How to do: Props (Gauges, Pedals, Handbrake) | For Modders

This is a guide for Modders
It will show you how to make props, things like:
- Gauges
- Engine Pulleys
- Pedals
- Steering wheels
- Any other moving part that Isn't physically grouped by Jbeam
- Light flares

Blender Prep

First things first, you need a model for the prop.
In this case, I will be making a speedometer, but this applies to all types of needles.



Once you have it in blender, we need to get the origin for the model in the center where its supposed to spin from.



Now that it spins around correctly and is in proper position, we will start with prepping it as a prop.
Using the XYZ view ball at the top right of the screen, make it flat and pointing straight back on the y axis.
Make sure its flush and flat on all axis depending on what you are basing the car on, it will either need to point straight back or straight up. to check you can just load the the dae of whatever car you are basing your mod on and set the needle rotation to 0 degrees.
(Incase you are making your own vehicle from scratch, just make it point straight back and just make it rotate around the Z axis)



Now save the rotation values by clicking CTRL + A and make sure the export the model as a dae when you are done with all this

Getting It ingame

Open the Interior Jbeam, or body Jbeam (depending on the base again) and find props
Set the flexbody as the body we just prepped in blender



The prop will now appear ingame, but it will be off rotation and not spin the correct speed
To fix this, we will utilize Beamng ingame prop editor, which can accessed by clicking F11








You can now use the orientation gimbal to move rotate the gauge into place
but before you go in detail to get it perfectly in line, we need the speed of the needle to match the numbers on the gauge.



Once it spins fast enough, then use world editor to rotate it into place, so that when it spins, 0 is on 0, and 60 is on 60

Light Props

Light props are things like flares, which determine where light is directed from your car.



Like you can see here, with the illumination of the road from the headlights, the platelights illuminating the license plate, and the taillight's light bouncing off of the chrome rear bumper.

This is achieved by flares, which are little beads of light that shine in a certain direction, based on their rotation.

These can also be a little annoying when basing mods off of the more dated cars (literally dated, not as in they are old cars in the lore), like the miramar or burnside, where the devs used flares to represent headlights more than nowadays where we rely on glowmaps.















First thing we have to make a flare.
Say I wanted to make a flare positioned right here in between these headlights


You would have to jbeam the part accurately, then select a triangle of 3 nodes around the area where you want it to be.
In this case, we would be using nodes necr1l, necr5l, and necr6l.
(this also applies to every other prop for positioning, its just most important for flares to know this)


You want to set these 3 nodes as the idRef in the props section for XYZ



Now that we have the position set up, we must edit all the other small values.
Color, size, flare size, etc.



Finally, we can rotate the flare to point in the correct direction in front of the car using prop editor

Other Props

For props like steering wheels, handbrakes, pedal and the such, it is much easier.
All that needs to be done is the origin point be set where you want it to rotate from, and changing the flexbody for the prop.





Some props (again, based on whatever your base car is) will not have their positions set for them by the origin. For these parts, usually steering wheel, you have to manually edit the BaseTranslation value in the jbeam for them to appear where you want them to.

These values are nearly always found near the end of the line, after min, max and multiplier values.




If you have any further questions, leave them in the comments.
also, do you think I should do more of these guides, for things like Jbeam and whatnot?
I would love to hear your feedback

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this necro guy kinda sucks mmgh~ +rep

[inekclan]

i was looking for a excuse to do steering wheels in beamng, thanks dude! +rep

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