Four Tiffy's

[Charl]

When you hand fly formations, the aim is to stick to the leader and make the moves on a countdown.
With Recorder Module tracks the aim is the reverse:
You start with a/c that look as if they are connected by a ladder, and try to loosen them up for realism.
You do this by making the offsets a little different for each a/c, and using different time offsets for each.
Here's the result, some moves are still a little "ladder-like" but there are bits quite realistic I reckon.



Please excuse the jitters, I have again messed up the scenery and mesh which took its toll.

[victor_alpha_charlie]

Awesome! The one problem I had was I used a B-2 stealth bomber as a leader, and tried to set two Beech Mentors 30 feet in front and 15 feet each side. When the B-2 overtook them, I thought they must be too slow and replaced them with two of Kirk Olsson's awesome F-16s. Same thing happened. Why are the F-16's slower than a B-2? Can't they push the throttle forward and stay ahead? I noticed they didn't use the Afterburner on takeoff.

[Q300]

Wow realy nice work Charl! I loved that 'loop' at the end that was sweet
I have to give this ago

[creator2003]

Nice one charl i really have to learn that recorder better ,i take it this mite work with choppers aswell ?

[Ian Warren]

DAMM ... NO Rockets !..... can vid be edited , add special effects after finish (sorta frameXframe ?) ....... Explosions/smoke

[ardypilot]

QUOTE

can vid be edited , add special effects after finish (sorta frameXframe ?) ....... Explosions/smoke[/quote]
Yup sure can you can do it with overlays or use programs to edited them in after "adobe prem after effects " or with some graphic work ,there are many ways to do it but each with time and skill ...

[victor_alpha_charlie]

QUOTE (creator2003 @ Feb 3 2008, 10:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice one charl i really have to learn that recorder better ,i take it this mite work with choppers aswell ?

It's really quite easy, it probably takes 5 mins tops to make somethign like Charl did. Read his Four Times Cap-10 thread for instructions.

[ardypilot]

QUOTE

and using different time offsets for each.[/quote]
Could you copy and paste me an example of this please? I must be doing something wrong because all my time offsets in formation lag far too behind for the aircraft to even remain in a group.

QUOTE

The one problem I had was I used a B-2 stealth bomber as a leader, and tried to set two Beech Mentors 30 feet in front and 15 feet each side. When the B-2 overtook them, I thought they must be too slow and replaced them with two of Kirk Olsson's awesome F-16s. Same thing happened.[/quote]
How did the B2 "overtake"? I thought the whole idea of the RM was to have all your aircraft flying in time with each other?

ardypilot

NZFF Pro

 

Joined: Wed Apr 26, 2006 10:01 am

Posts: 6802

Location: Auckland

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[victor_alpha_charlie]

QUOTE (Trolly @ Feb 3 2008, 01:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How did the B2 "overtake"? I thought the whole idea of the RM was to have all your aircraft flying in time with each other?

It just happens with all aircraft- I tried today with 3 Heinkel Salamanders. I set them all beside each other, and the lead/original plane just gets slowly further and further ahead.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (creator2003 @ Feb 3 2008, 10:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yup sure can you can do it with overlays or use programs to edited them in after "adobe prem after effects " or with some graphic work ,there are many ways to do it but each with time and skill ...

mmmmmm an entire WAR MOVIE .. best i play with even creating a movie

[Charl]

QUOTE (victor_alpha_charlie @ Feb 3 2008, 10:36 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

... Why are the F-16's slower than a B-2? ...

It's all in the tracks - I suspect you could put a flying bicycle in and it would behave the same...

QUOTE (creator2003 @ Feb 3 2008, 10:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice one charl i really have to learn that recorder better, i take it this mite work with choppers aswell ?

Thanks Mike, yes you can do with choppers. Just make it AI first of course.

QUOTE (victor_alpha_charlie @ Feb 3 2008, 11:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's really quite easy, it probably takes 5 mins tops to make somethign like Charl did.

Quite right. The rest of the day you spend trying to tweak it so it works

QUOTE (Trolly @ Feb 3 2008, 01:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Could you copy and paste me an example of this please? I must be doing something wrong because all my time offsets in formation lag far too behind for the aircraft to even remain in a group.

Andrew here are the offsets used for the video:
// Track 2
$Offset: 15 0 0
$TimeOffset: 0.26
// Track 3
$Offset: 29 0 0
$TimeOffset: 0.50
// Track 4
$Offset: 47 0 0
$TimeOffset: 0.85

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Feb 3 2008, 03:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

best i play with even creating a movie

We are all waiting for this, young man

[ardypilot]

QUOTE

Andrew here are the offsets used for the video:
// Track 2
$Offset: 15 0 0
$TimeOffset: 0.26
// Track 3
$Offset: 29 0 0
$TimeOffset: 0.50
// Track 4
$Offset: 47 0 0
$TimeOffset: 0.85[/quote]
Cheers, those tiny increments make such a big difference in the formation performance, with one aircraft turning slightly after the other everything seems more fluid:

I had to subtract some numbers off the X axis in the first offset (distance behind lead aircraft) to compensate for the time lagg, but it really works out tons better than before!

Got any more recorder module tricks up your sleeve you wish to share Charl?



EDIT: After a lot of trial and error, I think I've come up with the perfect four man Harvard formation offsets:

Code: Select all

// Track 1
#Aircraft: "ALPHA T-6 Texan RNZAF  NZ1015"
#StaticCGtoGround: 5.44000
#Data:       latitude        longitude    altitude     pitch      bank   heading  onground    velocityX    velocityY    velocityZ  throttle1  throttle2  throttle3  throttle4  elevators  ailerons  rudder  spoilers  flaps  gear  lights  parkbrake  engine1  engine2  engine3  engine4   timestamp

// Track 2
#Aircraft: "ALPHA T-6 Texan RNZAF  NZ1057"
#StaticCGtoGround: 5.44000
#Data:       latitude        longitude    altitude     pitch      bank   heading  onground    velocityX    velocityY    velocityZ  throttle1  throttle2  throttle3  throttle4  elevators  ailerons  rudder  spoilers  flaps  gear  lights  parkbrake  engine1  engine2  engine3  engine4   timestamp
$Offset: 0 -2 1 h
$TimeOffset: 0.26


// Track 3
#Aircraft: "ALPHA T-6 Texan RNZAF  NZ1053"
#StaticCGtoGround: 5.44000
#Data:       latitude        longitude    altitude     pitch      bank   heading  onground    velocityX    velocityY    velocityZ  throttle1  throttle2  throttle3  throttle4  elevators  ailerons  rudder  spoilers  flaps  gear  lights  parkbrake  engine1  engine2  engine3  engine4   timestamp
$Offset: 10 00 2 h
$TimeOffset: 0.16

// Track 4
#Aircraft: "ALPHA T-6 Harvard NZ1078"
#StaticCGtoGround: 5.44000
#Data:       latitude        longitude    altitude     pitch      bank   heading  onground    velocityX    velocityY    velocityZ  throttle1  throttle2  throttle3  throttle4  elevators  ailerons  rudder  spoilers  flaps  gear  lights  parkbrake  engine1  engine2  engine3  engine4   timestamp
$Offset: -10 00 2 h
$TimeOffset: 0.21

Just copy and paste these sections into your own recorded .frc txt file and replace the top sections with mine- works a treat!

Sorry for taking this thread compleatly off topic!

Last edited by ardypilot on Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.