sophocles

Thanks to all for your encouragement Weekend's here! hope to have an initial view of the cockpit by Sunday. Regards

Hello all, Just a little update; I've got the animations sorted out and the plane now sits nicely on the ground (now just to unravel the rest of the flight model .. I know next to nothing on this so may take a while..) Also nearly finished this version's external model. I think I'll start on the cockpit for a bit of a break before modelling the other versions. I've also just added the wing pylons and some 150/275 gallon tanks. Regards

Looking absolutely gorgeous!!

Hello all, I've finally unwrapped and animated all moving surfaces. Although the gear animations work perfectly in the air, when on the ground I get this (see pic). Once I get into the take off run and the nose rises, the gear look normal again and retract properly. The co-ordinates (pivot point) of my parent fuselage mesh are at pecisely 0,0,0 Any ideas?

Yes, I see it would look odd. I am going to try with the 3 separate animations. Thanks again

Oh great! Thanks Florian, this is the type of info I'm looking for .. I'll try a separate animation for the gear compression; you mean 3 different sets of 10 keys (41-50, 61-70, 71-80) one each for left gear, right gear, nose gear? Can't I just assign all 3 to one set? say 41-50,animation id 5? Regards

Thanks, // Landing Gears --------------------------------------------------------- [NoseGear] SystemType=LANDING_GEAR Retractable=TRUE DeployTime=5.0 AnimationID=2 DragArea=0.25 HideGearNode=TRUE ModelNodeName=NoseGearStrut InsideNodeName= ShockNodeName=NoseGearHydraulics02 ShockAnimationID=2 ShockStroke=0.275 SpringFactor=2.0 DampingFactor=0.75 WheelNodeName=NoseGearTire RotationAxis=X-AXIS RollingRadius=0.50 CastoringWheel=TRUE CastoringNodeName= Steerable=TRUE MaxSteeringSpeed=41.15 Locking=FALSE MaxSteeringAngle=75.0 InputName=YAW_CONTROL ControlRate=1.0 HasBrakes=FALSE RollingCoefficient=0.05 MaxDeploySpeed=115.75 [LeftMainGear] SystemType=LANDING_GEAR Retractable=TRUE DeployTime=5.0 AnimationID=1 DragArea=0.50 HideGearNode=TRUE ModelNodeName=LeftMainGearStrut InsideNodeName= ShockNodeName=LeftMainGearHydraulics01 ShockAnimationID=1 //ReverseShockOrientation=TRUE ShockStroke=0.20 SpringFactor=3.0 DampingFactor=2.0 WheelNodeName=LeftMainGearTire RotationAxis=X-AXIS ReverseModelOrientation=FALSE ReverseWheelRotation=TRUE RollingRadius=0.50 CastoringWheel=FALSE HasBrakes=TRUE BrakingCoefficient=0.75 RollingCoefficient=0.05 MaxDeploySpeed=115.75 [RightMainGear] SystemType=LANDING_GEAR Retractable=TRUE DeployTime=5.0 AnimationID=1 DragArea=0.50 HideGearNode=TRUE ModelNodeName=RightMainGearStrut InsideNodeName= ShockNodeName=RightMainGearHydraulics01 ShockAnimationID=1 ShockStroke=0.20 SpringFactor=3.0 DampingFactor=2.0 WheelNodeName=RightMainGearTire RotationAxis=X-AXIS ReverseModelOrientation=TRUE RollingRadius=0.50 CastoringWheel=FALSE HasBrakes=TRUE BrakingCoefficient=0.75 RollingCoefficient=0.05 MaxDeploySpeed=115.75

Just to make it clearer; I'm only getting this problem on the ground. Once the bird has cleared the runway, everything goes back to normal and the retractions are fine .. I'm just wondering if there's something in the data.ini that may be causing it?? Thanks for the replies Raven and Blackbird!

Hello all, sorry for a couple of stupid questions but I'm trying to get my F-5a into the game starting on the runway, but it just blows .. I mean "up" I figure the aircraft is sitting too low on the ground .. so on to the question.. Is the ground in strike fighters at z =0? Like, at which position should the bottom of my wheel be in max for them to be on the ground in-game? (does this make sense?) .. and, which in your experience would be the ideal stock aircraft.ini/data files to start with (I'm only just getting my head around these files .. so any help would be greatly appreciated. regards

Checked .. and hat's off to you! You're a real gentleman

Russouk, that would be great I've been fumbling along trying the get the animations working.. and its really disheartening. Sophocles

Thank you all so very much I'll check everything and see it is in order. Regards

Thanks for the tips RAVEN; just to be clear, what do you mean exactly by "waterline" .. a line running parallel to the ground, but centred along the aircraft? If so, where does the game place the aircraft .. at 0 + something?

Hello all, I've not posted in a while .. been busy re-mapping the fuselage, mapping the remainder of the external model, re-doing the fuselage textures in higher res , discovering that my trailing edge flaps were cut out incorrectly and having to model the best part of the wing .. again, and finishing up the panel line/rivet/stencil templates. To add to that I was having a few problems exporting, but that's now taken care of. Here's a couple of in-game shots. Still have plenty to do, just thought I'd post an update. Cheers!

Very impressive! The new bumpmaps make it a whole new aircraft.

Brain32, you got me thinking and while in edit pivot mode I started playing with the snap tools and either my hand was extremely steady or the snap to edge toggle did it .. most probably the latter; I'm currently experimenting. Thanks a heap

I was thinking the same thing .. it was actually this project which inspired me to start my F-5 .. very inspiring!

Thanks for the encouragement. ... I wish I knew more; adjusting the pivot points on the control surfaces is killing me! Does anyone know how to perfectly align a pivot to a particular edge in Max? (not manually .. it's useless)

Hello cocas, I used to texture years ago for FSX projects and I know the "burn out" feeling, sometimes it'd take months to pick up the brushes again .. though I hope you're rested enough to want to get back into it. This is game is wonderful despite the various frustrations. Of course release won't be for a long way yet; there's the finishing off of little modelling details, the mapping of the remainder, the decal placement, the animating, the cockpit (....and its animations), the final texture templates, the planned paint schemes ...phew!

OMG!!!!! That can't have been there for long, this is the first I've heard about it.. and can''t say it's been that long since I went to the airport .. or has it? Guess whose going digital photo-taking this weekend?

I'm ok with drawings now (worked with poor drawings during modelling and had to rely on good photos; but Derk has already provided me with fantastic drawings). I'm pretty sure there are none on Crete, but would love the chance fto visit Salonica to see them up close .. but .. too little time, too little money

You mean bare .. bare metal? not silver painted? Gosh they would look marvelous!

To be honest I use photographs as much as possible since technical drawings on this particular aircraft are very difficult to find, so every bit helps. Derk has since sent me some fantastic drawings which I'm using to check the dimensions on the model .. thankfully it's very close but small small modifications will be necessary. Squid, your pics have been very useful and I'm wondering where the closest F-5 is to where I live (Herakleion, Crete), so that perhaps I could visit this summer to get some real close up shots .. not to mention I'd love to see one for real!! Thanks again

Soulfreak, those walkarounds were great! Thanks to all of you I have most of what I need I appreciate all of your input .. now I'm getting to the gritty parts like the flap and slat areas (where and how they fit the main wing) There's still plenty to do. Hope to have some in-game pics soon (thankfully it exports fine, just want to finish up some bits before I post ). Regards

Squid, thanks for porn.. I mean pics!! many of them I haven't seen before. It would be great If you have any close up pics of the external cockpit area, depicting the stencils(especially the ones in Greek) . Regards