As a long time Virtual Sailor user/idea contributor this thread caught my attention (well... once it said "Sailing Ships..." in the subject). In fact I've been toying with the idea of attempting to make my own cross-platform sailing simulator for several years. I had thought about using FG as a starting point but more recently I decided Delta3d would suit my needs better. But then again I'm primarily a Perl programmer and it's all vaporware at this point! If there is any movement in this direction I'd be more than happy to help. I'd gladly convert any of my Virtual Sailor boats for use and probably build anything needed. (See www.static-lift.net for examples.) But I do think that wave action upon a boat is THE key to a sailing/boating/ship simulator. Let's face it, regardless of the motive power of the vessel (I too, had downloaded the original Surprise program with the intent of porting it over to Linux), moving up, down, across and through waves is the defining factor of ma ritime travel.
--jeff > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Steve Hosgood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], "FlightGear developers discussions" > <flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net> > Subject: Re: [Flightgear-devel] Sailing Ships (was Re: Tides in FlightGear?) > Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 09:49:04 +0100 > > > GWMobile wrote: > > > What about changing the aerodynamic computation so they take > > place based on radius from the earth and at what would be sea > > level change the air density to that of water. > > Then any object below sealevel "flys under those equations. It > > would allow for surface ships and submarines. > > > > And load in the whole terrain map of the world including all > > bathespheric data > > > > > > > > I'd considered this, but I don't have the knowledge of hydraulics > necessary to try and "parameterise" a ship's behaviour to suit (say) > jsbsim. I think we'd need to spend some time running model hulls through > water tanks or flumes if we were ever to gain that sort of data, and > that means waiting until some Ph.D ship design students fancy getting > into the project! > > I'm thinking more modestly for now, i.e take Peter Davis's "surprise" > FDM as a starting point. It doesn't handle any of the flotation aspects > of a ship - just assumes the ship is at water level (which is OK until > you want to try handling behaviour in waves). Davis's sim basically > deals with thrust on sails up masts at various heights with yardarms set > at given angles. Oh, and a rudder of course. It does consider heeling > though, and in a true "FDM" for a ship I believe a heeled-over hull (as > long as it is moving) is a significant contribution to being able to > steer the thing. I've not dug in deep enough to see if Davis deals with > heeling effects using real data or just fudge-factors. > > Either way, I think it'll be OK for a starter. > > FG's world model doesn't even need bathymetric data to start with. > Basically you could get away with "if (ship within 50m of land) then > you've run aground;" as a starting point. Worry about bathymetrics > *after* getting the rest of it to work. > > But you're right about submarines of course. They do fly in the water. > Boats are the special case. > Steve. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Flightgear-devel mailing list > Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel > -- _______________________________________________ Surf the Web in a faster, safer and easier way: Download Opera 8 at http://www.opera.com Powered by Outblaze _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
