Good day
It is not clear to me what is the standard procedure for AF2 for pilot figures.
Should they be modeled as part of the aircraft? It does not seem to be the case for the DR400...
In any case can we model them as part of the aircraft? If so, how can we make them disappear in the cockpit view?
An explaination would be much appreciated - these are probably trivial questions, but have mercy of a designer with more 10 years of the Microsoft SDK... 
Thanks in advance!
Hey Dino,
I can help a small amount, but the team will need to give you the answers..
If you look at the TMD of the Extra 330, you'll see at the bottom of the //animation section that the pilot is listed. It has a 'ton' of sections (attachments with bones?). Also, the model is given 'camera view' settings, where a particular camera view selected will show the pilot, and another camera view selected will have the pilot hidden.
How you hide/unhide them in the sim, I do not know. I havent gotten that far yet.
Bill
LHC
I didn't study that in detail yet in AeroflyFS 2.
In AeroflyFS 1 there were a bunch of pilots (Robert, Pamela, etc.) and to each aircraft 1 pilot was assigned, for instance Robert was the DR400 pilot, Pamela was flying the C172, I don't remember the rest.
With simple file editing I could easily swap pilots and assign another one to whichever aircraft, however with some side effects (hands connections to the controls).
In other words, pilots and aircraft are 2 separate models and you assign one to the other, which is a great concept IMO.
In AeroflyFS 2, the DR400 pilot is still Robert and a first glance at aircraft files let me think it is still the case like in AeroflyFS 1, but I haven't check any further yet...
Cheers
Antoine
I did see somewhere on the DR400 files the pilots name of Robert. So that assignment is done in there somewhere.
But... In the Extra, the pilots animations and body parts (quite a few) are all at the bottom of the Animations list. Right about at the bottom of the TMD file. The sound section is right under it, and that section is not large. I would say almost a quarter of the TMD is the body parts of the pilot.
Out of curiosity I went through the sim and did find the pilots. They are in the main Aerofly folder/objects
Bill
I think the pilots can be seen like bodies with several moving parts and nodes between parts.
The aircraft tmd files seem to define where the various parts of the body are to be placed and moved inside the aircraft.
I didn't try yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if one could simply replace a pilot with another by simply changing the pilot name in whichever tmd file.
To be checked...
Cheers
Antoine
To my knowledge the pilot model is selected in the .tmc file.
<[string8][Pilot][pilot_eric]>
Available pilots are stored in ...\steamapps\common\Aerofly FS 2 Flight Simulator\objects
In the .tmd file in the "graphics_human" object the bones and pose of the pilot are set and animated using InputTransform(ations) on the bone elements.
The visibility of the pilot in the individual cameras is controlled via "ShowInside"
Here you simply list the names of the cameras where the pilot model shall be visible, seperate them by whitespaces
<[uint32][ShowInside][ CameraCopilot CameraJumpseat ]>Regards,
Jan
Thank you Jan for your explanations.
Is there a way to select the visibility of specific parts of the body in various views?
My aim would be to make the pilot head invisible in cockpit view, but the rest of the body must remain visible.
This would be great for both TrackIR and VR users.
Cheers
Antoine
Provided that I (must?) use one of the stock pilot figures... how is it linked to the aircraft model? What sets the figure position within the model space?
You don't have to use a pilot. See my last post above for the answer of the two questions: tmc for the "link" and tmd for the pose.
- or in general can we exclude part of the model from the views?
The ShowInside parameter should work for all graphics objects, just try it. But when would you need that anyway? Pilot body makes sense but you don't have to exclude the wing or tail from the cockpit view for example, this isn't FSX where that would improve frame rate. The objects that are not in view are not rendered in the Aerofly FS 2 anyway as far as I know... So settin the ShowInside for each object would actually reduce the frame rate a tiny bit because the Aerofly would need to check if the current camera name is contained in the list...
Hi again,
yeah but if you remove the object via ShowInside you might get weird shadows in the cockpit. E.g. sun from the back could illuminate the panels even though there should be a wall blocking the light... And in case we do add a walk around camera, where you could even fly or walk into the cockpit for example, then you'd get odd looking results as well. So I'd take the time to close your model and work with a physically accurate representation...
In my experience with Aerofly FS 2 development I found that even smaller problems in the 3D model or inaccuracies will always bite you later. Rather do it correctly from the beginning than try to "debug" issues later. For me it's much more satisfying when you know you have a completed 3D model and you don't have open problems everywhere. But that is just my advice, do what you want 
Regards,
Jan
IndiaFoxTechno wrote;
The rationale for wanting geometry to selectively appear or disappear in the views, for me, is the fact that in my FSX/P3D development more often than not the external and internal models do not match perfectly. So it would be much faster to convert one of my old FSX projects if I could just "flag" the visibility - with no need to rework the geometry so that they match perfectly (which I had to do for the Mb326).
Oh man... Thats why I like to use one model for both interior and exterior. Sorry you have to rework things.
I am afraid about the Gizmo's. I had to rotate the model in Max. I found that many of the animations are now sideways (in Max). I havent been able to get the Rudder working yet (2 days now) and I am wondering if the Gizmo(s) will have to be rotated on animated parts so that they have the proper direction going. Example, if the rudder hinge axis is off 90 degree's, it will not be aligned. Do the Gizmo will have to be rotated 90 degrees.
Thank you Jan for your explanations.
Is there a way to select the visibility of specific parts of the body in various views?My aim would be to make the pilot head invisible in cockpit view, but the rest of the body must remain visible.
This would be great for both TrackIR and VR users.Cheers
Antoine
Any answer to my question before it disappears ?
Thanks in advance
Cheers
Antoine
From what I know you cannot split the pilot model...
But I also have very little experience with the pilot animations.
Maybe its possible but probably not.
Any answer to my question before it disappears ?
Thanks in advance
Cheers
Antoine
If the pilots head was listed as a separate part in a GeometryList, you could. But it appears they are solid with bones.
Thank you all.
Actually, if you use a Track IR (or apparently it's even stronger with VR), displaying the pilot while in the cockpit really adds to immersion, unlike my experience of MS FS, where pilot features where great in external views, but rather unconvincing and disturbing in internal views.
The problem in Aerofly FS2 is, when you display the pilot when seated in the cockpit, the point of view is inside the pilot's head, or just next to it. If you fly the C172 for instance, you see Pamela's teeths (or what's her name ?). If you fly the Corsair, you see the glasses and helmet...
The best solution IMO would be to display a pilot without head.
Cheers
Antoine
The best solution IMO would be to display a pilot without head.
Cheers
Antoine
This would of course be the Marie Antoinette version..........
We can just call this new pilot "Marie" for short.
Antoine,
you can easily change the position of the head camera:
http://www.ipacs.de/forum/showthre…36544#post36544
