Goran_M

Another little update. I finished the object model over the last weekend but it had too many polys. I'm a sucker for detail. What can I say. Anyway, so far I've reduced the poly count from 260 000 down to about 160 000. I only started working on the flight model last week and it's going slowly, but still progressing. I made the basic stuff so I can get it in the air in x plane. Today, I got back to Blender modelling and I'm hoping to have it finished by this weekend. 2-3 weeks for texturing and another 10 days to 2 weeks for animating. While Theo textures it, I'll finish up the flight model then get the animations and datarefs put in. Then it'll be done and available. Goran

You got too much 3D. ;D Less 3D and painted on buttons and knobs will get you that Best of... trophy.

Last I heard from Peter, over 1 million How many is too much? Too bad Peter's aircrafts don't have 3D pits... True. It's like saying "how long is a ball of string". More polygons usually means more detail. It all comes down to efficient modeling. Goran

Last I heard from Peter, over 1 million

Of course.

I'll see what I can do.

From what I have seen in the AOM, the performance is slightly different. Handling is different. Also, some systems are different. The 340A navigates using VOR and NDB stations and has 1 autopilot panel. Later models have 2 autopilot panels, a GPS, FMS and extra status display on the panel. This, however, will be custom work and will be worked on after the 340A is released. I'm not sure if I'm going to do a 340WT but I will definitely do a Saab 2000. That is a damn sexy plane. Glass displays and much bigger. I almost forgot to mention. The person helping me with information about this project, has about 1600 hours in a 340A/B/WT and he will be testing it AND helping me write a tutorial on how to operate it. Goran

Just a little update for now. No renders yet. I've been busy rigging the cockpit for the animating. I've set aside my whole week this coming week for finishing the modeling and animating. Theo will take about 3 weeks to UV map and texture it. So hopefully, if no problems pop up, the Saab 340A variant will be ready by end of November/early December. It will only be available with the default Saab livery at first with further liveries made available as the weeks go by. Goran

Thanks Maxime Everything but the programming is done. And the programming will be done using xlua which is yet to be released. So hopefully sometime around December-February. Goran

From now on, I will work on projects at night. No distractions, no phone calls, everything is quiet. Anyway, the cockpit. Work in progress! A few things need to be aligned and placed. Just the overhead storage bins in the cabin are left to model as well as a few miscellaneous items in the cockpit then I start UV mapping and animating.

My Saab 340 that I'm making is a 2 x 1 configuration. ;D

I had a similar problem once or twice. I got an error message saying "LIB part deleted" or something to that effect. Deleted a large chunk of my Bonanza. Goran

I was thinking heavily about the freeware releases of those 2. I'm not sure I'm going to release a freeware version of the 4000. I did originally have plans to do so, as I made posts about it. But to do so would mean releasing a substandard add on using planemaker when compared to a high quality version being made in Blender. Not meaning to be big headed, but it's the same as seeing someone like Miranda Kerr, Cindy Crawford or Elle McPherson just getting up out of bed with no makeup on and wearing pyjamas and someone saying "here are photos of these women for free when they get out of bed, but if you pay me something, I'll give you photos of them taken in a glamor studio with full make up from Estee Lauder and hot 2 piece bikinis and see through tops." What would you prefer to see?? Planemaker just doesn't have the tools to make (visually) very high quality aircraft when compared to something a 3rd party 3D application can do like Blender, Modo or 3DS Max. I would like people to see a fully made up Hawker 4000. Something that cannot be differentiated from the real thing when seen in the sim. Theo has already ripped into me because he spent a great deal of time making liveries for the planemaker version. The Hawker 800, that is entirely Jason's project. He has INDICATED he is willing to finish it someday, but it will be up to him if he wants to release a planemaker version. I hope you can understand my reasoning behind these decisions. Had I known I would be doing this so seriously, I never would have made assurances. Lesson learned I guess. Goran

