For the sake of speed, we've chosen to deliver new tips and techniques for FSDS V2 users via this web page.

Eventually, most of this information presented here will make its way into the HELP document that you'll be able to download to update your FSDS V2 software.

Thanks to the respective authors for sharing their know-how with us.

Table of Contents

• Starting FSDS for the First Time
   
• Watertower not showing at Miegs
   
• Making steerable wheels - by Paul Springthrope and Louis Sinclair
   
• Reflective Textures - by Graham Oxtoby
   
• Creating an Alpha Channel for Reflective Textures - by Graham Oxtoby
   
• Supported Textures
   
• Making a Virtual Cockpit - by Bill Lyons
   
• How to Animate Propellers - by Jens Winkler
   
• SDL Edit
   
• Additional Animation Notes - by Dee Waldron
   
• Stock Animation Presets - by Graham Oxtoby
   
• Folding Wing and Cowling Flap Animation - by Jerry Lindell
   
• Making Landing Lights - by Graham Oxtoby
   
• Creating an Afterburner by Rey Lopez
   
• Making a Mirror Object - by Graham Oxtoby
   
• Many Other Topics - by Graham Oxtoby
   

Starting FSDS for the First Time

In the readme file, we suggest that you do the following when starting FSDS V2 for the first time:

Select File | Preferences and carefully review the various paths. This is important especially for users who have upgraded from FSDS V1 since FSDS V2 copies the setting for most of these preferences. However, in some cases the previous setting may not be desirable.

Pay particular attention to Path settings for:

You may also want to change the Sim Version to FS2002 if you are planning to take advantage of the new features for FS2002.

By default FSDS V2 sets the Design Units to Meters. If this is not your choice, click on the Feet radio button.

Watertower not showing at Miegs 

When you want to place your 3D objects into your scenery, you select File | Project Properties menu item and type the coordinate in the Area Block Latitude and Longitude.

If you don't explicitly type a new location, FSDS uses the the latitude and longitude from the default.cfg file (found in your main FSDS folder).

Mistakenly, we typed the location of Crystal Airport in Minnesota as the default location. This is the location of the home airport of author Louis Sinclair and not the location of Miegs Field. Most likely, the watertower from the Beginning Exercises will not show up at Miegs.

To fix this problem, you can do one of the following:

Sorry for this error. We will correct the default location to Miegs by updating the default.cfg file shortly.

Making steerable wheels (by Paul Springthrope and Louis Sinclair)

To make a steerable wheel, use the stock animation variable c_wheelsteer.

A part with the name c_wheelsteer swivels in tandem to the rudder. Please keep in mind that contrary to what its name suggest (wheel), c_wheelsteer does not roll like a tire, but only turns along a vertical axis.

In the FSDS \Samples\FSDS_AnmiDemo folder is a project that has working animated landing gear complete with wheelwell.

Review this project and you'll see that hierarchy that animates the steering, gear retraction and tire rotation. By studying the structure as indicated below, you'll see how the preset names are assigned.

Part Name	Parent
c_gear_upper	c_wheelwell
c_wheelsteer	c_gear_upper
c_gear_lower	c_wheelsteer
c_tire	c_gear_lower
c_tire_still	c_gear_lower
c_tire_blurred	c_gear_lower

 

Reflective Textures (thanks to Graham Oxtoby for this informative article)

Starting with Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator and continuing with FS2000, a powerful new technique is available that uses the concept of ‘alpha settings.’ In a Windows 256 color bitmap, each pixel contains a value ranging from 0 to 255. This value doesn’t represent the color, but it acts as an index into a list of RGB color values stored in a table. Because computers operate more efficiently on data aligned to even byte numbers, bitmap files (as well as the Windows internal color format) uses four bytes to store the color. The first three bytes contain the Red, Green, and Blue color values. In a typical Windows bitmap file, the fourth byte of each palette entry is filled with a value of 0.

Some of the bitmaps in FS2000 have been ‘doctored’ to contain an ‘Opacity’ level in this extra byte. This is usually referred to as an ‘alpha channel’ in graphics parlance. So in essence, FS2000 bitmaps store color in an ‘RGBA’ format. Paint programs ignore the alpha byte, so the bitmap looks like any normal bitmap.

