Search and Rescue Manual
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LWO Aircraft HOWTO

This document assumes that you have already read the LWO Import HOWTO which describes how to import LightWave 3D LWO files into Vertex 3D V3D model files.

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Preplanning

There are no significent issues regarding the importing of LWO aircraft files at this time, please refer to the LWO Import HOWTO for general preplanning issues.

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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.

External Fuel Tanks

Each external fuel tank must be saved to a separate LWO file. It needs to be translated to its center of rotation, this is required because once the fuel tank is dropped it becomes its own object and may need to rotate accordingly.

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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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