Complete Noob!! :)

[TomNocturnal]

I am really interested in "building" an aircraft (Im thinking a Westland Whirlwind - my favourite plane just based on looks, even if rated a bit poor) but as I have NO idea as to how these 3D development programs and the likes, I have a couple of questions:

1: On a scale of 1 to 10, would you say it was hard "building" and aircraft, from start to finish?
1 - being: "No, Its childs play..."
10 - being: "Don't try this at home..."

2: On a scale of 1 to 10, would you say it is worth getting into?
1 - being: "Yeah, everybody on the planet should at least have a go - you never know, you might like it..."
10 - being: "No, completely pointless. Only do it if you like pointless stress and no reward..."

3: How long, from start to finish,( i.e. everything from: Learning engough 3D development to suffice, to, Installing the aircraft and taking it for your first flight,) would you be looking at?
1 - being: "Ohhh, just a couple of days..."
3 - being: "Ill see you on your 40th birthday..."

4: How intense does the background "programming" of the aircraft get? i heard .CFG files mentioned etc...
1 - being: "You can do it if you can spell: "Apple!"
2 - being: "Unless you programmed the Apollo at age 4, then don't even bother..."

5: What programs will be required to do this and is the included program(Maya???!!???) any good??

I think you can see what im trying to get at here!?

Thanks guys
I look forward to your replies... :k:

[Ed Walters]

I'd say it's a 10 on most of those, lol

Well, it's not so much "hard" as time consuming and painstaking. A good aircraft can easily take 6 months of development.

The programming side of it can go from none at all to a lot of in depth stuff. The aircraft.cfg and whirlwind.air files are tricky to get right, but there are utilities out there to make your life easier. For the gauges, you can either use stock gauges from other aircraft in the sim, or you can go through and program your own gauges in xml or c (required for most of the more complex projects). XML isn't too tough, but you need a logical mind.

The usual tools are either Gmax, which was supplied with FS2004 - a member of the 3ds Max family or FS Design Studio. I happen to use 3ds Max and Gmax, as does Dave Maltby, but Rick Piper produces his aircraft in FSDS. Excellent results can be produced with either tool.

My suggestion would be that you make some buildings - for example a model of your house - to get used to the tool. One of the elements of the art is making sure you don't use too many polygons in a model. You tend to get a feel for it after a few models. An efficient model would have perhaps 30,000 triangles in the external model and perhaps 30,000 in the VC.

Hope that helps!

[TomNocturnal]

Ok.

Sounds good!


Where would you recommend I start then?

Tutorials!?

[Ed Walters]

You could try this one:

http://www.simviation.com/gryphon/tutorials/gMax_00.htm

[TomNocturnal]

The Stupid Idiots' Guide to starting with gMax

Excellent!

Just what I need!

[Ed Walters]

http://www.cbfsim.org/cbfsimv5/cbfsbb/v ... .php?t=107

[ianhind]

Most people recommend doing the supplied gMax tutorials as well.

They are not FS2004 specific but give an introduction to gMax's capabilities. Boring perhaps but saves trying to figure out how to do things later.

[Ed Walters]

By the way, don't be afraid to experiment. Don't feel you have to rigidly follow the tutorials. Everyone develops their own particular style of modelling.

[Brian Franklin]

Just get stuck and give it a try, you'll be surprised at just how many other people will be forthcoming with tips and solutions to the problems which will inevitably arise.

Good luck

[TomNocturnal]

Just a quick one.

When I import my Plan/pictures into GMax, I lost a lot of the quality.
Which, in turn, makes it very difficult to edit the fuselage correctly!

Does anybody have any idea why this could be?

Cheers