When a bitmap treated in this way is applied to a surface in Flight Simulator 2000, this extra byte is checked for all palette entries. If the alpha value is zero for all colors, the bitmap will be treated normally, and no transparency will occur. However, if all or some of the alpha values are non-zero, this alpha value is treated as an opacity level. An alpha value of 0 (pure black) is fully transparent (completely invisible) while a value of 255 (pure white) is fully opaque. The level of transparency can be adjusted with different alpha values, as can the reflective effects in flight simulator. This short chapter explains how this is done.

In FSDS we have introduced a new set of BMP tags which can be accessed through clicking on the EDIT button when a BMP is loaded for texturing a part.

These tags provide the designer with a tool by which textures can be used for reflective effects on parts, seasonal changes, and time of day effects.

Here’s how it works…when part is selected, click with the right mouse button to apply a texture.

Clicking the right mouse button on a part opens the above window.

Then click on the SELECT button to choose the desired texture (256 BMP texture) and then the EDIT button.

Flag the texture as reflective as shown in the above example and the OK button. Map the texture on the part and then click OK when finished. This completes the first step in using reflective textures in FSDS.

The second step is to doctor the 256 bit BMP for use as a reflective texture in flight simulator. To do this, you need a texture editor to create and edit the alpha channel of the texture and to save the adapted BMP file with its alpha channel as a DXT3 formatted BMP with alpha channel. There are several good BMP editors available as freeware and/or shareware products which can be used to do this.

Reflective textures can also be produced from within FSDS using the MAKE TEXTURE TRANSPARENT option. The pure black background of a normal 256 bit BMP can be changed to the desired shade of grey to produce this effect. However, this method is not recommended since any other shades of grey within that BMP with an equal value will also be made reflective in flight simulator.

Using the right scale of grey for reflections

Designers will need to experiment with the shades of grey used in the alpha channels of bitmaps. Use the following guide to produce the desired reflection in flight simulator:

RGB: 128,128,128 bare metal (highly reflective metal skin)

RGB: 230, 230230: minimal glossy metal surface (shiny wings)

RGB: 255, 255, 255 non-reflective surface (tyres etc.)

Things to remember when editing the alpha channel of a BMP:

1. Many texture formats support varying levels of transparency. This is displayed as an "Alpha Channel" which is represented as a 256 greyscale image.
2. The higher the shade of grey in an alpha channel the more reflective a texture will be in flight simulator and vice versa (the whiter the shade, the less reflective - pure black produces a highly reflective bare metal effect and off-white will produce minimal reflection of the part).
3. Both FS2000 and CFS2 also provide support for the use of 32 bit 888-8 format textures. These BMPs have a 24 bit RGB with an 8 bit alpha channel. Starting in CFS2, Microsoft flight simulator continues the support of the DXT format. The DXT3 format is used in the default aircraft to add reflective values to a texture in that format using the alpha channel. This new feature is dependent on the internal coding of the compiled MDL, which means that aircraft and scenery objects designed in FSDS will interpret the DXT3 alpha channel as a normal transparency channel while objects in FS2002 using this format will display the defined alpha channel as a reflection map in the BMP.
4. The adapted BMP file with alpha channel must preferably be saved in DXT3 format with alpha channel.

Creating an Alpha Channel for Reflective Textures (thanks again to Graham Oxtoby for this informative article)

To do this you need a texture editor which supports the use of extended bitmap editing. There are several very good software packages available to designers which can used for this purpose.

First of all, determine which BMPs for your model will need to contain alpha channels for reflective surfaces in FS. It is good practice to design these separately from other BMPs used for non-reflective surfaces. For example: you may want to use a BMP for a fuselage which will generate reflective surfaces and other BMPs which do not (e.g. of tires, pilot clothing etc.). These textures may also be converted to extended bitmap formats, with the alpha channel remaining "undoctored", i.e. pure white (solid rendering) for non-reflective/-transparent surfaces. Conversion to extended bitmap format will not affect the way in which these textures are displayed in flight simulator. Use the built-in tool in FSDS under MAKE TEXTURES TRANSPARENT to make parts of BMPs show up degrees of transparency in flight simulator. This will normally be the pure black background (INDEX 0) of those BMPs or a background colour in that BMP selected by the designer for transparency. Other colors in 256 bit BMPs can also be made transparent or partially transparent with the use this built-in tool. This tool only supports 8 bit 256 BMPs.

