Learning AD2K

Hello Smilo,
I can try and put in the landing-lights again as per the RFO tutorial, although I already did that, to no avail. There are no lights and no light-cones shining forewards, but maybe you mean navigation lights and/or strobes that apparently can be done. Anyhow, I´ll wait for your confirmation as to exactly what you have in mind.

The prop SA, seen from the side, is one clean vertical line representing blades, blurs and prop-disk, with a triangle on the right, which has a few more lines in it, i.e. the spinner, whose back is flush with the vertical line.

OK, I´ll hold off on the prop. The prop is built in the middle at 0,0,0, and the seal used is the front end of the nose.

Update: - our posts just crossed the Atlantic at the same time.
I don´t get any blurs with a stopped prop, only blades. The blurs appear at the same time as the disk, when the blades disappear. There is no RETURN between blur and disk. Perhaps you are looking at the previous .3DM, which was wrong, and had the flaw you are describing. I corrected that on this version.

P.S. I just noticed an .air file issue: there´s no idle speed becaue the original engine was a rotary one that was either on at max RPM or off, and for landing, you had to "blip" it. If you use the .air file I sent, it will need the attached .air file correction.
Thanks,
Aleatorylamp
 

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well, that's not the 3DM i'm looking at.
i'll have to look later.
i'm going out tonight.
Lydia Pense and Cold Blood
are playing at the casino
four miles down the road.
i wouldn't miss it.

who is Lydia Pense and Cold Blood, you might ask.
here's a link to one of their songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRWg1bqGCtg

be forewarned, they are definitely NOT quiet and calm.

...put your foot on the rock
and pat your foot...don't stop.
put your foot on the rock.
 
okay, i have an hour to kill before i leave.
apparently, i screwed up the transfer.
fixed it and opened the correct 3DM.
compiled the model and fired up cfs
to have a look. yup, a minuscule
prop/spinner bleed seen from the side.

looked in the PROP SA and changed
the seal to the prop disk at 0,0,0.
compiled and had a look.
cool, we're good, except now,
the prop and spinner are bleeding
through the nose....ouch.
back to the model editor main page.
change the seal at ALLFFSLG to
13.5;0.0,....compile and have a look.
nope, not yet, still bleeding.
click on that 13.5; 0.0...
and click on the reverse button.
compile and go have a look.
BINGO...no bleeds, either,
blades through the spinner,
or spinner/blades through the nose section.
 
OK, Smilo!
I´ll check here. Thanks for the tip. I remember you mentioning the reversing of seals.
There is no way of telling which direction a seal effect is working, is there?
Then I´ll BINGO it too then, by changing the seal on ALLFFSLG to 13.5;0.0,... and then reversing it.

Let´s see... YES! Great stuff, thank you very much! It worked. I didn´t change anything in the PROP SA though.

Why did I have the Canopy forward seal assigned there?? Looking for the flaw, I hadn´t related that part of the code to the prop and must have got confused by the central location of the prop build.

Checking which way a polygon chain is facing, if it is the 2nd face of a duplicated and supposedly flipped one, can be seen by its opposite direction when cycling through the vertices, but if there´s only one it´s hard to tell which way it´s facing.
I´ll check, when viewed head on, which way clockwise means as a reference - facing you or away from you.

I had a listen to the music you sent the link to, and thought Lydia was a black singer, until I saw her face on the record seal - impressive! I remember Joe Cocker´s way of singing made you think that too.

Thanks a lot!
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
 
i first saw Lydia Pense and Cold Blood,
way back, in the early seventies.
Lydia knocked me out back then,
and i've had a crush on her ever since.
she can't be more than five feet tall,
but, she belts it out like a monster.
last night, she and the band killed it.
fantastic music played clean and tight,
by consummate professionals.
the personal high point was being able to talk to her
after the show and tell her how much
i appreciate her, after all these years
and how much i've enjoyed growing up together.
we are the same age, you know.
 
the same effect of clicking the Reverse button
can be achieved by changing the GOSUBs order
in the JUMP PLANE sequencing instructions.
when i first started with ad2k,
i thought it was the proper way
to change the sequencing order.
in time, i came to realize,
both ways do the same thing.
reversing the PLANE seal is,
simply, quicker and easier.
and i'm all about quicker and easier.

i have spent a lot of time,
figuring out the sequence logic
and what seal direction,
has what effect on the sequence,
but, in the end, i realized,
it doesn't matter. if i do it wrong,
all i have to do is click the reverse button.
besides, if i figured it out,
i'd probably forget anyway.

so, you said, you made no changes
to the PROP SA?
has the minuscule side prop/spinner bleed vanished?
interesting.
 
