I've dabbled in FSX development before with little success, but I thought I might try my hand at it again. The only problem is there don't seem to be any good tutorials for FSX aircraft development in Gmax. Of the few tutorials I've found, they've either been very dated or for FSDS, and none of them contain instruction on building a dynamic VC (at least not a good one). Could somebody point me in the direction of a good starting point for FSX development? I'm starting off simple with a Cessna 207 Stationair, so I don't need to learn any complex gauge programming--just the basics when it comes to that. Also, is there any information regarding 3D gauges? I want to see if that's something I might want to attempt to do.

 

Thanks,

boeing247

I agree that there aren't many tutorials for aircraft design. With that said, its not critical. If you know the basics of your software, you can just about model anything with enough patience. There are many tutorials that demonstrate how to use 3ds max on youtube. There are also many tutorials on the web that demonstrate how to model cars and boats which use the same hard surface modeling techniques as airplanes. I also recommend you check out fsdeveloper.com. They have a larger community of developers there that could help you out. With that said, nothing beats practice, reading or watching tutorials only takes you so far. Once you get comfortable with the software, you can check out Mike James (http://www.mikejamesmedia.com/) who sells tutorials on modeling aircraft on a program called modo. They are high polygon but the basics are generally the same though they are not for beginners.

 

One last thing, you need to realize that even though it might look easy, modeling a cessna 207 is much harder than modeling an airliner. Small planes require more detail and have more complex shapes. Airliners are basically tubes with wings. I would suggest you start with a small jet, something perhaps made out of composites like the BD-5.

 

cheers.

 

PS: don't bother learning how to make 3d gauges at this point. Its not as hard as you might think, but go step by step. Doing otherwise will probably frustrate you and make you rage quit.

The absolute best modeling tutorial for your learning needs is Milton Schupe's C162:

 

http://www.flightsimonline.com/C162/

 

It uses GMax v1.2 which is the free 3d program supplied with the FS9 SDK. Although it is aimed at FS2004 (FS9), the modeling techniques remain essentially the same as those used for FSX modeling.

Thanks! I remember seeing that Milton Shupe tutorial a long time ago, but I had since lost the link.