FSDS Modeling Tutorial Series: The Basics Part I

[MIKE JG]

This is part 1 of the FSDS modeling video tutorial series. This set of tutorials will cover the basic working and modeling principles of FSDS and is designed for both beginners and more seasoned modelers.

If you have FSDS, but have never before used it or never gotten anywhere on your own, this is a great way to get started.

If you have used FSDS in the past, you may pick up some helpful tips that you were unaware of.

This is Part I of the Basics of working with FSDS. In this part, we describe how to work with the pre-made FSDS part objects (Box, Tube, Disc, Oval, Polygon, Sphere, Geodesic Sphere, Cone, etc.) using the Part mode.

We describe the three modeling modes (Move, Rotate, Scale) as well as discuss how to use the constrain function. There are many other tips and tricks presented in this approximately 30 minute video.

https://militaryaiworks.com/academy/fsd ... ics-part-1

Please post any questions or comments you may have about this tutorial in this thread.

[nickblack423]

Well done Mike, That is spot on. We'll have some great developers bringing new stuff out based on this. Really simple to follow and very good for beginers. I wish I'd had something like this when I was learning.

What is the next part gonna be.

Nick

[MIKE JG]

Working with points/point mode. I just tried to make it but FSDS crashed a couple times on me. That's ok I usually have to make it a couple times to get it the way I want to present it, sorta like a couple practice attempts first, then after that, I can usually put a whole one together and know what I want to say and demonstrate.

[ronniegj]

I downloaded both the low res and high res versions and watched both. I'll be using the high res from now on, as the low res is just not sharp enough to see any of the menu choices that you are selecting. High res has to be displayed full screen for the menu lettering to be clear enough to read, and some times you move too quickly after making the choice and the menu closes. This is a minor picky point, but I'm working a the speed of a turtle to try and grasp each point, as you go along. BTW, getting my head wrapped around the issue of the top/back/right side views has always been a real confusing problem for me. When I took engineering drawing back in high school (many, many years ago) I had come to a specific understanding of what I was seeing in a 3 view drawing, and how it was created. FSDS does not seem to adhere to the convention that I learned back then, and my mind is just fighting hard to visualize this bit, but I'm sure I will eventually get a handle on it.

I have placed the video on my lap top in order that I may view the vid and at the same time have FSDS open on my (brand new - finally!) main computer. Unfortunately, the original FSDS has become unreadable, so I have been unable to install on my new computer, and the program died along with all else on my old computer. I have ordered a download of the program this morning from Abacus (v3.5, my old copy was v3.0) and will have to make a master copy as soon as it is downloaded, but at least I won't have to keep a copy of the free upgrade around, so install will be a step simpler.

I seem to recall that you were going to make a lesson that was a detailed how to install and setup file folders, etc, for best results. Have you given up on that idea?

This first outing is excellent. Just what I was hoping for. I can't thank you enough for spending the time and effort to create these lessons.

Ron

[MIKE JG]

Ron after looking at the setup for FSDS, I don't think it warrants a tutorial just for that. The preferences menu regarding program setup is excellent and should be self explanatory. You have to simply point FSDS to your FS9 location, and if you don't have them, download and install the MakeMdl and BGLComp compilers. Both of which have a simple button to click if you need to download them. Then it's a matter of again pointing your copy of FSDS to those two programs.

As always we can certainly help anyone out who needs assistance with that part.

Some comments on how the tutorial videos are made. The program I am using is basically a screen capture program like you would use to take a basic screen shot. It captures 24 screen shots per second to mimic what you would see in a movie theater. These are captured as .bmp images which are generally pretty large images by themselves. So the program captures 24 .bmp images a second multiplied by 30+ minutes of tutorial. The result was over 46,000 .bmp images captured for the first tutorial. When the program compiles these into a .AVI file that could be watched, the initial size was nearly 700MB. This was also with FSDS running in windowed mode, reduced to about 2/3 size of my normal full screen.

Needless to say 700MB won't work for anyone, size wise. So I then have to convert this .AVI file into a .wav file that can be viewed by everyone. To do that means reducing the overall quality to get the file size down to something manageable. That is why even at 44MB (compressed), the file is still a bit grainy and the image quality tends to lack clarity.

Unfortunately, this is the only way I've found to make it work so we are going to stick with this and make do. I think, as you mentioned, the high quality versions should be good enough to work with.

[DaleRFU]

Its a very helpful tutorial, i have learnt a lot already thanks Mike

[MIKE JG]

Ron I forgot to mention, the "thinking in the 3 axes" is only a hurdle which you will eventually get over. It just takes some time, please do not let that stop you from trying. You will "get it" given enough time.

[Flyin Illini]

mike i applaud you, FSDS makes me pull my hair out but this is helping me a lot with it.