Select File | Make Transparent Texture from the FSDS menu and choose the desired texture. Shift the slider to solid and then click SET ALL. This will produce a 256 BMP with no transparency at all (the BMP is pure white). To make certain parts of the BMP transparent, shift the slider again to the degree of transparency you require and click on the color you wish to make transparent or partially transparent. You will notice that the BMP on the right of the screen changes parts of the BMP to shades of grey. These are the parts of the BMP which are now defined as having transparency or partial transparency. Save the file with its new transparency settings. In this way, the parts defined as transparent will be displayed in flight simulator as transparent or partially transparent. NB. This tool only supports 8 bit 256 BMPs.

This method may also be used on textures used to make reflective surfaces, but is not recommended since all colors defined in the BMP as transparent or partially transparent will display certain degrees of transparency if they are not flagged with the reflection flag in FSDS. If all parts in your model which use this BMP are flagged as "reflective", they will display a certain degree of reflection in the flight simulator model.

Creating and Defining Alpha Channels in Extended BMPs

Load the 256 BMP into your extended bitmap editor and create an alpha channel. Most extended bitmap editors have this option or may at least enable the alpha channel to be exported to a texture editor. The undoctored alpha channel will display as pure white (i.e. solid with no transparency). Export this alpha channel BMP to a normal texture editor (e.g. Paintshop Pro) and then adapt the shade of grey required for reflective surfaces.

Designers will need to experiment with the shades of grey used in the alpha channels of bitmaps. Use the following guide to produce the desired reflection in flight simulator:

RGB: 0-128: highly reflective, mirror-like reflective effect

RGB: 128,128,128: bare metal (reflective metal skin)

RGB: 230, 230230: minimal glossy metal surface (shiny wings)

RGB: 255, 255, 255 non-reflective surface (tyres etc.)

After editing the alpha channel, save this alpha channel BMP (do not change its name) and import it into the original BMP loaded into the extended bitmap editor. Allow the editor to overwrite the original, undoctored alpha channel with the newly created one. Save the BMP as an extended BMP in DXT3 format with alpha channel.

All parts in your compiled model flagged as reflective and which use this BMP will now display surface reflections in flight simulator, depending on the shade of grey chosen for the alpha channel in the extended BMP.

Supported Textures - Flight Simulator can use a variety of texture files. This list shows whether FSDS is capable of handling these different formats:

Acceptable resolution is any power of 2 up to 1024. The textures can be rectangular as long as both the horizontal and vertical sizes are a power of 2, ie: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024

For example, 32 x 256 would be legal.

Making a Virtual Cockpit (thanks to Bill Lyons for this insightful, practial example)

With FS2002 the concept of the virtual cockpit has really taken off and now with FSDS V2 we can easily create our own to enhance the flight sim experience! This exercise will use a small simple aircraft called Simplo1 wherein you will add your first virtual cockpit and then go fly it in FS2002! Lets get started and and we'll be in the air in no time!

Before you get started, we suggest that you download Bill's example project the AbacusFSDS_SimploVC.zip. Unzip this file into your FSDS \Samples folder which creates a new sub-folder name - \FirstVC. There are five *.fsc's in this folder, each representing a different stage in making thev virtual cockpit for this project. There is also a folder name \Simpl1 which is the complete aircraft ready ready to fly in FS2002. You'll copy this to your FS2002 \aircraft folder in the first step.

1. Place the \Simplo1 folder in your FS2002 \aircraft folder and the flight "Simplo Test Flight" in your flights/myflts folder. Open FS2002 and select that flight to see the simple little test aircraft.  Looks ok but when we go to vc view there's nothing there.. We'll soon fix that! Close FS2002 and open FSDS V2.

2.In FSDS V2 the normal model and the virtual cockpit are two separate models within one mdl file. They do however share many common parts and that makes our task much easier. Through the magic of cutting and pasting we can save much time in creating our favorite aircraft, inside and out! We will go through the process using a very basic aircraft to illustrate the principles involved. There are FSC files provided for each step in case you get stuck but please try to use the first one and build on it to get started.

