Project Das Fliewatüüt

[Thunder Chicken]

Actually, just setting the contact points for the correct stiffness for the vessel to sit level, without any strut animations, only causes about 2-3 cm of touchdown point compression. It just looks like the front wheels are squished a bit:


I can fiddle with the front strut animations later if desired, but the main issue was to get the main rotor axis vertical when landed. Otherwise the rotor thrust would have a backward component which would cause the vessel to roll backwards.

I'll need to think about how to animate the rear wheel. Having it rotate about its axis isn't a problem, but to make it look physically correct the y-component of the touchdown point would need to move upwards (i.e. the whole vessel would tilt backwards slightly).

At this point I think I will just confine the wheels to rolling animations. Anything fancier can come later. I want to get the rotors and propellers spinning and get the power transitions to the wheels, rotor, and propellers all sorted.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Es schwimmt!

 

[Buck Rogers]

Did you add reflectivity to the glass!?!?

Yes, and a "fibre glass" specular texture, so in the sunlight you can see the tiny cracks.
Some of the "effects" may need fine tuning (windows from inside etc.., it's hard to tell with a static object.

You even made the wheel hubs and springs shiny chrome

Also the inside of the lights, not sure how effective that is?

I get a break from work for several days and my wife is going to be out of town for the next two days, so I might be able to get some coding done. I really want to make animations worthy of this model. I am so happy that this is coming together.

OK, I got the main wheels turning appropriately. First thing to do will be to get the front suspension to compress so it sits level when landed. This will involve moving the front contact points backwards as it compresses. And I suppose the wheel would need to roll backward while that is happening. And I need to scale the springs and struts to show the compression.

Hoo boy... good thing I took all those math classes.

Glad you like it. Have fun

It just looks like the front wheels are squished a bit:

He he, looks just like the RL photo!

Es schwimmt!

Wow! Better than I thought!

A couple of thoughts on animation, as you said, low priority, for later...

front strut animations

Only the spring should need scaling, the rest should transform/slide up inside the upper part (or at least that was the idea), scaling at complicated angles can be tricky.

I'll need to think about how to animate the rear wheel. Having it rotate about its axis isn't a problem, but to make it look physically correct the y-component of the touchdown point would need to move upwards (i.e. the whole vessel would tilt backwards slightly).

I'm thinking the caster probably shouldn't "twist" more than say 10-15° either way, this may be neglible enough (height) to ignore, avoiding possible driving problems. If it starts a little lower you might get away with a "squishy tire" effect? As long as the eye is deceived...

Recommend using the D3D9 debug tool for identifying mshgrps (on a side note you can create the material .cfgs I was talking about with it too).

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Yes, and a "fibre glass" specular texture, so in the sunlight you can see the tiny cracks.
Some of the "effects" may need fine tuning (windows from inside etc.., it's hard to tell with a static object.

It does have an effect like a slightly crazed canopy. Sometime when the sun hits it just so it becomes hard to see, but not terribly so.

Also the inside of the lights, not sure how effective that is?

Haven't looked hard at them yet. I think I can make them look good by switching the emissivity color when I apply the spotlights.

A couple of thoughts on animation, as you said, low priority, for later...

Only the spring should need scaling, the rest should transform/slide up inside the upper part (or at least that was the idea), scaling at complicated angles can be tricky.

Yep. I have the vector defining the axis of the strut. The scaling does need a bit more math, but it's doable.

I'm thinking the caster probably shouldn't "twist" more than say 10-15° either way, this may be neglible enough (height) to ignore, avoiding possible driving problems. If it starts a little lower you might get away with a "squishy tire" effect? As long as the eye is deceived...

Yeah, I'll have to play with it and see how it looks. I was thinking of making the rear wheel the drive wheel as there aren't obvious driveshafts for the front wheels.

Recommend using the D3D9 debug tool for identifying mshgrps (on a side note you can create the material .cfgs I was talking about with it too).

I usually pull up the Blender file and just get the info from there. It's not hard to get the mesh group index from the mesh file once I have the name. I'm not familiar with that debug tool, I'll see what it can do.

 

[RisingFury]

That is one ugly baby! Holy crap...

The modelling and texture work is really good, though

 

[Buck Rogers]

Ugly Duckling... It swims too!

 

[Buck Rogers]

Just to note: When we do the instruments all the mshgrps are going to be up in the air, so it's probably worth working on that before the animations are too polished.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Just to note: When we do the instruments all the mshgrps are going to be up in the air, so it's probably worth working on that before the animations are too polished.

I know it will likely change the mesh group indices. That's not a big issue. I can update them pretty quickly.

The bigger issue is time and energy to get the animations made in the first place

 

[Thunder Chicken]

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Thunder Chicken is currently not available to work on this project.

But please stay on the thread, and Thunder Chicken will get moving on the project as soon as possible.