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Hey to everyone. Sad to see previous forum is lost.

Just wondering if anyone can assist with animation creations for Vehicle Simulator. We are preparing a vessel and we need to make animation for stern ramps. Are there any instructions on how to proceed?
Thanks in advance.

Hello,

There are two ways to make animations for a vehicle with VSF : make a specific animated file called anim.x and placed in the vehicle's directory (animation with ctrl-A).. or in the vehicle mesh file itself (vehicle.x) , making the parts you want animated with correct tags, for instance doorl or doorr for doors (animation with ctrl-D in the case of doors).

Thank you for your response.

I know the files that are needed for the animation, but I cannot find the procedure to create the animated object.
Even if the animated object is designed, how we convert the item into animation? What program is needed to create animation?
As I realise, we have to set some specifications on this file on how the object will move. How this happens?

You said you are preparing a vessel but wich 3D Model Software are you using to do that ? the procedure to create the animated object will depend of that and also of which type of animation you want, as there are two ways to do it (see my post above) ? the easier way is to have the correct tag and pivot for the animated part into the vehicle.x mesh. Otherwise, you will need a 3d software which can manage animation : I use my old 3ds Max 2009 but it seems that Blender (free) can do that.



Here is just a part with correct tag and pivot into the vehicle model : VSF will do the animation automatically with the CTRL-D command..

Thanks once again.
I am using SketchUp for drawing, but till now I have nevered used animations, only static models.

As i understand, export of the object from SketchUp os the normal procedure, and thru VSF we enter the details of pivot and coordinates.

I will give it a try.

Yes, that's right but in Sketchup before exporting, not in VSF : as Sketchup doesn't make animations , I am afraid this is the only way.. The two important points is to name your part doorl (or doorr) in the whole model and to place the pivot axes for that part in good positions in Sketchup : you may need to do some tests to find the good orientations.. VSF needs to rotate the door upon the X axe and from the Z axe (forward) toward the Y axe (up) : these axes may change from one modelling software to another..

Note : you have a complete list of tag's names here : http://www.hangsim.com/vehicle-simulator/plane.php

" This file contains the 3D model of the vehicle including moving parts, each moving part should be named according to a specific list of tags, the parts should have their axes defined according to the rotation axis for this part, as seen in the image below. "