sim3d.vehicle.air.HelicopterRotorcraft

R2026b

Implement Helicopter rotorcraft in Unreal Engine 3D visualization environment

Since R2025a

Description

Use the sim3d.vehicle.air.HelicopterRotorcraft object to implement an Helicopter (Aerospace Blockset) rotorcraft in a 3D visualization environment using translation and rotation to place the rotorcraft.

Creation

Description

helicopterrotorcraft = sim3d.vehicle.air.HelicopterRotorcraft() creates a helicopter rotorcraft object in the 3D environment in the Unreal Engine^® with a default name.

Properties

These properties can be specified as name-value arguments.

ActorName — Aircraft name

HelicopterRotorcraft (default) | character vector

Aircraft name, specified as a character vector.

Data Types: char

Color — rotorcraft color

Red (default) | Orange | Yellow | Green | Cyan | Blue | Black | White | Silver | Metal

Rotorcraft color, specified as Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Black, White, Silver, or Metal.

Mesh — Path to helicopter mesh

'/MathWorksAerospaceContent/Vehicles/Rotorcraft/Helicopter/Mesh/SK_Helicopter.SK_Helicopter' (default) | character vector

Path to helicopter mesh, specified as a character vector.

Translation (m) — Initial translation of rotorcraft

zeros(19,3) (default) | 19-by-3 array

Initial translation of rotorcraft, specified as an 19-by-3 array. Each row corresponds to a bone of the rotorcraft.

Bone	Index
BODY	1
ENGINE1	2
ENGINE2	3
ROTOR1	4
ROTOR2	5
NOSE_GEAR	6
NOSE_WHEEL	7
NOSE_GEAR_DOOR1	8
NOSE_GEAR_DOOR2	9
LEFT_GEAR	10
LEFT_WHEEL	11
LEFT_GEAR_DOOR1	12
LEFT_GEAR_DOOR2	13
RIGHT_GEAR	14
RIGHT_WHEEL	15
RIGHT_GEAR_DOOR1	16
RIGHT_GEAR_DOOR2	17
SENSOR1	18
SENSOR2	19

Data Types: single | double

Rotation (rad) — Initial rotation of rotorcraft

zeros(19,3) (default) | 19-by-3 array

Initial rotation of rotorcraft, specified as a 19-by-3 array.

Data Types: single | double

Scale — Initial scale of rotorcraft

ones(19,3) (default) | 19-by-3 array

Initial scale of rotorcraft, specified as a 19-by-3 array.

Data Types: single | double

Algorithms

The sim3d.vehicle.air.HelicopterRotorcraft object input uses the aircraft north-east-down (NED) right-handed (RH) Cartesian coordinate system.

• X-axis — Along aircraft longitudinal axis, points forward

• Y-axis — Along aircraft lateral axis, points to the right

• Z-axis — Points downward

For more information, see Coordinate Systems for Navigation.

Unreal^® uses a skeleton, bones, and mesh to define a 3D model. A skeleton is comprised of a set of bones. A mesh is the outer covering of the skeleton. Aircraft parts are sections of the mesh, such as ailerons or wheels, which are linked to the bones. For more information, see https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/unreal-engine/skeleton-assets?application_version=4.27 and Aerospace Skeletons.

Version History

Introduced in R2025a

R2024b: Requires Simulink 3D Animation

The sim3d.vehicle.air.HelicopterRotorcraft object requires Simulink^® 3D Animation™.