I link one to the other as a parent /child relationship.

If that does not work, you can also resort to l_aileron_03 and rudder_03 linked together the same way. Be aware that the movement is then controlled in teh aircraft.cfg Plane Geometry section with these statements:

elevator_up_limit=30.002
elevator_down_limit=10.614
aileron_up_limit=23.614
aileron_down_limit=15.614

It would help if the up/down and left/right values were close.

[tobob]

Thanks for your expertise Milton, I will try these out!

I don't think I linked them to each other, perhaps that's it.

TB

[Desert Rat]

tobob,

CFS2 doesn't support the animations you describe, in-fact no control animations are supported at all. It is possible to get some of them to work though through cunning and workrounds.Prop pitch isn't supported at all, control or prop itself.

Rudder pedals and sticks can be animated by using the control surface animations, rudder, elevator, etc. You then have to rotate the reference/centre point so the parts move in the correct direction, this is tricky to get right, lol.

Other workrounds include, flaps lever (depending on the type of flap control, ie rotating lever is fine), cowl flap lever (keyframe, so fine), landing gear lever (again, keyframe, so good) and Spoiler lever (keyframe). All you need to do is use the actual part animation as opposed to the unsupported 'lever' animations. Not ideal, but it works.

hope that makes sense and helps a little,
Jamie

[Desert Rat]

forgot to mention, elevator trim works in CFS2 (no others do AFAIK), you can use that on a trim wheel too.

:d

[Desert Rat]

By 'reference/centre point' I meant axis/centre of rotation. :redf:

[simonu]

When using control surface variable to animate the cockpit parts You can reduce the movement of the controls by interpolating the variable. The easy way to explain is to show you,
here I am doing a bit of retro engineering on an FS9 stock model using the rudder to animate the pilots leg rotations, this is the template I am using.
The interpolation table is reducing and also inverting the rotation

Transform_Mat( 
       0.0000000000 0.0000000000 0.0000000000    ;0.0000000000 0.0000000000 0.0000000000   //get from Animate line
       1.0000000000 0.0000000000 0.0000000000    ;0.0000000000 0.0000000000 0.0000000000     //get Q2T from keyframe 50
       0.0000000000 1.0000000000 0.0000000000    ;1.0000000000
       0.0000000000 0.0000000000 1.0000000000
        )
Jump( :Label_0 )
Nop
;Interpolation Table                                //for adjustment
                        Dwd( -32768 16384 )                //smallest in smallest out
                        Dwd( 32767 -16384 )                //largest in largest out   inverted output polarity
:Label_0                                        
                        VarBase( :[ -10 ] )
                        ;uName: rudder uoffset: 0x78
                        Interpolate( :[ -1 ] 0x78 0 0x0312 1 0x00 )
                        VarBase( :[ -1 ] )
                        VarBaseOverride( 0x00 )
                        ;uName:   uOffset: 0x0312

TransformCall( :DrawRudder 0 0 0 0.0000000000 0x00 0.0000000000 0x0312 0.0000000000 0x00 )
Jump( :ExitRudder )
:DrawRudder
    Jump32(     ) ; insert label from Animate
:ExitRudder
    TransformEnd