Surface Beacon

[PaulG]

Thank you very much! I appreciate it. I'll check these out tonight. Still can't believe the involvement of a simulator from 2006 that wasn't commercial. Open source is the only way!

If you need some ideas about what to do with anim8or, I have also written a small tutorial on making a payload bay in anim8or.

http://www.orbiterwiki.org/wiki/Making_a_payload_bay_in_Anim8or

Also the tutorials on the Anim8or page should be a must.

 

[ar81]

The easier way to create a beacon...
Create a surface base and create a VOR beacon.

 

[PaulG]

I'm new to this. How would I do that?

The easier way to create a beacon...
Create a surface base and create a VOR beacon.

 

[ar81]

Tutorial for newbies. How to create a surface base
http://www.orbitersim.com/forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=4531
Once you master surface base editing, here is a tool to make your work easier.
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2796"]Surface base wizard 1.3b[/ame]

 

[PaulG]

This is great! Thanks. Once I get bored with flying around and crashing into the ground, I'll have to try a lot of this development out. For now, I'll just try to make my little stick, box, or whatever to home in on. I think I'll try that first, because this way, I can toss it overboard while in flight and try to find it later on (just like diving for rings in a pool) Hahaha.

Thanks again for all the direction!

 

[Andy44]

Creating a surface base requires shutting down the sim and moving files around. It sounds like he wants to be able to drop a beacon on the surface and use it without exiting the sim. This would be cool; back when they were deciding how Apollo would work, the engineers envisioned sending an unmanned lander down with a beacon on it to a suitable landing site and using it as a nav aid for the manned lander. The idea got scrapped as unnecessary, but it's still interesting.

 

[PaulG]

Exactly! I'm working on it now, hopefully it will turn out halfway decent.

Creating a surface base requires shutting down the sim and moving files around. It sounds like he wants to be able to drop a beacon on the surface and use it without exiting the sim. This would be cool; back when they were deciding how Apollo would work, the engineers envisioned sending an unmanned lander down with a beacon on it to a suitable landing site and using it as a nav aid for the manned lander. The idea got scrapped as unnecessary, but it's still interesting.

 

[PaulG]

Thanks for all the help, things are starting to work out. One question,
if I want to sit it on the ground, what is "ground" relative to the origin in anim8or? 0 doesn't seem to work.

Thanks,
Paul

If you use my script, 1.0 in anim8or is 1.0m in Orbiter.

 

[Woo482]

some thing you might want to use untill you make your own it needs the delta glider 4 and all the addons that needs http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3430

 

[tblaxland]

Thanks for all the help, things are starting to work out. One question,
if I want to sit it on the ground, what is "ground" relative to the origin in anim8or? 0 doesn't seem to work.

Thanks,
Paul

You will need to have a look at the API documentation for touchdown points. These define how the vessel sits on the ground relative to the origin of the mesh.

 

[PaulG]

Well, although its a "ship" its not meant to go anywhere. Basically, I want to create it, locate it based on any given ship, such as mmu, and thats it. So, if in anim8tor, I have it at the origin, it appears floating. I need to translate it down in anim8tor to get it to "sit" on the ground. Why the offset?

 

[Urwumpe]

The origin of anim8or is the center of gravity for Orbiter. That's what you should remember. Also you should give it touchdown points, as orbiter needs to know how high the CoG has to be above the ground.

 

[PaulG]

Ah...so if I made a cube with the origin at the center, the CoG would be there. So, where does orbiter then put the CoG in relation to the ground. So, if I did make touchdown points, I assume then it is through the dll?

The origin of anim8or is the center of gravity for Orbiter. That's what you should remember. Also you should give it touchdown points, as orbiter needs to know how high the CoG has to be above the ground.

 

[tblaxland]

Ah...so if I made a cube with the origin at the center, the CoG would be there. So, where does orbiter then put the CoG in relation to the ground. So, if I did make touchdown points, I assume then it is through the dll?

Correct. See the API_Reference for the SetTouchdownPoints function.