University of Hertfordshire

[drholmes1003]

Dear all,

Recently, in University of Hertfordshire we received £250k worth Cruden racing simulator and it seems to use Racer software. So I was given an assignment to find and download a couple of Grand Prix and other tracks, and a few cars, and report back to academics. I seem to struggle to launch Racer on my PC and any associated progs like Pacejka, modeler etc. I would really appreciate some help from website administration and other users on how to start using Racer and all associated software!

Kind regards,
Anton

 

[drholmes1003]

Thanks Dave!

I am not very concerned about nr of polygons at the moment. I just need a rough model of Formula Student car we have. We have a full 3D CAD model. The task is to put it down in Racer as quick as possible in order to practice for FS Germany. What would be the shortest way?

Anton

 

[endo]

If your'e using CATIA you should be able to export your scene as a IGES (*.IGE, *.IGS or *.IGES) and then import the scene into 3DS max.

hopefully that'll work... will be a bit poly heavy being a nurbs object, but i believe you can set the resolution of the polys on import.
Plus if it's only got basic materials and not loads of hi-res textures it shouldnt be a problem, more polys/less smoothing groups are generally cheaper than less polys, loads of smoothing groups and having loads of textures.

 

[drholmes1003]

Thanks a lot! I'll try it.

Another question: I was told by an academic that we have Racer PRO version of the game. Does such thing exist?

 

[Alex Forbin]

Thanks a lot! I'll try it.

Another question: I was told by an academic that we have Racer PRO version of the game. Does such thing exist?

It should be the commercial version that Cruden ships with the motion base. From what I understand it is basically the same with additional support for their motion bases and multi-projector systems. Nice setup.

Alex Forbin

 

[drholmes1003]

Does it affect anyhow the content that has to be created for the game? Or should I create just as for the latest version?

 

[twister77]

Some of these inquiries could be addressed to Ruud, Racer developer, as he is on this forum. But, my question for drholmes1003 is why the University wouldn't simply contract Cruden to incorporate this particular car of interest into your simulator. Just a thought, as this forum mostly deals with the free version. Also, probably none of us here had access to Cruden simulator that your University has..

 

[drholmes1003]

Thanks for a reply twister77!

I suspect they probably did for the first three cars we have - Renault Megane, M3, and F1. The thing is Formula Student competition is voluntary student competition and i think it might be a bit too costy to hire pro's to simulate the vehicle for us each year, as we build every year a new FS car. Therefore it was decided that students should take care of this and learn to model themselves. And this is what I am actually trying to do.

So far, bit by bit, I learned that I have to convert from CAD we have to .IGS or .OBJ file format to open it in Maya or 3DS Max (both are accessible to me). So there I have to texture it. The thing I don't understand is how do I convert, after texturing, .IGS or .OBJ into a bunch of .dof's and .tga's?

 

[drholmes1003]

Here I go again!

I tried importing .IGS to both 3DS Max and Maya, neither of them seemed to be able to open it. I also tried .3dm and, not familiar to me, .tpr and nothing worked. Is there a special addition or a plugin required for Max or Maya to open .IGS?

 

[boomer541]

I use Z-Mod to convert from one format to another, for example I convert .dof files to 3ds Max to allow import into Blender 3D. There are a lot of formats that can be used and will check to see if .igs can be converted to .3ds.

 

[drholmes1003]

Thank you!
It doesn't have to be particularly .3ds. It can be any other 3DS Max and Maya supported formats, like .obj etc. Let me know if anything works!

 

[boomer541]

I got my other computer up and running so I could check out the formats in Z-Mod. The only one that may be of help is lightwave, .lwo files. Sorry if Iv'e wasted your time.

 

[drholmes1003]

No, no, no worries! Thanks for checking anyway!

The question for the forum still is: How to convert CAD solid model to *.3DS, *.OBJ, *.DOF or any other file format, which can be converted to *.DOF afterwards?

