A Big Fantasy by an Air Force Fanatic

[hkboondoggle]

Hello, fellows~ 

Recently I was toying with a concept that may help the realization of the Air Force series of the SNM (aka SNM-AF?):

Using Gmax and the B.A.T. to convert 3D Models that initial for Flight Simulator into those which can be further modified with the Lot Editor, resulting a playable lot in the game.

If this idea works, surely dozens of military planes will be available in a short period of time. Yet, though personally I would like to have a try on this, this idea would be nothing more than concept as its plausibility is uncertain. So would any experienced creator please comment on my "Fantasy"? Thanks.

[Xiziz]

Kumba did his 767's this way.
The catch is releasing them at LEX/STEX, as the models copy-write does not reside in you, but in the original author, so you would have to get permission from the original authors first.

And I can say beforehand that the models do not come out very cleanly in most cases, meshes are disrupted, and cleaning them up usually takes a lot longer than actually bating a new airframe from the start, primarily because the BAT-models have no need for interiors, and have a lot less polygons than the FS-models.

Certainly its plausible. However, this is not the way AC works, we bring you all high quality original models, every polygon and pixel we make, is an original piece of art, and we do take pride in that fact!

Cheers

[ElPhantasmo69]

Just to reinforce Xiziz' comment; my 737's were done the same way as Kumba after receiving permission from the original author. The conversion went okay using the MDL2DXF4 converter. However, the models I converted always seemed to have some kind of glitch with them. Often the culprit was exactly what Xiziz just mentioned - the interiors!

I'm the kind of guy that has very little patience to learn how to properly use a tool like BAT/GMAX and was more interested in just skinning new planes. Even this was a challenge as learning the quirks of the original models required a lot of tinkering with the image files. I recall sending converted models of a TU-144 and an SU-27 to Xiziz to see if he could make heads or tails of the problems with them and he basically would've had to rebuild them from scratch to get them into a usable state for SimCity. (Do you remember that Xiziz? Must've been about 2 years ago.)

I'd still recommend giving it a try so long as you don't intend to release the models as your own if only to get a sense for the superior effort the AC team puts into creating its fabulous models. I certainly have a huge appreciation for all the work they put into them as a result!

[Xiziz]

Aye, I do remember them very nice models, but Gmax really screwed them up, the Sukhoi had an all messed up mesh (it wasn't even symmetric if I recall correctly). The Tupolev didn't have rounded corners, which is a feature that Gmax doesn't support as well as 3ds studio max or even Blender.
Would have been a lot easier to make them myself, and there both still on my wish list of things I do want to make whenever the time becomes available.

[hkboondoggle]

Okay, fellows, thanks for your helpful reply.

To be honest, I am the type similar to ElPhantasmo69, having little (and sometimes even no) patience to learn BAT/GMAX; and as far as I concern, messing up with 3D models is certainly a pain in my buttom. Yet, learning those new tools will be a good way to kill time, which I have plenty of after my Advance Level Exam. I'll see what I can do in this "Fantasy", and maybe I will show my effort onto a post or something.

Regards

[ElPhantasmo69]

I found this link to be an extremely helpful tutorial in texturing planes in gmax.

http://airspace.uhk.cz/mlk/msfs/tutorials/gmax/

Not everything worked out for me as I had troubles in texturing the wings/elevators, which didn't work quite as documented there. You can see the miserable results in the download pack on the STEX...

http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=19237

[hkboondoggle]

Thanks for informing such a helpful tutorial to a freshman as I am, ElPhantasmo69. I'll make sure that I am going to put it a good use.
And for the 737s on the STEX, well, I would not say they are remarkable, but they are perfectly quality sound in the game already; though they might not be able to meet the appetite of somebody who expect HD level of quality...
Nevertheless, I have little hope that my first project of modding of SC4 will have the same quality standard as yours artwork. (sign)
Anyway, would you mind providing me a hint for the place(s) where I can find the MDL2DXF4 converter you've used? (I admit that I'm indeed a lazy bone, Okay?) Thanks for your helping hand again.

Regards

[ElPhantasmo69]

For guidelines on airplane artwork Airliners.net is your friend. Lots and lots of images there...

The dxf converter is only for flight sim 2002 or earlier .mdl files and it doesn't work on all models, so there's a lot of effort involved. Sometimes the conversion doesn't work all that well, either.

http://hem.passagen.se/henry.veppling/mdl/mdl2dxf4.htm

[trainguy4449]

@hk, ever hear of a guy named tabi? He did quite a few plane props, among them models of some Air Force jets. A few of his props were uploaded on the LEX, but his website has more, unfortunately the URL escapes me at the moment. He's got nice models of things like F-15s, F-16s, E-3s, A-10s, and a few choppers on his site.

Found the URL: http://homepage2.nifty.com/tabinohito/newpage12.html