3. First open the simpro1.fsc in the FS2002/aircraft/simpro1/model folder.  There is just the normal model for now so we need to create an additional one called VC:

     a. From the menu select MODEL/ADD MODEL

     b. Under model properties type in VC

     c. Check the "Virtual Cockpit" box

4.  We now need to build a virtual cockpit to fill in that empty model:

     a. Using SHIFT/M cycle back to the main model and select the part called "fuselage"

     b. Under EDIT select COPY

     c. Using SHIFT/M cycle back to the VC model

     d. Under EDIT select PASTE and voila there is a fuselage part showing up in our VC model!

5. Since the part shows the fuselage exterior we need to convert it to show from the inside:

     a. Change the MODE to POLY.

     b. Select all the polygons using the A key.

     c. Under POLYGON select FLIP ALL/SELECTED

     d. Under EDIT select UNSELECT ALL

6. At this point you have a virtual interior of the aircraft which will show up in FS2002 so let's check it out! Under FILE/CREATE FS OBJECT FILE/AIRCRAFT FILE  select Simpro1 and compile the aircraft. Use the test flight again but now when we use the VC view we see the inside of the fuselage! Not too elegant but it's there!! Close FS2002.

7. Back to FSDS2 and the VC model.  We need to trim the fuselage interior down to just the cabin that we want. We do this by:

          a.  Change to POLY MODE and using the SELECTION TOOL surround those polys that we want to use as our cabin.

          b. Using PART/SPLIT PART create a new part and name it "Cabin" using the                  EDIT/PART PROPERTIES page.

          c. Select the "Fuselage" part again and switch to MODE/POINT.

          d. Using the SELECTION TOOL surround those points that are located where we would like the rear cabin bulkhead to be located

          e. Select POLYGON/MAKE POLY FROM SELECT POINTS to create a bulkhead type polygon. Use the space bar to select that polygon and split it off as you did above to make a new part. Name the new part "Cabinback"

          f. Repeat this process to make a new part for the front of the cabin called "Panel".

          g. The part "Fuselage" can now be deleted as we have a nice cabin built in the VC.\

          h. Let's spruce it up a bit with a simple "Seat" made from a bent tube and cut and paste the upright corner tubes from the main model.

          i. Again compile the aircraft and check it out in FS2002. Looking a little more like the interior of an aircraft!

8. We will now add an animated yoke to the vc so we can see some action while we are flying! In FSDS V2 this will be very easy! We will need two parts, the shaft which slide in and out from elevator input and the yoke which will rotate left and right from aileron input.

        a. Make the two parts from tubes as illustrated.  If you have rotated the parts axis reset them under PART/RESET AXIS ROTATION.

        b.   We will first animate the yoke. Under PART PROPERTIES brouse to the AIRCRAFT KEYFRAME ANIMATION and select the name "lever_stick_l_r" for the yoke part.

        c.   Select ANIMATE and using the N and P keys make sure that the Frame Number at the bottom of the screen is set at "1".  Now rotate the yoke so that it is turned to the left about 20 degrees.

        d. Use ANIMATE/SET KEY FRAME to lock in the left limit of travel.

        e. Using the N and P keys increase the Frame Number to "100".

        f.   Rotate the yoke to the right about 20 degrees and the select ANIMATE/SET KEY FRAME to lock in the right limit of travel.

        g. Unselect ANIMATE and compile the aircraft to check your work. You should now have a yoke that rotates when you use the aileron! Pretty impressive..! Close FS2002.

        h. Now select the shaft part and brousing as above name the part "lever_stick_fore_aft"

        i. Select the lever_stick_l_r part agin and using PART PROPERTIES under PART PARENT brouse to and select "lever_stick_fore_aft". This will attach our yoke so that it will move with the shaft when activated.

       j. Select lever_stick_fore_aft and ANIMATE. With the Frame Number at 1 move the shaft forward into the panel to where it should be at in it's forward limit of travel and use ANIMATE/SET KEY FRAME to lock in thta position.  Now increase the Frame Number to 100 and pull the shaft back to it's rearward limit of travel. Use ANIMATE/SET KEY FRAME to lock that position.

      k. Compile and admire your handiwork! A fully functional yoke should await you!!

