• Hi all.

    Work continues, we now have a pilot and ejection seat ( most important part of a Starfighter). Mip cover, HUD bits and pieces.

    I also have a pilot figure in the cockpit view so I can see my legs etc and not a bare seat and floor, so much better.

    Jan... when the preview is generated the model and reflection are not in the same place. Looks like the model is offset, any ideas what could be causing this. And wing normal's now fixed, built some new ones ;)

    Steve

  • Hi Steve,

    Great progress! With the pilot in place, it looks so much more complete.

    I was just seeing your mail, I'll check it later today :)

    Guess, Jan doesn't mind if I give a hint regarding the preview. The plane sits at the moment too low. You have to go to the tmc file, there you find the contact points. For the Bücker:

    Code
    <[vec32array][ContactSpheres][ (-4.441344 -0.000000 -0.537541 0.13) (0.599536 -0.855537 -1.039364 0.200) (0.599536 0.855537 -1.039364 0.200) ]>

    The first one is the tailwheel, so for you the front wheel.

    Reminds me that I should fix those points also a bit better..

    Cheers,

    Kai

    Edited once, last by kai503 (November 11, 2018 at 9:21 PM).

  • As people learn these things, is it being documented? I would love to see a sort of developer diary with a name like "Developing a plane for Aerofly: What I learned"

    Devons rig

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  • HI Kai,

    I would have thought if it was the contact sphere's then the aircraft would not sit correctly in the sim, if anything the aircraft is slightly above the ground as it settles slightly on loading. Also the pilot and ejector seat seems to be missing, Guess its just another FS2 learning curve :(

    Hi HiFlyer

    The things I have learnt could easily be attached to a pin head, Jan is the TMD wizard, I simply copy and paste from another aircraft, try to work out what it does and then adapt it for the Starfighter. Most of the time its bull in a china shop routine and if I can't get it to work I leave it till later as it's going to slow down the modelling process. Having locked texture files does not help one bit, it's very difficult to see what the developers do so makes it near impossible for some things, ie the HUD

    Steve

  • Steve, wait a sec.. True, it is also the position the plane has, when you load it and it's placed in the scenery. Now I'm also wondering. At the Bücker is the position of the preview corresponding to the position after loading the plane.. I guess, we need help from the big guy anyway. :S

    Kai

  • Hi Kai and Jan

    Thanks for the input, seems it was contact spheres, must have used an old TMC file

    Steve

    Hi Jan

    A simple one for you...speedbrakes

    I can get the speedbrakes to simply rotate outwards, unfortunately on a Starfighter they do not do this, they move backwards and rotate outwards. A piston at the front effectively pushes against a brace and it all does its thing. I know where all the pivots should end up in numerical terms but entries in the TMD are ......confusing

    Speedbrake rotates 60 degrees and translates (slides) backwards 0.2279 along the fuselage inside a slide

    Brace rotates 45 degrees and slides forwards 0.276 in the fueselage

    Piston rotates 55 degrees to speedbrake whilst extending

    Any pointers would be appreciated

    Steve

  • Hi Jan

    A simple one for you...speedbrakes

    I can get the speedbrakes to simply rotate outwards, unfortunately on a Starfighter they do not do this, they move backwards and rotate outwards. A piston at the front effectively pushes against a brace and it all does its thing. I know where all the pivots should end up in numerical terms but entries in the TMD are ......confusing

    Speedbrake rotates 60 degrees and translates (slides) backwards 0.2279 along the fuselage inside a slide

    Brace rotates 45 degrees and slides forwards 0.276 in the fueselage

    Piston rotates 55 degrees to speedbrake whilst extending

    Any pointers would be apprectiated

    Steve

  • Hi Steve,

    I think the correct object would be a torsion link here. If you have a rigidbodygraphics (geometry list can be empty) for the attachment point of the speed brake on the fuselage (in the slide), you can translate it aft with a graphics_translation. Then attach a torsionlinkgraphics to this translating part, one pivot where the speed brake attaches to this sled, one in the speed brake hinge and one near the fuselage again, where the fixed pivot is located.

    The rotation will be dictated by the translation and the only input to this is the linear motion of the actuator that moves the attachment point of the speed brake. You can then change the maximum translation to achieve the correct rotation angle of the speed brake.

    If you look at the nose gear damper of the Cessna for example, that is the same deal.

    Another solution would be: graphics_translation, then graphics_rotation of the main speed brake (just animating the speed brake). Then rest can be done as linkage graphics that stretches (AttachTo = 2). If you schedule the rotation angle according to the translation correctly then it might look pretty good.

  • Hi Steve,

    I think the correct object would be a torsion link here. If you have a rigidbodygraphics (geometry list can be empty) for the attachment point of the speed brake on the fuselage (in the slide), you can translate it aft with a graphics_translation. Then attach a torsionlinkgraphics to this translating part, one pivot where the speed brake attaches to this sled, one in the speed brake hinge and one near the fuselage again, where the fixed pivot is located.

    The rotation will be dictated by the translation and the only input to this is the linear motion of the actuator that moves the attachment point of the speed brake. You can then change the maximum translation to achieve the correct rotation angle of the speed brake.

    If you look at the nose gear damper of the Cessna for example, that is the same deal.

    Another solution would be: graphics_translation, then graphics_rotation of the main speed brake (just animating the speed brake). Then rest can be done as linkage graphics that stretches (AttachTo = 2). If you schedule the rotation angle according to the translation correctly then it might look pretty good.

