Interesting, but I do not see how that thing can possibly keep its balance while transitioning, I mean it only has one point of thrust, the V-22 Osprey has a hard enough time doing it with two points to maintain its balance. Maybe they use the thrust from the drive turbines to get it started horizontal before transitioning the main rotor.

I want to see the real thing flying and not crashing before I get happy.

Oh and since im in a pessimistic mood, the name “verticopter” is supposed to mean vertical wing, but since vertical is latin and opter is greek it makes no sense what so ever, it just makes me think its short for vertical helicopter, as opposed to a horizontal helicopter…ha, well it makes me laugh.

If this were any serious, it would have been planned in a real CAD application, because simulation of the physics involved is far more important than a pretty render. If you ask me :)

A helicopter has one point of vertical lift and one horizontal stabilizer. This has one vertical point of lift and two engines which will stabilize… looks fine to me…

the 3D modeling is awesome, and the video as well, but I have to agree I don’t see this taking off the ground unless they use some very powerful and light engine, but I don’t believe those can be made yet and still have enough fuel to fly a long distance

gat –

If this is being designed by an aircraft company, I’m sure that they are more than confident that this thing can more than just get off the ground. Let’s leave that to the professionals instead of “passing the ignorance” by mere speculation. I’m sure that they know what they’re doing.

- Leo

@Leonardo: man, I knew somebody would say it sooner or later “people shouldn’t speculate because you are not professionals in that field” or something along those lines, and I wish that I had seen your comment before posting because it really fires me up when I see something like that.

Listen and listen well ! Discussion: rational, irrational, or speculative is not “passing on ignorance” it is one fundamental way towards intellectual discovery, even though not all discussions do reach that level of importance…

Not wanting to discuss or even considering other topics beyond your proven knowledge is TRUE IGNORANCE.

All questions on the legitimacy of this company aside, you don’t really design (engineer) an aircraft in Blender. Maybe you would call it an artist’s rendering…

They also don’t manufacture anything, so this vehicle doesn’t exist yet.

And I’m not really impressed with the rendering either. Much better images are regularly posted to this site.

http://www.verticopter.com/Verticopter_Livery_Images/Large/Hot_Fire.jpg

@ Everyone
On Daniels youtube channel you can find a video of a R/C version of the Verticopter, demonstrating that the design does actually work and how it can fly quite well.

Also the model is imported into the X-Plane simulator, which is very realistic simulation that takes into account for every piece of geometry etc. If it works fine in the X-Plane then theres a very good chance that this will work in reality also.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think I see two helicopter-blade fans or whatever they’re called. Presumably they both provide lift as well as counter-rotaional stability. If the plane is fairly light and motor strong, I suspect it would fly fairly easily.

Congrats, Blender, for the design.

Whatever happened to BlenderCAD by the way!?

Hey I saw that on the Discovery Channel, nice.

Some points of speculation have been addressed already by other readers. Let me quickly address some other issues.
1. Today, the Verticopter RC Prototype has performed 9 hours of test flights on the NASA AMES air strip, and the Discovery Channel Canada team was filming it. It had many very successful flights, and a ton has been learned about the design. More videos to appear soon on youTube, and also on Discovery Channel. (The plane you probably saw on Discovery Channel was most likely the AMV-211, another plane that I modeled in Blender and used to skin an X-Plane design with).
2. It’s been mentioned, and I’ll mention it again: X-Plane is a serious tool for flight prediction. Of course, inaccurate data can be entered to make engines stronger or lighter than in reality, but we have taken the specs of the RollsRoyce 250 series of turboshaft engines, and entered their specifications to the T, and left plenty of room for unforeseen conditions.
3. The concerns about stability are semi-warranted. In its “cheapest” form, this aircraft is capable of SHORT take-off and landing, but can do vertical take-off and landing with slight head-winds. The issue at hand is control. Control is accomplished through airflow over the control surfaces (elevons, rudders, etc.) This has been the functionality of the prototype, but for full-blown large manned aircraft, a puffer system will be utilized. These systems are employed by VTOL planes such as the Harrier Jump Jet. This puffer system emits jets of compressed air on the plane’s wing tips and extremities, to maintain balanced control during hover, even in the absence of airflow over the control surfaces.
4. An on-board computer is a given for this design, and artificial stabilization systems are widely available. Gyroscopes determine the plane’s attitude (flight position), and a computer merges the pilot’s inputs with the data from the gyroscopes to accomplish the desired flight path.
5. There are significant parties interested in this design, and the differences it has with the Osprey are actually its strengths. It is not a device intended to replace the Osprey. It has a different niche in the market.
6. The model made in Blender is a high precision “skin” that is used to cloak the rather rudimentary X-Plane flight model. I had to model this plane twice: once in PlaneMaker, which dictates the plane’s flight characteristics and aerodynamic behavior, and once in Blender, to give it its appealing form. The screenshots are all in-flight screen captures of the actual plane flying in X-Plane. No ray-tracing involved. PlaneMaker is the “CAD program” in this case, and it does all the background aerodynamic calculations… and it does so very well. When the RC prototype was tested in X-Plane, there were many lessons gleaned from the flight behavior accomplished in X-Plane that prevented catastrophes from happening in the “real world.” Other aircraft, such as the Cirrus Jet, the CarterCopter, and Terrafugia have used X-Plane to validate their concepts.
7. Before this airplane goes into full-scale manufacturing, it is a given that a team of different engineers will conduct further calculations and refinements… but as one notable engineer has pointed out, the design is about 80% “there.” This man is currently working on the Boeing 787.

