How to find out what the channels do?

R

Rich kimmerle

New member
When selecting an airplane or helicopter is there away to find out what the different channels do. Some have retracting landing or throttle cuts ......
 
Yes, and its easy.
on the simulator; Aircraft | Edit <name> use the drop downs upper left

look at the physics tab, and the radio tab

drill down through the parent|child objects in the physics tab and check out how the logic of the aircraft works, etc...

on the radio tab take a look at the channels; drill down and look at the rates, inputs, etc

Click on each of the items in radio and see how they are assigned. Move your contol sticks, buttons, and watch how they affect the physics, and radios. While you're at it look at the electronics too. See which servos are used, and how.

You can use the editor with great skill even if you don't make any changes (you should not make any changes as a nub, trust me)

Everything about this aircraft (airplane, heli, sailplane) is defined in the aircraft's (usually) .rfx file. The editor allows you to see all aspects of the ( .rfx ) file in detail, and with experience, even make changes !

marcus
 
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Concentrate on learning the basics in the editor and once those are mastered take on the challenge of advanced features like mixers, gyros, complex input feeds, etc.
 
Dimi said:
where can you find the .rfx file
Click to expand...
The short answer is "the editor".

The actual files are located in a couple of different folders, depending on whether they are stock aircraft, or custom aircraft. One such place is:

~\Documents\RealFlight 9\Vehicles\CustomVehicles\

Another is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\RealFlight 9\Data\

For most of us the way to gain access to the aircraft files is through the editor interface of Rf9.x

On the Rf9.x toolbar under "Aircraft," the top two options are "Select..." and "Edit..."; once you have selected the aircraft you want to edit, then click the "Edit..." option to bring up the aircraft editor. A bit of caution is in order; the first time you're into the editor it can be a little overwhelming. The CAD image of the plane will be visible, and below is the editor fields in five "tabs": Vehicle, Physics, Electronics, Radio, & Visuals.

In the beginning don't make any changes; just look through it all... you may be surprised to discover how complex it is. If you like you may grab the top of the lower editor window pane and drag it up to give a better view of the tabs-- this of course reduces the view above. If you grab the view above and drag with you mouse you can spin the model as in any other CAD-like app.

marcus
 
Hi Marcushh, Thank you for the lovely information. This is very interesting knowledge.

Looking at the example plane The E-flite® Timber(TM) 1.5m
In the editor it shows the Ch10 knob is programed.
How do you find that what is this knob doing? or not doing any thing.
When I turn it's doing nothing
1611136179846.png
 
Dimi said:
example plane The E-flite® Timber(TM) 1.5m
editor it shows the Ch10 knob is programed.
How do you find that what is this knob doing?
View attachment 122833
Click to expand...
The knob is often available, tied to a channel, and not doing anything at all. It can be tied (in the editor) to any number of things. For example, you could tie the knob to the pitch or pan angle of one of the cameras for use on the 3D fields. The "sliders" on the bottom side of the InterlinkDX controller can be used for that also. Sometimes folks like to tie the knob to a pivot point like the flaps. Usually the flaps will be tied to a three position switch with a time delay... which give you normal, take-off, and landing settings. But some folks like to tie the knob to the flaps so that the pivot is continuous and proportional to the knob setting... so, rather than having three flap settings you have variable flaps; although, this isn't usually necessary, nor is it very realistic. To see what parts|pivots are being activated by a particular switch|channel use the physics tab and highlight the part(s) that you are interested in. Look at the inputs, and the conditionals. Some planes have (as an example) the rate switch set on switch (C) for all three axis. Some planes have them split out with the elevator on (C), the ailerons on (F), and the rudder on (G). In the editor you can mix and match these to your liking. On the jets I prefer to have the ailerons on switch (F) with no rate or expo on the elevator and rudder. I always want full elevator and rudder authority, but usually find learning a new jet is easier with a little expo and a low rate on the ailerons.

marcus
 
Thanks for that . how do you go about ting? Say if you want to tie the knob to flaps, how do you do that.
 
My personal preference is to use lots of expo on aileron, elevator and rudder instead of using dual rates. That has the effect of "low rates" for precise control near neutral and full deflection "high rates" when the sticks are moved to extremes. I don't have to flip any switches to "change rates".
 
Dimi said:
Thanks for that . how do you go about ting? Say if you want to tie the knob to flaps, how do you do that.
Click to expand...
Take a look at the Viper, which is already setup that way.

To change a switch, in the editor click on the control that is currently tied to the pivot, and a dropdown list will open up from which you can select a different control (switch, or knob, in this case).

@Bill Stuntz makes a good point about expo. In the field his method is what I use too. I still put them on a switch so I can shut them off, but I use expo to soften the center (flatter curve) but still taking advantage of full stick throw. Low rate flattens the curve in the center too, but with the drawback that it flattens the curve across the entire range (linear curve) instead of (EXPOnential curve).

marcus
 
Sounds very logical. How do you adjust these rates. I am using the InterLink DX, So you have to do it in the editor?
and how
 
Dimi said:
Sounds very logical. How do you adjust these rates. I am using the InterLink DX, So you have to do it in the editor?
and how
Click to expand...
Depends what you're talking about; its a combination of Radio Profile (controller) changes in terms of which inputs are being used in the gamepad, and the physics|radio settings in the editor for the plane in question.
A plane you can look at that has ALL the rates on just one switch is the E-Flite Turbo Timber (blue trim). The 'rate' switch is on (C) controller input channel (5) (Radio Profile) pos0 is 'low' rate for all axis, and pos1 or pos2 is 'high' rate for all axis. It is easy to change this to put the ailerons (say) on switch (F) controller input channel (10).
In the aircraft editor (under radio tab) open the output channel (1) details (for aileron) and click the 'low rates' entry. To the right "Conditional Channel" you will see that channel (5) switch (C) is being used. Click on channel (5) switch (C) and an 'input channel' selection will open up... from there select 'Input Channel 10' switch (F). Then save the model (to a different name) and exit the editor. When you select that aircraft switch (c) will still be the 'rates' switch for elevator and rudder, but now switch (F) will be the 'rates' switch for the ailerons.

marcus
 
Hello There,

thanks for the explanations. I have gone through the tabs of the editor (very overwhelming indeed!). What I was looking for is where to configure (or remove) Flight Modes. Can this be done in the editor as well?

Cheers
 
I have a writeup here about how to add SAFE to any plane in RF. That's probably exactly not what you're trying to do, but reading through it will definitely give you an idea of how the Spektrum Flight Controller is configured within the Aircraft Editor.
 
flightengr said:
I have a writeup here about how to add SAFE to any plane in RF. That's probably exactly not what you're trying to do, but reading through it will definitely give you an idea of how the Spektrum Flight Controller is configured within the Aircraft Editor.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot for the quick answer. I will work it through right away :)
 
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