DC-3 Development Update 2: Pleasure for the eyes!

[ilias.tselios]

We are going to talk about "eye-candy"! Yes, this term has been used to point out those aircrafts with serious lack of functionality, which is not entirely fair.

When you are trying to simulate an aircraft, how the aircraft looks is neither irrelevant, nor secondary. It is in an equal role with the systems’ simulations and flight dynamics, if you are looking to create the best experience, as close as possible to flying the real aircraft. And this is what we are looking for!

Returning to DC-3, we have created every little detail of the aircraft, with high definition textures, and the application, everywhere, of PBR materials. As this is an old bird, there is extensive use of weathering effects, ranging from bare metal and rust, to rough metal surfaces. For example, on the cockpit walls, you can see the thousands of small bumps, covered in thick paint, and the way the light is interacting with all these, thanks to PBR materials, you can almost “sense” how this surface feels on the touch. In my personal opinion, the visual quality is “top-notch”, and I must admit that there are times that I feel… mesmerized the way everything looks! @Goran_M’s 3D skills, as well in texturing and application of PBR materials, are present here, in every (small) corner of the aircraft, and I feel very lucky and honored to work with such a talented guy.

Of course some might worry about the cost in performance of such detailed aircraft. When there is a deep knowledge of 3D modeling, and how to use materials and various effects, you can achieve great results without suffering in performance. In addition, the new tools that Laminar introduced with X-Plane 11.50 (Vulkan/Metal), allow us to have metrics of the performance, and help us to optimize the aircraft, without any loss in quality. This is not magic, just hard work and experience built through the years, developing aircrafts for X-Plane.

In conclusion, we are packing as much as detail as possible, without performance penalties. It will be a nice place to be and fly, projecting the character of the aircraft, and doing justice to the one that change the airline industry as no one else!

Now it is time to enjoy more visual details of the aircraft!

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by airfighter

[chaps]

The 'eye candy' does look very nice indeed. Must be getting very close to a release. I just hope my old iMac will be able to run it.

[ilias.tselios]

16 minutes ago, chaps said:

The 'eye candy' does look very nice indeed. Must be getting very close to a release. I just hope my old iMac will be able to run it.

No ETA, but working on full steam. About performance, I can't give any concrete numbers, but testing in XP11.50 Vulkan, we are on par with the default B737, and most of the optimization is still ahead.

[CaptainLHKLM]

Looks beautiful! Will it have a custom damage model and a GPS compatible autopilot?

Thanks!

[ilias.tselios]

17 minutes ago, CaptainLHKLM said:

Looks beautiful! Will it have a custom damage model and a GPS compatible autopilot?

Thanks!

If by the custom damage model you mean failures or something like this, we are up to something, but I will do a dedicated post to analyze it in the next weeks. About autopilot, again, I will do a dedicated post what exactly we are implementing, the short answer is that will have not an autopilot capable flying RNAV approaches! A GPS used maybe as reference, is another story though.