New axis group mode

[KerikBalm]

Right now we have 2 modes, absolute, and incremental.

Incremental will increase or decrease a value as long as it is pressed. Absolute is basically on/off for most keyboard commands or locked to the throttle %.

I'd like to make a quadcopter controlled the way quad copter drones are, that is only by motor torque. If I want to pitch down, the torque on the rear motors torque should go up, and the front motors torque should go down. Similar for roll left or right. Yaw is accomplished by increasing/decreasing torque on diagonal pairs of clockwise/counterclockwise rotating rotors...

The problem is that there is no good way to set this up with axis groups. If I use incremental settings, it acts like trim, a pitch forward input will keep pitching forward, because the front motor torque remains reduced, and the rear rortor torque remains increased. Its very hard to fly like this (after every control input, I have to hold down a key to return all rotors to 100% torque, then readjust total torque as needed).

Meanwhile, absolute is incompatible with input mixing (a single rotor needs to respond to pitch, roll, and yaw inputs), and seems to cap rotor torque at 50% when no key is pressed.

We should have a temporary mode (absolute or incremental), where when a key is pressed, the part responds, but:

a) If its in absolute: it does nothing if the key is not pressed (instead of defaulting to 50%, and over riding other settings)

b) If its in incremental: it resets to the value it was before as soon as the key is not pressed.

I think this would also be useful for using servos to make elevons and such.

It would certainly help control of quad copters (right now I basically use a bunch of reaction wheel parts for low speed control, I'd rather not).

 

Or am I missing a way to make a quadcopter that flies well by varying motor torque?

[Atlessa]

I second this wholeheartedly, although my application was steering a rover by having a hinge between the front and rear half, and steering set to 'off' on all wheels.

Something like this:

 

Letting go of the button should allow the hinge to return to the 'default' value, while holding, in my case, J or L would deflect it towards the left or right.  With the way hinges work currently, it's virtually impossible to have this thing drive straight once the hinge has moved a little bit in either direction.

[Redacted]

 

What we need is a “momentary“ mode, where the variable increases at a user predefined rate, then snaps back to defaults when the keyboard control input ceases. For joysticks, the “rate of change” / “prop attack angle” /  “hinge deflection” could be defined by the amount of stick defection etc.

Anyone know of a modder who would be up to taking this challenge?

Edited October 19, 2019 by Redacted