JT-5B autogyro -Release

[mr_no]

Happy FlightGear 15th Anniversary!

Here's a little gift:
JT-5B autogyro
This is the Alpha 0.8 release!!
Enjoy and tell me what you think.

DOWNLOAD
http://www.mediafire.com/?1nrekuprtjcmnb8

[mr_no]

More about autgyros read here.

Example flight with this aircraft.

[someguy]

Thanks for the beta release! I was having no luck at all...until I realized my custom joystick file saw it as a heli, and was reversing the throttle as a collective. Pesky little bugger just refused to take off at idle.

The Help file specifies rotor RPM. Is there any way to see RPM beside opening a property tree window?

[mr_no]

One way to know how fast the rotor is spinning during spin up is to listen to the sound or watch if blade has turned transparent.

The RPM can be seen in HUD.

[mr_no]

Here's a few screenshots.

[sa7k]

I was gonna ask about it as I saw you flying it online. Thanks!
Can't wait to try it!

[Groucho]

Took it for a (very short) spin today. The most annoying thing is the lack of cabin transparency which makes it hard to fly. I hate flying something from the outside view so it spoiled my flight a lot as well as the lack of working instruments. I am simply not used to it

Besides the handling felt good and real as far as I could tell in 5 minutes (start, taxi, spoolup, takeoff and level flight) and complies with the experience I got with autogyro flying so far.
Due to the aforementioned issues I would love to try a version which is flyable from inside with working instruments so I can give a more accurate opinion.

As a side note the JT-5B is an old model and while you are at it I suggest to do the DF02 which is based on the same design but with more modern technology behind: See http://www.rotortec.de

I am wondering which FDM is lying behind it. Did you use the existing hornet FDM?

Anyway, good starting point.

[Groucho]

Took it for a (very short) spin today. The most annoying thing is the lack of cabin transparency which makes it hard to fly.

Just noted the reason- it misses the Effects/model-transparent.eff file which is present in the FGFS GIT fgdata but in stock 2.8.
After copying the file from a GIT version it now works.

[mr_no]

Thanks for the comment.
The hornet was a starting point but I had to redo and learn everything, with countless hours of experiments. The
asymmetric blade NACA8H12 that gyros use was extremely difficult to produce in yasim.

As you noticed I added a special effect to the transparent areas so that those would work with Rembrandt.
You're using FlightGear older than 2.8.
Please read "FG_Versions_Readme.txt" to make the aircraft work for you.

Code: Select all

FlightGear Versions Readme
--------------------
For aircraft to work properly in versions under 2.8 do the following.

For FlightGear v2.6:
1.Delete 2.8 section in Aircraft\JT-5B\Models\JT-5B.xml
    Begins with line "<!-- only for 2.8 and up-->"
    Ends with line "<!-- end 2.8 section-->"
2.Delete 2.8 section in Aircraft\JT-5B\Models\Effects\shadow.xml
    Begins with line "<!-- only for 2.8 and up-->"
    Ends with line "<!-- end 2.8 section-->"

For FlightGear v2.4 or older:
1.Delete everything mentioned for FG v.2.6.
2.Delete 2.6 section in Aircraft\JT-5B\JT-5B-base.xml
    Begins with line "<!-- only for 2.6 and up-->"
    Ends with line "<!-- end 2.6 section -->"

Enjoy.

[mr_no]

If I decide to make another gyro one of future candidates would be Calidus.
http://www.auto-gyro.com/en/Calidus/
It's a nice two seater.

[Gijs]

What about the PAL-V? Not just interesting because it is a Dutch design, but because it is a roadable gyro
Anyhow, finish the JT first would be best of course.

[fredb]

As you noticed I added a special effect to the transparent areas so that those would work with Rembrandt.
You're using FlightGear older than 2.8.
Please read "FG_Versions_Readme.txt" to make the aircraft work for you.

Code: Select all

...

You should come up with a solution that works in all versions and all renderer with select animations testing property /sim/rendering/rembrandt/enabled

[mr_no]

I tested something like that already. It didn't work then. I'll test again.

[F-JJTH]

You should come up with a solution that works in all versions and all renderer with select animations testing property /sim/rendering/rembrandt/enabled

I have also tested this solution but it doesn't work since the property /sim/rendering/rembrandt/enabled doesn't exist in FG 2.6, 2.4, 2.0 ...
In this way, when we use the <condition> tag to test if the property is true or false it doesn't work.

Personally I have decided to create 2 different versions : 1 version for non-rembrandt rendering and 1 version for rembrandt rendering.
Also I noticed that a lot of difference are needed between rembrandt and non-rembrandt rendering and particulary about the materials setting for 3D model. For example : if you use light provided by rembrandt you need to adjust the shininess and specular setting in order to have the best render when the light is on.

You can see here the difference between material I have done for the DR400-jsbsim :
Non-rembrandt version : https://gitorious.org/paf/fgdata/blobs/ ... 5/kx165.ac
Rembrandt version : https://gitorious.org/paf/fgdata/blobs/ ... 5/kx165.ac

As you can see the materials setting are different in order to have the best render for each versions (rembrandt/non-rembrandt)

I hope to help you with the "experience report"

Cheers,
Clément

[mr_no]

But that's not the only problem with different versions.
You see "flight recorder" doesn't work on 2.4 or older. Not only that it crashes the whole aircraft base file too, so you can't see it in the list at all. This is why I chose to write instructions for users, while my aircraft as it is works in 2.8 in any rendering.