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Author Topic: help!  (Read 7761 times)

patmarrnc

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help!
« on: November 28, 2017, 09:51:46 pm »

OK, this is kind of humiliating to lay my humble efforts on the table in front of all you seasoned pros. But if it helps me to learn, I'm ready to endure it.

The following dropbox link is to an unzipped folder.  It contains:

1) a folder named RedCar, which was copied directly from my packages folder

2) a folder full of the unprocessed OBJ, textures and FBX that was imported to Outerra. I included the OBJ file because I suspect the problem lies in the model, since the script works on other vehicles. Armed with that, somebody may be able to examine it to see what I did and didn't do.

3) it also contains a short video of the symptoms I'm seeing after editing the objdef file to make "strict" false. When it was true, the model just hung in space.


((files deleted from DropBox))

any help or observations anyone might make will be greatly appreciated.
« Last Edit: December 11, 2017, 05:18:23 pm by patmarrnc »
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andfly

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Re: help!
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2017, 04:22:10 am »

The problem is in the model ...
You have left the center of geometry (and hence the center of rotation) of the wheels unchanged and coincident with the geometry center of the model in general.
Every single object that is to be imported as "bone", and therefore can be animated, must have a "ITS OWN" rotation center that will reference any rotation or movement command of the object.
 
You have to set the geometry center of each wheel in its real physical center.
 
Another thing ...
I have the habit of choosing a mesh as the main object of the model and parented to it all the other parts.
Using the "DAE" importer, if I did not use this tactic, I found separate objdef, pkg, and mtl files for each model object.
As I see, with FBX importer, this problem should not exist but the habit of creating a "cascade tree" becomes important when the bones of the model become so many.
The movement of each of them will not be independent but will also drag all the bones related to it.

The "strict: true" mode does not allow the use of "constant" in the script. The model suspended in the air does not have any particular powers or properties ... it is simply the sudden interruption of the command code execution that blocks the simulation before the model can touch the ground.  :)
« Last Edit: November 29, 2017, 04:50:26 am by andfly »
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I do not know the English language. I use Google Translate. I hope it's all understandable.

patmarrnc

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Re: help!
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2017, 06:39:02 am »

Thanks Andfly, for taking time to look and evaluate. You are truly a helpful person. 

Regarding your analysis: I don't think my modelling program (Silo) provides a way to accomplish either of the things you mentioned. I may have to look at Blender. (Which may be a deal killer since my vision is not good and the Blender interface is too compressed for me to see anything but a blur. )
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patmarrnc

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Re: help!
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2017, 03:14:46 pm »

OK, moving on to BLENDER:

I'm totally unfamiliar with Blender... but I figured out how to make the chassis parent to the wheels.  And after a lot of searching and reading I also eventually figured out how to add rotation points to each wheel and to the steering wheel.  (Thanks for letting me know what the model was missing, Andfly... I truly appreciate your help!)

after several more hours of try...fail...try...fail...try...fail somehow I succeeded!

so now I've managed to drive a bare-bones boat and a very minimal car.  Next challenge is to make something fly.. ideally a simple object with no moving parts...

« Last Edit: November 29, 2017, 10:22:16 pm by patmarrnc »
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