posted 03-04- 06:49 PM               

I've got most of the plane I am working on completed in AC3D and am in the process of trying to set it up in OPStudio. In AC3D I am selecting a wing (which I have already merged into one object) and trying to export to a ASC format. When I do this, I get the message "There is no namelist object can't export" or I'll get a generic error message about reporting the problem to the program author. I can export to LOD with no problems.. Am I even doing this the right way? Directions for exactly what to do here are hard to come by.

Also, is there any way to pan the 3D screen in AC3D? It's a pain to have to move the entire model to focus on a certain area in the 3D window.

Finally, is there a way to 'force' vertexes back onto the common grid? If I stretch an object, vertexes in the middle become unaligned with the current grid setting, and it makes it difficult to link other polys up to them.

Thanks!

posted 03-04- 07:08 PM               

To focus the view in 3d on the part you want, select an object and the click on "fit selection." (It took me four months to realize that the fit selection worked in 3d as well as the orthographic views.)

On reading over your post again, I'm not sure I understand exactly what you tried to do, so I'll add this tip as well. Don't merge a mesh with an object already in the aircraft heirarchy. Instead, duplicate the object you want to merge something with, then merge the object with the new mesh and finally swap your new merged object with the original object. If you merge something with an object that's already part of the asc structure, you will screw up the heirarchy and the asc export will produce a mess.

[This message has been edited by Michael (edited 03-04-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Michael (edited 03-04-2000).]

posted 03-06- 04:28 AM               

When I go back to OPStudio, I cannot import any LODs at all. Here is what I do exactly:

I click on an existing plane part in the main window to highlight it, copy it, and paste to the top of the heirarchy in the left window. The copied part then appears. I highlight the newly copied part and from the Object menu, choose 'Import LOD mesh' and choose the appropriate LOD. I then get a Select Object window that is empty save for the buttons. If I choose OK or select All, I get a bunch of "XX" has no imported matrix messages and I go back to the view window with nothing added. If I choose cancel, it appears to abort the action.

I have tried pasting into other parts of the heirarchy as well as using already existing LODs that I haven't touched, just to be sure I am exporting correctly, and I get the same thing every time. There was ONE time, where the LOD I created did appear, and I have no idea how I did it. It followed a long series of failed attempts to get it in there, and I'm guessing there is a step I'm missing that I must have 'accidentally' performed when it did appear.

Any suggestions?

posted 03-07- 10:38 PM               

Extract the .lods of your placeholder. Then open AC3D, and import the part you want to replace. THEN, with the part visible but NOT selected in AC3D, import the replacement part from your new pieces. Move the part to the same position in AC3D as the old part. Hide the old part.

Now, export the NEW part as a .lod, but give it the NAME of the OLD part, and export it into the placeholder aircraft .lod file folder. Now use builder to "reassemble" the placeholder aircraft, and open it up in OPS.
You should see your new part where the old one was, and be able to move it. Also, it will retain all the properties of the OLD part, so you don't have to put those in from scratch.

Same basic steps, just a different order. What I do is just import the actual part from the placeholder plane, modify it in AC3D, and then export it right back to its original place. Even parts you build from scratch, like, say, a new cowling, can simply be grafted on to an existing fuselage .lod from the placeholder aircraft, saving you from having to create a new child .lod.

Much easier to work from an existing plane IMO