Been a while since I posted anything in here but I have an update on Hawker 4000 progress. The modelling is complete, texturing is very close to being complete. Just a few small errors to iron out. Animations are complete. Only the programming is left. I could dumb down the programming to get the aircraft out sooner but i really want it to have realism that is comparable to the real thing. I have the reference material for the FMC and the displays. Now comes the wait for programming. I have a couple of options. The xlua language that X-Aviation is developing is one of those options and is looking quite viable. The bad news is the Hawker 4000 won't be ready in time for an early December release because xlua development is taking longer than anticipated. So for that, I apologize. I did initially assume I could have the Hawker 4000 out before December. There are another few options but we'll wait and see how that all pans out before I say anything definite about it. So, the Hawker 4000 is still moving along. I do plan on making at least 1 more Hawker aircraft and that is the Premier 1A. I already have made the flight model for that aircraft. I actually made it before the 4000. After all, it's a Hawker fleet project. The Hawker 800 is still an unknown quantity at this point. Jason and I have discussed it and he doesn't know whether he'll finish it but he's leaning towards the "yes, I'll finish it" side. So, while all this is going on, I'm dedicating a lot of hours to the Saab 340 series as they are the easiest aircraft for me to finish and get out the door. I can safely say the Saab 340A will be the first aircraft that I will sell through X-Aviation and will MOST LIKELY be finished before Christmas. I say that because the AOM is about 3000 pages long for the A/B series and a slash over 3000 pages for the WT so reading is kinda high on my list of priorities to make a completely accurate flight model. Goran

Javier, you are insane! How many polys do you have so far?? Goran

Check my shorts!!

Nick, you're going to bust a blood vessel in your head. Rafael, you don't have to worry about doors and windows yet. Yes, there is a way to model the doors and windows while building the fuse but it's kind of for more experienced modellers where you build the object around the hole. It's a bit tedious but if you mess something up, it will be a disaster. And takes some practise. You should finish the major parts first. Fuse, wings, vertical and horizontal stabilizors. THEN start cutting things out. Goran

Nothing really worth bragging about. The major things are done. Filling in the gaps now. Small objects like rudder pedals, rudder pedal adjustment lever, side walls, jump seat, stuff like that. Mostly adjusting objects in the right positions and lining them all up with background images. When it's all done and assembled, i'll throw a render up. Goran

I didn't want to say anything here, but I will. It's good to have ambition. But a project of this size is a bit beyond your reach at this point Rafael. I was asked if I could do an L1011 a while ago and I refused purely because of the amount of work that has to be done. Even the Hawker 4000 was a stretch for me. (Thankfully I got it done). Learn to walk first. Then run. Goran

Not sure if you know about this, Rafael, but you can make several loop cuts in one section but selecting the loop cut tool and then using the scroll wheel to increase or decrease the number of loop cuts. This places the loop cuts an equal distance from each other in the specific section you are trying to shape. Goran

I'm not sure if it's an unusual angle of the model, but I can still see slight bumps in the fuselage and a seam running up the middle. The seam can be fixed but perhaps you should look into "proportional editing" when resizing the different sections of the fuselage so it smoothens out a bit. The seam in the middle needs to be S,X 0'ed to make it a clean join. Overall, it's coming along nicely. Goran

Main panel and center console assembled. And here you can see the wireframe of the overhead set against the background image. I tried to make it as accurate as possible. And 2 renders of the overhead That overhead was fuelled by about 8 cups of coffee, a steak, OJ, 5 bowls of noodles and A LOT of music over a period of 19 hours. TIME FOR BED!

WIP Center pedestal. I still have to shape the actual base where everything is mounted on, but it still is basically a big box with no rounded edges (YES!) The thing off to the side is the circuit breakers panel. Still to be positioned.

I managed to get my hands on the entire AOM for the Saab 340A/B. 4 PDF files at close to 100MB each (Gives you an idea of how many pages each section has.). This aircraft was truly state of the art in the 80's. The more I read about it, the more I love it. I have learned a lot more about them and I feel confident I can model each variant to 100% accuracy with what I have seen in the AOM so far. Anyway, Theo has finished texturing the Hawker 4000 and while she awaits programming (which should begin sometime this month or next month) I will continue working on the Saab series. Cockpit is progressing nicely.

Thanks Ola Just doing my best.