A rigged fighter aircraft model. It's my own design, but it draws heavily on the F-35, X-29, and Russian Su-47. Drag the various control arrows on their axes to operate the rig.
This was created for a tutorial on CGCookie.com:
NOTE: This model is released CC-BY-NC-SA; it's intended for educational use and may not be used commercially without prior approval from CGCookie.com.
can i use this beautifully modelled work for my game ? ill write your name in the credits under modell artists -> this jet :D would be really asomwe
Glad you like it... thanks! Per my agreement with CGCookie, I can release the model here on Blendswap for any non-commercial use. If you want to use it commercially, however, then you need to obtain permission from them(support@cgcookie.com). Thanks!
I haven't had chance to open this blend yet, but from what i remember this is a really awesome aircraft design. I've seen some of your demonstrations with it and tutorials, it's great to see it released. really appreciated. And including rigging for others to learn from is a great bonus. Thanks
P.s. 2 megabytes, well done on making the file so small
super cool model and rigging. I'm going to do some camera tracking with this baby taking off :)
one crit though... when I started animating it I noticed the rigging is a bit off in the pitch control. the wing pitches up while the tail pitches down and vice versa. that region needs attention/re-rigging
this setup only works in a canard wing concept
That's actually not true.
If you look at [fighters taking off] (http://st.gdefon.com/wallpapers_original/wallpapers/427092_vzlet_bort-avianosca_2000x1312_(www.GdeFon.ru).jpg), they have their flaps down and the horizontal stabilizers are pointing toward the ground.
The horizontal stabilizers are barely used in the air, but they still perform the same function. You can see it slightly in [this high-G turn] (http://www.vistawallpaper.org/vista-wallpapers/high-g-turn.jpg). The reason it isn't more pronounced is that at higher speeds, you get a lot of effect with only a small movement of the control surface.
Ideally, these surfaces would be independently rigged... but I built this for a [tutorial] (http://cgcookie.com/blender/cgc-courses/mechanical-rigging-fighter-jet-blender/), so I chose simplicity over perfection :)
Feel free to improve it and share!
-Chris-
Most modern fighters use both tailerons (That is, a fully moving horizontal stabilizer that has both ganged and differential control for pitch and roll control respectively) and ailerons on the wings exclusively for roll control. Flaps (The control surfaces on the inboard section of the wing's trailing edge) are used to increase the overall lift coefficient of the wing, which is useful at slow speeds such as takeoff and landing where the dynamic pressure is low. These are independent of elevator control, and are almost never done deferentially. And the horizontal surfaces are MOST CERTAINLY used in high speed flight. Their movements might be reduced at higher speeds, however, as they offer a lot more authority; more than the pilot or aircraft could handle.
On some aircraft (The F/A-18 comes to mind) the ailerons are dropped together when the flaps are deployed to their lower position, further increasing lift. The ailerons still function is this condition, though their positions have simply been offset. The elevators may be further up at low speeds, but again, this is independent of flap position; the elevator is merely trimmed for low speed flight.
Flaps may occasionally be used in other flight conditions. For instance, the pilot may make a sudden, large pitch-up command. The flaps may deploy briefly to provide the extra lift to initiate the maneuver, but are then washed out. This is all handled by the control system and is transparent to the pilot. Again, I want to stress that this is due to flight conditions and pilot commands, and not a link between flap and elevator positions.
Wow, this is awesome. I love the rig. I'm planning on using it with some of the new video copilot city footage for a flyover. It should be pretty awesome.
Chris, I've learned a lot just by nosing around your .blend files. I love your earlier tuts. Would love to see more. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for this sharing! Not going to use it anywhere "as is", but it sure can be a lot of learning material for Blender beginner like I am.
OH SHIT THIS IS AWESOME