    But, will it slow the F-104 down like the read deal? :P

    Regards,

    Ray

  • Don't know about slowing it down but it certainly slows me down :/

    Work is still progressing and modelling nearly complete, still have textures to finish and specular, bump etc

    TMD is really slow progress and having a chest infection hasn't help, joys of getting old <X

  • Don't know about slowing it down but it certainly slows me down :/

    Work is still progressing and modelling nearly complete, still have textures to finish and specular, bump etc

    TMD is really slow progress and having a chest infection hasn't help, joys of getting old <X

    For a diversion you could build a few new static planes. A nice F-15E Strike Eagle and a few Robinson R-22 might be more rewarding than trying to tightwalk a tmc blindfolded.

    The blind man said to his three deaf daughters, let me see, let me see. Ha

    Regards,

    Ray

  • Hi Jan

    Being a complete novice I tried various codes to achieve what you suggested but it always failed to load in the sim, so I decided to cheat a little

    I moved the speedbrake hinge outside of the fuselage, this allowed the impression of moving backwards as well as rotating outwards.

    I managed to attach the brace to the speedbrake and although it does rotate towards the fuselage it doesn't do this enough as per the screenie. Here is my coding, no laughing please

    /////////////Speedbrakes

    <[hingedbodygraphics][AirBrakeRight][]

    <[uint32][PositionID][Fuselage.R]>

    <[uint32][OrientationID][Fuselage.Q]>

    <[string8][GeometryList][ RightSpeedBrake ]>

    <[uint32][AngleID][ServoAirBrake.Output]>

    <[tmvector3d][Axis][0.0 0.0 -1.0]>

    <[tmvector3d][Pivot][-2.8016 -0.7192 0.2810 ]>

    <[float64][AngleMax][1.0]>

    >

    <[linkagegraphics][AirBrakeRightBrace][]

    <[string8][Graphics0][Fuselage]>

    <[string8][Graphics1][AirBrakeRight]>

    <[string8][GeometryList][ RightSpeedBrakeBrace ]>

    <[tmvector3f][Joint0][ -3.569 -0.542 1.419 ]>

    <[tmvector3f][Joint1][ -3.0779 -0.6536 0.1872 ]>

    <[uint32][AttachTo][2]>

    >

    <[hingedbodygraphics][AirBrakeLeft][]

    <[uint32][PositionID][Fuselage.R]>

    <[uint32][OrientationID][Fuselage.Q]>

    <[string8][GeometryList][ LeftSpeedBrake ]>

    <[string8][AngleID][ServoAirBrake.Output]>

    <[tmvector3d][Axis][0.0 0.0 1.0]>

    <[tmvector3d][Pivot][-2.8016 0.7192 0.2810]>

    <[float64][AngleMax][1.0]>

    >

    <[linkagegraphics][AirBrakeLeftBrace][]

    <[string8][Graphics0][Fuselage]>

    <[string8][Graphics1][AirBrakeLeft]>

    <[string8][GeometryList][ LeftSpeedBrakeBrace ]>

    <[tmvector3f][Joint0][ -3.569 0.542 1.419 ]>

    <[tmvector3f][Joint1][ -3.0779 0.6536 0.1872 ]>

    <[uint32][AttachTo][2]>

    >

    How can I increase this rotation so it goes back to the fuselage

    Steve

  • Hi Jan

    have gone back to my orginal pivot locations as cheating didn't seem right.

    After some serious head scratching I came up with this code, maybe childs play for you but a mile stine for me as it didn't crash the sim, of course it doesn't do what I intend

    I have an object I'm using as a slide to see what is happening, this fdoes indeed move backwards though far too much. The speedbrake also moves backwards by this same amount and rotates around the wrong axis.

    Can you look over the code and correct it for me as I'm on the point of giving up

    Many thanks Steve

    <[graphics_input][ServoAirBrakeTrans][]

    <[uint32][InputID][ServoAirBrake.Output]>

    >

    <[graphics_translation][AirBrakeRightTrans][]

    <[string8][Input][ServoAirBrakeTrans.Output]>

    <[tmvector3d][Axis][-1.0000 0.0000 0.0000]>

    >

    <[rigidbodygraphics][AirBrakeRight][]

    <[uint32][PositionID][Fuselage.R]>

    <[uint32][OrientationID][Fuselage.Q]>

    <[string8][GeometryList][ RightSpeedBrakePiston ]>

    <[string8][InputTransform][AirBrakeRightTrans.Output]>

    >

    <[torsionlinkgraphics][AirBrakeRightFront][]

    <[string8][Graphics0][Fuselage]>

    <[string8][Graphics1][AirBrakeRight]>

    <[tmvector3f][Joint0][ -2.6687 -0.5802 0.2810 ]>

    <[tmvector3f][Joint1][ -3.0779 -0.6536 0.1872 ]>

    <[tmvector3f][Joint2][ -3.569 -0.5258 1.419 ]>

    <[string8][GeometryList][ RightSpeedBrake ]>

    <[uint32][AttachTo][1]>

    >

    Finally got the B'stards to work

  • A wonderful model of one of my favourite jets Steve. Enjoyed the captainsim model in FS9 and the SimSkunkworks model in FSX. Having moved over to AF2 and XP11 these days I was hoping someone would tackle this subject. What are your plans for this Steve... payware or freeware? either way looking forward to it.

    Matt

  • Very Generous of you Steve. AF2 does need more choice of Aircraft addons. love to see some more screenshots as things progress. I have been clocking the problems you and Kai have been having with the config files... a bridge I may have to cross myself if something I've been working on ever gets finished. Do you work in AC3D?

    Matt