>Anyway, what aircraft model have you done in AutoCAD before?Hi Hardraade,Actually ...:-shy ... none!No - I use AutoCAD professionally, mainly 2D but sometimes 3D in my work as a constructon design technician. Of course I've modelled buildings and architectural features etc. in 3D - but mostly as "solids" - I'm not so adept with meshes. However, I am also a Marine/Aviation Artist and frequently model 3D simplified "lay models" of ships and aircraft to assist in perspective views etc for paintings.I have managed to whack out quite passable U-Boats, Japanese submarines and even the Zeppelin "Hindenburg" (Real easy!) using AutoCAD and Rinoceros(Unfortunately I only have the demo. version - great application, though!). I also did a 'generic' nine cylinder radial engine for "modelling" purposes.So ... I think the time may have come for me to take a shot at something more serious ... ?I would need some help, though ... haven't a clue about coding the animation etc ...(Please don't laugh ... at my old age - you never know what might happen ... :-newbie)John

>>Anyway, what aircraft model have you done in AutoCAD>before?>>Hi Hardraade,>>Actually ...:-shy ... none!>>No - I use AutoCAD professionally, mainly 2D but sometimes 3D>in my work as a constructon design technician. Of course I've>modelled buildings and architectural features etc. in 3D - but>mostly as "solids" - I'm not so adept with meshes. Construction design technician? I take it that you know how to do surveying then? :-hah>However, I am also a Marine/Aviation Artist and frequently>model 3D simplified "lay models" of ships and aircraft to>assist in perspective views etc for paintings.>>I have managed to whack out quite passable U-Boats, Japanese>submarines and even the Zeppelin "Hindenburg" (Real easy!)>using AutoCAD and Rinoceros(Unfortunately I only have the>demo. version - great application, though!). I also did a>'generic' nine cylinder radial engine for "modelling">purposes.>>So ... I think the time may have come for me to take a shot at>something more serious ... ?In that case, you might run into quite a few problems when you are creating an aircraft. Personally, I ran into a lot of trouble creating parts such as wingtips and wingroot fairings in AutoCAD -- the program is simply not designed to create these sorts of complex geometries... not unless there are a lot of cross sections.Nearly everyone I know who has experience in using CAD/CAM software told me that AutoCAD is mainly used in architecture, and I can see why now.That being said, AutoCAD is still the most powerful modelling software that I have used yet. I have considered moving on to more powerful CAD software, but I really don't want to leave AutoCAD's command-line interface behind. :-hah>I would need some help, though ... haven't a clue about coding>the animation etc ...Sure, although it should be easy to pick up.>(Please don't laugh ... at my old age - you never know what>might happen ... :-newbie)>>>John

>Construction design technician? I take it that you know how>to do surveying then? :-hahDon't even talk to me about surveying! I did enough of that to last me a lifetime in the 'sixties ... usually in lousy weather!>... you might run into quite a few problems when you>are creating an aircraft. Personally, I ran into a lot of>trouble creating parts such as wingtips and wingroot fairings>in AutoCAD -- the program is simply not designed to create>these sorts of complex geometries... not unless there are a>lot of cross sections.>>Nearly everyone I know who has experience in using CAD/CAM>software told me that AutoCAD is mainly used in architecture,>and I can see why now.>I agree. AutoCAD seems to be very good provided you're working with true "solids" - but quite clumsy with surface meshes.>That being said, AutoCAD is still the most powerful modelling>software that I have used yet. I have considered moving on to>more powerful CAD software, but I really don't want to leave>AutoCAD's command-line interface behind. :-hah>I agree again - the interface is as user-friendly as they come in my opinion. But this is where I like "Rhino" - the interface is almost identical to AutoCAD. (I believe it was originally an AutoCAD 'plug-in') and it handles meshes very well - you can also "loft" ... which you couldn't do in AutoCAD until (I believe) "2007".You can also export in many different file formats from Rhino - soooo .... as of Monday, if I manage to quit smoking for more than three months ..:-samurai .. I'm going to spring a little cash for it ... !Has anybody else tried Rhino? How did you get along with it?John

>Don't even talk to me about surveying! I did enough of that to>last me a lifetime in the 'sixties ... usually in lousy>weather!haha, I know what you mean. I still remember the time when I did a surveying lab in -20 degrees Celcius.>You can also export in many different file formats from Rhino>- soooo .... as of Monday, if I manage to quit smoking for>more than three months ..:-samurai .. I'm going to spring a>little cash for it ... !Make sure it can export into formats that are usable by FlightGear.>Has anybody else tried Rhino? How did you get along with it?No. Are there screenshots of its graphical interface?

On Rhino ....>>Make sure it can export into formats that are usable by>FlightGear.Try this lot ...:-File formats supported: DWG/DXF(AutoCAD 200x, 14, 13, and 12 ), SAT (ACIS), X_T (Parasolid), 3DS, LWO, STL, OBJ, AI, RIB, POV, UDO, VRML, BMP, TGA, CSV (export properties and hydrostatics), uncompressed TIFF, STEP, VDA, GHS, SLC, Deep Paint 3D. IGES (Alias, Ashlar Vellum, AutoFORM, AutoShip, Breault, CADCEUS, CAMSoft, CATIA, Cosmos, Delcam, EdgeCAM, FastSurf, FastSHIP, Integrity Ware, IronCAD, LUSAS, Maya, MAX 3.0, MasterCAM, ME30, Mechanical Desktop, Microstation, NuGraf, OptiCAD, Pro/E, SDRC I-DEAS, Softimage, Solid Edge, SolidWorks, SUM3D, SURFCAM, TeKSoft, Unigraphics), NASA GridTool, Yamaha ESPRi, Tebis.>>>Has anybody else tried Rhino? How did you get along with it?>>No. Are there screenshots of its graphical interface?Why don't you just try this link and download the demo ... it's really good ...http://www.rhino3d.com/Regards,John

People,I'm still getting nowhere with this GMAX to FlightGear business, and this thread seemed to get a bit off-topic from my original question, so I'll try again:Does anyone have direct experience with simply using the FS "MakeMDL" utility to create an MDL file, and using this directly in FlightGear? This seems the "cleanest" way of getting my FS aircraft to appear in FlightGear.I'm experiencing very strange "scale blow-up" problems - meaning my small aircraft model (which I built using the FS standard meter unit) seems to be appearing in FG at about x1000 scale (i.e. 1m = 1 km!)Incidently, just to convince myself that the model itself is OK I did the usual MakeMDL export to FS2002, and it appears normally and well (including colours).I have successfully used an existing MDL I already got for the Aerosonde UAV, without any problems whatsoever. However, this MDL seems to be at least 3-4 years old. Has something happened to MakeMDL maybe that messes up the scaling in FlightGear?