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

If .iges didn't work I would suggest .stl. STL is not a format for parametric solids, but for surfaces IIRC. I just tested on my computer and it worked OK exporting from Inventor to 3DS Max 8 (BTW .iges didn't work for me either).


Once you have a model in 3DS and done the mapping you could try the DOF exporting tool for 3DS:
http://www.racedepartment.com/racer/37547-racer-dof-exporter-plugin-for-3ds-max.html



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[Alex Forbin]

Here I go again!

I tried importing .IGS to both 3DS Max and Maya, neither of them seemed to be able to open it. I also tried .3dm and, not familiar to me, .tpr and nothing worked. Is there a special addition or a plugin required for Max or Maya to open .IGS?

Use "Deep Exploration" by Right Hemisphere software. It will read .igs / .iges and Solidedge .par files as well as probably 50 others and will convert between them. It also allows many conversion options, I've used this utility for years and it's great.

Alex Forbin

 

[drholmes1003]

Is it an independent program or a plug-in?

 

[Alex Forbin]

Is it an independent program or a plug-in?

It is independent. You can find info here.... http://www.righthemisphere.com/

Since you are with a school you may want to contact the sales dept. for additional options (free?) at 1.800.720.9809

Alex Forbin

 

[drholmes1003]

Many thanks to Knut Omdal for 3DS Max *.dof export plug-in!
And deep gratitude to Alex Forbin!

This software is amazing! It's not only reading and exporting around 150 CAD and 3D file formats but allows a bit of modelling and animating within itself. Thank you very much again! Now, as I have my model in 3DS Max, exporting to *.dof should not be a problem.

As graphic side of the project will be more or less done within a couple of days, so my next question would be: what programming of the car physics starts with? How to create car.ini? What changes to make in racer.ini to make it realize there is another car present?

Any tips and clues or links would be very much appreciated!
Anton

 

[Alex Forbin]

Many thanks to Knut Omdal for 3DS Max *.dof export plug-in!
And deep gratitude to Alex Forbin!

This software is amazing! It's not only reading and exporting around 150 CAD and 3D file formats but allows a bit of modelling and animating within itself. Thank you very much again! Now, as I have my model in 3DS Max, exporting to *.dof should not be a problem.

As graphic side of the project will be more or less done within a couple of days, so my next question would be: what programming of the car physics starts with? How to create car.ini? What changes to make in racer.ini to make it realize there is another car present?

Any tips and clues or links would be very much appreciated!
Anton

Glad to help Anton.
When you open the car.ini you will see a few lines describing the car, they are pretty obvious in what they do for the most part. There are a couple of things to note however...

car
{
name=Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 <----------- The name displayed in Racer
year=1969
credits=Model & Textures: Cube396 & BigBlock; Racer Adaption: LB, Some1, Outlaw & Cosmo°
comments=v6.11
id=69_camaro_z28
version=090 <---------- VERY important, this MUST say 090 or your car will not work in the newer versions of Racer
wheels=4

As I said earlier the "data/car/default/car.ini" is well documented and is a great place to start learning what does what.

Alex Forbin

 

[Cosmo°]

The Pro version of Racer uses a different version numbering, so 090 might not be the right input. The last time Ruud had left the Pro number in the internet version it was in the range of 140 (numbers should only be offset, Pro is not actually 0.5 versions ahead ). Simplest to do is just enter the version number that corresponds to your actual Racer install, or alternatively look into Qlog.txt to see which version number is required (after a vehicle refuses to load with an old version number).

Some car.ini parameters are a bit oddly named - wheel.mass actually means unsprung corner mass for example. Best thing to do if you want to be certain it does what you think it does is to crosscheck with the official documentation and/or ask here if you can't verify with experimenting alone.

 

[drholmes1003]

Hey guys! Another shout for help! My model has just a frame, a steering wheel and four wheels and the poly counter is already around 900,000. Would it be a problem for Racer application or it's just a casual thing?

Regards,
Anton