I remember there was some sort of freeware (kind of trash) FSX add on that demonstrated proof of concept that it was possible to create a “plane” that was actually a model of a person with a workable parachute. While the whole thing was rigid, there was absolutely zero flex, basically the parachute itself was a wing, the cords were rigid, and attached to a 3-D model of a body that was also rigid, it was functional and you could enter first person, pick a spot on the preflight map to start, and then load into the sim, drop out of the sky with the option to hit the flaps button to open the parachute based on a little jump computer they included. It was fairly fun using photo scenery a couple times without VR but given the limitations was like parachuting in second life. Nothing really to write home about.
Because of VR implementation in 2020 it would be fun if someone made an addon that was an upgraded version similar to how I described above. I was in a hot air balloon a few nights ago with my little nephews (which is a paid addon) and it looked amazing in VR just hovering over the scenery floating slowly.
I was just talking to the kids a few minutes ago they asked if they could go in VR in the balloon again, then one mentioned it would be cool if there was a way to jump out of the parachute bay on the Kodiak 100 that I was also teaching them how to fly. It reminded me of that addon in FSX and considering devs are always looking for something different to sell, I figured I would post about the idea here.
I would obviously see if there was any other interest, I wouldn’t want people wasting their time on some thing that wouldn’t sell, but given how the hot air balloon was unique and it turned out to be a pretty interesting experience that I haven’t had in a simulator before, and also showed proof that you could make flexy 3-D models in 2020 (the balloon collapses in on itself when deflated), maybe the parachute might end up working much better, especially when update 11 goes live in a few weeks.
I guess I could always load up vr, go to a set altitude, go into Freelook and then hit down while looking down, but it’s not the same.
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Well, I think the closest you can get now is using the Jet Pack guy by Touching Cloud (JW1 on fs.to). You can fly around, go up high and then hit the gear button (I think it was) to deploy a controllable parachute and float down to land.
It’s not flexible as such but the control is not bad to what you might expect.
Actually jetting around at low altitude with him is really good fun so give it a try. Your nephews will love it, I’m sure! They can be Iron Man or Superman 
As for animating the canvas and cables etc, whilst possible, that can be a tricky thing to get right using physics/dynamics. It’s very complex interactions with inertia and the weather / wind systems ON TOP of the way fabric ripples and affects each connected part — and to make it move in a realistic way would need a lot of “bones” in the model (which would make it quite CPU heavy) and very careful control which has huge potential to visually freak out. Great idea though! It would be something amazing to have multiplayer jumps where you can get in a pattern with your buddies (holding hands) and do some synchronised skydiving before opening the chute 
By the way, I’m 99.9% sure the hot air balloon by HPG is just a pre-baked animation for the inflation/deflation (deflation played in reverse). Not really dynamic in the sense you’re thinking. It’s extremely tricky for computers to manage the kinds of deformation required to make that stuff look accurate on fabric / sheets / flags etc. Probably in the realms of CFD complex if not more so!
I think Unreal Engine has some functions for animating flags waving in the wind, but that is relatively simple with a single “plane” and no connections to larger shapes that also get affected by the movements. Hope someone tries it though!
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Thank you very much for this information, I’m going to go check out that add-on tonight. That should actually do the trick. The older one is ten, the younger one is five. I don’t have the money to take flight lessons never mind money to throw the kids out of a plane, so the sim is the next best thing. I think you’re right, they’re going to find the jet pack a blast.
They both have learned to drive in a SIM, and last night I was watching the 10 year old manually shifting in a mustang better than I did when I owned one years ago. He can land GA on his own and the five year old is almost there as well. The honeycomb alpha and bravo are truly a gift for the price and with msfs (and vr if you can swing it) it’s almost like you are there minus the feedback on the yoke. It’s been an amazing teaching tool with the kids.
We were all promised flying cars when we were young, at least I remember that back in the early 80s. That’s one of the reasons I started flying flight Sims, back in that same time period, because I figured if I was going to have a flying car, I better know how to fly it.
It’s funny how the society our great leaders promised us didn’t exactly turn out how it was originally sold. Anyway, 2020 finally feels out of box like a complete package. Highly recommended. I was one of those diehard sticking with FSX, mainly because of close to $1000 worth of add-ons and an older pc, but I’m really glad I finally made the switch. Hopefully after update 11 they will add seasons, which apparently is in the works, and then I think we’ll be doing pretty well.
Again thanks for the information.
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No worries!!
Let us know if they enjoy it!
I recommend flying around the Alps. Try going from Buochs (LSZC) or pretty much anywhere around there with the beautiful valleys
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Late to the conversation, but Skydiving/Parachuting is one of the things I’ve been poking at as well.
JW1 is pretty cool, does a neat implementation of the parachuting part. Doing CRW would be another level of development, but pretty cool to pull off. Don’t know if it would appeal to many though, just like in real life it was a niche within a niche.
It’s a bit tricky to do the skydiving part due to the SDK limitations around the flight model definition, but I’m playing with some ideas to possibly “fake it” enough to provide a partial experience.
Don’t hold your breath though!
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I’m interested, but good luck simulating this!
(Pictures by me)
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I would be happy having a working ejection seat on some of my military jets.
It’s not even xmas and they’re already wrapping!
I remember being in some of those 
But i already covered that with
I didn’t say it would be easy, or actually possible, to do to a high enough fidelity implementation to be useful, or viable to put in the effort to do the custom flight models needed for it. Given what I’ve looked at so far I think it would be easier to wait for the SDK to come along a bit further, to see if it would make things a little easier. I don’t think there’s any real collision detection to utilise for CRW hook ups anyway given how current MP formation flying works, so that makes it even harder to solve, but maybe not impossible. But a scary chunk of risky work either way.
Wraps, opening, deflations etc are animations, and can be modeled well enough (but not randomly unfortunately atm). See parachute animations max the two images marked 360 for animation examples.
Skydiving/parachuting is unique in the sense that the flight model geometry of the human body/parachute morphs into many possible states, wheras the current SDK CFD implementation is based around a static geometry underlying the aircraft model, which makes sense for the use cases it was designed for but that doesn’t actually cover the full range of aerial use cases.
Ok, I had a light bulb moment.
Cracks fingers, fires up Visual Studio, starts hacking a custom flight model idea…
“I am just going outside and may be some time”.
https://www.englishclub.com/ref/esl/Quotes/Last_Words/I_am_just_going_outside_and_may_be_some_time._2690.php
