Bam's MagneticFields MaxForce, MinZ, & Horizontal attributes.

[madmrmax]

Before I go about and try different things, I'm wondering if anyone has spent time looking at the BAM MagneticField attributes and seeing how it impacts an experience?

Most interested in the bolded items
MagneticField (from xBAM.CreateMagneticField)
.X
.Y
.Z
.Strength
.Range
.MaxForce
.MinZ
.SingleBall
.Horizontal

I'm curious on the "Horizontal" attribute as well -- if I set it false, would that mean the magnet's orientation is vertical -- like stuck to the side of a wall?

The reason I ask is that due to some physics tweaks around ball, mass, and gravity, my magnet values need to be tweaked. Thus I'm trying to understand more in general.

thanks!
-mark

 

[GeorgeH]

It has been a while since I have used a magnet but Tales of the Arabian Nights has always had one. I remember making some adjustments to it but this is all I remember. Gimli and I tried to install one on Avatar but we couldn't get it to work right so we left it set up like it was originally.

Williams - SS - Recreation - BAM - FP - Tales of the Arabian Nights (Williams, 1996)

Tales of the Arabian Nights (Williams, 1996) v1.9 BAM IPD No. 3824 See the "Updates" tab for notes on versions 1_8 and 1.9. Notes: Although I did not change the version number, this download includes the fix for the issue where the ball sinks...

pinballnirvana.com

 

[Paolo]

Almost perfect timing Mark....opening this topic,as you read you'll understand why I tell you perfect timing.

Where to start.....a question first, which magnet are you operating on? Is it for the one on the trunk, or one that is on the playfield? if I remember correctly, and if I'm not mistaken there is one on the ramp, right?

Now,i'm having problems with the magnet i have in space cadet,but i'll come back to that later.
When I worked on the trunk magnet,a special magnet, because it is hanging on a wall of the trunk ,believe me... I tried everything(I read topics of Gimli here, and looked at other tables,including this ), as you can imagine I think.....
I spoke a lot with Rav also about it, being a magnet that works vertically and not horizontally then I had many questions also on the values that you posted on the first page,and to make it happen I had to invent some tricks that you know, to make it work and in the end he did it, if anyone missed it you can watch the video HERE

Probably, the problem(if I can define it like that) I have on the Space Cadet magnet, I think is also connected to the physical tweaks you talk about above,but one more question, did you added FizX on TOM?

Probably maybe I made a mistake, when I created the trunk, so the magnet, I worked on a demo that did not have fizx inserted, so with a standard xml, surely you understand where I want to get to.......being a version with mass and gravity and something else that also affects the ball, different from that of FizX (we know the xml of fizx) something surely will not work, in fact the magnet of SC in the version with fizx does not work for me as in the one I have in my version with different physics, the problem that I have is in FizX version ,and despite making all the changes to the values you mention above, I do not get the result I want, indeed I think the magnet has a big problem in terms of physics.

So..have you had problems? or rather, do you have problems with the magnet? if so in which one? not knowing if you have inserted fizx I can't know...This topic could enlighten us.

Continues

 

[madmrmax]

Thanks for checking! Yes this is with the trunk magnet.

And yup, this is a problem is due to me using the physics from fizX 3.3 which affect things like ball mass and ball gravity.

I'm finding I have to set the magnet strength to 30,000! I was curious if other attributes of a magnet (e.g. max force) could help. I'm not against using 30,000 as a strength, I'm just trying to see if I could better understand what the values of a BAM MagneticField mean.

 

[GeorgeH]

I installed FizX on Avatar and it could be why Gimli couldn't get the magnet to work right on it.

Tales of the Arabian Nights has 2 magnets on it. One is in front of the Genie on the playfield and it works like most do. There is another magnet on a ramp that pulls the ball up into the air quite a bit. I am not sure if it is as far as you need but you might look at it. Unfortunately, I have not added FizX to it yet.

If the magnet doesn't work, there are some fake ways of doing that I am not familiar with like on Avatar and Iron Man. In fact, Polygame figured out a way to launch a ball from a catapult on Warlock using some sort of animation. There must be some sort of fake or animated method of making it work on your table.

 

[TerryRed]

Thanks for checking! Yes this is with the trunk magnet.

And yup, this is a problem is due to me using the physics from fizX 3.3 which affect things like ball mass and ball gravity.

I'm finding I have to set the magnet strength to 30,000! I was curious if other attributes of a magnet (e.g. max force) could help. I'm not against using 30,000 as a strength, I'm just trying to see if I could better understand what the values of a BAM MagneticField mean.

Yes, when adding FizX you need to increase the BAM magnet values much more to accommodate it... but it still works the same once you find the value that works to your needs.

I've used the magnetic for multiple things. I've even used it to make the ball fly straight up in the air. It's just a matter of finding the right settings. Don't ask me for a thorough explanation of what each settings is, etc. I just basically tried each one as I went for each table I've used it on.

