YOKE ANIMATION

This page goes covers the details related to animating the aircraft yoke(s).

NOTE: the yoke (whether a handle yoke or a steering wheel yoke) is the biggest object in the cockpit, so it needs to be animated on both LOD0 and LOD1, since it will be visible from various camera angles from the exterior of the aircraft.You can also find some extra information related to the yoke animations and the Virtual Reality setup from the following page:

• Yoke/Stick Controls With Hand Gestures 

 

 

Basic Setup (Handle Yoke)

When animating the yoke, we suggest that you use the following naming format, which is the same as that used by the original aircraft models in Microsoft Flight Simulator:

NOTE: Replace N with either 1 or 2 depending on whether it's for the pilot (1) or co-pilot(2).

• Nodes:

  HANDLING_Yoke_N

• Helper:

  HANDLING_YOKE_N_Lever_StickLR
  HANDLING_YOKE_N_Lever_StickForeAft

• Buttons - If you have switch, button or knob on the yoke:

  HANDLING_Yoke_N_[BUTTON/SWITCH]_UpDown

 

Next you'd set up your yokes/sticks to have the following two animations:

• One horizontal animation that moves the stick left to right, or that rotates the yoke left to right to actuate the ailerons (roll the aircraft).
• One vertical animation that moves the stick/yoke forward to aft (front to back) and actuates the elevator (pitch).

 

Both these animations have to be animated over 5 frames:

Frame	Left /Right Position	Forward/Backward Position
0	Default (Center) Position
1	Left Position	Forward Position
2	Default (Center) Position
3	Right Position	Back Position
4	Default (Center) Position

 

 

Note that when you export the animation, you will only be exporting the frames 1 - 3, and these should be added into the relevant animation groups, for example:

 

 

Steering Wheel Yoke

When your yoke has a steering wheel on it, you need to do a little extra work. To start with you'll need to set up the basic yoke animation as outlined in the section above, however you will also need to animate the wheel itself. The table below shows the frames for the wheel rotation, based on the vertical movement of the yoke handle:

Frame	Wheel Rotation	Forward/Backward Position
0	Default (Center) Position
1	-90°	Forward Position
2	Default (Center) Position
3	+90°	Back Position
4	Default (Center) Position