Melo965
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Hello everyone,
This is a post aimed at the new gmax designers like me who need to get a boost on the learning curve.
I plan to share some of my failures and successes in hopes that it helps others along the way.
My only previously published design is a Photo-Reconnaissance Spitfire Mk XI (PL965) published for FS98 on flightsim.com using Flight Shop.
I am a relatively new Gmax designer, and have been tinkering on and off, and reading a variety of tutorials with some, but not much direct success in Gmax for the past few years.
I have gone through most or almost all of the Gmax tutorials included with the Gmax program, but not very recently. I keep wanting to jump in too deep right away, instead of taking small measured steps as I learn. But, as just about everyone else here also advises, the Gmax tutorials are the right place to start.
Background images to model from was my first big hurdle as I was getting started. I don't know how many times I got part way through building a calibration box and got stuck because the tutorial was not step by step enough, or I made a rookie mistake and screwed up the bitmaps on the box faces. I finally found a tutorial that is simple enough for me to decipher and works very well. It is on the simviation.com site and is called "Max Box Tutorial".
One other potential gotcha with the background images is that the P-38 tutorial in Gmax along with a number of other tutorials I have seen, show the aircraft in the wrong orientation for correct import into FS. When I first started with my aircraft design, I followed that layout of nose down and pointing left and seeing the front of the aircraft in front view. Unless the aircraft is pointed UP in the top view, and RIGHT in the Right view, and seeing the front of the aircraft in BACK view, it will fly BACKWARDS in FS!
The Milton Shupe C162 tutorial is a must have tutorial to make progress. I am using this as my gold standard when stepping through the design process.
http://www.sim-outhouse.net/tut/fs9/c162/index.html
I also found the following youtube series to be very helpful while building a fuselage: "Learn how to make 3d airplane model-creating the fuselage #1" by GulfKnight
And don't be afraid to look up 3DSMax tutorials or books if you can't find one that specifically references Gmax. Gmax is roughly equivalent to 3DS Max 4.
One 3DS Max book worth getting that has a chapter included on how to build a P-51 Mustang is called "Beginning Game Art in 3DS MAX 8". Be careful though, because the layout is also the backwards way of displaying the model in Gmax (as mentioned above).
Here are two attached pictures, one from my first modelling attempt a few years ago, and the second picture from my progress on the same aircraft as of earlier today.
Have fun designing!
Best regards,
Melo
This is a post aimed at the new gmax designers like me who need to get a boost on the learning curve.
I plan to share some of my failures and successes in hopes that it helps others along the way.
My only previously published design is a Photo-Reconnaissance Spitfire Mk XI (PL965) published for FS98 on flightsim.com using Flight Shop.
I am a relatively new Gmax designer, and have been tinkering on and off, and reading a variety of tutorials with some, but not much direct success in Gmax for the past few years.
I have gone through most or almost all of the Gmax tutorials included with the Gmax program, but not very recently. I keep wanting to jump in too deep right away, instead of taking small measured steps as I learn. But, as just about everyone else here also advises, the Gmax tutorials are the right place to start.
Background images to model from was my first big hurdle as I was getting started. I don't know how many times I got part way through building a calibration box and got stuck because the tutorial was not step by step enough, or I made a rookie mistake and screwed up the bitmaps on the box faces. I finally found a tutorial that is simple enough for me to decipher and works very well. It is on the simviation.com site and is called "Max Box Tutorial".
One other potential gotcha with the background images is that the P-38 tutorial in Gmax along with a number of other tutorials I have seen, show the aircraft in the wrong orientation for correct import into FS. When I first started with my aircraft design, I followed that layout of nose down and pointing left and seeing the front of the aircraft in front view. Unless the aircraft is pointed UP in the top view, and RIGHT in the Right view, and seeing the front of the aircraft in BACK view, it will fly BACKWARDS in FS!
The Milton Shupe C162 tutorial is a must have tutorial to make progress. I am using this as my gold standard when stepping through the design process.
http://www.sim-outhouse.net/tut/fs9/c162/index.html
I also found the following youtube series to be very helpful while building a fuselage: "Learn how to make 3d airplane model-creating the fuselage #1" by GulfKnight
And don't be afraid to look up 3DSMax tutorials or books if you can't find one that specifically references Gmax. Gmax is roughly equivalent to 3DS Max 4.
One 3DS Max book worth getting that has a chapter included on how to build a P-51 Mustang is called "Beginning Game Art in 3DS MAX 8". Be careful though, because the layout is also the backwards way of displaying the model in Gmax (as mentioned above).
Here are two attached pictures, one from my first modelling attempt a few years ago, and the second picture from my progress on the same aircraft as of earlier today.
Have fun designing!
Best regards,
Melo
