Plan for Adam Surplice
by Adam Surplice · 04/23/2005 (4:57 pm) · 8 comments
As a learning excercise after acquiring Torque recently, I've embarked on what appears to be quite a common quest, to create a helicopter vehicle class.
As a programmer, the difficulty for me was always going to be the model, but with the help of Ken Finney's book and the Bravetree sparrow pack I've been able to produce something I'm pretty happy with:
So far the helivehicle class allows mounting of the rotor & tailrotor DTS's, whose rotation velocities are proportional to the engine RPM. Next up is the fun part - the flight physics. The goal is to create a reasonably accurate flight model, up to but not including main rotor torque effects.
As a programmer, the difficulty for me was always going to be the model, but with the help of Ken Finney's book and the Bravetree sparrow pack I've been able to produce something I'm pretty happy with:
So far the helivehicle class allows mounting of the rotor & tailrotor DTS's, whose rotation velocities are proportional to the engine RPM. Next up is the fun part - the flight physics. The goal is to create a reasonably accurate flight model, up to but not including main rotor torque effects.
#2
04/23/2005 (8:57 pm)
Very cool! Could make a good little pack. 
#3
Inputing a force of (0,0,G)
Inputting a force of helicopter.ZVector*engineforce
Inputting any tertiary forces (Jet Propulsion, Missiles, etc)
This -should- create helicopter-like acceleration, in which you tilt the helicopter forward to move forward.
04/23/2005 (10:39 pm)
I am assuming you are doing the following, or will:Inputing a force of (0,0,G)
Inputting a force of helicopter.ZVector*engineforce
Inputting any tertiary forces (Jet Propulsion, Missiles, etc)
This -should- create helicopter-like acceleration, in which you tilt the helicopter forward to move forward.
#4
04/24/2005 (2:02 am)
Sweet! This would make a great resource. ;)
#5
- Brett
04/24/2005 (8:06 am)
That's exactly where I started (minus Ken's book which wasn't available). From there I implemented some very simple forces and voila, a chopper. I wish you luck in finding a flight model that people can use. Helicopters are very complex beasts, without dumbing it down a bunch.- Brett
#6
Yep, from what I've read I'm basically following your path of discovery. Although with your video as a reference I at least know what's achievable :)
@Mike
Yes that's exactly the way I want to make it work. I did this in 2D several years ago (in a choplifter kind of way) so I know I'll be digging out the old maths books :)
I now have "blurred" rotor models swapping in when the rotor RPM reaches a specified threshold (like in Brett's video) and yes I'm planning to release a resource with the code & model once I get something playable.
04/24/2005 (4:29 pm)
@BrettYep, from what I've read I'm basically following your path of discovery. Although with your video as a reference I at least know what's achievable :)
@Mike
Yes that's exactly the way I want to make it work. I did this in 2D several years ago (in a choplifter kind of way) so I know I'll be digging out the old maths books :)
I now have "blurred" rotor models swapping in when the rotor RPM reaches a specified threshold (like in Brett's video) and yes I'm planning to release a resource with the code & model once I get something playable.
#8
07/03/2005 (8:03 pm)
I've actually completed this under contract for a commercial project, so I apologise for getting anyone's hopes up, but it's no longer mine to give away. 
Associate Joseph Euan
:)