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Good Start?

S

Southwest

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unitedkingdom
Hi All,

I started to design a C177 last night, I set up the images all correctly. Could anyone please give me some feedback onto what you think of this, I used the video tutorials posted by Gulfnight on Youtube, That i found very very good.

92099756.jpg



75181304.jpg


Any feedback would be great please.

Kind Regards.
 
If this is your first attempt, my hat's off to you.

I've been dabbling with gmax for years, and don't think I'm up to that level yet (faulty Felix.cfg, to paraphrase capt x)

My "nit to pick" would be to try to move the complete assembly so that the model center is at the "ideal" center of gravity (COG)(unfreeze your backdrop image planes and select all the parts)

Note that this isn't absolutely necessary, as long as you have a clear definition of your reference datum point and set the values/coordinates appropriately in the aircraft.cfg file, but probably most modellers start off with the reference datum point = model center = ideal COG.

It's a good, promising start!
 
Thanks Felix & i will give that a go.

I'm not really please with it, This is what im ''trying'' to make,

http://www.free-source.net/demo/e107-themes/FS0908-L/e107_images/newspost_images/st_img_cel_04.jpg

As mine just looks bulky and fairly ugly, Is this the best aircraft to start off with, i thought i should go small to start but a lack of any 3views on a google search led me to make this, As it was all i could find that was decent. I give it to designers, Aircraft design is very tricky by the looks of it.

It's certainly hard, Is there a website that has such plans?

Thanks again for your kind words!
 
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=3-Views_And_Plans_References

It does need updating .... but there are a lot of good sites already listed there.

Also, if you can't find a specific 3-view or plan, don't hesitate to put out a request. Even though I KNOW I have accumulated a lot of 3-views and plans (I've cataloged most of my magazines and have come up with well over 3,000, and that doesn't include the books..), I know that Kevin has a large collection, and I'm always surprised - people have a knack of asking for THAT model we don't have, but someone else does - or has that obscure link to it.

I tell you, once you are engulfed in this madness, it's almost as much fun hunting down that scrap of information as it is modelling it.
 
I would say you're off to a great start. :) Felix is correct (of course) that you should move the plane more toward the origin. It will make it much easier to work on that way. I also find it easier to work in a camera view for rotating and such...

If you need a drawing, do not hesitate to ask. I have about 3 Gb of them...

Kevin
 
Chaps, Many thanks for all your response's,

You are all so kind. I decided to scrap the C177 and start on a Texan 550 model, Although theres a good one for FSX theres not for FS9, This is the result so far, of which for this one, i was impressed, obtained the 3views from Google. That link FelixFFDS is certainly a gooden. So will take a look later. Many thanks for the offer kdryan & for the kind words, This was the result for the Texan model:

It needs to have some shaping on the nose, and also some smoothening on the fuse, Do i apply a Meshsmooth in the modifier stack, then adjust the iterations & smoothness settings?

60309865.jpg


40028996.jpg


Thanks chaps.
 
Hi Guys,

Heres some more progress, Howeverm i still don't get the smoothing thing...

43462828.jpg
 
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Please, Some help on smoothness of the fuse, I read in another post that to select edges and chamfer them, this though had no effect, Please help!
 
Smoothing groups.... I'd venture that you do not have any smoothing applied.

AS a rule of thumb, Meshsmooth should be used only when you MUST increase the complexity of a mesh for having used too few vertices, etc.
 
Select your fuselage
Select Polygon sub-mode
Select all polygons
Look towards bottom of the rollout and click on "Autosmooth"

This will usually work well enough for most objects.

BTW, Open the Help file, use the Index to locate the "Autosmooth" topic...

...enjoy the reading! :D
 
Thanks Bill,

This is really only a tester model, Heres another shot showing my poor attempt at smoothning.

image1hze.jpg


Thanks
 
Ahoi Southwest,

it is Nice to see your work.

But before you run into :confused: and :banghead:

Look at the Main-Window.

If you like to export your Model into FS,
make shure you are work with the right GMAX Gamepack.

I missing in the top row the Name of the Gamepack.
 
Thanks for the kind words and advice, though, After installing the FSX SDK from the Deluxe DSX disx, I'm not seeing a folder called FSX_GMAXGAMEPACK in the Enviroment/Modeling folder, I've reinstall & reinstalled but still nothing.

I have managed to sort out the smoothning now, Just not the gamepack stuff!

Thanks
 
Take a look here in the Forum how do you install and find the FSX_Gamepack Folder.
 
Still no luck to be honest, As that was a test model, I've now moved on to a proper project, I have one locally based at Plymouth, A Jabiru 400.

123nla.jpg


it's still very earlier days, But i'll get there,

Thanks.
 
Its good to see you making fuselages. Some people will only make one and are too afraid to redo them if they didnt turn out 100% the first time.

I will sometimes make up to 5 or more before I am happy with one. You learn more and more about making a fuselage every time you do one. Sort of like doing a sculpture. You learn how to mold the shape better and better each time, learning to make the mesh 'behave' in certain area's like the tail or at the bottom of the windscreen, or where it turns from a set of front scoops into a pointed spinner. Those little transition zones are the real 'fun' part of strategic mesh modelling..



Bill
 
Thanks for your help Bill, I cut out some windows as seen below & tried her out in FSX, Looks ok. I was pleased with the result. I have made this fuse three times over to get it to the current stage. What i can't seem to do is to create the tail and wings, I just cannot get the shape, and ideas please?

Do i then use a boolean to cut out the cockpit?

Thanks to all for your support.

p.s, I think i've caught on pretty quick.
 
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