Zoren_VSB

New rules of engagement. 1.) Must see the white of their eyes. That includes every member onboard of said enemy plane. Zoren

The gauges are not that difficult to figure out. If you understand the animation process, it is a lot like animating an external part. Using modelviewer, you can see that the gauges are actually 3d parts. Take the artificial horizon. Within the A-10, you notice it is a tube object that you apply the texture of the horizon on. Animate like you would the flaps or rudder. Airspeed needle, samething only it is a needle rotating around the middle axis. It is a lot like make 3d cockpits for Flight Simulator, only FS uses XML coding to make the gauges move. I have figured out some of the args required but am running into all kinds of problems with sizing as the thread above links too. Now ED PM'd me about not needing the Cockpit material, but if it isn't applied, the cockpit is huge. If it is, it is fine as long as I use the A-10 external model. There is a Manual.rar in the Russian forums, but I have yet to figure out what the last paragraph actually says. If anyone is interested in helping me get this cockpit working, PM me and we can talk about my findings and share information. Zoren

Hi, Over on the Russian forums there is a file that seems to talk about building the 3D models for Lock-On. I haven't been able to translate the file into English, at least not very understand English. The last paragraph is the one that is most insteresting to me as it seems to talk about dummy-helper objects and the Bounding Box property found with LOMUtils. I am in the learning stage of 3DS Max as most of my modeling experience comes from an application for flight simulator called FSDS. Following the instructions, I tried the following experiment. I create my inner cockpit shell and then a dummy-object. I assign the dummy-object as the parent to the inner cockpit shell. The dummy-object is sized to the correct size I need. Everything compiles, but the inner cockpit doesn't show up anywhere. If I break the link between parent-child, it show up but is the wrong size. The inner cockpit as been assigned a basic material with the Material Type of Cockpit for LOMUtils. The dummy-object is assigned the Bounding Box property. According to the 3DS Max books, this is suppose to be used to help with animations etc. You assing it as a parent, do your animation on the dummy-object, and all the children move accordingly. Helper objects are not suppose to render but the children should. Below is a cut and paste from the Manual.rar file found on the Russian side. Can anyone explain it to me or help me understand what is required. Thanks Zoren_VSB FROM Manual.rar: Дальше в этом файле заниматься прописыванием текстурных параметров, а если ваша модель содержит только одну текстуру, то файл Skins вовсе можно не создавать. «Списки аргументов анимации смотрите в прилагаемых файлах.» Да. Перед выгрузкой нужно не забыть создать описывающий модель дополнительный дамми-объект, путем его масштабирования по отдельным осям. А в LOM Utils назначить ему свойства в окошке Type – Bounding Box, иначе могут возникнуть проблемы с восприятием камерой продукта производства, а так же, – проблемы с его уничтожением и т.д. Одним словом, эта операция необходима для нормальной работы модели в среде ЛО. Вот вкратце, все, что необходимо дизайнеру для работы с выгрузкой моделей.

Anyone with ideas about the above? Zoren_VSB

Well I hope someone from ED will read this as I have hit a brick wall. The 3D cockpit modeling is coming along, as long as I apply it to the A-10 default model. If I place our Tutor model (A-10.lom) into the sim, the 3D cockpit takes on the size of a large building. Remove the Tutor model and use the A-10.cmd file and the cockpit is the correct size. I even tried the default A-10 cockpit with our Tutor model, and the default A-10 cockpit stays the correct size. A-10.cmd + Kabina-A-10.cmd = works A-10.cmd + Kabina-A-10.lom = works A-10.lom + Kabina-A-10.lom = oversized pit A-10.lom + Kabina-A-10.cmd = works A-10.cmd = default Lock-On A-10 Kabina-A-10.cmd = default Lock-On A-10 cockpit A-10.lom = Tutor external model Kabina-A-10.lom = Tutor 3D cockpit So either there is something missing from our A-10.lom file that our Kabina-A-10.lom file needs to define the correct size of the cockpit, or our Kabina-A-10.lom file needs something to define its correct size. Yes I have sized the cockpit within 3DS Max. I even tried scaling it down. It sort of works, but then the cockpit within 3DS gets too small to work with. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I have tried using the "Bounding Box" property found under LOMUtils with the "Cockpit" material type applied. No luck. Zoren_VSB

Yes we could play around with the x,y,z coordinates within the server.lua file, I was just hoping that there was away to actually tell the sim the true dimensions of our Tutor. Using the A-10's or any other plane within Lock-On will give the plane an un-nature look when viewed from outside. The true COG will be off. Zoren

Hi, We, Virtual Snowbirds, are working placing a new plane and cockpit into Lock-On. The Canadair CT-114 Tutor. So fare we have added the plane into the sim along with key animations. The Tutor will take the place of the A-10. I have been working on the 3D cockpit for the Tutor. I did manage to figure out some of the args required to make the gauges work like RPM1 = arg16. Even had a simple needle that rotated based on the throttle setting. One problem I did have at first was the cockpit when place in the sim was huge, but I managed to figure out the scaling issue. See http://picasaweb.google.com/Zoren01 for screen shots. As the 4 pictures at the end of the album show, the cockpit fits nicely, for the A-10 model. Our next problem is fitting it to the Tutor model. The Tutor is smaller and lower than the A-10. So our other modeller played with the 0,0,0 of the 3D model within 3DS until the Tutor sat correctly on the ground. The problem with that is, once you go into cockpit view, my 3D model of the cockpit is below ground in some spots. To make it fit right, I would have to raise the Tutor about 1-2 metres off the ground, which doesn't look good with floating landing gear. How does the sim know the contact points of the 3D model? I know in FS2004 we can use config files to adjust the contact points based on the 0,0,0 of the 3D model. Does Lock-On have something that is close to that? What about the "Bounding Box" option within LOMUtils? Does this set the size limit of the plane within the sim? Thanks for any help. Zoren