Animation Question

[Mick]

David asked me to ask this question because he thinks I can write more clearly. I dunno about that, but here goes:

The VC on our current project has throttles, but they don't work with the mouse. They respond to input from the keyboard or the throttle on the joystick (or yoke) but they won't move for the mouse.

This hasn't come up before because our previous projects either didn't have throttles in the VC, or they were down low and off to the side so far that they were hardly noticeable and you wouldn't want to look down like that while flying the plane. On the current plane the throttles are located where you'll see them and might want to work them with your mouse.

Can someone explain how to animate throttles in a VC so they can be moved by mouse?

[Dangerous Beans]

In Model converter X its done by setting the Mouse Rectangle in the Object Hierarchy Editor.

[mav]

I mght be wrong.... but I did'nt think converter x added or exported animations?!

I'd normally go the scasm route and hack it in... works but i had to get somebody to make the bgl and/mdl.

[Tako_Kichi]

Are you building this aircraft from scratch using one of the legacy modeling programs (GMAX, FSDS, etc.) or are you trying to convert an existing model to FS2004 status? The methodology could be different depending on the modeling tools used.

[this4dave2]

Are you building this aircraft from scratch using one of the legacy modeling programs (GMAX, FSDS, etc.) or are you trying to convert an existing model to FS2004 status? The methodology could be different depending on the modeling tools used.

I am building the aircraft from scratch using FSDS I hope you can give me some guidance

David

[Tako_Kichi]

First off I am NOT an FSDS guy as all my modelling time was spent in GMAX/3DS MAX for FSX or Blender v1.0 way back when. I did some digging around and found some references that might be useful but if you have a copy of the FS2004 SDK it should tell you in there how to accomplish your goals. Basically what you need is the part with a suitable 'gizmo/spinner' location, the 'canned' animation name (basically the correct part name so that the canned animation can be assigned to it) and the number of frames it will be animated over. You will also need a 'mouse rectangle' on the part so that the user can mouse-click the part and move it in the VC. Here are a couple of links to info I found:

https://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...p/t-20520.html
https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/th...sds-3-5.75183/

[Sbob]

Dave, maybe ask yourself if the mouse-able throttles are worth the effort?

I rarely look at them in the VC (other than thinking its neat that they move at all).

[this4dave2]

Dave, maybe ask yourself if the mouse-able throttles are worth the effort?

I rarely look at them in the VC (other than thinking its neat that they move at all).

I have come to that conclusion after a lot of hair pulling

But still would like to know how it is done.

[Sbob]

That's valid and noble, just be aware that the rest of us are patiently waiting to see what you and Mick are going to roll out of the hanger.

[Mick]

I hope you'll find it worth the wait. I think you'll like it, but it's far from finished.

We're going about this project in a bit of reverse direction. As of now our issues are with something of an Easter egg. We decided to finish it and get it off our plates before we get back to the main job.

In a way we've answered the age-old question, at least for this project, about which came first, the chicken or the egg. The egg is almost finished while the chicken still has a long way to go.

[Milton Shupe]

I've been away from modeling and the sim since 2017-ish. My memory of these things is extremely vague now.

The best known resource for you is here at SOH; his name handle is hairyspin.
He used FSDS, gmax, and 3dsmax I recall.
He can be found here:
https://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...4022-hairyspin

You should also look down in the Design Forum as there are FSDS topics there, and hairyspin is/was the moderator.
I have all my FS9 gmax source I can reference but unsure that would help you.
I also did a series of tutorials for gmax-FS9 regarding VC's but not sure if they can help with FSDS questions.

I'll poke around to see what I can find.

EDIT: Looking down in the Design forum, I pulled my VC series of tutes and selected this one that shows animation creation for the ECU levers. Not sure this can help as it is done in Gmax but look at the animations keyframes and SDK names for those levers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OIGT5_Y2Kg

[Mick]

Hi Milton! It's great to hear from you again!

It's hard to believe that it's been seven years since you built models. But not hard to believe that they still hold up as well as anything anyone's done since.

And thank you for the references. It's all Greek to me but I hope it will make sense to David.

[Milton Shupe]

Hi Milton! It's great to hear from you again!

