InputController

Technical reference for the InputController element.

The vast majority of Funky Trees use will be within the InputController. This interface allows for control of most SimplePlanes components, from engines to rotators and everything in between.

Syntax

In craft XML files, Input Controllers are defined within the <InputController.State> element, and is a child of the particular <Part> element you are controlling. A part will have one input controller, and it follows this format:

<Part>
  ...
  <InputController.State activationGroup="Number" invert="Boolean" min="a" max="b" input="Number" />
  ...
</Part>

Attributes

An InputController has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Description	Example
`activationGroup`	Number/Boolean	See the page on activation groups.	`Activate1`
`invert`	Boolean	This will determine the direction the value in the `input` is applied to the part. Either `true` or `false`.	`true`
`min`	Number	The lower input range mapping value.	`0`
`max`	Number	The upper input range mapping value.	`1`
`input`	Number	The Funky Trees expression used to control the part. Any valid expression will work.¹	`sum(Pitch)*2`

It is important to note that while min and max may appear to be range clamping properties, they actually map the input of the controller. The controller will map the input value from [-1, 1] to [min, max]. For example, given a input of 1, the actual output passed to the part is 1 * max.²

It is recommended that if you need to achieve a clamped input, you achieve that within the input by using the clamp() or clamp01() functions.

It is critical to remember that the actual behavior of a part is dependent on more than just the input. The input only controls how the part acts relative to its other physical parameters, like the rotation range on a rotator. ↩
This behavior exists due to being grandfathered in from before the addition of Funky Trees, and as a result, it is generally better practice to use the part defaults for min/max, or [-1,1] to ensure that your Funky Trees expression is directly passed to the part without any range mapping. ↩