FSDSv2 -=NOT=- Acft Design

[The_Sarge]

There are over 100 pages in this forum, so I don't know if this has been asked before; it it has, slap a "dummy" label on me and shove me out the door.

I'm using FSDS2 -=NOT=- just for aircraft design, but also macros of vehicles, buildings, etc.  I use FSSC for placement based on AFCAD2 locations.  Everything is working fine -- no problems whatsoever with any of the three programs.

HOWEVER!!!!!  Inadvertently, I opened the wrong macro library in FSSC (I have 4 identified) and was just slow enough to actually read the choices in that library.  One of them was labeled "Adjustable."  Now, I've made a few dozen .scm and .api macros with FSDS2, but I have never seen anything in FSDS2 that makes an "adjustable" .api or .scm macro.  (When opening that macro, the height/width/depth (or some combination thereof) can be adjusted at the time of placement by FSSC.)

Question:  Is this possible in FSDS2, and if so, how? if not, which design package makes "adjustable" .smc and .api macros?  

None of the FSDS2 tutorials I've found on the web deal with ANYTHING other than creating aircraft in FSDS2.  Surely there's a tutorial out there somewhere on how to make OTHER things with that program.

[Felix/FFDS]

General statement:

gmax and FSDS2 are modelling programs.  Whether you're building aircraft or scenery objects is "invisible" to the program - until you export it as anaircraft or scenery pobject/macro etc.

The only scenery tutorials I've seen for FSDS are in the FSDS help files themselves.

I"m moving this to the scenery design forum, since some folks may be able to help you better.

[The_Sarge]

I"m moving this to the scenery design forum, since some folks may be able to help you better.

No problem; wasn't sure where exactly it was to go, since FSDS is a universal design package.

Appreciate anything anyone can come up with; the tutorials included with FSDS are VERY skimpy on anything other than aircraft design.

[Felix/FFDS]

No problem; wasn't sure where exactly it was to go, since FSDS is a universal design package.

Appreciate anything anyone can come up with; the tutorials included with FSDS are VERY skimpy on anything other than aircraft design.

I've "kicked" this question up a notch or two, but not having the scenery design knowledge, my answers are more or less limited.

With FSDS, you make your object, but use your scenery program to manipulate it.  You CAN adjust your object in FSDS (select all parts and scale the lot), but then you create a new, specific object.  I presume that FSSC can take the object and "adjust" it on the fly?

[Hagar]

I hestitate to answer this as I'm only a dabbler, not a scenery guru. I find that objects created with FSDS or Gmax are generally far too complex for simple scenery objects like buildings etc. This makes them highly graphics intensive which can badly affect frame rates in the sim. As you're importing the macros into FSSC something like EOD might be far better. http://www.echos.ch/eod/

I believe some of the library objects included with FSSC were created with EOD. I haven't used it for some time & have no knowledge of adjustable macros. Being specifically intended for creating scenery macros, EOD might well have options for adjustable macros or this might involve manually editing the API files in Notepad.

[The_Sarge]

[quote]
I've "kicked" this question up a notch or two, but not having the scenery design knowledge, my answers are more or less limited.
With FSDS, you make your object, but use your scenery program to manipulate it.

[The_Sarge]

I hestitate to answer this as I'm only a dabbler, not a scenery guru.

 And here I thought I was the only one in this boat!!!!   LOL!!!!!

I find that objects created with FSDS or Gmax are generally far too complex for simple scenery objects like buildings etc.

For my project creating Loring AFB and Loring International, I've created warehouses for the cargo apron using FSDS2.  They are by no means simple, as a single section of the warehouse contains 21 parts (including 32-section tubes for the loading bay bumper blocks) to create a see-through/walk-through warehouse section.  And a single run of warehouses on the Loring International cargo ramp contains 18 such sections, and there are 3 separate runs adjacent to the ramp.  Since it's an open area, other macros for palletized cargo, free-standing cargo, etc., can be placed inside each section and actually seen from the cockpit when the aircraft pulls up to the spot.  With both sides' doors opened, anything passing on the other side of the warehouse can also be seen as it goes by.

This makes them highly graphics intensive which can badly affect frame rates in the sim.

No more so than a graphics intensive aircraft.  

As you're importing the macros into FSSC something like EOD might be far better. http://www.echos.ch/eod/

Thanks for the link; I'll grab EOD and play with it.  There are some "less complicated" macros that I'll need for Offutt, and after looking at the url you provided, I think EOD might be useful to me.

Still, I'd like to know how those "adjustable" .api's were made .....