LWO Preparation
The key to preparation is breaking down the aircraft into
parts.
First you need to consider, identify, and
isolate all of the parts in your LWO file that may have a unique
and particular function. These parts are often the:
- Fuselage
- Shadow
- Landing Gears (skis, wheels, struts, gear bay doors)
- Doors
- Rotors
- Air Brakes
- Ailerons, Elevators, Canards, or Rudders
- External Fuel Tanks
Not all types of aircraft will have all of the parts listed above.
It is recommended that you save as your LWO file to a
different file name since you may need to modify it for the purposes of
accomidating Search and Rescue's requirements.
After you have considered and identified each part, you
need to isolate each one (by selecting it in LightWave 3D)
and save it to a separate LWO file as an object (as a
part). Some additional modifications on the LWO file you just
saved may be required, these modifications include translating,
rotating, and recoloring.
Below are instructions specific to certain parts.
Movable Parts In General
Movable parts should be saved to separate LWO files as mentioned
above, however you should also take into consideration how the part
moves.
For example a landing gear that is a wheel (imagine the nose gear of the
HH-65) deploys and retracts by rotating about the aircraft's X axis.
The landing gear model should be saved in its down/deployed state.
Since center of rotation is at the top of the gear strut, you need
to translate the landing gear so that the center of the model
is at the top of the gear strut (for most cases).
Almost all parts (except the fuselage and shadow) are considered
movable parts, the air brakes, ailerons, elevators, canards,
and rudders are good examples of simple parts that move.
Another simple example would be that of a rudder. You would need to
isolate (select) the rudder and save it to a
separate LWO file. It should be translated so that it
rotates about the Z axis (for most cases).
Note in some cases (for example) a rudder may not be fully upright (that
it pitches downwards or upwards), in such a case you should still leave
the rudder fully upright so that it still rotates about the Z axis.
The SAR aircraft file will specify additional complex rotations that
you do not need to in an LWO file.
Fuselage
If you have windows on the fuselage (and most aircraft do have
windows), you should save the windows to a separate LWO
file.
If you intend to use a texture for the fuselage then you
should split the fuselage in half so that you have two
sides (a left and right side) and save them to separate LWO
files. Recolor the entire fuselage pure white.
If the aircraft has doors that open, exposing the interior of
the fuselage, then you may want to isolate the interior of the
fuselage and save it to a separate LWO file.
Landing Gears
Search and Rescue requires that at least one separate model act as
the landing gear. So even if the aircraft has fixed skis or wheels,
you need to save the skis or each wheel to a separate
LWO file.
Landing gears can be wheels, skis, gear bay doors, etc. Below, we
explain how to handle the common types of landing gears.
For skis save the skis as one whole part to
an LWO file. Since they do not move you do not need to translate
it.
For wheels save the wheel and the strut to an
LWO file. If the gear rotates to deploy/retract then translate it
so that the gear's center of rotation is at the top of the strut.
For gear bay doors save the door to an LWO file.
If the gear bay door rotates to open/close then translate it so
that the door's center of rotation is at its hindge.
Doors
If you want a door on the aircraft to open and close while acting as
the primary rescue door then you should save that door to
a separate LWO file.
The door should be in its closed position, translate
the door to its rotational center (its hindges).
If the door only slides open then there is no need to translate it.
If the door is intended to be textured then follow the same procedure
for the fuselage.
Rotors
The rotors in Search and Rescue spin about the Z axis, this
means that all rotors (even tail rotors on helicopters) rotate about
the Z axis.
Each set of blades is considered one rotor. So you need
to isolate the rotor blades only, but not the struts, housing, or
other cylendrical like details (leave them on the fuselage).
Once you hve isolated one rotor you need to translate
and rotate it such that its center of rotation and
attitude would spin about the Z axis. Then save it to an
LWO file.
Remember that tail rotors spin about the Z axis (not the X axis) so
you need to rotate it accordingly. You specify in the V3D
aircraft file that it is a tail rotor and bank it 90 or 270 degrees
to achieve the appropriate affect.
Importing
For basic information on importing, please refer to the
LWO Import HOWTO.
You will need to import each LWO file into your
V3D Aircraft file using Vertex 3D. Follow the V3D Aircraft file
design when you import each LWO file. After you import you may still
need to create addition models in your V3D Aircraft file, things such as
"other data" models, cockpit model, shadow model, far view model, etc.
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