Cockpit Gauge Needles animation

  • SVB and I are trying to decipher the needles animation in the cockpit in dr400.tmd.

    Someone said that there is some info in the tm.log.

    How can I open the file ?

    It seems a binary file.

    Who can we contact for some info about the needles animations ?

    Or we can wait till the SDK 2.0 ?

    I love the sim.

    It's beautiful.

    We are creating an aircraft in Aerofly but we are stuck in the gauges' needles animations .

    Any help ?

    Anything .


    nuum

  • The needle animations use a pivot and axis and a rotation angle. Axis and pivot are in the exporter tm.log file which is just a text file that you can open with a lot of different text editors including text editors that windows comes with. It shouldn't be a binary file if you are looking at the correct file.

    Once the axis and pivot are defined all that is left to do is to rotate the needle. For this we currently use a graphics_mapping which for any airspeed in m/s looks up the angle of the needle in radians. if you wanted to use the same scale (texture) but change the unit you could just add a scaling to the graphics input before sending the airspeed value through the mapping.

    pitot-tube measures the pressure based on atmospheric model, wind, etc -> airspeed indicator in physics calculates the simulated airspeed value from the pressure difference -> output from physics to all other sections to send the airspeed value across the multi-threading environment of aerofly -> graphics_input to receive the airspeed value in the graphics thread (can have offset and scaling to change units for example) -> graphics_mapping to change from an airspeed value to a rotation angle on the dial -> hingedbodygraphics which transforms the needle by rotating it around the pivot and axis by the input value -> transformation data is send to graphics card which renders the needle on your screen .

  • I am trying to find the tm.log.

    After 3DSMax export the tgi file , it creates a tm.log file.

    It stays in the main aircraft file with the tmd txt files , textures etc.

    Notepad crashes trying to open it.

    I achieve to open it with notepad++ but it seems a binary file.

    There are some ascii readable files inside ( I can read "GaugeVSINeedle r t <[string8][GeometryList][ age]>"

    but most of the characters are "NULL", ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ, etc

    I don' understand .

    I will keep trying .

    Perhaps this is the wrong tm.log file

    But it appears after the 3dsMAX conversion.

  • Yes I was just talking about the tmd file.

    Hm, sounds like something might be wrong with the log file then, that is strange.

    If you have the 3ds model you can also extract the axis from there I believe. I've never done that myself but I've been told that it is possible :)

    Do you just want to modify the dr400 or are you using your own 3D model and want to know how it works in general. Because once you've set up the axis and pivot for an aircraft (as we did for the Dr400) you usually don't have to change the axis and pivot as long as the needle remains at the same position throughout the development.

  • Hi guys,

    I also have a question about Pivot Points and Axis. My problem is that when I export a 3D model (via AC3D) I don't get any pivot points and axes in my TM. log file. Only the individual objects of the complete model are listed. Do the pivot points have to be created or defined separately in the 3D model?

    Thanks in advance.

    Best regards,

    Thomas

  • Hi everyone using Ac3D and looking for the axes and pivots,

    here is the problem: Ac3D does not give us any axis or pivots that we could export for you, all vertices are in a global coordinate system so there is no pivot that we could extract and also no rotation axes.

    Is there some way to measure the axes and pivots in Ac3D itself? (I've never used Ac3D before, is there even such a thing as animating?)

    Maybe there is an option to select a single vertex and then copy its coordinates, then you'd at least have a pivot to work with. And with two points you could create an axis. (I have a tool for that which I could maybe publish, so that you don't need to do your own maths)