Dornier 228 Project

[Southwest]

Hi All,

As i mentioned in the other topics, i have been working on developing my skills for aircraft design of which i have progressed alot over the past few weeks, yes, Believe it or not the entire work below is done by me. For a few weeks/months now, here are some progress images to show of my Dornier 228 model. There is alot more modelling to do, smoothning that sort of thing, I may also do a custom panel and soundset for the model, currently in Fs2004 but should also be FSX ready.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/3969/72873620.png


http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/1705/91044795.png


http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/4043/123o.png

I look forward to your comments and advice.

[n4gix]

My best advice? Develop for FSX first...

...because it's a LOT easier to "downconvert" a model than it is to "upconvert" it! :D

[Southwest]

At the moment its been made in the FS2004 Gamepack, Is it that simple to load it into the FSX Gamepack and just export ?

[n4gix]

Simple? Sure, it should export with no problems.

However, if you have already created animations, some work would need to be done to get them working again.

1. all animations come from a link to the modeldef.xml file, so animated parts need to be keyframe animated, and the animation must be "linked" to the correct name in the modeldef.xml file using the Animation Manager.

2. any existing "Standard Materials" need to be replaced with "FSX Materials." Since you appear to have NO Materials at all currently, this step will not need to be done.

[Southwest]

Right Ok Thanks,

I started the animations today of the landing gear, though tried to create the ''front wheel turning'' animation, is is there a list of aircraft part names around please ?

[n4gix]

Are you going to use FSX? If then, the partnames aren't that critical since they are animated via the Animation Manager tool.

However, it's a good idea to name the parts as they will be in an FS9 model, just to make the job easier! ;)

The official list of "part names" is in the MakeMDL.doc from the MakeMDL SDK.

[Southwest]

I was hopingto though, the FSX Sdk Animation took etc looks fairly complicated.

I've found the part names on the Makemdl document, though i was looking for the gear name, like C_Gear_Top etc, which don't seem to be there.

thanks

[n4gix]

I was hopingto though, the FSX Sdk Animation took etc looks fairly complicated.

I've found the part names on the Makemdl document, though i was looking for the gear name, like C_Gear_Top etc, which don't seem to be there.

thanks

You won't find it because it doesn't exist! The only "name" is:

c_gear

You create the _suffix names to let the exporter know that these are not "duplicate parts," as well as for your own convenience. :D

The rule is quite simple: all "suffixes" must be separated by an underscore "_" character...

These are invalid names:

c_geartop
c_gear01


These are valid names:

c_gear_top
c_gear_01

[Southwest]

Just a few more shots of the landing gear are that i started work on last week, Max @ ISDT is helping me to re-create the fuse, as mine was a bit wonky. Thanks


http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/476/do2281.jpg

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2670/do2282.jpg

[lionheart]

Goodness man... I thought you were just learning all of this. Where did you get this Dornier????

:eek:




Bill

[Southwest]

Made by me with the help from Max at ISDT you aided with the design of the new fuse and tail etc. I can't stress how much hair i've lost from those wings !

though im still not sure if it's for me, and the windows to do are a blooming nightmare, the booleans just aren't working !

It looks ok from the shot, though i think it's sorta messed up a bit :

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5781/79743964.jpg

[lionheart]

Great work man.

A little tip, if you think proportions are out a little bit.

Create a semi transparent material and apply to the model. In Gmax, just hit 'Alt-X' and the part goes transparent without the semi-invisible material. This way you can see the outline of the shape.

Next, make a square 'new' photo project in your graphics program, like 1024 pixels square. Copy/paste a side photo (from a zoom lense) of the Dornier from Airliners.net and make sure its centered and fully covering the width in your new project picture. Save as a JPG.

Go into Gmax, create a perfectly square polygon, make sure width is the same size as the height (check on RH side, dimensions of new part, then save as Poly).

Next, create a new temporary Material, add the new JPG to it (side vew of Dornier). Apply new Material to the sqauare Polygon.

Now Scale evenly (to retain squareness) the Polygon and move it until its perfectly behind your model. You can now see from say 'Left View' the photo behind your plane as the plane is now transparent (Alt-X) and you can see if the lines on your plane are out of proportion.

This helps great with rudder shapes and things, if you didnt have good enough drawings to go by. Having a transparent object over the drawings also helps tremendously. Its how I model now.


Bill

[Southwest]

Ah thanks i'll give that a go, im finding difficult creating the windscreen windows and creating detail for the landing gear, is a boolean suitable ?

Thanks

[lionheart]

Actually Boolean is slightly 'unstable'.

Sometimes it works great, sometimes it makes a horrible mess. So its sometimes stable, sometimes messy.

It helps to do some things to prep for a Boolean.
* Create a similar mesh complexity cutting object
* Place object in area where lines arent in moderate cutting angles to each other (cutter to object). Placing them in zones that are free of other lines helps.
* Save both cutter and object to be cut as Editable Polygon.
* Try moving the cutter around to get varied effects if your cuts are not turning out. Sometimes you can move the cut zone (freshly after cutting, POlygon mode, Polys will be selected, can be moved then, as well as deleted if need be).



Bill