It's hard to believe that it's been seven years since you built models. But not hard to believe that they still hold up as well as anything anyone's done since.

And thank you for the references. It's all Greek to me but I hope it will make sense to David.

Hi Mick :-)

Thanks for the kind words. I surely miss all the gang here as well as modeling and flying.

My eyes were failing me and I guess it was time to move on. I had cataract surgery a couple years ago which helped a lot, but still have issues with floaties. Makes those pixels and vertices hard to see at times.

I thank you again for all your contributions to the community, and for the series of great textures you did for my aircraft.

I am hoping that hairyspin and David can hook up to resolve any questions.

[Mick]

We miss you too! I sure do and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Floaters! I once had one so big I could only see around one edge of it, and which edge that was would vary as it floated around whenever I moved my eyes or my head. Very annoying! But it eventually resolved and since then I've just had those little ones that you think are fruit flies until you remember that fruit flies are out of season.

I can't help thinking that most of us FS9 users are probably old enough to know about floaters.

I'm really sorry to hear that your eye trouble persists after cataract surgery. I haven't needed that but I'm at an age where it could be in my future.

[Milton Shupe]

We miss you too! I sure do and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Floaters! I once had one so big I could only see around one edge of it, and which edge that was would vary as it floated around whenever I moved my eyes or my head. Very annoying! But it eventually resolved and since then I've just had those little ones that you think are fruit flies until you remember that fruit flies are out of season.

I can't help thinking that most of us FS9 users are probably old enough to know about floaters.

I'm really sorry to hear that your eye trouble persists after cataract surgery. I haven't needed that but I'm at an age where it could be in my future.

Hi Mick,

Bah! Cataract surgery, if you must have one, is the surgery to have; about 10 minutes each eye and the results are immediate. No fuss (other than eye drops) and no pain, awake during the procedure with a light sedative. That took care of the "fog" and life is much better now. The floaties are small and usually not a big deal.

I forgot to mention to David that FSDeveloper has a lot of FSDS expertise who would offer any help or advice needed.

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/

[Sbob]

Milton; Just another fan who wanted to say THANK YOU for all the stuff you've uploaded (along with your team, of course).

I finally installed the Turbine Mallard (G-73) and Holy Cow! Great everything BUT that has to be the best twin engine turboprop sound set out there.
Is there any way to trip the OVERSPEED alarm? I've tried pointing the nose straight down with the throttles wide open and it just won't get there.

[Milton Shupe]

Milton; Just another fan who wanted to say THANK YOU for all the stuff you've uploaded (along with your team, of course).

I finally installed the Turbine Mallard (G-73) and Holy Cow! Great everything BUT that has to be the best twin engine turboprop sound set out there.
Is there any way to trip the OVERSPEED alarm? I've tried pointing the nose straight down with the throttles wide open and it just won't get there.

Hi Sbob :-)

Thanks for the kind words.

FS9 of FSX?

Is you sim settings allowing Faults?

Does your Reference Speeds section of your aircraft.cfg look like this? Is it the FSX native, FSX port over, or FS9 version 1.2?

[Reference Speeds]
flaps_up_stall_speed=76
full_flaps_stall_speed=61
cruise_speed=234.00000
max_indicated_speed=234.00000
max_mach=0.36400

[Sbob]

I kid, I kid.

Turboprop FDs can be a bear, but this one flies right.
I doubt you could over-stress the real article, unless you were dumb enough to fly it into a hurricane.

It is what it is and it does what it does...with class.

[this4dave2]

Mick and I want to thank every one for there input to our question and let you know it has been solved.

I have no idea why but It turned out to be which part of the throttle lever was Identified as Lever_throttle#.

I originally identified the metal lever as Lever_throttle# with axis point properly located and made it the parent part and the knob as throttle knob child part which to me seemed logical.

It turned out that the knob had to be named Lever_throttle# with axis point properly located and named as parent part and the metal lever as throttle lever child part and now the mouse moves the levers in the VC

we appreciate and Thank you for your help.

David and Mick

[normb]

Boy! After following all the details and work involved with just this one little area of model building I want to thank Mick, Dave, Milton and all the other great modelers and painters who put in tremendous time and effort AND share it with all of us.

Thanks Again,
normb