Sumpter S-Y Water Tank… animation question

LAST EDITED ON Jul-06-03 AT 06:56 PM (EDT)

Well, it seems the Sumpter depot was a welcomed addition. So, I'm going to upload the S-Y Tank next. But before I do, I thought it'd be nice to animate the spout so it is a functional object as well as a historically accurate scenery object from the Sumpter Valley Railway.Is there anyone here that can help me make this work? I'm using TSM.
Thanks all! Timtimmuir@wcn.net

Electric Railroad 3D Models
Sumpter Valley B&B Gang
Willamette Valley Route
(No timetable for release)

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RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, xlspecial261, Jul-06-03, 07:07 PM, (1) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, OkrasaGhia, Jul-07-03, 04:44 AM, (2) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, tryagin, Jul-07-03, 11:48 AM, (3) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, OkrasaGhia, Jul-07-03, 12:46 PM, (4) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, tryagin, Jul-07-03, 01:32 PM, (5) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, tryagin, Jul-07-03, 03:05 PM, (6) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, OkrasaGhia, Jul-07-03, 04:18 PM, (7) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, timken, Jul-07-03, 05:03 PM, (8) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, tryagin, Jul-07-03, 06:27 PM, (9) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, CMO, Jul-07-03, 07:36 PM, (10) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, timken, Jul-07-03, 07:43 PM, (11) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, tryagin, Jul-07-03, 08:13 PM, (12) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, timken, Jul-07-03, 09:44 PM, (13) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, CMO, Jul-07-03, 10:06 PM, (14) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, tryagin, Jul-07-03, 10:35 PM, (15) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, CMO, Jul-07-03, 11:17 PM, (16) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, OkrasaGhia, Jul-08-03, 12:17 PM, (17) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, tryagin, Jul-08-03, 01:52 PM, (18) Very Nice, but what a Pain!, timken, Jul-08-03, 05:04 PM, (21) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, OkrasaGhia, Jul-08-03, 05:51 PM, (22) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, CMO, Jul-08-03, 02:59 PM, (19) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, black5, Jul-08-03, 05:04 PM, (20) RE: Sumpter S-Y Water Tank.....animation question, OkrasaGhia, Jul-08-03, 05:54 PM, (23)

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Uff dah! Can't help with the animation but it looks great Tim.Todd

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There's a note in the tech docs what you need to do making a pickup object. The pivot point should be positioned where the engine would stand, not at the base of the tower any more. The arm should be animated using three frames where the first and last frame are in it's resting position and the middle frame in operating position.This as all your other objects will be a welcome and appreciated addition.


//Okrasa
Chief Engineer
okrasaghia @ yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/okrasaghia
http://www.geocities.com/okrasaghia/XTracks

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Thank you, Okrasa, for the tip. I read the tech docs, and got that much out of them. It's the animating in TSM that has me baffled. I feel as thick as the big-print version of the complete works of Charles Dickens, when it come to animating. I'll just keep trying.Thanks For your help ( and Xtracks too! I appreciate the updated Tram switches.) Timtimmuir@wcn.net

Electric Railroad 3D Models
Sumpter Valley B&B Gang
Willamette Valley Route
(No timetable for release)

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Set the number of frames in the project properties (3), you must select Animated Scenery to do this.
Then select the pipe that should be animated (it needs to be a part of its own parented to the tower).
Click on the "Ani" button and you get a slider with three positions.
First and last frame should be in the up position like in your picture thus position the slider for each of those frames and push both the 'Set Motion' and 'Set Rotation' buttons without moving the pipe.
The middle frame you should move/rotate the pipe into down position and then click those buttons again, thats it.
Set the pivot point of the pipe to its base and you should only need rotate it for the down position.
The support lines could prove a problem but I think it might work if you do them as separate parts and add animation same way as for the pipe. You probably want to animate the handle also. You can fine tune the animation for each object through the object properties by clicking the 'Animation' button.Hope this solves it, let me know if you need help.


