Archive: 18 posts

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Basically all I want to do is make a system that detects how fast a wheel is spinning and translate that to a speedometer needle. I want the speedometer to have a limited angle so it doesn't go 360 degrees. Any ideas on how to do this? And is it also possible to do this as a HUD?

2009-01-02 13:50:00 Author: Unknown User

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The only way I can think of speed being measured is by attaching a bit of material (wood or whatever) to either a wobble bolt or some elastic, attaching a magnetic key to the material and using various switches to see how far the material is pulled by the intertia from the vehicle's movement. Speed should translate fairly easily into different switches being activated. I'm not sure if that could translate into a decent speedometer though, maybe a wheel with different speeds and lights showing the current switch active? To set it on a HUD you'd probably have to have it just follow the player. I think the enemy tutorial covers that.

2009-01-02 16:55:00 Author: AtheistSeaOtter Posts: 54

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for the needle, i suggest wobble bolt + flipper

2009-01-02 17:07:00 Author: DRT99 Posts: 431

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My understanding is that a motor bolt set to on off will only go at one speed. There is no "slow" or "fast", even with a 3 way switch. A speed setting I think will make it go faster as long as the switch is active. Rockets will also get faster the longer they travel unimpedded. But... you don't have to give an exact reading on the speed. Just say it's going fast and people will likely believe you if you roughly are. If you wanted to get a rough speedometer, I suspect a wobble bolt on speed setting will not actually do the job, as it just means it will go back and forth faster and faster, which is not what a speedometer does. I can't think of any easy way, apart from having some external visual thing, like a block every 20 big grid, to show that you are going faster. Note as well, you could have the same background "measuring thing" start out a fair distance away from each other, and have them get closer and closer as the vehicle moves along. Then it will give the illusion of going faster when in fact it's going at the same speed. The eyes do weird things like that. But yeah, I suggest making a visual speedo that's not related to the actual speed. People won't know the difference.

2009-01-02 17:55:00 Author: Elbee23 Posts: 1280

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I was thinking of something like a rectangular hole that a magnetic key slides left and right in, and the key being attached to a contracting spring. That way simulated g forces might pull the spring and the magnetic key switch can measure proximity to the key. Maybe that would work to measure the magnitude of acceleration since vehicles tend to accelerate faster as they gain speed. I'm not sure how that would translate to a needle though. Maybe a loose motor bolt with blocks on each side to limit the angle? This is a hard concept to imagine.

2009-01-02 18:06:00 Author: Unknown User

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Alright, I've given this some thought and will try to explain using highly technical MS Paint diagrams. Alright, if you look at the picture I have a 'wheel' with an optional amount of magnetic keys along hte permiter, this bolt will move as the car moves, maybe even it could be the wheel. The key switch on top of it will be set to "direction" and linked to a wobble bolt forming a speedometer, the faster the wheel on the left goes, the more the speedometer will be in the other direction. It'll wobble/cooldown a little bit but that might even look more convincing.

2009-01-02 18:12:00 Author: Foofles Posts: 2278

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Won't that just make the needle wobble faster and faster in one spot? Maybe if you had more keys to move right then left, then the faster the wheel spins the more the needle would move to the right.

2009-01-02 18:24:00 Author: Unknown User

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the faster the wheel spins the more the needle would move to the right. That is exactly what would happen... I use a very similar mechanic in one of my levels where you have to keep shooting at a target to extend a platform. So when the wheel's going very fast the needle would be all the way to the right, the amount of magnetic keys and the speed setting of the wobble bolt would depend on the maximum speed and size of the car wheels.

2009-01-02 18:28:00 Author: Foofles Posts: 2278

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For all the hastle.. is it really worth it? =

2009-01-02 19:11:00 Author: Pinchanzee Posts: 805

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For all the hastle.. is it really worth it? = I wouldn't judge that, presentation goes a long way!

2009-01-02 19:14:00 Author: Foofles Posts: 2278

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Pinchanzee, I'm probably one of the first (if not the first) to think of an idea like this! In my opinion I think it's worth the trouble. I should do some testing. Update: I've done a few hands on experiments and this is what I have so far: http://i44.tinypic.com/jl5t8o.jpg So basically I took Foofles's idea and attached the sensor wheel to a loose motor bolt. I let gravity keep the arrow down. I had in mind that the bolt would jerk in increments (since the switch is set to on/off), and if it's jerking fast enough it would eventually make its way up the scale. Unfortunately the physics for a loose bolt aren't realistic enough for this to work. The bolt either grabs the arrow, turns it, then lets it fall once it tips or doesn't grab it at all. The line between moving and not moving is too fine for this method. And even if this worked, once it got vertical gravity would pull it back down to the other side and keep it there. Maybe I can tweak the sensor wheel to switch directions more often for the right rather than the left. But then once the car slowed down I would have to find a way to move the arrow back to its normal position. Anyone have any suggestions?

2009-01-02 19:36:00 Author: Unknown User

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Sounds interesting, looking good there. I can't think of any suggestions though

2009-01-02 23:24:00 Author: Defaultsound Posts: 137

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Hmm I see some flaws in my initial approach, tell you what, I'll fire LBP right now and edit in an update to this post when I come up with something. UPDATE 1: First of all, there should be a logic AND gate (2 pistons end on end or whatever you do for it) so that the speedometer only moves when the car is "on"... or something like that... I'll rough up something and take some low res ingame shots >.>

2009-01-03 00:24:00 Author: Foofles Posts: 2278

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Sounds good, but why would you need an AND switch? The speedometer will measure the speed of the car whether you have the motor engaged or not.

2009-01-03 01:17:00 Author: Unknown User

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Well I realized something, if the wheel stops on a magnetic key then the speedometer would eventually read full even if the car is motionless... check out the photos below. What I have going on is an and switch, with one piston going in the direction when all car mechanics should be on (in this case I have a grab switch on a sponge), and the other piston being linked to the BLUE magnetic key switch. The switch on the AND bit is set to direction. The yellow key on the car, for the purposes of this demonstration, is to power a magnetic key switch set to speed. In the first shot you see the initial position, second shot we're starting to gain some speed, third shot is when the vehicle has already gone as far as the magnetic key switch would let it and is at final resting position, and the 4th is at full throttle right next to the switch.

2009-01-03 01:45:00 Author: Foofles Posts: 2278

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I think I see what you're doing. Since the AND switch determines direction, then the needle will move to the right when you grab the sponge and move to the left when you let go? This would simulate the car slowing down. Can you capture the object and send it to me? My PSN is Crashdance22.

2009-01-03 04:56:00 Author: Unknown User

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UPDATE: I made something completely different that I'm rather proud of, will post pics in a second. OK Just completely erased this post because I made something totally different that I really like and might even use the concept in one of my own levels. If you'll look at the pics, you'll see my ugly little car It has a 3 way switch that controls the direction of a piston on the left, this piston controls the speed of the car. the piston on the right is a logical AND switch, the sensor wheel keys must match up AND the car throttle piston must not be at the bottom for the speedometer to work. the way I have it, the speedometer follows pretty well the current throttle of the vehicle. If anyone else is interested I'll gladly send it! If you do use my technology in your creations, I kindly ask that I get a mention, though

2009-01-03 05:44:00 Author: Foofles Posts: 2278

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Looks great Foofles! I can't wait to see it up close. Do you mind sending it to me?

2009-01-03 15:19:00 Author: Unknown User

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