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hugopilot

How do PMDG make airplanes

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3dsmax9 (old version) for the modelling .ps for texturing

i had never modelled or programmed before in my life but fancied getting involved in fs modelling so downloaded 3dsmax 9 and taught myself from scratch.Within a year i was working for fslabs modelling the exterior mdl for the upcoming a320.

 

so yes its really possible to do it and to a high standard in not alot of time.As for the coding side thats a whole different ballgame but im sure with the same approach and dedication can be achieved in much the same way.

 

 

kav

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Hello, can anybody tell how PMDG make that detail cockpit?

I wanna make a A350-800-900-900R-1000-F Versions

This is what i wanna know:

  • What kind of software they use (example: FS Design Studio 3.5)
  • how they create the model (.MDL Files)
  • how they make a virtual cockpit that fully works

If the software is secret (or other) please tell then the best alternitive.

 

Thanks

Hugo

 

Right. I am in a good mood, so there goes.

 

a) I am gonna bet 20 bucks that they use either 3dsMax 2012 or 2014, 64bit version. 32bit original FSX SDK has this nasty behaviour, that it does not allow to export more than 2^32 polygons, which in this day and age, does not quite cut it. So either they use 64bit exporter or they might have a custom script/software that allows them to circumvent this limitation.

 

b) Lots and lots of skilled work in 3D and 2D graphics and good knowledge of FSX rendering engine and how to get the best out of it.

 

c) Come on, that one is easy. You have examples in SDK and everywhere on how to make a VC that kinda works. You just build on that until you have one that fully works.

 

 

 

And last... it's a nice pipedream, but when you ask this kind of question in this kind of forum... I don't think you are gonna make it...

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Whoa... Guys, why the negative remarks when one wants to know what we do and how they can do a project themselves?

 

To those who want to learn modeling, the best advice I can give is, practice and practice, lots of practice helps develop your skills. I started in this industry by building freeware models and allowing feedback from others to improve and tweak your skills.

 

Acquiring skills does not happen overnight, it takes time and lots of patience and the right tools. I would suggest starting off with Gmax (it's free) and develop your skills. Then when you have the money, buy a professional modeling software such as 3DS Max (versions 9 thru 2012 but not later) get a good texture tool such as Photoshop CS5 and higher. (Other versions work fine but personally I find photoshop to be the best).

 

Read the FSX software SDK carefully and thoroughly, you will be confused and overwhelmed at the beginning, don't be afraid to ask questions in the Development forums on Avsim. There are tons of tutorials and how to over at fsdevelopers.

 

I would suggest start off with an easy project such as a general aviation aircraft and work your way up. You will be frustrated if you start off with a large and complex project. GA planes can use the built in FSX tags and gauges. You will need XML experience to program complex gauges and even complex ones would use C++ and others.

 

So despite what others may say its a pipe dream or impossible. It's not if you make the impossible, possible. It takes lots of time and effort as well as patience. If you have that, go for it. Start off with an easy airplane and work your way up once you have the confidence.

 

It took me over 15 years of practice and experience to get to where I am at now and guess what? I'm still learning....it doesn't stop till you give up or quit. But quitting is not an option for me.

 

You can do it...

 

All the best,


Jason Brown - Exterior Model Engineer,

http://www.precisionmanuals.com
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And to blatantly ask a developer how they achieved there magic formula - rude.

 

 

Not unlike your initial reply Wes.

 

But he wasn't to know he'd be answered by the PMDG Politeness Police (Self-Appointed Squad)

 

To the OP: There's better, less noisome places to post your Q's

 

http://forum.avsim.net/forum/122-msfs-aircraft-and-panel-design-forum/

 

for a start.

 

 

 

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This is why I love AVSIM forums, somebody asks a genuine question and it turns in negative comments and arguments about the comments.

 

Great answer Jason and a few others.

 

I'll be honest, I have never developed an aircraft or scenery for FSX, yes I have repainted a livery and created my own but that is about it. I am not talking as an expert.

 

Many FSX developers started on earlier versions of Flight Sim and learnt as they went. I don't know how old you are Hugo but what you learn now will put you in good stead for the future. I agree that you need to walk before you can run, to start on an Airbus on your own will be a nightmare, just look how long it has take FlightSimLabs to make there Airbus, or the fact that the Blackbox version is still not complete.

 

One more thing is that nobody knows the future of FSX, even with P3D, it will reach a limit of what can be achieved with backward compatibility. FSX was built to be compatible with FS2004 add-ons, FS2004 was designed to be compatible with earlier versions. It may be worth looking at the technologies to make aircraft for X-Plane 10 with it's 64bit base.

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I started 5 years ago and knew absolutely nothing about 3DSMax, the FSX SDK, or programming. With the help of professionals in the company, fsdeveloper, and my boss it took about me 2 months to learn the basics of how the FSX mdl and xml system works. From there it was just a constant learning process for about a year to understand XML and come to despise its limitations and yearn for C++. However the basics that I learned in XML carried over to the 3 months later when I started to catch on to C++ and FSX C++ gauges and simconnect. Ultimately I can say that you can never stop learning. And if you can find someone trustworthy who also has development skills, and make your project a team effort, you learn that much more that much faster and succeeding as a team is so much more satisfactory than winning on your own. Just recently a friend and I came up with new techniques (at least for us) that broke down so many limitations and improved the performance of our work in FSX vastly. The satisfaction that comes from that kind of learning experience is indescribable.

