• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

Modelling Toolset!

Looks awesome! Would it be possible in the to come free version to add a $texture to a surface in a given VC? (Pleeeeeeeeeeeease say yes!):)
 
Heretic said:
Wow!

If you could implement animation support, this would open up entire new worlds!

Also, having .ac support (FlightGear) would be a cool feature, too.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, this would be very simple to implement. The .ac format (AC3D) is very well-documented and readable. I have implemented the file importer / exporters as plugins so all I would have to do is write a plugin for it.
 
Clutch Cargo said:
All I ask for is a good manual (ie; Airport Design Editor).

Clutch
Click to expand...

Noted!

mike november said:
Looks awesome! Would it be possible in the to come free version to add a $texture to a surface in a given VC? (Pleeeeeeeeeeeease say yes!):)
Click to expand...

Also noted. I still haven't decided to define the boundary between the freeware and payware version yet, but since this is a pretty simple feature it seems reasonable to include it in the freeware version.

Aeroshell09 said:
Hey! is it possible to make a .3ds to MDL exporter? this would be a great tool!
Click to expand...

Yes, I already have code in place for .3ds import / export (still has a few bugs though). The key issue here, though, is that .3ds is not as full-featured or FS specific as some of the other file formats. Directly out of the box it will have far less functionality without user intervention (which is what this tool is all about, of course).

I can't believe this tool has garnered so much interest already! Thanks guys! :)

I am running a bit behind schedule due to my ridiculous school / work schedule, but I'm still making decent progress. I don't have much more to show since I've been working mostly on back-end kind of stuff. I have been working on the user-interface some in the last week, so I should have some screenshots by this weekend.

[NerdNote]
Most of what I have been working on lately is refactoring my code to make it more modular. This tool has over 5 years worth of code all mashed into the same class library, so obviously there are some spots from earlier that aren't very well designed. I have done two things to combat this, namely switching to a plugin-based architecture. I also have been looking more into enterprise-level design patterns, namely MVC since this is what I have to use in school for our java projects. Model-View-Presenter comes more naturally to Windows Forms, and I have started using this library with great results.I would highly recommend it to any C# / .Net programmer, it is easy to use with a minimal learning curve and really helps manage design complexity quite well!
[/NerdNote]
 
theisomizer said:
Ah yes, this would be very simple to implement. The .ac format (AC3D) is very well-documented and readable. I have implemented the file importer / exporters as plugins so all I would have to do is write a plugin for it.
Click to expand...

Muy thanks!

With the permissions of the original authors, it would make enhancing the FlightGear model portfolio much easier!
 
Update

Hey everyone, I'm still running a bit behind on this. Life has caught up with me. Anyways, I am still committed to finishing this and I really like the direction I'm headed with it.

I finally found some time in the last few days to work on the user interface, and I'm finally happy with what I have and don't expect it to change much. Namely, I changed it to a MDI application to support multiple views should I need to add new features to it. Attached is a screenshot of the progress.

Unfortunately I did something silly and broke the renderer (it's throwing a bunch of object disposed exceptions) so as you see in the screenshot I only have the main toolbars complete. I am going to go revert whatever changes I made to it (thank goodness for source control!) and then get some better screenshots.

I am really hoping to get a preview release ready soon for public consumption. Stay tuned!

screen3.png
 
P.S. Anyone want to make me a cool icon? I don't want to keep using someone else's + I'm not the most talented graphics artist :P
 
mike november said:
Quick & dirty, 80's style...
Click to expand...

Just how I like it :P

Clutch Cargo said:
Yummm... looking forward to this. Here's an icon suggestion:
Click to expand...

Very impressive! I think I will go with this one (You'll get a thanks in the credits :) ).

Got the renderer working again, and I also got the orthographic view working after brushing up on my linear algebra a bit. Here's a screenshot, a la FSDS style. I'm curious how far I can push the model-editing abilities now that I have a solid framework in place.

Link to Image (to conserve bandwidth)
 
Last edited:
Regarding the icon suggestion, you don't think feelthere.com will say anything about the similarity with their logo? Wouldn't want a freeware developer to get into legal issues with a commercial development company.
 

Attachments

  • mdlmagic.JPG
    mdlmagic.JPG
    2.3 KB · Views: 1,146
  • feelthere.JPG
    feelthere.JPG
    5.7 KB · Views: 569
Wow... that is just like their's. I had no idea. :confused: And they are in flight simming too. I just whipped it up. I probably would not use it then or give them a buzz to see what they think.

Clutch
 
Well, I'll send Vic an email and see what he has to say about it. Seeing as how I'm not trying to infringe on anyone's brand and I have a different market scope he might not care too much. Perhaps he will allow for it with some modifications.
 
theisomizer said:
Well, I'll send Vic an email and see what he has to say about it. Seeing as how I'm not trying to infringe on anyone's brand and I have a different market scope he might not care too much. Perhaps he will allow for it with some modifications.
Click to expand...

No need.

Them icons are similar yes but they are different in severel ways... you can use that icon by all means.

When I was in the virtual aerobatics field of simulation (Lock On Flaming Cliffs 2 with Virtual Red Arrows), I decided to make my own virtual team, "Virtual Red Bull Aerobatic Display Team"... ofcourse Red Bull didnt let me use their logo directly, so I made almost the exact same logo, but except it being 2 bulls, I used 2 eagles...I then asked if I can use that, and it was fine, since they were different logos, similar, but not the same. Therefore NOT a duplicate.
 
Hey, a bit of nagging is good :) It makes me quite happy to see that people actually care about this and feel like it might be useful.

The project is definitely still alive. I deeply apologize for not being active on here lately, my life has just been insanely busy. I'm starting to get some time back now so I'm still working on getting everything back in order.

To give everyone an overview of where I am, I was working heavily on it until around early May, and then it basically hasn't been touched since then. A couple of weeks ago I picked the code back up and now I'm trying to see where I'm at. I'm mostly done with the renderer, and I am able to show many of the parameters in the tabs. There still isn't much in the way of editing capabilities or file import / export.

Also, another shameless plug of good news: All of this will be released as freeware, whenever the time may be. I am now working as a professional programmer, so I will no longer have to rely on my side projects to put dinner on the table. :) I might even put the code up on codeplex, as I am building up quite an arsenal of FS related code. Still debating that one.

I think I might put a poll up in the next little while asking folks what features they think would be the most useful now, and to see what direction people want me to go in with it.
 
Hey Sean, great to hear about your new job... not easy with this economy. Looking forward to your app when it is ready.

Clutch

Hey, have you ever messed with Prepar3D?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top