I want to use a FS model in a 3D package..but how?

[ShadowMaker]

Hi,

This is my first time here, so please forgive me if I post this in the wrong forum.

I want to make an animation of a plane that can be seen at the top of this page:

http://www.simviation.com/fs2004props79.htm

the Arava 201 - But the only model of this plane I could find was the one shown at this page.
I need it to be in a format that 3DSMAX can read, like *.3ds, *.obj, *.dxf or something like that.
Does anyone here know of a way to achieve this (or want to do this for me?)
I would be most grateful if you could help me out with this.

Kind regards,

Sander de Regt
The Netherlands

[Travis]

Well, what exactly are you trying to do?  It is extremely difficult to get any 3D program to read a model file from FS, since that's part of the copyright safety specifically designed into the system.  You could try contacting the author of the aircraft, to see if they made it in a format that you could use.  Or you could try searching on something like http://www.turbosquid.com to see if there is anything you could use there.

[ShadowMaker]

Like I said, I am trying to make an animation of the Arava in a sligthly more realistic way than is possible in FS - and since there's a way to get from f.e. DXF to *.mdl I'd expected a way for this the other way around as well.

Since it's quite a rare airplane, there's no model of it available at Turbosquid.
I've tried contacting the author of the plane, but the e-mail adress that comes with the model is over a year old, so I don't know if it's still valid.

[Travis]

Well, other than either creating your own  I don't think its possible without some serious work.  There are little plugins and programs out there that will convert the MDL files.  But the progs that decompile the MDL will leave you with no animations, no textures, etc.

You have a load of work cut out for you!

[ShadowMaker]

Well, since the plane has to look like one from real life, I would have to redo the textures anyway - same for the animation. If all I had was a stationary grey model, I would be already halfway there.

[Katahu]

Well, since the plane has to look like one from real life, I would have to redo the textures anyway - same for the animation. If all I had was a stationary grey model, I would be already halfway there.

Even then, you still have to deal with the legal issues.