Hello Smilo,
Some music grabs you one way or another, I suppose. In my case I never had access to singers in person, but some songs from different singers, for different reasons, became all time favourites for me like María by Blondie, God Shuffled his Feet by Crash Test Dummies, Sultans of Swing, The Wall by Pink Floyd, and then I saw Fleetwood Mac live in the North of England when they first started, but nothing on-going like you describe.

Although the theory of seals is quite clear, slowly smaller details and reasons are starting to mean a bit more.
... and Yes!, the short prop bleed has indeed disappeared!

Wonderfully clean building, that with AD2000, when the logic behind sequencing is understood.
I´m sure it would appeal to Ivan too, at some point when he gets more time.

Now I´ve just made CubeFYI´s flaps, and they have to be called and sequenced now. Their addition to the trailing edge will cause interaction with wings and ailerons, that I´ll have to see to!
Cheers!
 
i'll have to take another look at the PROP SA.
maybe, i'll start over from scratch.
no....not the whole thing,
just from yesterday with the new turning wheels 3DM.
there's always the likelihood that i needlessly over did it.
we shall see.

about sequencing the added flaps...
now, the fun begins.
i'm anxious to see how you solve this little problem.
fortunately, these wings are straight, level
and the flaps are not embedded in the wing.

please send the "Flaps" 3DM when you finish,
or get close.
 
flaps working, but a bit strangely

Hello Smilo,
Well, I intuitively tried doing something similar to the ailerons, and just copied and pasted the aileron code, changing all the labels and calls to RFLAP 3,2,1 and LFLAP 3,2,1, and the move aileron instruction to move flap.

I continued using the two TRANS/ROT instructions, including null vector and aileron vectors, and without really understanding what is going on, it works very well, although pèrhaps it´s doing too much: The .air file cycling time is set at 0.5 seconds, and the flaps take at least 5 seconds to deploy. Putting in 5 seconds makes it endless!

I tried using the Jump Flap + Range instruction, but I haven´t been able to make it work yet.

I´ll see if I can improve it, otherwise I´ll send the .3dm working as it is.
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
 
Hello Smilo,
I tried different things, but I must confess the different tries were more random than reasoned.
So, right now, the Flaps instructions are just the re-worded Aileron ones, with no Jump Flap + Range. Please see the attached screenshot of the Flap Code on the Main Code Page.
One can see it´s plain adapted plagiary of the Aileron Code just above it.:devilish:

I still can´t understand why for the Ailerons there is a TRANS/ROT instruction associated with a null point, and why they work like that. Consequently, I can´t understand why it works for the animated Flaps too, and without Jump Flap + Range!...
Maybe I should say "why fix it if it works?" - but maybe there´s a better way.

Anyway, here are some screenshots of the aircraft itself and a .zip of the present CubeFYI version .3DM file with flaps.
There is a corrected .air file too, as it had (again!!!!) zero cycling time for the flaps. You may possibly need it for the way the Flaps work.

There´s no Jump-Plane sequencing for ailerons/flaps as yet, and there is a little interaction between them and the rear wing.
Thus, I´ll have to do something about that, such as a vertical seal on the flap/aieron hinge line, with convenient sequencing.

Later, I´ll put in some air-brakes on the rear fuselage.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
 

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okay, i've got it, thanks.
i'll have a look as soon as i can.
my xp machine is acting up.
am working on it.
crossing fingers and toes.
 