//Okrasa
Chief Engineer
okrasaghia @ yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/okrasaghia
http://www.geocities.com/okrasaghia/XTracks

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Great! I' think I'm getting a handle on it now! And speaking of handles, I was wondering about that and the ropes. I'll give it a try today (among other things!-Yi!, I need a clone of myself!)Thanks Again!Timtimmuir@wcn.net

Electric Railroad 3D Models
Sumpter Valley B&B Gang
Willamette Valley Route
(No timetable for release)

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Now, How do I make it work as a Pickup Object, with the little purple box that triggers the animation when the tender is backed into position? Thanks again!Timtimmuir@wcn.net

Electric Railroad 3D Models
Sumpter Valley B&B Gang
Willamette Valley Route
(No timetable for release)

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Answered Tims question by e-mail but for the record of the forum.Use an existing water pickup object as template for the .ref entry.
From S&C route:Pickup (
FileName ( watercolumn.s )
Shadow ( DYNAMIC )
Class ( "Track Objects" )
PickupType ( _FUEL_WATER_ )
Description ( "Interactive Water Column" )
)

//Okrasa
Chief Engineer
okrasaghia @ yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/okrasaghia
http://www.geocities.com/okrasaghia/XTracks

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Tim,If you keep asking Okrasa questions, he's never going to have time to finish the donkey harness and car for me! On the other hand, would you hurry up and finish the bloody tank! I sure enjoy working with all of you, the help and cooperation really makes this a great place with some wonderful people. I don't know how any of us would have figured this sim out, without all working together.

Steve T.

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Alright already! Here ya go, Steve! But i had to loose the ropes and pull. There would have been too many animation frames to include them all, and for them to keep their relative positions correctly. Sorry about that, Chief! ( But hey, it cuts down on all those polys, eh?)My thanks to Okrasa -Again!- for his help in clearing the fog from my eyes.Timtimmuir@wcn.net

Electric Railroad 3D Models
Sumpter Valley B&B Gang
Willamette Valley Route
(No timetable for release)

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Tim, When you get done, how about writing up one of your tutorials to enlighten us as to the secrets of animation.
Paul.

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TOO SLOW!!! I had just finished zipping up and burning to CD, the latest version of the Sumpter Route, when I got your email. Now you'll have to put em in yourself! Also, just took the icicles out of the summer textures, as I got them all placed, and they looked rather strange when running on a hot summer day. Now, back in they go, so I can have them on these tanks.I'll give em a try-out after dinner.Thanks Tim, Steve

Steve T.

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And I worked clear through lunch, too! Oh well, here's the Whitney tank too. I'll send it to you later after i grab my dinner!I have the Blue Creek tank from the Union Pacific just aboout done too. It's a big square affair that will fit in any 19th or earlry 20th century route.Man, I'm on a roll!
Paul, you got it! ASAP.Cheers! A rather fruitful day!Timtimmuir@wcn.net

Electric Railroad 3D Models
Sumpter Valley B&B Gang
Willamette Valley Route
(No timetable for release)

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On a roll, and, living near the ocean with its mild climate, I forgive you, but you always forget it snows over here! ESD_Alternative_Texture ( 0 )SHOULD BEESD_Alternative_Texture ( 1 )and you need to add your blanck.ace (spelling intentional?) to the snow folder.Very cool having it animated, but placing it threw me for a bit. Then I realized you have to click between the tracks to place it, then rotate it out to position, leaving the little yellow square in place. Looks like you can no longer adjust its height above ground, being an interactive object.Had to, horrors, look in the MSTS help to figure out how to use it, hit "t", and sometimes it even tells you something's happening. Looks like tender placement is pretty critical, and varies with the engine. What about saddletankers?

Steve T.

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Someone wrote about tank animation and saddle tankers, and my recollection is that it works fine. I think you just add the magic lines from a tender to the saddletank eng file.
This is the sort of info that is never at my fingertips. Probably buried somewhere in the piles of paper next to the computer.

