# Animating The Elevator<no value>
This page goes through the steps needed to animate the elevator of the aircraft.

 

 

### Basic Animation

To animate the elevator, you'll need to first create a point (generally using the name format `Elevator`), and then place it on the rotational axis of the elevator mesh. Note that the pivot must be aligned with the rotational axis. With that done you can now link the mesh to the elevator bone with the **link** tool![Link Tool Icon](images/3_Models_And_Textures/Aircraft/animations/aileron/icon_link.png).

{{< image-center
    src="images/3_Models_And_Textures/Aircraft/animations/elevator/elevator_1.png"
    alt="The Elevator Mesh Animation Point" >}}

The animation of the elevator is done over 4 frames (0 to3):

<table><thead><tr class="header"><th>Frame</th><th>Position</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr class="odd"><td>0</td><td>Neutral position</td></tr><tr class="even"><td>1</td><td>DOWN  

(20°-25° angle)</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td>2</td><td>Neutral position</td></tr><tr class="even"><td>3</td><td>UP  

(20°-25° angle)</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

 

### Elevator Trim

With elevators, we have another part, detached from the elevator, that also needs to be modeled and animated: the elevator **trim**. To animate it, we use the same process as before - create a helper and place it on the rotational axis and name it something like `TrimElevator`. You then need to link the mesh to the helper `TrimElevator` and then link `TrimElevator` to `Elevator`. By doing this the elevator trim will follow the main elevator.

{{< image-center
    src="images/3_Models_And_Textures/Aircraft/animations/elevator/elevator_2.png"
    alt="The Elevator Mesh Trim Mesh" >}}

 

Under the elevator, we often have other mechanisms or linking cables, as shown in the example image below which has cables connecting the elevator trim:

{{< image-center
    src="images/3_Models_And_Textures/Aircraft/animations/elevator/elevator_3.png"
    alt="Elevator Trim Mechanism" >}}

 

To animate this you'd create two more [PLOT](animations-overview/#PLOT)s and name them `ElevatorTrim_Aux1` and `ElevatorTrim_Aux2`. You would place the first one between the `ElevatorTrim` and the mechanism, and then link that to the `ElevatorTrim` helper. With that done, you would place the second one between the mechanism and the `Elevator` and link that to the `Elevator` helper. Finally you would create a LookAt Constraint between both PLOTs.

{{< image-center
    src="images/3_Models_And_Textures/Aircraft/animations/elevator/elevator_4.png"
    alt="Elevator Trim Mechanism Helpers" >}}