Want to get involved

[serverandenforcer 33]

Hey guys, I'm a big fan of this game and would really like to participate in modeling new aircraft for it. I do have 3dsmax 7 and want to make some models for Strike Fighters. I realize that the models used are very detailed and that it will take me some time in making them. I do have a history in making models, so I'm not new to this. However, I would like to find quality references that can help me in make quality models. I have seen the links on this site that direct you to websites that have blueprints to aircraft, but the quality of the blue prints is not that good. I need detailed, profile pictures where I'll have no doubt knowing what the features on the aircraft are. The U.S. airframes that I'm interested in are the F-22, F-117, F-35 (and it's rival JSF: X-32 or was it X-33?), B-1B, AH-64A and D, and the F-16XL. The Soviet airframes that I'm interested in are the SU-25, SU-27, SU-30, SU-34, and the SU-37. I was also interested in doing the Eurofighter Typhoon ZJ802. If people are already doing some of these, then I'll "X" those off the list. Oh, and if someone knows where I can find blue prints to the F/A-37 Talon and EDI on Stealth, that would be great!

Edited July 10, 2006 by serverandenforcer

[+Dave 2,322]

First of all welcome to the site. SF eh? I was an MTL at the SF Academy from 1999 to 2001.

 

The F/A-37 is being done by Zur, he is almost done. TheSu-25/Su-27 and Su-30/33 are being done my Marcfighters. F-117 F-16XL and F-22 is being done by wpnnsgt. But the F-35 and the Typhoon would be top choices.

[serverandenforcer 33]

First of all welcome to the site. SF eh? I was an MTL at the SF Academy from 1999 to 2001.

 

The F/A-37 is being done by Zur, he is almost done. TheSu-25/Su-27 and Su-30/33 are being done my Marcfighters. F-117 F-16XL and F-22 is being done by wpnnsgt. But the F-35 and the Typhoon would be top choices.

 

Roger that. I figured you were an MTL by your name. I guess only military folks would know that. Didn't think you would be an MTL for the 343 though. Were you with TSgt Henley when you were an MTL? Also, did you change your career field, or are you an MTL at another tech-school?

 

Alright, back on topic... So where can I find some decent blue prints of the F-35, the Boeing rival, and the Typhoon? Also, does Zur, Marcfighters, and wpnnsgt have any pics of their WIPs? I know some sites the authors like to post pics of them. Also, I can't texture. My skills are only limited to making the meshes. So.... I hope there might be some folks out there that can lend a hand.

 

Another off-topic question... the F-14A Aggressor file. There's someting wrong with it cause it doesn't have any weapons in the loading menu. I do have the latest weapons pack. I tried copying and pasting the original F-14A load.ini file, but it didn't work. I noticed that all the .ini files were named F-14A, except one, which was F-14AGR, so I tried to rename all the other ones to F-14AGR, and that still didn't work. So is it just a bad file? And I guess I should keep holding my breath for a realistic HUD with CCIP, target acquistion diamonds, and target discrimantor / info. The visual targeting hud currently in the game kind of distracts from the realisim.

[gerald14 0]

and be sure to get the lastest patches for 3DS or you will be having some trouble making models. :)

[Caesar 305]

Another off-topic question... the F-14A Aggressor file. There's someting wrong with it cause it doesn't have any weapons in the loading menu. I do have the latest weapons pack. I tried copying and pasting the original F-14A load.ini file, but it didn't work. I noticed that all the .ini files were named F-14A, except one, which was F-14AGR, so I tried to rename all the other ones to F-14AGR, and that still didn't work. So is it just a bad file? And I guess I should keep holding my breath for a realistic HUD with CCIP, target acquistion diamonds, and target discrimantor / info. The visual targeting hud currently in the game kind of distracts from the realisim.

 

The F-14 Agressor files should all be just F-14A_xxxxx.ini in the F-14AGR.ini file, as they designate the other .ini's in the folder denoted by the same name (all other .ini's in that folder are F-14A, rather than AGR.) As for the weapons, I've been having the same problems; I'm guessing it might be a nation issue. When I designated a seperate Tomcat for post-revolution Iran, I wasn't able to access USN weapons and had to make custom Iranian Sparrows, Sidewinders and Phoenix missiles (through copying and modifying/renaming in the weapon editor.)

 

Good luck with modeling the -32, -35 and EF!

Edited July 10, 2006 by Caesar

[Sky Captain 0]

A bit off topic, but USAF, would that F/A-37 be the one from Stealth, or some other RL (or prototype) aircraft I haven't heard of?

[+Dave 2,322]

A bit off topic, but USAF, would that F/A-37 be the one from Stealth, or some other RL (or prototype) aircraft I haven't heard of?

 

The one from stealth.

