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I have been trying to figure a way to vary the distance Pantographs travel up and down, partially successful yonks ago, adjusting how high an Acela's Pantograph extends upward.With different Overhead Wire heights ranging from 5.4 (Albula-2) to 7.2 metres (NEC-4) and changing it's height in the .trk file, not matching the support gantries, I have been wondering how to change the Pantographs Animations parameters in the .s files so that they extend to a given Overhead Wire height.Any Electric Loco designer out there who can give me an idea of what is involved ? Paul Gausden once explained part of it, but without knowing how to work out logs and other calculations to get the desired results I got a feeling that I am facing a brick wall ! Pity there is not a "Multiplier" in the code to automate calculating the animation parameters Middle and Top settings by using the value of the Overhead Wire height obtained from the Route's .trk file ! O t t o
Otto,The changes need to be made to the animations section (where the sines and cosines of the rotation angles are stored). That works if you want to proceed by trial and error.If you want the pantograph to hit a designated height, however, the plot thickens. The distance from the pantograph top part's pivot to the wire is model-dependent, and you would have to figure out which vertices of the model correspond to that part. Then, you could back out the distance from the wire down to the top pivot, and set the animation angles accordingly. Easier said than done.One could write a utility to do all this, but it's definitely beyond me... it would take an s-file expert like Paul. In fact, it sure would be a neat Shape File Manager feature! (hint, hint )cheers
I am glad you came in one this, Clem !It was in fact a similar question from me yonks ago which motivated Paul to post a Tutorial on this subject on the STEAM4ME Web site. This is the Panto from an English NWE Route Passenger Multi-Unit. I borrowed the M&M and electrified it so that I can check the Panto height against various Overhead Wire heights, the Route not having many background objects to speak of, making checking it visually easier. The Panto is now touching the 5.7 metres high Overhead Wire.These are the anim parameters, leaving out the linear_pos lines which Paul said are not relevant. anim_node PantographBottom1A ( controllers ( 2 tcb_rot ( 2 tcb_key ( 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ) tcb_key ( 16 -0.182236 0 0 -0.983255 0 0 0 0 0 ) ) ) ) anim_node PantographBottom1B ( controllers ( 2 tcb_rot ( 2 tcb_key ( 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ) tcb_key ( 16 -0.233445 0 0 -0.97237 0 0 0 0 0 ) ) ) ) anim_node PantographMiddle1A ( controllers ( 2 tcb_rot ( 2 tcb_key ( 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ) tcb_key ( 16 -0.199368 0 0 0.979925 0 0 0 0 0 ) ) ) ) anim_node PantographMiddle1B ( controllers ( 2 tcb_rot ( 2 tcb_key ( 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ) tcb_key ( 16 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ) ) ) ) anim_node PantographTop1A ( controllers ( 2 tcb_rot ( 2 tcb_key ( 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ) tcb_key ( 16 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ) ) ) )Yes, an addition to the SHAPE FILE MANAGER to make adjustments to the extended height of Pantographs would be of enormous help to make certain electric locos Pantos match the Overhead Wires of Routes they are mostly run in, HINT, HINT ! But I have also mentioned this to PIE-TMTS, hoping that they could automate this in future designs to that locos can adjust their Pantos in accordance with the height of the Overhead Wire as set in the Route's .trk file, or if future track pieces can be individually electrified to make mixing of electrified and non-electrified tracks in the same route possible, then adjust to the Overhead Wire height of these electrified track pieces.Will be interesting to get more suggestions and opinions from other electric engine design experts ! Yes, I still got a CASIO Scientific Calculator but have forgotten how to use it for SIN and COS calculations ! Take Care, O t t o.
>Yes, I still got a CASIO Scientific Calculator but have >forgotten how to use it for SIN and COS calculations ! You have to put the SIN, COS or TAN before the angle. So it would read Sin30 or something like that instead of the reverse!
-----You are reading my signature now, don't waste your time reading it!----- Or probably, maybe you should waste your time reading it. Eh, where did my signature go? Oh, here it is, the one you are reading right now? Can't you see it? I know I know, it's probably too bright to see it. Hey, look at my avatar, nice right? I drew it with my own hands holding the mouse in Paint, with the pencil tool(and the Filling tool!)! It's a picture of me in Planet Stooopid, where everything is the same as what you call "Earth" except that we are called "aliens" in your planet. Anyway, I warned you not waste time reading my signature! You have just wasted probably about 30 seconds reading it, where you could have spent the time doing better things, like maybe reading the next post below if there is one...
Would you all like a detailed explanation of what is needed to adjust the pantograph height precisely ????Warning - knowledge of pythagoras, trigonometry (sines, cosines) and imaginary/complex numbers in 3D space (quaternions) ....It really needs a computer to do it for you. Unfortunately I don't have enough time at the moment to make the changes to SFM - besides we'll all need a new SFM once TMTS is released.
Hi Paul !There is Clem and me tempting you again to take the bait ! I mentioned to PIE-TMTS that this is what is missing with Electrified Locos and with a bit a luck they might save you the job of having to include it into the TMTS-SFM, when you got the time, that is. Holding down a demanding job and looking after a growing family does not give you much spare time ! My Son is in the same situation, barely having time to E-Mail the occasional Jpeg of the Family, the Grandchildren growing up fast !Take Care, O t t o.
Once again, Paul Gausden giving me advice, I managed to raise the Pantos of this Loco by 20 cm and should be able to change others at will from now own.There is no simple rule or formula which can be applied to all Electric Locos due to the fact that their varying Panto designs use different ways to declare their animation in the .s files.What is needed is for Loco Creators to built a formula into their Loco Designs which can auto-adjust their Pantos to the height of the Overhead Wire of any Route they could be run on ! Perhaps this can not be done with the KUJU format, but perhaps TMTS could ? Here's hoping or I am going to have to do a lot of work to make my Continental Electric Locos and Trainsets Pantos match the Routes Overhead Wires they are mainly being used on, or create duplicates with different Panto heights for each individual Route. O t t oBEFORE and AFTER:
Here we have two more converted Trainset Pantos, both smack under the 6 metres WUPPER-EXPRESS Overhead Wire.The first one a German ICE-2 and the second the French TGV "Thalys".Now for the rest of hundreds of other Electric Locos and Trainsets in my stable ! Would it not be easier to a) have all Continental Routes the same O/H Wire height and not: LGV - 5.8, PROTRAIN - 6.2 and WUPPER - 6 metres, etc, so that designers can create Pantos all the same height, or b) have the locos adjust their Pantos automatically to these variations ? Perhaps in TMTS, HINT, HINT ! O t t o
These are the anim parameters, leaving out the linear_pos lines which Paul said are not relevant. anim_node PantographBottom1A (
