helicopter help please?

[tegleg]

hello

iv made a helicopter and even managed to get the rotor spinning round
now im totaly stumped at how i could detect a collision on the rotor, and not just a collision on the vehicle.
i know how to make it drop to the ground and explode so thats no problem.

any ideas at all?
any avenues i could explore?

thanks

[Whitenorthstar]

I guess this is for Ur plug and play helicopter, super!

Just a thought mate, I know Ur more experienced than me and maybe I'm being a bit basic, but isn't a spinning high-speed rotor fairly resource-intensive?

I used a transparent (but solid) disk on top of a helicopter, and just rotated the material: it looks just fine and solves Ur collision issue too. If U like, I'd be happy to post the material for U (its from a couple of months ago, a proof of concept, if I can find it).

anyway, just a thought, for what it's worth

[tegleg]

yes it will be a plug n play helicopter, im building up to a vehicle pack
the cicada spins the mesh for the rotors and im using the exact same method, so i guess if epic thinks its ok, its ok. doesnt seem to effect fps or anything.

how does using a material solve the collision?
i want it so if the rotor touches a wall or something the heli will plummet to the floor and explode, i just need that initial rotor collision event.

i guess theres going to be some hardcore mad skills involved in this so i might just release it without this function and do an update later.

edit:
another thing i cant suss is the turret rotation if anyone can help with that?
if i copy the cicada turret on the anim tree, the turret points in 1 direction, doesnt matter where the view or heli is pointing.
how can i make it point where your looking?

[Whitenorthstar]

A vehicle pack, beautiful

But, afaik, the Cicada rotor is a fancy material on a solid disc, the Manta too, and the materials vary their rotation speeds a bit depending on certain inputs. Please correct me if I'm wrong though.

Helicopter blades spin so quickly that you can safely state in your script if Ur solid disc touches a solid object, crash the 'copter. Just like the Cicada, generate an explosion, swap in your destroyed mesh and the Cicada code will make it fall from the sky (but U know all this from Ur flying elephant anyway).

[tegleg]

thanks for trying to help me out here
i know the manta uses a material but cicada really looks like a mesh, it is a mesh i just looked.
manta has a socket where the material is attached.
cicada totates a bone with a mesh skinned to it (as far as i can tell)

so anyway how is this used?
what makes it a different collision from the vehicle mesh?

[Whitenorthstar]

Thanks, Ur being polite, as U know I don't know enough to really help U! Maybe Ur right about the Cicada, I looked at the Manta mostly when doing mine.

That's a great question about a different collision event for the blade.

I was wondering much the same thing when asking about weak spots in a vehicle (fuel tank, driver, engine). The answer I got was from the forum was to set up a bone/bones in the key spots, and use the shot's (or, in Ur case, collision) distance from the bone. The distance then determine what event (take damage or explode).

As U'll understand, I'm talking very loosely and conceptually, because I haven't taken it farther than this myself

[tegleg]

heres a beta version if youd like a go (very rough).
if anyone can help sort the turret that would be awesome (geodav?)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4685265/Tegleg_VH_Hei.zip

[TheAgent]

try getting the turret rotation from the scorpion!

[tegleg]

yes i tried copying the scorpion too, dont work

[Whitenorthstar]

and here's the discussion on vehicle weak points:

http://forums.epicgames.com/showthre...damage+vehicle

[TheAgent]

is there a base code that maybe all the rotations are set? i havent checked the code but like cicada_base?

[tegleg]

thanks for the links

no i cant see a cicada_base or anything
its based on utairvehicle
it must be something in the animtree thats not right

[AlbinoWarrior]

Use a trace for the blades.

[Jcaulton]

I would use an emitter for your blades. Just a thought.

[AlbinoWarrior]

Using an emitter would make a good effect but does not solve the collision issue. Using a trace to detect collision on the blades allows him to call whatever function he wants from it depending on what the blades hit.