 

 

serverandenforcer

 

Henley doesnt sound familar. What team was he on? I was on Team 10 and 8 while I was there. I left in 2001 to Sheppard AFB where I was an MTL at the 362 TRS. I retrained into Command Post early this year and now I am at Tinker. I got coin #200 from the 343 TRS and I am signed for it in the 343 TRS history book.

[serverandenforcer 33]

The one from stealth.

serverandenforcer

 

Henley doesnt sound familar. What team was he on? I was on Team 10 and 8 while I was there. I left in 2001 to Sheppard AFB where I was an MTL at the 362 TRS. I retrained into Command Post early this year and now I am at Tinker. I got coin #200 from the 343 TRS and I am signed for it in the 343 TRS history book.

 

 

When I was there, Henley really wasn't an MTL for any teams. He basically was the guy who walked outside for the new arrivals and yelled at them to get off the bus. Oh, such fond memories. Actually, I was on a split training option (don't know why), and I came in a day late for the team that I was supposed to join (Team-13). So I had to sit in the Orderly Room, yelling "Stand-by" whenever an MTL walked in for a whole week until the next team (Team-1) came in. However, Henley kind of liked me right when I showed up, so he didn't have me stand in with the group that arrived for Team-1. Instead, he had me by his side while he yelled at them and then told me to stick around with the SAT-pushers (who I found out later on really weren't the "coolest" guys cause your only a SAT-pusher if you didn't get your orders, which means you did something really stupid in Tech-School and are being investigated). So everyone who got off the bus thought that I was either a graduate or OSI (which became the common thinking later on after I finally joined up with the team). That really didn't bother me, cause I'm 26, and I really didn't want to hang around a bunch of 18 and 19 year olds. Anyways, I'm sure you know Col. Farrel. Don't know if you would know MSgt. Watergates though. Oh, and the tradition of rampant sex, UADs, and illicit drug use are still going on there. You would think that after the amount of time that academy has been in operation, they would have found a way to stop that. What amazes me is how they can't see how easy it is for those kids to get into that stuff and bring it into the dorms. I had a simple solution. Place the folks who are under 21 in seperate dorms from those who are over 21, have each student airman go through a 24 hour checkpoint when entering the squandron grounds to insure that they are not trying to sneak stuff into their dorms, and prohibit the sale of tobacco and alcohol on the base. Good grief, it's a freaken AETC base. You would think that stuff would be strictly regulated. Anyways, I'm a reservist. I actually should have gone ANG. The bonuses are better. My unit is actually undergoing deployment right now to the sandbox. I'm on an alternate list. However, the chances of me going right now are very slim cause most of the guys in our unit want to go. I don't. I can't handle the heat. I suffered over 3 heat injuries at Lackland (and I did hydrate accordingly). Can't imagine that I'll be any better on the other side of the globe.

[+Dave 2,322]

Well the 343 TRS used to be called the Jailhouse as it was cloased off by bars. We ran a tight ship and the Airmen we scared of us. I can say back in 1999-2001 the 343 TRS never ran better. We had very little problems. I do miss that place sometimes. I really liked going to Camp Bullis. I got qualified on many many wpes out there.

[+Jimbib 746]

Sounds like you know you're stuff when it comes to 3D modelling :) The best of luck to ya! Also, the eurofighter is in the works from marcfighter too. I don't know if you've heard of this website, but its not too bad for blueprints of planes....

 

http://www.airwar.ru/indexe.html

 

Its got an awful lot of 3 views there, very high rez for nearly all of them.

 

By the way, welcome aboard

[serverandenforcer 33]

Sounds like you know you're stuff when it comes to 3D modelling :) The best of luck to ya! Also, the eurofighter is in the works from marcfighter too. I don't know if you've heard of this website, but its not too bad for blueprints of planes....

 

http://www.airwar.ru/indexe.html

 

Its got an awful lot of 3 views there, very high rez for nearly all of them.

 

By the way, welcome aboard

 

 

Thanks bibbolicious for the site. I'll check it out. Hopefully it will be usefull.

 

USAFMTL, in regards to Camp Bullis... MTLs are no longer allowed to visit the camp when their teams are over there. Apparently, an MTL (female) supposedly did something stupid over there. I don't know what the details are, and I don't want to know what they are. All I know is that a lot of things changed when I was there. That always seems to happen whenever I arrive at a place for the first time. They start making major changes to the operations of things. I miss out on all the stuff that people claimed that use to make the place a great place to be. At least I was able to wear my contact lenses throughout training (there are still rules against wearing them, but I was able to get away with it and never had a problem with them either - wasn't much of a risk... I wear the night and dialy lenses, so they're constantly on my eyes, 24/7 for a whole month, and they're low profile - hard to notice them). As far as wpn qualifying, I couldn't get expert on a single weapon. I thought I would definately get it with the M-9, but my hands are too shaky. Don't know what it is. I don't smoke and obviously I didn't drink any caffine products. At least I qualified. Ironically, I hit all the targets with the 249, but they don't give out expert for that.

