WombatBoy

Yeah, I agree with Derek as well. The normal maps look incredible! The orange tint to the windows just seems off to me. When I saw the 787 at Oshkosh the windows appeared much darker like in this picture

Breaking through the clouds above MMMM on my way to KMDW

It actually has a couple different start modes, one of which is the full startup from cold and dark. If I recall correctly the cold and dark start up is available in the free version as well. It's not modeled in as much depth or complexity as the Basic or Pro version (the Pro is still in progress and will be released early to mid 2014 if all goes according to plan). In the V2 there's 3 cold start options. From the manual:

As many of the buttons as are functional on the 2D panel of the version of the aircraft that you've purchased will be functional.

Pedestal beginnings

YSSY-NZCH Departure from YSSY Descending over New Zealand Just before touchdown at NZCH

Updated to the LCD display to reflect the 2D panel and aircraft version more accurately.

QPAC A320 from KORD-KPDX Takeoff from KORD On final to KPDX Before touchdown Parked at the gate at KPDX

So I started a thread on the org but I figured one would be appropriate here as well. Here is where you can find the WIP renders and screenshots of the cockpit and general 3D/visual updates. Some beginnings of the main panel.

I'll be sure to paint that one! Did a lot of work on the instruments today. I'm hoping to have them all working before I move on with the rest of the cockpit.

I figured that it was about time this plane got it's own development thread as the modeling is nearing completion and I do plan on finishing it at some point. It's obviously going to have a 3D cockpit and all that, the instruments are all already modeled in 3D despite not being all laid out on the panel yet. You can find some pictures below. The landing gear renders have been posted before but I'm posting them here as well so you can get a feel as to the level of detail I'm going for with this plane. Cheers

Took my rudderless Bede out for a spin today

When you get to the animation stage of things I highly recommend you give ac3d a try. In my opinion it's far superior to blender for that and if that's all you end up using it for it'll still be a good investment. That's just my opinion but I know there's plenty of others out there who agree with me.

It's possible without a doubt. From a personal perspective I don't usually like working with other peoples models but it's really up to you. If you're talking about making all the 3D instruments and everything that's not a huge task in and of itself but it'll certainly take a fair bit of work. There's a lot of animations you've got to get down but once you've learned all of that it'll help for future projects because you can build up a sort of instrument library and re-use animations and things. The modeling isn't that hard for the instruments, the animations are a lot harder.

That's a real nice looking car! They're definitely harder to model than planes in my opinion. Lots of work on the Bede main gear getting them stuffed into the wheel wells and getting the retraction animation working correctly. Since I do plan on finishing this in a reasonable amount of time I'll start a thread for it pretty soon.

I sent you a PM a little over a week ago about this but I might as well post here too. I'd definitely be down to combine our works on the BD. I've been doing lots of work in the cockpit of mine with general details as well as instruments so that could be a possibility as well. Here's two quick pictures from ac3d.

At least for me, it is relaxing to a certain extent. I mostly do X-Plane work/modelling now just for fun as a bit of a respite from college work and everything. If I'm done with all my schoolwork I'll either be playing Civ5 or just working on little bits and pieces of things.

Some instruments I've been working on recently...

Coming into KPDX from KORD

Finally bought XP10

Oh my, Leen...that looks absolutely fantastic! Easily one of the best repaints I've ever seen.

Fantastic work as always Leen Your normal maps never cease to amaze me!

This is for the Bede BD-5J. I have the actual builders plans so if I wanted I could actually go and build it...but I'd rather work on the X-Plane model

Working on some landing gear The first picture is of drawings from the actual builders manual on how to construct the landing gear for comparison.