Am I being unreasonable?

[notloste]

Hi guys,

I would really appreciate some help.  For almost no reason, one day I decided to try to make a plane for Flight Sim, but it turns out far more complicated than I originally thought.

Here's my situation:  I'm not very new to modeling as I've done some 3ds max projects before, the most complex of which was a flythrough of a park for my biology class.

Modeling an airplane, as you might imagine, is a bit different from a park bench though, and that's why I'm here.

My particular question this time is about level of detail.  On my fourth attempt at creating the fuselage, I think I'm finally beginning to get it, and this is what it stands at so far:


This is, obviously, an extremely unfinished nose section, but I'm wondering if it's worth doing more work on.  After opening up Il-2 Sturmovik for reference, it turns out their model has FAR fewer polygons than this thing.  Thus, my question is: Should I continue work on this, or is it going to be absolutely unplayable due to an unreasonable number of polygons?

Any other help would be greatly appreciated as well.

Thanks.

[Sterk]

first-why are u working with triangles and not with the quads?
Second the final model should include about 25-35 thousand faces to be more or less fps frendly.

[Felix/FFDS]

Very low poly modelling is great for multiplayer GAMES, where the emphasis is in more detail for what the "pilot" sees to control the airplane, than for the outside visual model.

For Flight Simulator, you can "get away" with a lot more visual detail - to a degree.

I'm of the minimalist philosophy - enough sections to start fooling the eye, and not just because you can.

You're starting off pretty good.  Personally, I prefer to work in quads, rather than visualize the faces, as you're doing, but that's just  matter of preference.  FS will triangulate everything.  Sometimes seeing the triangles/faces is good, though, because you may be have a slight shading problem that can be cured by rebuilding the faces...

Keep up the work.

[notloste]

Thanks guys!

I almost finished the nose section today, except maybe cutting out a hole for the exhaust pipes to sit in, and I'd appreciate it if you told me what I messed up on.  I'd rather find out now than later.



Most importantly, I would like to know if this will look good in FS when it's finished and textured (if I ever get there...)

Thanks again,

notloste

P.S. I hope you don't mind me asking stupid questions like these.  If you do - tell me and I'll stop.

[SilverFox441]

Compile it and fly it...often.

There is no point in getting too far advanced only to realize that some small part is causing a problem in FS. It will also give you a chance to build up a portfolio of development shots that you can look at if you get discouraged.

Looks good so far though, keep it up.

[Felix/FFDS]

Aren't you missing one exhaust stack?

[H]

Aren't you missing one exhaust stack?

He's working with the smaller, 10-cylinder experimental model -- the standard 12-cylinder was just a little too exhausting.

[notloste]

Compile it and fly it...often.

There is no point in getting too far advanced only to realize that some small part is causing a problem in FS. It will also give you a chance to build up a portfolio of development shots that you can look at if you get discouraged.

Looks good so far though, keep it up.

Heh, what would I ever do without you guys?  ;D

It never even occurred to me to export the model to FS at this stage, but, thanks to you SilverFox, just now I downloaded the SDKs, learned how to use them, and converted the model to the FS format.  It looks a little... odd at this point, a flying tube basically, but it's definitely reassuring that I'm on the right track.

Aren't you missing one exhaust stack?

I don't think so.  All the pictures I have show five, but maybe I need to do a bit more research on that.  Thanks for pointing it out!  ;D

He's working with the smaller, 10-cylinder experimental model -- the standard 12-cylinder was just a little too exhausting.

[SilverFox441]

Congratulations!

You've just made a plane for FS. There's still a lot of work to go...but now you have proof positive of the payout at the end.

Trust me the nice feelings of accomplishment just keep rolling in after this point... along with a few lost hairs that get pulled out along the way.  ;)

[pilot2242]

notloste,

If you dont know how to make you aircraft appear in FS9 you will have to copy and paste another aircraft's cfg and air file and Mdl Cfg file and give them the same name as your aircraft's name

For Example if you use the lear45 Cfg and air file you will have to open the Cfg files and where it says Lear45 delete Lear45 and replace it with your aircraft's name.

Do this in all the CFG files you will only need 2 Cfg files 1 is the aircraft Cfg and the Mdl Cfg file and 1 air file

The easiest way to do this is to look at another aircraft's folders Cfg and Air files and see how they are set out.

also remember to allways use notepad to edit Cfg files

hope this helps

Good luck

PS: your aircraft looks really good

2242

[notloste]

Hello everybody.

I'd like to mention that I'm still alive and slowly working away on the Il-2 project.  Right now I have a lot of work to do at school, so unfortunately I don't have much free time to work on the model, but so far I have managed to get a few minutes here and there.  This is what it looks like so far:



Comments (positive or negative) are welcome.

[SilverFox441]

Lookin' good!

About the only thing I would suggest is to maybe add a point or two near the wingtip to smooth out the hard corners.

[notloste]

Lookin' good!

About the only thing I would suggest is to maybe add a point or two near the wingtip to smooth out the hard corners.

Yeah, I'll definitely do that.  I'll probably end up redoing the wings completely as I'm not too happy about them at this stage.

By the way, do you know, will it be possible to texture the vertical and horizontal stabilizers and make them work as they are right now, part of the fuselage?  Or will I have to detach them?  It would definitely be quite helpful to me if I could leave them as they are instead of detaching them and having to play with the smoothing.

Thanks.

[SilverFox441]

I'm sure it's possible...I just don't know how to do it.