Lightwave 10.1 collada vehacle

#1 you have to make a scene with the vehicle in it, and export from Layout not modeler.

All nodes for the hubs etc will have to be added / setup in the T3D Shape Editor.

the following pretty much applies to any dynamic object, ie player/vehicle/ or any object that has bones.

Setup the Hierarchy in the Scene Editor <ctrl + F1>..

Create a null object as a root node and move all layers / bones as children of root null.

to get bone animation working, select a bone and press 'p' for the properties.
In the 'Use bones from object' dropdown select the root null object you made earlier.
Do the same for any/all of the bones/layers that are to be effected by bones.

Note:- for the bone properties box to open for layers/objects you need to select a bone first then press 'p' then select the layer/object you want to edit.

Hope that helps.

Edit:-
"All nodes for the hubs etc will have to be added / setup in the T3D Shape Editor." <<----- I was probably talking a load of C%^& here.
Thnking about it hub nodes etc will probably just be bones named correctly.
But i've never made a vehicle with suspension (The've all been carts and catapults and things that don't require it), so i've always just done it in T3D

#2 so I don't need to make the nodes in Lightwave

#3 "so I don't need to make the nodes in Lightwave "
u can make(actually adding) them in shape editor.

not sure but making them in lightwave will not do any problem.

#4 didn't work

#5 You still having problems with this?

At what point does it not work?
Does the model import into T3D at all?

#6 yes, I am still having issues. The wheelchair is showing up, but falling backward and fell through the ground. Can you write down the nodes?

#7 Sorry about the delay's in replying, the email notification doesn't seem to be working :(


in the image you can see the hierarchy of a catapult.
The nodes with a BN_ prefix are bones/joints created in lightwave.

The only vehicle specific nodes I have are the Hub nodes - hub0 to hub3

the wheels should not be there, I add wheels from the default buggy (renamed to CatapultTire) as in the onAdd function below:-

function Catapult::onAdd(%this, %obj)
{
   echo("################################################################################");
   echo("########################## Catapult On Add !!! #################################");
   echo("################################################################################");
   Parent::onAdd(%this, %obj);

   %obj.setWheelTire(0,CatapultTire);
   %obj.setWheelTire(1,CatapultTire);
   %obj.setWheelTire(2,CatapultTire);
   %obj.setWheelTire(3,CatapultTire);

   // Setup the car with some tires & springs
   for (%i = %obj.getWheelCount() - 1; %i >= 0; %i--)
   {
      %obj.setWheelPowered(%i, true);
//      %obj.setWheelSpring(%i, CheetahCarSpring);
   }

   // Steer with the front tires
   %obj.setWheelSteering(0, 0);
   %obj.setWheelSteering(1, 0);
   %obj.setWheelSteering(2, 1);
   %obj.setWheelSteering(3, 1);
   %obj.playThread(0,idle);
   %obj.setMeshHidden("cat:BoulderLOD",true);
   %obj.ammoLoaded=false;
   %obj.fireStrength=5;
}

#8 and where it say's // Steer with the front tires
thats wrong because it actually steers with the rear tires :p

#9 What did you do in Lightwave, can you send me a screen shot

#10 it looks as if I did create the hub nodes in lightwave, see the BN_BLWheel, BNBRWheel, BN_FLWheel and BN_FRWheel bones, it's all coming back to me, I renamed them in T3D to be hub0, hub1, etc


Edit:- changed picture to better show scene editor

#11 I've emailed you a zip containing the lightwave, dae export, and cached dts files