Altimeter

[nf1nk]

Let me know if anybody wants it

critism is strongly encouraged

the cool part is that it actualy lets you know how high above the ground it is

[MMZ_TimeLord]

So, you have an expression that shows how far above the zero mark of the y axis the bone for the altimeter is? Nice!

 

Looks like a very nice model. Could we see wireframes?

 

I would be interested in examining the project as I'm still learning about expressions and how to use them.

[nf1nk]

I tried but each time I try to do a shaded w wireframe I get a failure message of InitBoundRenderInfo what ever that means

 

Here is the model file and the image files used to create the model

the null labeled ground is actualy what the altimeter is measuring the Y offset from the big hand shows 100 feet and the little hand shows 1000 feet

 

edit:

oh and it was done in V13 with the most recent patches installed

Altimeter.zip

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Thanks nf1nk... I'll look it over.

[ddustin]

Nice job on the altimeter.

 

Could you make a distance traveled meter with the distance displayed in feet?

 

David

[nf1nk]

Nice job on the altimeter.

 

Could you make a distance traveled meter with the distance displayed in feet?

 

David

Shouldn't be too hard. you could turn the altimeter into a distance meter by chaning the first expression from

 

(ground.transform.Y)*3048/36

 

to

 

sqrt((ground.transform.X)^2 +(ground.transform.Y)^2 +(ground.transform.Z)^2)*30.48/36

 

where

30.48 is no of cm per foot

and

36 is number of degrees per tick mark

 

edit

that will give you straigh line distance. I think I could do curved line distance also but the math would be much harder

[ddustin]

Nice job on the altimeter.

 

Could you make a distance traveled meter with the distance displayed in feet?

 

David

Shouldn't be too hard. you could turn the altimeter into a distance meter by chaning the first expression from

 

(ground.transform.Y)*3048/36

 

to

 

sqrt((ground.transform.X)^2 +(ground.transform.Y)^2 +(ground.transform.Z)^2)*30.48/36

 

where

30.48 is no of cm per foot

and

36 is number of degrees per tick mark

 

edit

that will give you straigh line distance. I think I could do curved line distance also but the math would be much harder

 

Actually I was thinking of a digital looking display as opposed to an analog dial.

How hard would that be?

 

Thanks,

David

[nf1nk]

Actually I was thinking of a digital looking display as opposed to an analog dial.

How hard would that be?

 

Thanks,

David

 

not impossible but notably harder

it would be much like actualy writing the firmware for a digital display. there would be a ton of if statements. each digit would be a seven segment display each segment would nead its own code each segment is either on or off for any numerical value.

 

so we are looking at around 70 lines of code per digit.

there are short cuts in modeling that could seriouly reduce the amount of code, but they won't become aparant until I think about it more

[ddustin]

Actually I was thinking of a digital looking display as opposed to an analog dial.

How hard would that be?

 

Thanks,

David

 

not impossible but notably harder

it would be much like actualy writing the firmware for a digital display. there would be a ton of if statements. each digit would be a seven segment display each segment would nead its own code each segment is either on or off for any numerical value.

 

so we are looking at around 70 lines of code per digit.

there are short cuts in modeling that could seriouly reduce the amount of code, but they won't become aparant until I think about it more

 

What if the display was a series of rotary numbers similar to an odometer on a vehicle?

 

Thanks,

David

[nf1nk]

 

 

What if the display was a series of rotary numbers similar to an odometer on a vehicle?

 

Thanks,

David

 

if the numbers were like an odometer then the only thing you would have to change is the axis of rotation. that would be easy

your distance meter would probibly be more use full if you used insead of the RSS between the root bone and the null, you used the RSS of the difference between two nulls

sqrt( (nll1.translate.X - nll2.translate.X)^2 + (nll1.translate.Y - nll2.translate.Y)^2 +(nll1.translate.Z - nll2.translate.Z)^2 * 36 / 30.48

 

note that I miswrote before you multiply by the number of degrees per notch and divide by the unit conversion

the hardest part of that is doing the decalling.

 

it will work but it will look like kie an odometer from a car from the early prewar years. the numbers will never sit nicely on a line. if you want them to sit nicly on a line that will take some tricky math to make it work.

[nf1nk]

Well the altimeter turns out to only work if the altimeter stays right side up.

looks like I have to recode it to take that into account. I am hoping for inspiration while I sleep

[Drakkheim]

Actually I was thinking of a digital looking display as opposed to an analog dial.

How hard would that be?

 

Thanks,

David

 

not impossible but notably harder

it would be much like actualy writing the firmware for a digital display. there would be a ton of if statements. each digit would be a seven segment display each segment would nead its own code each segment is either on or off for any numerical value.

 

so we are looking at around 70 lines of code per digit.

there are short cuts in modeling that could seriouly reduce the amount of code, but they won't become aparant until I think about it more

 

What if each number was an on-off pose slider.

[nf1nk]

 

What if each number was an on-off pose slider.

 

That might work. I might play with that Idea when i build the ammo counter. which will be after the artificial horizon, the mag compass, the airspeed indicator, the Gmeter. climb indicator....

 

Lot left to do.

 

In the mean time here is a short video of the altimeter working while the plane is rolling. next to it is a clock that is working. it is just hard to tell because there is no light on it

Gaugetest02.wmv