4Wheeler ext ist not driving forward any more

[gotoxy]

Hi,

I just set up a normal scene with 4 Wheeler extended in Maya 2009 x64 (CDT ver. 8.1.17).
Scaled the car rig and aligned the wheels to the hiRes model. Then I parent constaint the hires data to the rig.
The car rig is following its target in autonomous mode, a bit of manuel skidding here and there.

On reopening the saved scene the keyframes of the rig are still there, but i can't do an other simulation.
The car is not following its target any more, but the wheels are steering and the rig drops on the collision ground.
Even manual acceleration via input device does not work.

The problem only can be solved by deleting the rig and adding a new one and begin from start.
And sometimes, even after constraining the hires data to the rig, it stops driving.

A strange problem I never had before.

How can we get the problem solved?

Cheers Sven F.

[Carl Buhre]

Hi,

I just set up a normal scene with 4 Wheeler extended in Maya 2009 x64 (CDT ver. 8.1.17).
Scaled the car rig and aligned the wheels to the hiRes model. Then I parent constaint the hires data to the rig.
The car rig is following its target in autonomous mode, a bit of manuel skidding here and there.

On reopening the saved scene the keyframes of the rig are still there, but i can't do an other simulation.
The car is not following its target any more, but the wheels are steering and the rig drops on the collision ground.
Even manual acceleration via input device does not work.

The problem only can be solved by deleting the rig and adding a new one and begin from start.
And sometimes, even after constraining the hires data to the rig, it stops driving.

A strange problem I never had before.

How can we get the problem solved?

Cheers Sven F.

That sounds strange indeed. Do you think you can send us the scene? If so, send it to: support@craftanimations.com

[gotoxy]

Hi Carl,

while studing the forum, I found a post pointing out problems occuring with Maya & references.
Is this fixed in the 9.2 version?

Sven F.

[Carl Buhre]

Hi Carl,

while studing the forum, I found a post pointing out problems occuring with Maya & references.
Is this fixed in the 9.2 version?

Sven F.

Unfortunately not. This error still exists. It's a problem that is going to take some development time to fix so we pushed the fix back in order to get the latest update out now. We're not skipping the problem, it's still very high priority and hopefully we'll be able to have it fixed soon.

[gotoxy]

Hi Carl,

I have another strange sting that is diffrent in the 9.2 version when using the autonomous mode.
It is probably caused by wrong parameter values of the car configuration, but I didn't get the right
config.

I am trying to let the car flollow its target in a distance of 1-2 car lengths (scale is 1:15)
So far so good. But when the target accelerates or slows down the car is 'hopping' like a
beginner in the driving school. The acceleration and slow down is extrmely strong, like the driver hits
the break very strong and immediatelly pushes the gas pedal again. If I increase the Follow Strength Response Factor
the distance to the target is too much. Even on segments with constant speed this hopping occurs.

In the old version 8 it works just fine.


Can You give we some advice to get a smooth movement?

Thanks!

Best Regards
S.F.

[Carl Buhre]

Hi Carl,

I have another strange sting that is diffrent in the 9.2 version when using the autonomous mode.
It is probably caused by wrong parameter values of the car configuration, but I didn't get the right
config.

I am trying to let the car flollow its target in a distance of 1-2 car lengths (scale is 1:15)
So far so good. But when the target accelerates or slows down the car is 'hopping' like a
beginner in the driving school. The acceleration and slow down is extrmely strong, like the driver hits
the break very strong and immediatelly pushes the gas pedal again. If I increase the Follow Strength Response Factor
the distance to the target is too much. Even on segments with constant speed this hopping occurs.

In the old version 8 it works just fine.


Can You give we some advice to get a smooth movement?

Thanks!

Best Regards
S.F.

Hmm, that strange that it works in 8.1 but not in the latest version. Although Craft 4-Wheeler Extended's autonomous mode have been updated in the version of Craft 4-Wheeler Extended that was introduced with 9.2. Have you tried increasing the "Ignore Sphere Radius (length relative)" value instead of changing the Follow Strength?

Otherwise it would be great if you could strip your scene of any sensitive assets and send it to us (support@craftanimations.com) and we'll be able to find what settings you should change.

[gotoxy]

Hi Carl,

scenefile sent.

[Carl Buhre]

I took a look at the scene and the second car had a “Autonomous mode follow strength” value of 5 which is too high. The intended value is between 0 and 1 and if you use values over 2 you often get this jumpy behavior.
I would recommend loading the profile “Autonomous mode – standard” for both cars.

Mainly, to alter the distance that the vehicle keeps from the TargetMesh, change the Ignore Sphere Radius value. If you want the car to follow closely and are using a low Ignore Sphere Radius value but the car still can’t keep up, you can also increase the maximum speed for the car (‘Gas Pedal (Forw/Backw) Maximum’ value).