October 25, 2004
at 1:32 am /
#14198
[img:2rl7tvmm]http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/DCForumID15/3981.html[/img:2rl7tvmm]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/DCForumID15/3981.html">http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/DCForumID15/3981.html</a><!– m –>
– the last pic shows the inside valve gear.
You can see it running if you download the model from [img:2rl7tvmm]http://www31.brinkster.com/decapod/download.htm[/img:2rl7tvmm]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://www31.brinkster.com/decapod/download.htm">http://www31.brinkster.com/decapod/download.htm</a><!– m –>
The -2.9 degree rotation is the inclination angle of the cylinders to the center of the wheel it is linked to – this is the value you put in the animator plugin.
(Cylinders are always aligned with the wheel center they are attached to and the link at the wheel end is always half the stroke value from the center)
The cylinder above the piston is the inlet valve:
[img:2rl7tvmm]http://www.kesr.fsnet.co.uk/walschaert%20animation.htm[/img:2rl7tvmm]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://www.kesr.fsnet.co.uk/walschaert%20animation.htm">http://www.kesr.fsnet.co.uk/walschaert%20animation.htm</a><!– m –>
If the reverser is set to the middle, this piston is not moving.
The tutorial loco and 3DC source file is avaliable at [img:2rl7tvmm]http://www.highworth.freeuk.com[/img:2rl7tvmm]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://www.highworth.freeuk.com">http://www.highworth.freeuk.com</a><!– m –>
(Under non-Highworth models menu option on the left)
It may be worth taking a look at that model to see the animations and pivot points.
October 25, 2004
at 5:05 am /
#14199
Hi Paul…
I will defianately download those models – thanks for all the information… Maybe I can reverse engineer some of your animations…
ROD ANIMATION: Well last night I got kind of a surprise… After about 20 hours (really) work on my Piston Rods – and watching it run flawlessly in Shape File Viewer numerous times – I decided to see how it looked in MSTS…
Arrgh – The CONNECTING ROD ‘Wheel 3’ animation was broke again… On my 2-6-2 – That is the animation of the connecting rods origianlly created by the ENGINEER plug-in…. Once again the bearing on ‘wheel 3’ appeared frozen and the connecting rods disconnected from ‘Wheel 1’ and ‘Wheel 2’ The rods spun around ‘Wheel 3’ from the point where the bearing attatched… My animations for the PISTON RODS was working normally… Almost there !
I must be missing something major…
1) If it works in Shape Viewer – should it not work in MSTS ???
2) I don’t understand why my working on animations for the ‘Wheel 2’ group affect anything with the animations of the ‘Wheel 3’ group…
3) Any ideas for fixing my CONNECTING ROD animation ? I did try removing the PISTON RODS – deleting all the parts created by the ENGINEER plug-in and recreating the parts…
I’m stumped !
<!– s:? –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_confused.gif" alt="
" title="Confused" /><!– s:? –>
LOL…
Thanks,
Scott
October 25, 2004
at 7:26 am /
#14200
I should mention that if you use the rod animator plugin with 16 frames, then you need to use the plugin to re-do the animations the engineer plugin creates (which are 8 frames)
The shape viewer animations are not reliable if the key frames are different (unfortunately) – I must fix those one day
Just select the connecting rod group and the option ‘Animate as wheel link’
In fact – you should re-animate all wheels, even if there is nothing connected (as per the tutorial)
October 25, 2004
at 8:34 am /
#14201
WOW – so easy when you know what you are talk’n about… Looks like it worked… <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="
" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>
I really hope you don’t mind all these questions,.. You have helped me so much !!! I really appreciate all the time you have taken to answer my questions… I can’t imagine how many hours you have saved me from trial and error… Anyway Thanks… <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>
I set them both to 16… Smoother animation – right ?
Regards,
Scott