9. The virtual cockpit is taking shape but how fast are we going and how high..?? How about some working gauges in the vc to really make it functional!! This exercise will show you how to do it..

     a. Using a graphics program make a dummy bmp texture 256/256/256 and call it $pan1.bmp. Using Windows Explorer rename the texture to $pan1 with no file designator. In other words strip off the . and bmp!  One has been provided for you in this exercise and can be found in the Simplo1/Model folder.

    b. Add a square polygon "Gauges" part just in front of the panel as shown. This will be the part upon which we will project the virtual gauges.

    c. Under EDIT/MANAGE TEXTURE LIST select ADD. Brouse to the $pan1 texture and add it to the list. You'll need to use "Files of Type"  as "All Files" so FSDS V2 will recognize it!!

    d. Select the Gauges part and PART/TEXTURES and under "Back" select the $pan1.  Check the "Invert Y" box and ok your way out. 

   e. Go to the Simplo1/panel/panel.cfg file and make sure you have the first vc section set up as in the example.                                             

Boot up FS2002 and you should have a nice set of working virtual gauges! For our exercise this example gives 4 gauges in a square pattern and reasonable clarity while flying.  As can be seen the gauge locations and size on the vc panel.cfg file divide a 256x256 texture into four equal  parts.The more gauges you add to the screen the lower the sharpness and the need to increase the "pixel_size" to sharpen it up. The locations would then be shown in 64 pixels increments. Very sharp gauges can be attained at lower resolution if you limit the screen to one gauge per screen but the hit on fps is raised if you have a very complex aircraft! Try expirimenting by changing the locations  and the size a little on the panel.cfg file to see the impact on the visual presentation in FS2002.. The placement of the virtual gauges is a lot of cut and try till you get them where you wnat them in the aircraft.. If you also want to see them from the spot view you can copy and paste them into the main model.

10. Congratulations!!! You have completed your first simple but dynamic working virtual cockpit!! You can go on to split the cabin into top/sides etc and texture those parts to improve the visual appearance of the finished product!! Wouldn't that seat look good on leather..;o) You can add more gauges, working rudder pedals, tinted windows, the skies the limit with great new tool we are fortunate to have!!! 

Good Flying, Bill Lyons

How to Animate Propellers - by Jens Winkler

Note: You'll find the completed project in the FSDS \Samples\Dornier335 folder.

1. Create a fully detail propeller and paint it. It can have 2,3 or 4 blades. For the Dornier Do335, I have chosen a 3 bladed propeller.

2. Copy and paste it so that you´ll have two copies of the propeller.

3. Create a disk with the same diameter as the prop. Then paint it with the same color as the full detail prop.

4. Make a spinner (hub).

5. Copy and paste two additional spinners so that you have a total of three.

6. I'd suggest that you have the project before continuting. By doing this, you can revert to this copy in case you do something wrong along the way.

7. Select one of the fully detailed propellers and one of the 3 spinners and join them (press "j").

8. Repeat step 7 for the second prop and spinner.

9. Now select the disk and one spinner and also join them.

10. Check the parts and be sure that the axis are centered.

11. Press "F3" and look for the fully detail propeller (remember: we joined it together with the spinner). Now click on Make Current button and then OK.

12. Press "F2" to show Part Properties dialog of our fully detailed propeller. Alternatively, you also select Edit | Part Properties from the menu.
 

  
At the top you can see the Part Name and the Browse button. Click Browse.

13.Now a new window appears. In the pulldown menu, for Category select aircraft stock animation
 

  
Search for the entry "prop0_still" and select it. Then click OK and now you´ll see the part is named "prop0_still". Click OK again.

14. Press "F3" and Make Current button our second full detailed prop. (of course, we joined the spinner). Now repeat step 11 and 12, only at this time, select "prop0_slow". Why it is prop0 and not prop1, I´ll tell you later.
 
15. Now make our disk to the current part. Repeat step 11 and 12 again but select "prop0_blurred"

There are 2 different methods which you can use.

