Aircraft Import Problems

[matthew954]

Ok, I have converted a mesh i found on the web for flight sim 2004.  (Just sort of playing around with them)  Anyways, I have the mesh converted and adapted  config and air files from another aircraft.  So heres my problem,  When I try to open the plane in fs9, the little window where the plane shows up is all black.  Can anyone help, is there some step I'm missing?

[Felix/FFDS]

Does the plane show up okay in the sim?

[matthew954]

I'm not sure I didn't try to fly it.  Is it possible it might still work, even if it doesn't dhow up in the aircraft select screen?

[matthew954]

I just tried it, it says that the visual model cannot be displayed.

[matthew954]

Ok, I got it to appear in the program, but now it is huge, its almost the size of Lake Erie!  Plus all the controls are reversed, down is up and so forth.  I checked the size parameters in the mesh file in gmax and its the correct size.  How can i get it to the right size?

[Sterk]

Did you checked measuring units in Gmax?
They have to be set on metric,and one unit must be one meter.

[Felix/FFDS]

To clarify... for gmax 1.2 and the latest makemdls, your Custromize->Preferences:General "System UNits" must be set to 1 unit= 1 meter.

Your modelling can be done in inches, mters, cubits, etc.,

[Firestriker]

Matthew,

First, I assume you have your System Unit Scale set to 1 unit = 1 meter as Felix pointed out.

Set your prefered Unit Setup to what ever you like to use. I like to use Decimal Feet

You will need to do a Uniform Scale of almost any mesh you import from an outside source. In the case of an aircraft, use the wing span to determine the scale factor. First find the target wing span of the actual aircraft as these are not usually hard to find in books or on the net. Work in the Top view port. Pick the outer most vertex of the the right wing and note it's x value. This foumula will give you the scale factor:

1/2 the target wing span divided by the current x value of the outermost point of the wing.

Use Calculator to find this value so you can copy it to the clipboard. It will probably be something like this:

0.001xxxxxx

Next check the parts for your model and look for one that has it's pivot point at 0,0,0. In many cases they will all be there as in a dxf import. But it is important to have at least one. I usually just make a helper dummy point and put it at the 0,0,0 origin.

Now, make sure that NO parts are linked to each other. Select ALL of the parts and RIGHT click on the Uniform Scale icon. Paste the scale factor from the clipboard in to the box under Offset World, on the right side of the scale window that pops up. Move the decimal point TWO spaces to the right so it is 0.1xxxxxxx then press the enter key.

Next, link ALL of the parts to the one that had its pivot point at 0,0,0 and move its position back to the 0,0,0 origin.  The others will follow because they are linked. After you have done this, UNLINK the linked parts and apply an XForm Reset to ALL of the parts and collapse the stacks. Your model should now be the correct size. Check the point on the wing you selected before to verify that its new x value it now 1/2 the actual wing span.

Lou  

[matthew954]

Thanks everyone.  Now that I've got the size problem dealt with, I still need to work on the texture map for the plane.  The problem for that I've mentioned in my latest post.