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On a roll, but not perfect -ly finished. Yah, I know. Snow is so foriegn to me. But Steve, you've got all those snow textures, don't you? I do. I just forgot about the SD change.
Yah, Blanck is intentional. It's a rustyblack blank that I use for quick texturing of small parts, like the pivot point for the spouts on the tanks.I don't know how, but the British Great Western Ry tank engines I used to own could be watered at the water columns. Timtimmuir@wcn.net

Electric Railroad 3D Models
Sumpter Valley B&B Gang
Willamette Valley Route
(No timetable for release)

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LAST EDITED ON Jul-07-03 AT 11:19 PM (EDT)

OK, here is the line to add to a tank engine. I don't know what the numbers mean, but they don't seem to relate to the length:

IntakePoint ( 1.237367 0.3431845 FuelWater )
Sound ("../../380/Sound/380eng.sms" )The Sound is just to tell you where in the eng file the Intake line belongs, or at least works. This is from the SR Hecate 0-8-0 tank engine, as per photo, below.
I also do not know whether this line would work in a tank car or not, but believe it would, since it works in tenders.
Hope this works for you.
Paul.

Attachments

http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/User_files/3f0a385019d40562.jpg

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Tim, animating the handle should be easy if you parent it to the pipe and have the pivot point where it is attached to the pipe. In the down position rotate it to the correct hanging position.The IntakePoint numbers are no black art.
First number is the position of the intake lengthwise of the engine (or wagon) in meters from center of engine. In the example it is about 4' towards the front. Negative values would be towards the end of the engine. The second number is the size of the intake point, make it larger for easier aiming. There's no left or right in the IntakePoint, the point works from both sides of the car or engine.
I belive you can put IntakePoints into any wagon and you can add more than one (water & coal for a tender).


//Okrasa
Chief Engineer
okrasaghia @ yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/okrasaghia
http://www.geocities.com/okrasaghia/XTracks

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Okrasa, as far as animating the pull is concerned, I did try this and I had it animated to stay plumb when the spout dropped down. However, there is a continuous arc at the pivot point of the pull outward along the Z axis (away from the front of the tank). As the spout lowered, the pull just dropped straight down to the lower point, not following the arc of the spout's travel. (lights go on -duh! )....I suppose it would be like a driving rod on a steam engine. Hmmmmm. Well, now I know what I'll be doing today.Thanks, and talk to you later....Timtimmuir@wcn.net

Electric Railroad 3D Models
Sumpter Valley B&B Gang
Willamette Valley Route
(No timetable for release)

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OK, so I run from So. Baker, to Boulder Gorge, using the 2-6-0 with a heavy load, and mostly wide open, used 1/8 tank of water. Supposedly, they always stopped here with this engine, the mikes, and the 50, as they couldn't make it 10 miles to the next tank.Now you've gone and made me aware of it, I'm going to have to learn enough about the physics to run out of water on time!It's really neat to be able to stop for a fill up, and the tank still looks great. This is a very interesting addition to the route.

Steve T.

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>(lights go on -duh! )
Something like making the pipe parent of the handle?

//Okrasa
Chief Engineer
okrasaghia @ yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/okrasaghia
http://www.geocities.com/okrasaghia/XTracks

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Okrasa,
I seem to remember that there is a line in the tank engine file with a 0 or a 1 that must be there for a water pick-up point. Wish I could find the note I downloaded a year ago.
I tried adding the line from the srHecate engine to a tank car, to see if that would work, and it did not. MUst have done something wrong.
Paul.

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What you are looking for is
IsTenderRequired( 0.1 )
I think that (-1) works too.

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Probably as black5 is saying, the line if a tender is required or not.
Could be fueling intakes only work with engines.


//Okrasa
Chief Engineer
okrasaghia @ yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/okrasaghia
http://www.geocities.com/okrasaghia/XTracks

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