Method one:

Method two:

1. Select the disk and press F2 2. Click the Material button then on Add. Name the material e.g. transparent disk or whatever you want. The color is not important. Only write in the first "Alpha" field "128". It means the disk now is half - transparent. See the Material List dialog below. 3. Click ok and select our new material in the list. Click OK again and again. 4. Now you can see the disk is a little bit transparency.

1. You must download a program like DXTBmp, wich can create 16-bit extended bitmaps. It is available as freeware at flightsim.com 2. Load your bitmap of the disk 3. Edit the alphachannel. In the alphachannel you only can work with white, grey and black. Black (RGB 0,0,0) is fully transparent. White is fully opaque. Now you can create the alphachannel you want. The blades schould be 50% transparency or more. 4. When you´re ready, click on "reload after edit" in DXTBmp. Now save it as extended bitmap. The best resolution is 32-Bit 888. 5. Close DXTBmp and go back to FSDesign Studio

 

16. Now we´re ready to export the FSDS V2 model to FS2002.

17. When you´re ready with the export, start FS2002, load the Do335 and you´ll see.

Note: DXTBmp is freeware. It is not made by us. Prop0 is in FS2002 engine 1, prop3 is engine 4. prop0_still means prop 1 is shown still. Prop0_slow tells Flight Simulator how prop 1 should look when it is very slow. Prop0_blurred is our disk. It is the prop 1 when it is fast. With a little experience these procedures are done easily and quickly. Now go back and animate the second prop of the Dornier Do335.

Additional Animation Notes - by Dee Waldron

The extension and retraction cycle of landing gear is animated between key frames 0 and 100.

The oleo strut function of the lower gear is animated between key frames 101 and 200 with 101 being the fully extended strut frame and 200 being the fully compressed strut frame. Key frames 101 thru 200 are reserved only for this function and can not be used on any other kind of animation.

To see this in a real example, look in your FSDS v2 folder for the \Samples\FSDS_AnimDemo folder. Louis and Paul included an animation demo model there that has all the working stuff, including landing gear with working struts.

For gear doors, animate them separately from the actual landing gear. You'll have to juggle the XYZ rotation angles (rotation fields in the Parts Property dialog) to get them to work right. If you have trouble getting them to open correctly to the right angles, let me know and I can explain in more detail.

You can name the gear doors according to their position if you'd like. For example, on my Jetstar model I have 3 nose gear doors and I named the little door behind the strut c_gear_spade_door and I named the 2 other doors c_gear_fwd_door_left and c_gear_fwd_door_right. Then just assign them their own key frames.

As far as sequencing your doors and gear struts together, I find it's easy to think of the 0 to 100 frames as percent values. 0% being full up and 100% being full down. Divide your sequence up into quarters (25 frames each), So, what do you want your gear to do in the first 25% of the cycle? When you start in the down position, the first thing you want is for the gear strut to stand still and for the main bay doors to open. So for the gear, set frame 100 in the full down position, scroll up to frame 75 and do the same. For the doors, make them closed at frame 100 and open at frame 75. Now go back to the gear strut and scroll up to frame 25. Rotate the gear up into the bay and then set it at frame 25. Scroll the frames up to 0 and rotate the gear full up again and set it. Go back to the doors. We set the doors open at frame 75 before. So now scroll the frames up to 25 and set the doors open. Now scroll up to frame 0 and close the doors. Set the 0 frame. That's a basic sequence. You can juggle those numbers around anyway to suit your project and come up with very nice animation. 

Stock Animation Presets - by Graham Oxtoby

AN EXAMPLE

Certain parts may also be animated using tags which can be selected from the aircraft stock animation list. These work much like in Aircraft Animator from FS2000, but in FSDS V2 you need to set part axis of the part(s) to be animated first.

Example:

Animating a flap

Since the movement of both the left and the right flap is the same we only need to set the part axis of one flap in order to define the properties of the opposite flap. Once the properties of the left flap have been defined, these can then be copied the right flap and the axis-coordinates adjusted as required.

First select the part (in this case the left flap) and go to Current Item Properties by pressing the right mouse button when the part is selected. Click on the Browse button and then select aircraft stock animation. Tag the part with the L_FLAP tag and click OK. The part is now tagged as the LEFT FLAP and will be animated using the predefined stock animations of FSDS.