Hello Smilo,
You are very kind! Thanks a lot for having a look at the CubeFYI with flaps.
Basically, it´s just to see if the flaps can stay as they are,
unless of course they can´t!!
Good luck with your XP machine.
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
 
well, something, somehow, somewhere is corrupted.
(sounds like america, doesn't it?)
i am in the process of copying all i can
to another disk.
of course, i am worried.
who knows when the thing will decide to reboot?
there is a hell of a lot of what i consider
valuable information, i don't want to loose.
when copying is done, (30+gigs)
i'll try to recover xp with the cd.
there's a chance i'll loose everything.
if that doesn't work, i'll reformat the hd
and reinstall xp from scratch.
until this gets straightened out,
cfs and ad2k are out of action.
this is definitely NOT what i had in mind for today.
oh well, so it goes.
 
Hello Smilo,
I sympathize deeply - I know the feeling, the aggravation and the work involved.
It usually happens to me once or sometimes twice a year...
My own fault, carelessness or wearing out hardware.
I usually have safety copies elsewhere on other hard disks now, but sometimes one gets lazy...
But the advantage is you get to start off on a clean machine again!
- that´s not much consolation at the moment though...

A friend of mine used to say to me, years ago, in these situations:

"It´s Nothing! Muster up! Ears stiff! Chin up! One step at a time!
No excuses! Before you know it, you´re there again!!"

I suppose you can tell he was German!

Good luck!
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
 
sssssh...i don't want the xp to hear me.
i'm quietly optimistic.

after way too much dinking around,
i was able, i think, to run Recovery Console.
it hasn't rebooted for a while now.

i am way to adverse for formatting the hd.
there's just too much stuff to wipe clean.
if i had a brain, i'd install the OS exclusively
on a completely different and smaller hd.
but, woulda, shoulda, coulda, didn't, prevails.

am currently running the disk checks
and next the defragging that hasn't been done
for quite some time.
we can only muddle through and hope.
 
Hello, Smilo,
Ok, I won´t say more... shhhh...

Of course, I forgot to say, the reason I repeatedly just re-format in case of crap,
is that it´s only the separate OS Hdd, and not the Data ones.

Even so, it does take a long time - all programmes must be re-installed, and then
Office Mail and My Documents suffer, unless precautions are taken. Windows 98
was better in this respect.

What´s really confusing is how these things are with Windows 8.1 - I can hardly
find my way around. I suppose I´d just use a restore point, if that works...
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
 
well, the xp machine has been running all night without a hitch.
except, when i tried to add a restore point....damn.
needless to say, i'm not 100% confident.
i guess, i'll look around for another hard drive.
not what i really want to do,
but, i don't see much of an alternative.

the good news is, cfs has been running
for a couple hours with no problem.

i know the thing is just waiting for me
to spend a few hours on an ad2k project
and then, all of a sudden, reboot,
so i can loose all of that work.
boy, that would sure be fun.
 
back to business, for as long as it lasts
and my xp machine keeps running.
you know how much i love nit picking,
but, i guess, that's what this game is about, right?

fire up cfs, go to free flight and fly now.
select the CubeFYIwflaps,
stay on the ground with flaps fully extended.
slew to say 5000 feet and freeze.
go to spot view from aft
and put her into a roll.
notice the intermittent gear through flaps bleed.

yeah, i know it's picky.
who's going to roll an aircraft
with gear and flaps extended?
answer me that?
all i can say is, who knows?
we're aiming for perfection,
aren't we?

even though this may seem trivial now,
it will be more evident with complex models
that don't use mere slabs for ailerons and flaps.

ps...i love the turning wheels
 
Hello Smilo,
I´m glad you have been able to avoid an absolute computer disaster,
and that your system is running within acceptable levels!

The turning wheels are cool, aren´t they? Thanks for looking at the model.
I haven´t done anything about bleeds as regards flaps or aileron yet,
they only exist as animated parts. I have to get my nose on the grindstone.
We shall see!
Cheers,
Aleatorylamp
 
yeah, me too, but, i'm nervous.
waiting for the other shoe to drop.
so to speak.

we can worry about this one later.
it sounds like you're busy over at the do17 shop.
wouldn't want to get spread too thin,
would we?
 
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