Animate Hangar Doors

ScenX provides the float dataref rotorsim/scenx/hangar_door_rat for hangar door animation. The dataref runs from 0.00 with the gate closed to 1.00 with the gate fully open. Simply control the animation by connecting to this dataref.

Animate Helicopter Trailers

The animation of helicopter trailers is a little more complicated. There are several things to consider.

1. Each trailer has its own float dataref provided for the animation. The dataref has the name rotorsim/scenx/platform_name, where name is the name given in an ini file.
2. Model the trailer in 3D software without (!) a hard surface.
3. The ground over which the platform moves must be a hard surface throughout the area in which the platform moves. This can be the ground of the mesh or a surface of a 3D object with ATTR_hard.
4. Make the animation so that the platform is in its outer position when the dateref value is 0.00. In the indoor position (e.g. in the hangar) the dateref takes the value in meters that the platform has traveled from the outdoor position. You have to make sure that the platform moves in the right direction directly in the 3D program or when placing the object in the scenery.
5. Create an ini file for the platform. The contents of the file is described below.

It is absolutely necessary that the platform itself contains no landable surface, but the ground beneath it is landable. When the helicopter is above the platform, the plugin raises the helicopter to exactly the defined platform height, even though it is actually standing on the ground below.

platforms.ini

The platforms.ini file is a pure text file in typical INI format. It is placed in the main folder of the respective scenery pack and can contain one or more platforms. Each platform is defined by its own section. In the following example, one Platform is defined with the name chx16. This will create the dataref rotorsim/scenx/platform_chx16.

[chx16]
length=7.5
width=5.0
height=0.5
distance=51.6
speed=0.6
lat=49.220377587
lon=6.999930432
alt=300.00
heading=0
inverted=0

Explanation of the parameters:

• chx16 is the unique name of the platform. It is used as appendix of the dataref name. The name is written in square brackets.
• length is the length of the platform in meters (default 7.5).
• width is the width of the platform in meters (default 5.0).
• height is the height of the platform in meters. This value is important so that the helicopter with its skids lands cleanly on the platform and neither sinks through nor appears to float in the air (default 0.5).
• distance is the distance in meters that the platform travels from the extended to the retracted position.
• speed is the platform’s moving speed in meters/second (default 0.8).
• lat and lon describe the position of the center of the platform in its extended position in GPS corrdinates.
• alt is the altitude of the heliport in meters above MSL.
• heading is the direction of movement of the platform as it moves from the outside position to the inside position in degrees relative to north. So heading=90.0 means that the platform moves due east when entering the hangar.
• inverted makes is possible to place the default position of the platform inside the hangar. If you set inverted to 1, the function of the commands will be swapped. "Move in" then does not let the dataref run from 0 to distance meter, but from distance to 0 (default 0).

Parameters with a default value can be omitted. The default value is then adopted. Parameters without a default value must be specified in the ini file.

The values for the size and height of the platform help the plugin to determine whether a skid element is above the platform or even touches it. The heading value is also used for this calculation. If the values entered do not match those of the animated object, the helicopter and the platform may move differently. In other words: The object, in conjunction with its animation dataref, determines where the platform is seen in the scenery. The plugin uses the description of the platform to determine where the helicopter moves when it is on the platform and whether it is correctly recognized on the platform.

Changelog

V1.02

• Adds parameter "inverted".

V1.01

• Automatically activates the nearest platform in the menu.
• Improves stability of the helicopter on the platform.
• Cleans up the logging.
• Corrects an error in the internal calculation of the helicopter's heading.
• Changes platform positioning data from local coordinates to GPS coordinates.

V1.00

• Initial version.