1. Flap cut from wing where the part axis is located in the top left corner

Setting the axis coordinates of a flap

Before this part can be properly animated, the axis-coordinate of that part needs to be set correctly on the X-Y-Z axis. Whilst the part is selected move the axis to the center of the hinge, i.e. the pivot point of the part. This will be at the center of the line along the surface which adjoins to the wing.

The axis can be moved by holding down the SHIFT button when MOVE is selected from the TRANSFORM menu and then by moving the axis to the desired location. Also, constraints can be used to define the direction in which to move the axis. For example, select the X and Y constraints in order to move the axis only in the Z-direction. Move the axis in the Z-direction first from the top view.

Part axis moved to the centre of the pivot point of the flap in the X-direction (using constraints Z and Y)

Then go to the side view and ensure that the axis of the part is centered along the Y axis.

Now repeat this procedure in the front view with the location of the axis along the X-axis.

Part axis (in front view) centered and aligned along the X-axis

On slanted flaps, the X-axis should be aligned parallel to the top surface of the part, i.e. the slope angle of the wing. To do this you need to select ROTATE from the TRANSFORM menu and rotate the axis line X until it is parallel to the wing surface (i.e pointing along the same slope angle as the wing).

Flap with part axis centred and aligned and ready for animation

When the model is compiled, the Left Flap will now be animated automatically using the presets in Aircraft Stock Animation. The coordinates of the Left Flap can now be used to set the exact location of the axis for the Right Flap. Copy the X-Y-Z coordinates to the properties of the Right Flap, where the X-coordinate must be flipped (reversed). Also copy the Rotation properties from the left flap to the right flap and reverse the value. Both flaps are then for animation.

Properties box of the left flap showing axis coordinates – this flap is ready for animation 

Folding Wing and Cowling Flap Animation - by Jerry Lindell

Folding wings animation:

Name the ends of the wing "l_wingfold" from the keyframe library.

Set the pivot axis on both back and top views to where you want it using rotate and move. On the back view move the rotated axis to the top edge of the wing. Any other wing end parts must be tagged as "children" of the "parent" "l_wingfold". If the aileron is part of this section it must also be tagged as a "child" of the l_wingfold.

Now just select "animation", set the keyframe value below to "0" and set the keyframe. Change the keyframe value to 100, rotate the wing up where you want it and again set the keyframe. "N" key raises the keyframe number and "P" lowers it.

Working cowl flap animation:

Name the cowl flaps "cowling_0" (or cowling_1 etc.). Do not use the name in the library "cowl_flap0". It does not work. Set the pivot point and angle to how you want the flap to open.

Now select "animation", set the keyframe value below to "0" and set the keyframe. Change the keyframe value to 100, rotate the flap up to how far you want it to open, and set the keyframe. You're done.

For cowl flaps I recommend copying and pasting the frames, selecting and flipping all the polys, changing to a dark color and re-naming to a different "cowling_?" name. This should be already animated but try it just in case. If you make it a "child" of the original it will move all over. The reason for making this is so the "inside" of the original cowl flap shows when open. If you double side when texturing you can have bleeding problems.
 

Making Landing Lights - by Graham Oxtoby

Landing lights and other lights are programmed differently in FSDS V2 than its predecessor. Whereas the surface normal of a polygon functioned as the director of the light beam, this is no longer the case in FSDS V2. For this example, I'm using V2.11 or higher

Here's how it's now done:

• create a disk or sphere and set polygon smoothing on
• size/scale the disk/sphere as required and place it in the correct position on your model
• check that the Z-axis of the disk/sphere is pointing in the direction you want the light beam to point (the axis can be manipulated by holding down the SHIFT key and then either moving or rotating the axis to its required position)
• now set the material for the light (for simple landing lights, only the DIFFUSE (normal) and EMISSIVE (the color of light to be emitted) colors need to be set
• when the material has been set, go to the part's properties and tag the sphere as LIGHT_LAND by browsing though the presets under LIGHTS
• after this has been done, do not forget to add a PRE-PROCESS CONDITION to the object; for a landing light to function properly in FS, this should be the preset condition: LANDING LIGHT SWITCH ON.