For MOTU CE, I used two magnets. One as a dynamic magnet that changes its position to where the ball position is when activated (and a miniplayfield with a round wall to trap the ball to keep it from flying away). The other was for the bumper head for Kobra Khan when he would suck up the ball into his mouth with his tongue.

' #################### MAGNETS ###################

Dim Magnet_BumperHead ' X,  Y,  Z,  Range,  Strength
Set Magnet_BumperHead = xBAM.CreateMagneticField(124.5, 577.8, -10, 300, 0)

Dim Magnet_Dynamic ' X,  Y,  Z,  Range,  Strength
Set Magnet_Dynamic = xBAM.CreateMagneticField(0, 0, -30, 100, 0)

Magnet_Dynamic_Wall.collidable = false

Sub Magnet_Dynamic_Activated
    Call MP_Magnet.MoveTo(xBAM.Ball.PositionGlobal.x, xBAM.Ball.PositionGlobal.y, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0)
    Magnet_Dynamic_Wall.collidable = true
    Magnet_Dynamic.x = xBAM.Ball.PositionGlobal.x
    Magnet_Dynamic.y = xBAM.Ball.PositionGlobal.y
    Magnet_Dynamic.z = -30
    Magnet_Dynamic.Strength = 25000
    xBAM.Ball.SetVelocity 0, 0, 0
    xBAM.Ball.SetPosition xbam.ball.position.x, xbam.ball.position.y, (xbam.ball.position.z)+5
End Sub

Sub Magnet_Dynamic_Off
    Call MP_Magnet.MoveTo(0, 20000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0)
    Magnet_Dynamic_Wall.collidable = false
    Magnet_Dynamic.Strength = 0
End Sub

Dim MP_Magnet       '                             Xmin     Xmax     Ymin     Ymax     Zmin     Zmax     CenX     CenY     CenZ
Set MP_Magnet       = xBAM.CreateMiniPlayfield(   -900,    -700,     1100,    1300,    -50,     100,    -800,       1200,       0)

MP_Magnet.Collidable = true
MP_Magnet.PhysicsMove = true

 

[madmrmax]

Thanks Terry for the reply! I guess I'll keep upping the magnet strength until I reach :D

 

[Paolo]

I'm finding I have to set the magnet strength to 30,000!

Waooooquite a difference from how I had it set up without fizx.

I installed FizX on Avatar and it could be why Gimli couldn't get the magnet to work right on it.

So You and Gimli also had some problems, I wonder what kind of magnet is on avatar that Bob also had some problems working?

Ok Mark....some information about these functions,we already know some of them(the others,Rav explained to me), but I'll give the explanation anyway;

.Range
It is the distance of action or attraction of the magnet, the smaller the value the smaller the distance will be

.Strength
It is the force of attraction of the magnet, I would add and also say in speed, if it is a low value you will see a ball attracted slowly, if it is higher you will see a ball attracted faster

.MaxForce
This is the function that I spent a lot of time to learning, this function is special, it allows you to attract the ball under the playing field if you have a magnet positioned under the playing field (example -5, in this case very little), as it is in SC (being a well) and with a Strength setting in relation to it (MaxForce), MaxForce will limit that force of attraction in the vertical direction, in other cases it will limit the oscillations, in the demo that I provided you, this function is 0, if you try to change it you will see based on the value you have in .Strength, you will see the ball oscillate......
This function that allows me to create the effect that I like a lot (see video below), I had done it with many fake balls (in toys) and a lot of code in my Willow table (I don't know if you remember it) now with this function and some settings it is possible to have this effect, which in SC is appropriate since it is a gravity well.

.SingleBall
This function is the most difficult,it is used through mathematical codes, and if you have a pendulum magnet, like in JunkYard, it has another peculiarity,that I'm interested in using and I'm waiting Rav, who will explain to me, how to do it.....because with .SingleBall=ball but using and I don't know how (too much math for me) xBAM.ball or xBAM.BallCloseTo I can tell the magnet to attract only one ball, and not other balls, like in multiball.

.Horizontal----->Horizontal= true
This function in certain cases very similar to MaxForce.
If is set to true, ball will be not pushed into playfield (or up, above playfield). Just force vector will be always parallel to playfield.
I tried it but it gave me malfunctions....

.MinZ
This function is doing now nothing. Is not used. It was create to prevent pulling ball for multilayer playfields.

PS: I hope everything is clear Mark, if anyone would like to add anything else in relation to your tests, they can intervene

 

[madmrmax]

Waooooquite a difference from how I had it set up without fizx.

So You and Gimli also had some problems, I wonder what kind of magnet is on avatar that Bob also had some problems working?

Ok Mark....some information about these functions,we already know some of them(the others,Rav explained to me), but I'll give the explanation anyway;

...

This is an awesome write up @Paolo. Thanks!