For more information, you might be interested in reading the user guide for the X-Plane model. Go to this link:
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?autocom=downloads&req=download&code=confirm_download&id=5685

Thank you for showing this work. This really shows the potential of Blender in the area of not only model aeroplane design, but that of actual flyable aeroplanes.

I have forwarded the link to this design, to a group for designing flying wings. I think they will quickly realise the potential.

Regarding the actual design. I think it is a very good flyable design, with serious commerical potential.

I wish you every sucess with this.

great design, doesnt this thing fly in an opensource flight sim? :P

Thanks for the latest comments!

Regarding the vertical take-offs and landings, the RC prototypes are in their earliest stages right now, and for safety reasons, no VTOL is attempted. Also, VTOL is possible only with favorable winds at the moment. The prototype is not yet equipped with a compressed-air jet-puffer system.

Not all the pictures are ray-traced, and the one featured in this article is very old. I’ve requested a replacement picture to be posted. Most of the other pictures are not ray-traced, but direct in-flight screenshots.

Regarding comments about the disc loading and noise: the JSF VTOL jet has a much smaller fan lifting a much higher load. There are also ways of silencing the props. Keep in mind, this is a niche product, and as such people will have to consider the benefits of this design worth the inconveniences. There are many people interested in a no-runway plane that tops out at 320 kts. Ferraris and Lambos are another example of such a niche product. They aren’t necessarily silent, but then again, if you’ve got a car that can go 350 + km/h, and accelerate to 100 in less than 4 seconds, who cares about the roar of the engine? It actually adds to the experience.

Now, we will not actually know how silent the Verticopter will be, and we’ll just have to wait for the flight tests of a full-scale plane to be recorded. But I’m almost positive it won’t come near the loudness of Moller’s Skycar tests. :)

@Daniel Klaue what are you using to drive the RC prototype? does an engine in a similar power to weight ratio exist for a full scale prototype, this seems very interesting. good luck with this

The article has been updated with a more detailed and better looking render of the Verticopter!

In case you’re referring to the shadows, the plane is in a hangar, and hangars have many lamps on the roof. The multiple shadows you see would be caused by these multiple lamps.

The reflection is an indication of the floor’s material, and was attained through the new “gloss” setting in Blender’s reflection engine. Click on the link below to see a picture that shows similar lighting/reflective conditions in a real hangar.

http://www.arinc.com/images/pr_amoc_hangar_large.jpg

Note the multiple shadows, and the diffused reflection of this plane. The Verticopter has a blue underbelly, and therefore stands out more in its reflection than the plane in the picture above. The white plane’s reflection hardly stands out in contrast to the white floor.

I see they integrated the turbines in the tail, very nice. And they added big canards.

I’m looking forward to seeing this thing fly IRL (in real life).

The render is OK but I bet you can do a lot better with Indigo or Yafray.

A good idea ,but my question is u ‘ll use an electric motor or use cylinder engine,my suggestion is u use a 60 hp motor with a light weight battery,because if u use cylinder engines u have to use petrol or diesel or whatever……………………which makes the verticopter heavy

CONGRAGULATIONS TO DANIEL ………..only if u could give me one real one free