For other lights, follow the steps as described above, give the objects their required colors (diffuse and emissive) and also their appropriate pre-process conditions, e.g. NAV LIGHT SWITCH ON for navigation lights.

Landing lights affixed to retractible gear do not necessarily need to be animated with the gear (even though this can also be done) but instead, can be assigned PRE-PROCESS CONDITIONS, e.g.: the pre-process condition CENTER GEAR DOWN could be selected if you want the light to appear ONLY when the center gear is lowered.

Creating an Afterburner written by Graham Oxtoby based on technique by Rey Lopez

Because some pre-process don't working adequately in FS2002, this afterburner example was created without the use of any variables or pre-process conditions to demonstrate that this can be done using FSDS without variables or conditions. The method is based on keyframe animations of the LEVER_THROTTLE0 tag in FSDS V2. The afterburner flames are made visible depending on changes to the throttle. Here's how it works:

First create a jet exhaust outlet for your model. This can be based on a modified tube and fitted to the model. Next, create 3 different flames (also based on tubes with no cross-sections in between, only closed ends) and shape the tubes to create the flames. Three different sizes should be made, depending on the complexity of the afterburner effect. Position the flames as required, with their starting position within the jet exhaust already created from a tube.

Give each of these flames their subsequent DIFFUSE colors with an alpha setting of e.g. 128 (sem-transparent). EMISSIVE colors may also be set if required and tag them all with the LEVER_THROTTLE0 keyframe animation. If two engines are used in the model, the second set of flames should be tagged with the preset LEVER_THROTTLE1 etc.

The animation of the flames is quite simple. Selecting the first flame, enter animation mode and go to keyframe 0. This is the keyframe which will make the flame visible when FULL throttle is used in FS. The flame should be positioned behind the jet exhaust. Set keyframe position 0 at this position. Then go to keyframe 100 and position the flame so that it would no longer be visible outside of the jet exhaust. This is the position of the flame when the throttle in FS is in the IDLE position. Now do the same with the other flames created. Remember that keyframe 0 is the THROTTLE FULLY OPEN position and keyframe 100, the THROTTLE FULLY IDLE position. Compile your model and view the afterburner effects animated in FS.

Note: various effects can be added to the afterburner flames in the FSDS model with the use of an SDL macro, e.g. DARK.SDL if you want parts of the afterburner effect to show up at night or in the dark.

Making a Mirror Object - by Graham Oxtoby

With FS2002, you can apply a "mirror finish" which reflects the image of other objects in its light path. You can make a mirror object using the built-in texture utility in FSDS or an alpha channel BMP. Here's how:

Create a flat object or a rectangular polygon. Next create a 256 bit BMP and apply the texture to the object using FSDS (or using the companion VASS Gold). I've used a dark grey texture to make a normal mirror effect, but you can use any color. Apply the texture to both the back and front of the object and tag it REFLECTIVE. Next set the object's material specular power to at least 15 and choose a specular color. Save the object and compile to use in FS2002, either as a scenery object or as part of an aircraft model.

Using the built-in transparency editor in FSDS, set the BMP to fully transparent and save it. The new object will now show up in FS2002 as a fully reflective mirror, thus reflecting any other object in FS in it's light path.

Instead of using the built-in utility in FSDS, you can "doctor" the BMP to create an alpha channel and produce the same effect. To do this, load the BMP into an editor that lets you alter the alpha channel to the darkest shade of grey/black. Save the BMP in extended format DXT1 with alpha channel in the directory where is loaded with FS2002. Load FS once again and view the mirror effect. This effect is recommended for use in scenery objects, such as office buildings etc., but may also be used in aircraft models. The high specular power of the object's material in this example is used to emphasizes the reflective power of the object in FS.

Here's a sample mirror.

Many Other Topics - by Graham Oxtoby

Graham Oxtoby is a prolific designer. He's made many commercial aircraft over the past few years. In addition, he has been working closely with FS Design Studio guru Louis Sinclair and the Abacus staff to refine his design techniques.

In his detailed work, Grahame has uncovered many useful tips and techniques, coordinated his discoveries with other designers, taken the time to document his findings with easy to follow tutorials and willingly shared this information with other users of FS Design Studio.

To find out more about his tutorial gems, please visit his Simcraft 3D Design Studio website.