Howto:Animated jetways (Type 1): Difference between revisions

=Usage=

'''Note that when TerraSyncing an airport, you have to tell [[FlightGear]] to load the new jetway models. To do this, set the <tt>/sim/paths/use-custom-scenery-data</tt> property to "true" in [[FGRun]]. Command-line users, use the <tt>--prop:/sim/paths/use-custom-scenery-data=true</tt> switch.'''

First determine if the jetway is clickable and is animated. To do this, press Ctrl-C. If the polygons of the jetway are outlined in yellow, then it is indeed animated.

Now align your airliner so that the nosegear is centered on the marking line and is directly over the "T" at the end of it. Click the jetway; if your aircraft does not include the required positioning information, you'll get a tooltip informing you that the jetway cannot be extended. Otherwise, the jetway should begin to position itself and eventually connect to your aircraft. Congratulations!

=Implementation=

==For aircraft developers==

Here's the positioning information for the Boeing 777-200ER. Note the <tt>&lt;jetway2-pos&gt;</tt>, which describes positioning information for the second jetway.

The following will describe how to get these values. I will be using [[Blender]] for this purpose, but any 3D modeling program that can read [[AC3D]] files will suffice.

First, open up your 3D modeling suite and import one of the jetway models. They are located at <tt>(TerraSync directory)/Models/Airport</tt>, and are available through [[TerraSync]] or the [http://scenemodels.flightgear.org/modelbrowser.php?shared=7 Airport section of the FlightGear Scenery Database model directory] (look for "jetway-movable.xml," "jetway-movable-2.xml," or "jetway-movable-3.xml").

Now import your aircraft model (in this case, I am using [[User:Gijs|Gijs']] [[Boeing 747-400]]). Align it with the marking line as if you were piloting it.

Now select the following objects: Tunnel2, Tunnel3, Rotunda2, Entrance, and Hood. Move them along their X axis until you think you have the correct length to extend the jetway. ''(Hint: You can always "retract" the jetway by moving these objects by a negative value!)''

Now select the following objects: Tunnel1Rotunda, Tunnel1, Tunnel2, Tunnel3, Rotunda2, Entrance, and Hood. Rotate them along the Z axis with the center of axis being at 0,0,0 (X,Y,Z) until the jetway's movable rotunda is a couple meters or so away from the aircraft. In Blender, I could simply move my cursor to 0,0,0 and set the rotation pivot to cursor mode. The procedure will be different depending on what 3D modeling software you are using, of course. You may have to undo this step if you find that you extended the jetway too much or too little in the previous step.

Now, undo all transformations you have done to the jetway until it is in the same state as it was when you imported it. Select the following objects: Tunnel1, Tunnel2, Rotunda2, Entrance, and Hood. Rotate them along the Y axis with the center of axis being at 1.5,0,4 until the entrance of the jetway aligns with the door of the aircraft vertically. Use the value you rotated the jetway at as your <tt>&lt;y-rot&gt;</tt> value ''(note: the values should be inverted, so if you rotated the jetway along its Y axis -2 degrees to get it 2 degrees up, you should use 2 instead of -2)''.

Finally, we have one last value to fill in: <tt>&lt;hood-rot&gt;</tt>. It simply specifies how much the jetway's hood should extend itself by rotation. You can simply use some common sense here: obviously, this would be something along the lines of 0 for jumbo jets and 5 for a Boeing 737-like aircraft. Be careful not to set this value to something too high, otherwise the hood will appear to detach itself from the jetway!

Eventually, you should end up with an <tt>&lt;aircraft&gt;</tt> tree that resembles the examples above. Load up your aircraft in-game and taxi to an animated jetway. Click it, and hope everything works well!

The procedure for utilizing a second or third jetway is essentially the same. The only difference is that some center of axis coordinates need to be changed (i.e., rotating the entire jetway by its Z axis from point 18,-5,0 instead of 0,0,0.

==For scenery developers==

Simply place a <tt>Models/Airport/jetway-movable.xml</tt> wherever you want- note that the origin of the jetway models are always at the terminal rotunda of the first jetway. You can download the movable jetway models through [[TerraSync]] or from [http://scenemodels.flightgear.org/modelbrowser.php?shared=7 the Airport section of the FlightGear Scenery Database model directory] (look for "jetway-movable.xml," "jetway-movable-2.xml," or "jetway-movable-3.xml").

==For scenery modelers==

The default animated jetway design is very common throughout the world, and found in practically all major United States airports. If you wish to create your own style though (i.e. glass jetways), then the simplest method would be to retexture one of the default animated jetways and copy the contents of its XML file (but change the <tt>&lt;path&gt;</tt>, of course).

You could create an entirely different jetway model, but you must keep the object names the same, and everything in the '''exact''' same location. Copy the contents of the XML file for one of the default animated jetways (but change the <tt>&lt;path&gt;</tt>, of course).

=External links=