[+ghostrider883 526]

TheSu-25/Su-27 and Su-30/33 are being done my Marcfighters. F-117 F-16XL and F-22 is being done by wpnnsgt. But the F-35 and the Typhoon would be top choices.

 

Dave,

Marcelo(Marcfighter) is doing Flankers which are single seaters(Su-27,Su-33).The Su-30 that he is doing is actually an upgraded Su-27SMK and it has been designated as Su-30KI, which is a single seater.

The Su-30 designation has been assigned to twin seater multi-role fighter variant of the Su-27. No one's working one the twin seater Su-30 model i.e. Su-30K/MK/MKI/MKK/MKM yet.

[serverandenforcer 33]

Well, I've started work on the F-35. Due to the fact that I don't have any blue prints, and that I'm using multiple pictures of the aircraft as references, I can't gurantee 100% accuracy. I can't even gurantee 85% accuracy. This is what I've done so far in 3 - 4 hours worth of work.

[+Dave 2,322]

looks like a good start to me.

[rhugouvi 0]

By the way, what MTL stands for? Many US acronyms remain a mystery to me... Thanks

[serverandenforcer 33]

By the way, what MTL stands for? Many US acronyms remain a mystery to me... Thanks

 

 

Military Training Leader. They are basically the military parents of the student airmen at techschool. If you did something stupid in class, and got a 341 (thats a comment card - usually pulled for bad behavior or not meeting standard requirements, i.e. wrinkled uniform, no creases, unshined boots, etc...) you would have to meet with your MTL later on in the day and they would document it down. They also made sure that you went to your appointments and that you phased up when you should phase up or phase down if you didn't meet standards of expectations. My MTL in tech-school really didn't do much except come by at the end of the day, say hi, and then leave. Infact, she gave us the answers to the airmen's test so it would make her job easier in correcting them. We all got Phase-3 and Phase-4! Oh, a phase is a level of "freedom and privileges" earned throughout your time in tech-school. Phase-4 is the highest phase level, where you can be in your civi-clothes after classes, go off base, and drink (as long as you are over 21).

[Sky Captain 0]

Wow. Nice job, Serverandenforcer, can't wait to see the rest of it. (An F-22 or JSF, right?)

[rhugouvi 0]

Ok, Serverandenforcer, thanks for the explanation!

Concerning the modelling, it's been wise to start with a prototype (i'm currently working on a A-12 Avenger II). So that whiners don't come and say "this should be bigger, that flatter" and so on.

[serverandenforcer 33]

Latest updates on the F-35 before I get ready for work.

[+Julhelm 266]

Could you please post wires instead of lit renders? Just hit alt+printscreen while in the viewport with "edged faces" on and save as .jpg.

[Draakje 0]

How many tris is that?

 

dont know the limit in strike fighters, but some of the curves look ridicolously high poly.

[Jarink 1]

I'd be willing to help with skinning.

 

(Huge) Caveat:

I've never been involved with developing skins of 3D models. I am, however, willing to learn!

 

I've done quite a bit of skinning (~200 skins) for the IL2/Pacific Fighters series and have just started some F-4Fs for Strike Fighters.

[serverandenforcer 33]

Julhelm, here's the pic you wanted...

 

 

Draakje, poly count is 1462, and it's the textures, not the poly count, that causes the slow downs on computers.

[Draakje 0]

Draakje, poly count is 1462, and it's the textures, not the poly count, that causes the slow downs on computers.

 

 

not true its the polycount first (btw dont count the poly's count the tri's (if somebody asks for polycount u say the tri count(i know bit confusing but thats how it is )

Why do u think game creators dont put in tons of poly's in their characters ?

Because computers cant handle that.

Texture slowdowns happen if the model has been skinned on loads of big uvmaps, also certain light effects that are being aplied to the texture by the game engine slow things down.

[serverandenforcer 33]

not true its the polycount first (btw dont count the poly's count the tri's (if somebody asks for polycount u say the tri count(i know bit confusing but thats how it is )

Why do u think game creators dont put in tons of poly's in their characters ?

Because computers cant handle that.

Texture slowdowns happen if the model has been skinned on loads of big uvmaps, also certain light effects that are being aplied to the texture by the game engine slow things down.

 

 

Ah, O.K., I was told that textures were more of a contributor than polys. A budy of mine had a model that had over 68,000 polys, but with a small texture map, and it ran fine on this game that he had. The triangle count for the F-35 is around 2200 - 2300. I'm at work, so I won't know until I get on my comp at home.