Simviation Forums

Howdi, now as far as aircraft design goes i am a 101% newbie and not ashamed to admit it, i am still 95% newbie even with painting....

I would really like to start aircraft design, but havent a clue where to start (pretty big drawback eh?) Now if i do say so myself, I am AWESOME at using CAD-CAM/3D modelling software, is there anyway I can design the model for aircraft using cad-cam software such as solidworks or proDESKTOP?


Any help would be much appreciated!

JB

There might be a way that could work, but a converter is gonna be hard to find.  I would deffinitely recommend that you get out your FS disks and load up Gmax off of them.  Since most CAD programs for gaming are similar in their setups, it shouldn't be much harder for you to learn than any other newbie.

To add to Locke's reply - build as much of the model as you can in whatever CAD program you have.  IF you can animate, texture and export to a direct X file, then you're all right.  Otherwise, you'll have to export to 3DS or dxf format and finish up the animation, texturing and conversion in gmax, or FSDS3 (dxf format import only available).

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one of the file associations with solidworks (my weapon of choice) is *.dxf, Felix, would this imply that I could do as you said and create a basic 3D model? That is fantastic news and I think I might know what my weekend is going to entail...

Thanks for your help

JB

I'm not familiar with solidworks, but *in general*  exporting as a dxf file will give you a naked mesh.  DXF does not export with animations, texture assignments, etc.

HOWEVER, if you've got your mesh, then learning to animate and texture it in gmax or FSDS (whichever ends up being your modelling program of choice) will be easy.