Military AI Works

Psuls wrote:I do too. Boolean makes too many polygons...although it reflects the reality

Boolean doesnt actually make any more polys, it actually cuts them up into what they will be when in FS, "3 sided". If thats what you mean Pascal. It does however create a few unwanted and un-needed polys and points that with a bit of time, you can go in and delete , putting in new polys as you go. You can spot the unwanted ones as strange shades on your 3d model. It also helps to unshade when before you do Boolean operation sometimes.

For control surfaces I prefer to make sure that when I make the wing I follow the line of where the flaps etc. are, so that after I have textured the wing, all I need do is select the polys that make up the flap and split them. This way they are tetured as part of the wing.

Hope that makes sense

Nick

For control surfaces I prefer to make sure that when I make the wing I follow the line of where the flaps etc. are, so that after I have textured the wing, all I need do is select the polys that make up the flap and split them. This way they are tetured as part of the wing.

Do you align cross sections with the edges of the control surface, or do you go back and move points around later or both?

Also the part about texturing the wing before splitting out the control surfaces makes too much sense: that's why I never thought of it!

Jake I think the answer to your question is a "yes". I'm going to try that method and see how it comes out. Basically use a cross section at each end of a control surface and allign the polygons/points so that they align with the control surfaces you want to cut out. This will be my fourth version of the wing (sigh....). Learning along the way though.

Here's another question. Which control surfaces are worth modeling/animating other than the flaps? Any or just the flaps? I guess I'll have to spend some time watching some AI closely to see what works and looks best.

I've been told not to worry with the ailerons, but the flaps are pretty visible. I think most people animate the elevators as well especially if you have elevons or a stabilator (no extra polys)

Yea I'm thinking just the flaps and the elevator, ahh heck, probably just the flaps and spoilers instead. You really can't see much elevator movement anyways on a big bird like this, I would assume the KC-10 like many other large transports has an all moving stabilizer plus elevators. Thrust reversers for no. 1 and no. 3 engines as well. Geez, lots to do.

MIKE JG wrote:Thanks for the info Tom. I'm sure someone will pick those up in a package eventually. So they do, or they do not have a refueling boom on the back?

The 2 tankers do have a refueling boom at the end.
The other Dc-10-30 has not.

MIKE JG wrote:Thrust reversers for no. 1 and no. 3 engines as well

No. 2 has a reverser too

Doh, one more thing for the list of "to do's".

OK, here's the wire frame model for you "veterans" to have a look at. Please point out any areas that you think could be improved upon.

hi,

there is a third version of the DC-10 tanker:

The civilian KDC-10 from Omega Air: http://www.globalairtankerservice.com/crs.html

Yup, and we'll have to do that version as well. One of the members at one time was working on a strictly "Omega Air Tanker" package. Not sure whatever happened to that one.

Its me! I suppose Ill wait until this comes out....

Hey Mike,

Wondered if you were still working on this or did it die in the great laptop crash of 2007?

No it's on the desktop computer fortunately, still sitting there waiting to be finished. However, it is far, far down the list right now.

Well, at least it survived, right? So there's still hope!

Looks very nice. Just one thing (I had to do it on my E-195) is to reduce the number of cross sections in the wing. I think that you only need 3, one at each end and the one in the middle. Also, never, ever use the Boolean operation in FSDS. It's really inefficient at cutting up polys. Andy Jarvis did a tutorial over on JBAI, but they've changed the forum over there and the link is broken. I'll try and find it later, but it basically involved cutting stuff up by making a box the same shape as the part you want to cut, and then removing polys and merging the 2 parts together, making some more polys and the splitting the parts again. Very complicated but very poly efficient, and very badly described my me!

Ha ha, well said..............I think. Yea, I've since realized that I can get away with far fewer cross-sections than what I originally made for the wing. One thing about starting these projects, then shelving them for a while, and going back to them, is that when you pick it back up, you seem to have a different look at it and redo much of your early work. That's what I'm hoping will happen when and if I ever get back to it. In between I've done a ton of scenery stuff so I've gained quite a bit of valuable experience with FSDS. So hopefully going back to it, I can make better progress and at least get the LOD1 version nearly finished.

Fortunately we have a wealth of AI design knowledge around here to draw on. So that always helps.

We've sort of argued the merits of using boolean cuts to create cutouts. I think the concensus we've come to it that while it's a nice shortcut to getting that shape just right, the side effects are not necessarily worth using it. Luckily you can get away without using it for AI only models.

I found that coming back to my E-190 after a good rest found lots of errors aswell! It's quite refreshing to leave it for a bit.

Will you be doing a civie DC-10, or even an MD-11? (I wish Boeing hadn't dropped the MD-11, would have made a great replacement for the KC-10! )

MIKE JG wrote:...That's what I'm hoping will happen when and if I ever get back to it...

You're not sure if you're going to finish it?

vc-10 wrote:...I wish Boeing hadn't dropped the MD-11, would have made a great replacement for the KC-10! Sad Sad )...

Why does the KC-10 need a replacement?

KC-10 is getting old, almost as old as the KC-135. You can only keep 'em flying for so long. Look no further than the F-15 fleet.

I might finish it, I might let someone else finish it, I might never finish it. You know how it goes.