Freeware development - what do you reckon?

[hyperpep111]

[quote][quote][quote][quote][quote]Anyone know where I can buy a legit copy of Maya on the cheap?

[Boikat]

Cub508:

Is Maya Good? 3,500 is pretty steep.

Maya is the 3D renderer used in almost every big CGI movie for the last several years.

[Club508]

WOW!!!

[hyperpep111]

[quote]WOW!!!

[machineman9]

Just remember... GMAX is free, and is provided on the discs for the game itself. Or, download it!

3ds max and maya have extended functions, and an extended version of the same interface, as GMAX. They also have the bonus of being able to render and use physics to auto-animate.

If you're developing for MSFS, you'll not need those features as the rendering is all performed by the game engine!

[Travis]

Just remember... GMAX is free, and is provided on the discs for the game itself. Or, download it!

3ds max and maya have extended functions, and an extended version of the same interface, as GMAX. They also have the bonus of being able to render and use physics to auto-animate.

If you're developing for MSFS, you'll not need those features as the rendering is all performed by the game engine!

It isn't a question of how the software creates or renders the object, it's a question of how the software saves the content.  If the software cannot convert to the format specified by the program, then your object is obsolete.  If, for say, the playable format of the finished product is in *.FDU (doesn't exist) and the program you are using can't convert to that, the program is obsolete.

gMax cannot convert to the files necessary to run FSX, if I'm not mistaken.  And even if it can, the way they have programmed Flight from the ground up would mean that any program that can produce 3D aircraft has to be either 3DS Max or Maya.

[hyperpep111]

I think someone should open a Maya topic cause this is going a little off topic :-/

[machineman9]

[quote]It isn't a question of how the software creates or renders the object, it's a question of how the software saves the content.

[Al_Fallujah]

[quote][quote]It isn't a question of how the software creates or renders the object, it's a question of how the software saves the content.

[Travis]

I believe FS3 had a creation engine in-game.  You could manipulate all the functions of the aircraft and come up with some really wacky stuff.  For instance, I remember making aircraft with wings less than a foot wide and hundreds of feet long.  The interesting thing about it was that you didn't have to program the flight characteristics.  The sim automatically did that for you based on the physical dimensions of the aircraft itself.  It would be interesting to have something like that again.

[Fr. Bill]

gMax cannot convert to the files necessary to run FSX, if I'm not mistaken.

The export module for GMax=>FSX was released in FSX SDK 2 and FSX Acceleration SDK. I've been using it for the past few years...

A nice (and free) side-effect of Lockheed-Martin licensing ESP from MS is that they've compiled new export modules for Max 2010, 2011, and 2012. Now folks who wish to create content for FSX, or Prepar3D and have the latest versions of Max can do so.

[Travis]

Whoops!  My apologies, I thought service packs for Gmax were discontinued after FS9.  However, I would be surprised if Gmax export was supported for Flight.  Since the basic coding is being rewritten, I would expect that MS will require a program that has seen some improvement or development in the past ten years.

[Fr. Bill]

[quote]Whoops!