 

JasonB's post gives you an idea of where to start. Begin there and get something to show and then try to find someone who can join you on the project and it will become that much more fun.

 


Jonathan "FRAG" Bleeker

Formerly known here as "Narutokun"

 

If I speak for my company without permission the boss will nail me down. So unless otherwise specified...Im just a regular simmer who expresses his personal opinion

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the first step should be done at the fsdevelopers page.
Secondly you must have programming knownledge. C++ is a superior language if you are starting now  it may take you months  or years to learn how to use it in the fs world.You should also learn how operating systems work too because with such a project you will need to use efficienntly the threads and some other stuffs (multithreading etc).XML programming is also useful and also database modelling too(database modelling is difficult.I have a lesson in my college about databases and believe me it is not so" funny","easy" that i could expected)
for visuals 3ds max studio and photoshop is a good start as they mentioned above.
Last one be patient work hard and always learn and learn

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thepilot, on 06 Jul 2014 - 12:19 AM, said:

What a nice person you are, Wes.

 

I offer a sincere apology to the OP as I think I may have misunderstood the tone of what he was asking. It came across to me as someone who knew quite well they were asking the right question in the wrong place. So again I offer my apologies if this was not the case.

 

 

B77X, on 06 Jul 2014 - 12:49 AM, said:

Wes

 

Your attitude stinks.

 

The topic started asked a genuine question. Did you see anywhere in his post him asking for any PMDG specifics?

 

By asking it in the PMDG forum. But as I said above, I apologise if what I said sounded mean. To be fair, as an example, if I posted the same sort of question in the ASN forum, I don't think the devs there would be too happy to hand over their information. That goes for any dev who has a really good product and put a lot of resources and money into the product.

 

 

 

FScamp, on 06 Jul 2014 - 01:37 AM, said:

Please don't throw around "Boeing licensed" as if it actually meant anything. There are below freeware standard products (such as Abacus 787) that read "Boeing officially licensed". I believe it means that the developer has simply paid for a license. I don't really believe PMDG has access to any kind of "secret" special information from Boeing that other developers couldn't obtain like some people seem to suggest

Performance data. I am pretty sure that PMDG has access to the full set of performance data in order to do their flight model. Not sure if Abacus has done the same or just licensed the name and visual model.

 

So yes to the OP, apologies for coming across as mean if it was you indeed just interested, I believe I misread the intent here.

 

If you want to learn 3D modelling (that could be used for any FSX model, be it airplane, building, The Hindenburg), try this: http://www.autodesk.com/products/3ds-max/overview

 

They offer an educational version.

 

Also, a free and pretty good 3D package called Blender http://www.blender.org/ although not sure if this product can make FSX compatible models.

 

For your textures you will probably want Photoshop from Adobe.

 

Once you get the visual model and texturing right, the coding fun starts with Visual Studio most likely.

 

As for your A350, if you want it to be spot on in terms of flight dynamics, start with the -900 as this is the only one you will be able to get performance data for right now. Then have an expansion for the -1000. It is looking less likely that we will ever see the -800 in the real world, many orders are being converted to the -900.

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I think it's up to the individual developers.  Thanks for coming back to apologize Wes, that was big of you.

 

Robert


\Robert Hamlich/

 

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It'd be neat if PMDG or some other dev would do a short video based on that show "How its made" I'd be interested in seeing the design process


ATP MEL,CFI,CFII,MEI.

 

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Anyone can do almost anything, it's about just having the right amount of determination, passion and ambition :wink:

 

AMEN!  :BigGrin:

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Why don't you let the OP and the people at PMDG discuss the matter. If the people at PMDG want to answer his question they will, if not your lives will move on. I don't understand why so many of you feel the need to speak for others. People have their own voices, you don't need to be their voice...

 

 

Suraj Hussain

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Right. I am in a good mood, so there goes.

 

a) I am gonna bet 20 bucks that they use either 3dsMax 2012 or 2014, 64bit version. 32bit original FSX SDK has this nasty behaviour, that it does not allow to export more than 2^32 polygons, which in this day and age, does not quite cut it. So either they use 64bit exporter or they might have a custom script/software that allows them to circumvent this limitation.

 

B) Lots and lots of skilled work in 3D and 2D graphics and good knowledge of FSX rendering engine and how to get the best out of it.

 

c) Come on, that one is easy. You have examples in SDK and everywhere on how to make a VC that kinda works. You just build on that until you have one that fully works.

 

 

 

And last... it's a nice pipedream, but when you ask this kind of question in this kind of forum... I don't think you are gonna make it...

 

 

well thanks, and well i got some 3d modeling experience (but with SolidWorks), i just wanna know what kind of software they use. