CH-54 / (S-64) Skycrane -- AKA my very second 3DS Max project.

dhk79 said:
LOL, OK this is only slightly out of context since the topic of cats around computers was being discussed.

Here is a shot of a very great temptation that took nearly every ounce of restraint I had.
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We have Bob cats in Texas, why not Arz.? hehe
 
We are going to get Matt fired if he reads this at the office! :D
When I spotted Doug's picture I wasn't able to breathe for a full six and a half minutes. I couldn't possibly have resisted!
 
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Here's a couple of test files to check out this concept, as I'm not a good enough heli pilot to do it myself.

Load this airport with this heli. Get into a hover and try out the knob control. From that point, you should be able to figure out what to do.

Post any results and/or cool screenshots here.
 

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Cool. I'll take a look at those files tonight.

The problem with the cats and the power strip issue actually have been taken care of, but the first couple months we had the cats it was more of an issue. It's blocked now and my wife is aware now of my means of protection.

I really don't know what happened yesterday and I really don't care too much at this point. I'm looking forward to getting that project done still, and the skycrane! Yes back on subject!

I'll actually do some work tonight on the Sky Crane. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get done, but I'll work on it until I am ready to play in the sim. I'm definitely going to have two or three versions of this heli, that will actually be visually different. One will be as the first picture I have shown and another will have the large tank on the under/inside of the fuselage. I know I've seen another different variant, but not sure if what I'm thinking of consists of more than just alterations, but entirely new fuselage designs, which I won't get into.
 
jeffpn said:
I know the feeling.
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Oh, I know you do. You are in the telecom industry as well, right? I'm in engineering and some of the people leave you looking for nice solid brick wall to buddy up with.
 
jeffpn said:
I work the prints you draw up.
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Nah. The engineer title can be loose fitting. Despite the pretty engineer title I am more network operations than I am engineer. Once "Tech" was no longer part of my title, overtime was no longer part of my paycheck. I still have oncall rotations too.
 
dhk79 said:
Here's a couple of test files to check out this concept, as I'm not a good enough heli pilot to do it myself.

Load this airport with this heli. Get into a hover and try out the knob control. From that point, you should be able to figure out what to do.

Post any results and/or cool screenshots here.
Click to expand...

Doug, I can knock the block over when I back into the ring with the hook, and I can knock it over with a ski. But, when either the tip of the ski, or the hook itself enters the ring, it appears to cut through it and the weight rocks and then stays put. I have tried enough times that I am convinced I can get inside the ring, but it cuts through before it lifts.

That being said, very cool. For the purpose of the test, a slightly longer hook, and a slightly larger ring might make the trials go quicker?

I think you are close to a game within a game, if the interface will work, I am imagining different weights with different sized rings...VERY challenging, especially with the smoke, I turned the exhaust way down for better visability.

Anyone lift it?

Griff
twoeleven
 
What if Real Flight does not like closed loops and it is trying to fill it in or something? What happens if the ring is replaced with a hook? I'm no expert by any means at computer programming, but I have seen games and programs do really strange things.
 
I've been at it since it was posted. I'm having so much fun. I've had it off the ground several times less than a foot but I have to agree that it seems to pull through or the hook straitens. I've got the hook strength to 1500 and not really changed anything. Not even close to a screen shot yet. Be sure and check the weight on the lift object guys I'm not sure that Doug edited the AP file. Mine weighed almost 50lb. first time I tried it. It looks like the minimum is 2.21 lb. for some reason. He sure did a great job putting this stuff together. Thanks again Doug. What a hoot!
 
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My take on subject is COLL is hollow on the inside. Coll is nothing inside of itself. When I was testing JAYJAY with droping 18 eggs, they would explode through the sides like they weren't there.
 
Flexible, Can this be fixed to be more solid? I'm still not 100% sure what is giving way. It just seems so close. This is the most challenging thing I've done since first learning to hover a heli. I have a lot more respect for those full scale guys that do those cable picks. Wow!
 
Try editing the airport and on the block object change its material to metal. I don't know if it'll make any difference, but it's worth a shot.
 
Tried it,no joy. We need to recruit Chris Mcvay. He's a professional software tester and a heli guy. Maybe he could spot where things are going wrong for us. It's so close. I'd sure like to work the bugs out of this by the time Matt gets his skycrane built.
 
this all reminds me of the time we tried to get BigBird to launch of a I rail. just didnt want to gide the launch . the items just went through each other.

Should be possible. if you think of how the items wont go through each other under normal conditions. IE Wing will bounce off an object. or a plane can run circles around a pole if you are on the ground and rolling to close to the pole.

We gave up in the end. (our particular requirement with G3.5)

Good luck.
 
twoeleven said:
Doug, I can knock the block over when I back into the ring with the hook, and I can knock it over with a ski. But, when either the tip of the ski, or the hook itself enters the ring, it appears to cut through it and the weight rocks and then stays put. I have tried enough times that I am convinced I can get inside the ring, but it cuts through before it lifts.

That being said, very cool. For the purpose of the test, a slightly longer hook, and a slightly larger ring might make the trials go quicker?

I think you are close to a game within a game, if the interface will work, I am imagining different weights with different sized rings...VERY challenging, especially with the smoke, I turned the exhaust way down for better visability.

Anyone lift it?

Griff
twoeleven
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My experience seems quite a bit different than yours. I have never had just a complete pass through with the hook. It will knock it over in any direction and I see no adverse reaction with the hook while the lift object is on the ground. There does seem to be something going on after it leaves the ground that I can't yet put my finger on. If you get a skid in the loop, there is a violent reaction similar to the helis behavior on it's side reacting to the ground,(the dancing heli thing) it's like the skid gives it a good boot. It could be that once off the ground, the hook is becoming similarly reactive kicking the object off. Could be a pass through. I've had this thing at least two feet in the air and lost it before I could get the shot. I'm starting to wonder if KE has actually taken steps to prevent the ability to do what we are trying to do. So far Jim B has been unresponsive to my inquiries by PM. I'm not feeling the love.
 
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What excites me about you guys testing this is that it could lead to towing a glider into the air.

Then again, there would have to be a tow plane under somebody or computer control.

Keep on churning.
 
Let me shed some light on the direction my mind is wandering in.
On the out side, pick 1, the object appears to be solid, but as modelers know, when you stick you're head inside an object, it is not solid, pick2.
I would like to see some one make a test object, that has been intruded from the bottom, pick3. Before you intrude, you can only select faces on the outside, because the faces don't exist on the inside of an object. However, when you intrude, two things you will notice. The first is you can now select faces on both sides of an object; the second thing you will notice is the polie count doubles.
This does not make the face solid, it simply add inner faces. I think when you stick the hook through a face; it has little or no strength. To have strength, you need to lift against the outside of the edge/object. Further the strength factor is only part of strength, the other part is weight. Leading me to think that the area to be used to lift with must necessarily have some weight, in order to have strength.
https://forums.realflight.com/index.php?resources/10169
This is what happens with no weight and no strength.
 

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I will say this, even if this experiment fails, my precision hovering skills have increased ten fold in a short time. Between the total lack of depth perception on the 2D sim and trying to maneuver a hook a few inches below the skids into a two inch hoop is a challenge similar to your first attempt at hovering a CP heli. Daunting. Think about it, you're all lined up but you need to make a little right correction, when you make the correction, because the hook is below the heli, the hook goes left. No one has any experience at this, I actually enjoy the challenge.
 
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