Zach Decou

I would like to save lights and camera to a scene of sorts, so after thoroughly messing up the good thing I had, I can reload it. Problem is, I find a camera angle and light situation I like, then I play with my mesh some more, shoot a few renders from different angles and lighting, then can't ever seem to get my original camera angle and light set up. Undo won't work as I would like to have different scenes to which I can go back and forth. Any idea how to save a camera and light set up as a scene? Thanks! Zach

Hello Kiddies! Pilatus has been kind enough to furnish me with some high resolution three view line drawings of the PC-21 while they review the availability of the information I requested. So for the last three days, I have been working on the nose. As I have mentioned, I have "noodled around" in Blender previously. None of this noodling time was spent doing long curvy shapes. Mostly nuts and bolts type stuff. Let me tell you, it's tough! I'm not happy enough with the mesh to post it bare bones for critique, but believe me, I will soon! I very much value the criticisms of the folks around here. So here are some prettied up renders of the mess so far. Please note, I don't know a lot about rendering. I think they look cute, and I had a lot of fun playing with ray tracing. As I said, I will post meshes when I like what I see a little more. Thanks! [EDIT] I just noticed I have the spinner cap holes wrong. They do not close in aft of the prop.

I think if Peter doesen't have the energy or know how to build a proper 3d pit (I suspect this is not the case) he should at least farm the work out. There are a handfull of folks here who could produce a bangin pit in little time *coughGoran*. Maybe the "pilots with necks" demographic would show a little more interest in his planes. I certainly would. I'd looove to have a top notch a380 with a 3d pit. A boy can dream, can't he?

Thank jeebus for array modifier.

Animated textures are used do draw the 2D panel and rain effects in 2D view. Javier has mentioned using rain effects and wipers to clear them on his CRJ (don't remember where I saw it) and I suspect he will likely use the animated rain texture. If I am wrong about this, please correct me. I have been curious about creating rain effects for a long time... So it is doable

TheoGregory posted a topic on the org about an hour ago with links to these videos and wip threads. It's still there! http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=42489&pid=471155&st=0&#entry471155 What balls.

I use a Walmart special cheapo Saitek st290 pro stick on my 20" imac. It was plug n play from the get go. It seems odd to me they would tell you their products will not work on a mac.

I said I was going to post screen shots when I had something of interest to post... Well I lied. These aren't all that interesting Well, what do you think? I have begun the early plane-maker model. The canopy needs to be widened a little bit. I am using the XFCS plugin to stabilize it, as it is naturally very unstable and has a pronounced left roll tendency in high power settings (the real PC-21 has a right-offset prop and other "systems" to compensate for p-factor. I offset the prop and used the plugin in place of the "systems"). Wing chords, spans, and dihedrals closely match the LOW resolution three views I have. Prop dimensions (other than diameter) and blade pitches are a complete guess. I have NO information on any of the airfoils or prop used on the aircraft (I have the Hartzell prop's model number, but no information otherwise found online). Again, if anyone knows of an online resource for this information, shoot it my way. I have burned Google onto my screen and retinas over the past week and so far have been disappointed at the quality and quantity of the information I have been able to scare up. Damn me for choosing to build such a new aircraft. Also, I am curious as to how X-Plane calculates misc wings. I used small misc wings to make winglets and such, but doesn't X-Plane see a bunch of new wing tips? Does XP calculate tip losses for each wing tip? For instance, my PC-21's left wing consists of five wing sections. Thats five wing tips in the airstream rather than one. Am I over thinking this or is there a solution to all those tips in the air? I'm a sucker for good advice, so don't be stingy! Zach De'Cou sees "Google" every time he blinks.

Hi Javier. Would it be possible to throw in a couple of private liveries? I am not thinking of any one in particular. I like to fly bizjets. I saw on an earlier post on one of your threads a request for a bizjet conversion. I'm wondering if we can at least get a couple of liveries to satisfy this.

Geeks, I decided to take the leap and build my first aircraft for public release. I have seen many a noob post topics in forums stating their intentions to dive into a 747 or A380 or what have you, only to have the local pros say, "Hmm. maybe start with something a little less complicated... like a Cri Cri or something." Well in an effort to preempt such advice, I have chosen a small aircraft with some moderately complicated systems. I present for your approval the Pilatus PC-21 Isn't she a sexy bird? Anyway, I have noodled around in blender for a while and made several fictitious aircraft in PM. I think it's time for me to hone my abilities with a set goal. I would very much like the community here to offer any advice if willing. I will post screenshots when I have something of interest to post. I am beginning the information gathering stage. Google has pulled up some press releases and imagery on this relatively new aircraft, but nothing with any real meat. I have sent an information request to Pilatus. I am not putting too much hope into that avenue as they very well may find it a waste of time to retrieve and send information to a person who is a non-paying customer. But who knows... [EDIT] Pilatus has contacted me and expressed interest in this project. If anyone knows of one or more online resources where I might find specifications, dimensions, POH, etc., I would be forever grateful. (I have tried smartcockpit.com already, but they only list the PC-12.) Now I have a serious legal question. Let's say this project or a future project of mine is of a build quality that reaches into the payware domain. Are there licensing issues that could be raised by the aircraft's manufacturer? Has anyone here or elsewhere ever been hit with a lawsuit, cease and desist order, etc., for building a payware aircraft based on a real world aircraft? What about using logos? Any help would be awesome. Also, I suck reeeealy bad at texturing. Maybe this project will teach me what I need to know about it, but most likely, I will need some serious help. Thanks for your time!

people have been having problems like this because their autopilots are dependent on the inverter as a power source. Now, you have to specify in plane maker what systems run on the inverter and how many inverters the aircraft has. I don't know about RC7, but in earlier RCs, the default number of inverters set by plane maker is zero. You have to open the aircraft in plane maker and specify at least one inverter, or you have to uncheck the autopilot and other systems from the inverter power source. This is probably too late, but I hope it helps.

Javier, I bought this aircraft a couple of days ago from jrollon.com It looks like I have the initial release too. I have outside strobe reflections during the day and I'm assuming the "dancing needle" referred to by kesomir is the AoA, which is dancing while on the ground. Also, I'd love to review your planes. Is thee a place I can do that? I'll be nice! I'll PM you the email used for the purchase. Thanks for a hoot of a ride!

A penlight plugin. When I start cold at night, finding the battery switch often involves briefly donning the night vision goggles (plots rarely have these in the real world). Solution: click on your keychain penlight via key command or plugins drop down menu. Now you have a bluish L.E.D. (or color of your choice) beam that illuminates a user determined radius around the mouse pointer anywhere on the panel. It must work in the 3D pit though. Regards Zach

Japo! Holy Crap! I am a couple of months shy of celebrating my first X-Plane anniversary (what took me so long?) and so far have been disappointed by the payware offerings currently out there... until now! My eyes are having trouble staying inside my head! I have a question. I notice in the Javelin video, you used Blender for the object creation. The CRJ-200 looks like it's been built in 3DS max. Do you find a benefit to using 3DS over Blender? I am new to 3D rendering and have only Blender. Just curious. I want my CRJ-200! All the best Zach.