Animating Rudder Pedals

[Sid2008]

Hi folks, I am trying to understand how to Animate the rudder pedals in MAKEMDL for FS9 such that one pedal is pushed back and the other comes forward.

The only way I know to animate it is to make the entire pedal assembly as a single part with a special partname and pivot it in the center. Using keyframes then i animate it as the pedals roate around the center of the part. Although the rotation does create a sense of being "pushed backwards and forwards" the rotation component also make the pedals trun on a transverse horizontal axis (the X axis in FSDS 3.5.1).

So you design gurus, how do you animate the rudder pedals so they do not give the impression of rotating around a center pivot point?

Thank you.
Sid

 

[Zoren]

What I did for the Tutor in FS9 was use 2 different parts:

lever_pedals_l_r.1 <--- left pedal
lever_pedals_l_r.2 <--- right pedal

Now my pedals swing back/forth like a swing. So for the left pedal, at keyframe 0 the pedal is swung to the front of the plane. At keyframe 50 the pedal is hanging start up/down. And finally at keyframe 100 the pedal is swung to the back (or near the pilot seat). The right pedal would be the opposite (0 - close to seat / 50 - middle / 100 - front of plane).

Are the pedals you are making the swing type or do the slide back/forth sort of like the CH Pro Pedals? If they slide you should be able to still do two parts like the swinging pedals except when you animate, move the pedals along the Z axis to where you want them.

I was using FSDS 2 to 3.5 for the Tutor in FS9 in case you wanted to know. If you have more questions, just ask and I'll try my best to help out.

Zoren

 

[Sid2008]

Zoren, Thank you very much

Zoren, Thank you so very much. I was seeking such as answer. Iam going to try this on my FSDS aircraft tonight and see how it turns out.

Am I to assume that you are an FSDS modeler too? There seem so few of us on this forum.

I do have another question that you might be able to answer. Imagine you are looking a a Ford trimotor. These airplanes have cables running on the outside body to the elevators. As the elevators rotate along their axis, there is an arm that guides the cables outside of the cockpit that rotates too.

I am building some older biplane airliners, and I was wondering how to animate that arm outside of the cockpit that turns as the cables move the elevators.

Do you have any ideas about this?

Thank you.

Sid

 

[Zoren]

Yes I use FSDS for modelling. Not close to an expert but I try my best to figure things out.

I tested out something quickly for your elevator issue. What I found, and there could be another way, is to make a part like a tube that is made on the Y axis (goes up/down). Make sure the axis is centered to the part. Size the part to your liking and place it.

Name the part using the "FS2004 Aircraft Keyframe Animation" tag name lever_stick_fore_aft. Now not to get this part confused with the actual joystick, I added an extensiong to give a final name of

lever_stick_fore_aft.elevator_control

Now we animate.

Keyframe 0 - rotate so top is forward
Keyframe 50 - rotate to level position (this may be straight up/down)
Keyframe 100 - rotate so top is backwards (tilted to the back)

Compile and test. If it does look right, flip 0 and 100 around.

Send me an e-mail to radkedf "at" gmail.com and I'll send you my test source file. Also, we can work together easier through e-mails if you have other issues or problems.

Well now back to trying to figure out FSDS for FSX with the rear landing gear. What a pain it is turning into.

Zoren

 

[Sid2008]

Thanks Zorn. I am excited now to run home from work and try it. I am nearly completing the old Armstrong Whitworth Argosy, trimotor biplane airliner and I was thinking about adding the extra animation on the outer model and the VC. It will look so cool!

I will report back to you my findings.

Thanks again.
Sid