Aeroplane

[Halpm]

This is my first ever blender model, and in fact my first ever excursion into computer modelling. It’s an aeroplane I’m building for the flight-sim X-plane. It’s a model of an aircraft I hope to build in real one day, and I’ve already started work on a radio-controlled scale model.

I’m doing this blender model as a poor-mans CAD, to try and visualise some of the engineering problems in the full size version - such as how to get the engine and all the structural members associated with the front wing into the same space…

The first shot is an old blender shot, showing the way I’ve solved the construction problems mentioned above, and the others are new shots, taken in the simulator.

I still haven’t done any animations, as I haven’t a clue where to begin. (Does anyone know of a good tutorial for computer morons, that focuses on the simple animation processes necesary to make a flap go up and down? All the tuts I’ve seen are for people who know what a nurf is, and I don’t…)

Attachments

[Odjin]

Armatures are the most easy. Look at blender.org tutorial section for it. In basic you simply create an armature and draw some bones. Then in your mesh create Vertex Groups with the same name as the bones. Select vertices and hit “Assign” to assign it to a vertex group. Then select first the mesh and then the armature hitting CTRL+P and then “Armature” then “Don’t create groups”. That’s it.

You can now use the “Timeline” Panel to do your animation. Select Frame, select Armature, enter Pose Mode, select bone, “R” rotate it, hit “I” and “Rotation” ( important ) to set a keyframe. You have just made your first keyframe.

Happy animating

[psiteo]

Hello everybody, that my first post here,

Then select first the mesh and then the armature hitting CTRL+P and then “Armature” then “Don’t create groups”

the sim doesn’t use the animation like blender basic one, you need to go in pose mode to parent, and select the BONE not the armature to be able to see it working in the sim, if you select armature, that will not work.
like that I will said, to download the blend off the cap 232 I post on the sim forum and open it to see how to deal with the animation armature, and most important the logic property panel.
remenber that you enter the dataref in the armature edit mode.
In addition I will encourage you to download the Marginal’s Beta script to have all the new feature with the obj8, you can now show and hide animation, really usefull for needle insturments, and on what I am working, complex helicopter & plane rotor
and more important now you deal with the mesh group, to play with transparence, like making a glass on the instruments and to be sure it will be draw after your canopy one. Unless you will not see the instrument one
I can link you to a french wiki to explain you how to make basic animation like yoke etc…
you can also make the mesh and send me the blend that I show you step by step how to make it animated in the sim.
flaps is really easy to make, what do you need the external flaps, or the handle button
that the better I can do with my poor english
And Hal, your 3D skill is really impressive now, great progression really