Export of animation to MSTS fails

is there only a certain number of key points per second that will work in train sim.I tried setting it at 10 per 10 seconds,animating the pump handle and the push rod in 3dc ,but when I exported with train sim wizard nothing happened..

You need to set it to 8 key frames, the per second has no effect on MSTS.

You need to do the animation of the push rod within 3DC – you actually don’t need to name the group anything special.

Your push cart wheel groups need to be Wheels11 and Wheels12 and be child groups of Bogie1 for MSTS to automatically animate them.

When you export using TSW *** DO NOT *** select the default animation button – this adds 360 degree rotation to the wheel group you select.

If you still have problems, I can send you a copy of my 3DC model to have a look at.

Well Paul, I have made one small step…I must have the heirarchy set up right with the bogie1 and the wheels,12 and 11 as the wheels turn no problem,but when I animate to pump handle and exprt it with TSW,nothing happens,unless I move the handle so its not at the start position.when I do that when the car starts to move the handle drops down to the start position and stays there.Obviously i am way over my depth in this animation. I just can’t seem to figure it out…I hate to keep bothering you,but my wife is an invalid and i am the primary care giver at 24/7 and train sim lets me fantasise what could of been..maybe you could send me your 3dc pumpcar and i could take a look at it. I downloaded the one off your site. I sure wish I could get mine to work like that.

[BLOCKQUOTE class=’ip-ubbcode-quote’][font size=’-1′]quote:[/font][HR]..maybe you could send me your 3dc pumpcar and i could take a look at it. I downloaded the one off your site.[HR][/BLOCKQUOTE]

I don’t know how these private topic thingys work, but you should be able to view one from me now…

Thanks for your help paul. After posting last night I did a search on the forum and come up with a simple rod animation tutorial. I am going to start from there and see how it works out..

I decided to do a test of 3DC animation using a model of a Watermill which I have previously used in MSTS, it was originally built using 3DC v4.3.

1. I loaded the model into 3DC v6.5 and it was modified to the latest version.
2. I tested the animation and it worked fine.
3. I right-clicked on the model and selected Export as a MSTS model and saved it, copied the model into a route along with the .ace files and an .sd file, and it worked fine with the wheel spinning OK.
4. I then exported the same model using the Train Sim Wizard as a structure, into the same route, but with a different name.
5. It did not work and as stated above, there was no Animation section in the .s file.

So it definitely looks like there is a problem with exporting structures containing animation via the TSW – However manually exporting them as MSTS models works fine.

Regards – Mike.

I can’t reproduce this. Can you send me the model (<!– e –><a href="mailto:support@amabilis.com">support@amabilis.com</a><!– e –>)? Thanks.

Richard

Hi Paul. I downloaded your model from the private topics ok, I set mine up the same ,but was still having problems until it dawned on my I had put wheel1 instead of wheels 1 for a group name. When I changed it,it worked fine. Now my pump handle goes up and down. I really want to express my thanks for yours and everybody elses help. Without this forum I would be lost.

For Richard,

I will send my model as an attachment to an email to you.

Thanks – Mike.

Maximum_Mike,

Based on what you sent there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with the MSTS animation export.

I did find that your model only had one keyframe within the export range. If you click ‘Animation Properties’ on the animation timeline it says ‘Animation Keys: 1’ It looks like it should be 8. It is quite possible there is a bug that changed this value to something other than 8, but I haven’t any other reports of it.

Also there may have been a bug in previous releases that exported animation keys even if they were beyond the export range (the number of keyframes)

Richard

Hi Richard,

I have now loaded the original .3dc model (3DC 4.3 version), and imported it into 3DC 6.5 – This shows Animation Keys: 8

I then used the TSW to export it to MSTS and then looked at the Animation Keys entry, it showed 1 – So it looks like it is the TSW which is altering this number?

The TSW export was the only thing I did after importing the model apart from reading the Animation Keys entry.

Mike.

Sorry, I’ve been out of town for a week and couldn’t follow this thread.
Richard, I sent you the model after I tried the suggestions from the thread to no avail. Still no animation section in the *.s file, no difference exporting ‘manually’ or with the wizard, although animation works perfectly in 3DC.
One question though, has the animation for MSTS to be a loop, with the same position of the model at the beginning and the end of the animation?

Unfortunately I can’t work on this right now since all I have installed right now is the [img:3pywh0bc]http&#58;//amabilis&#46;com/forumattachments?a=tpcands=2396098374andf=5496093974andm=9986058805[/img:3pywh0bc]
3DC 6.6 Alpha
which really isn’t up to the task.

Hannes44,

I got your model and have responded, but I’ll repeat what I said here.

I believe that the animation has to be a loop. But, 3DC should be able to export the animation anyhow. Have a look at Paul’s comments about the ‘main’ group animation not being exported and how to resolve it. That is the likely cause.

Richard

I understand that you are busy; but it is not the main group that is animated but a child-group. I knew this problem and tried to avoid it with using a dummy main.

I mean that I actually [b:30hmbun8]can’t[/b:30hmbun8] look at this since 3DC doesn’t work right now on my computer.

Richard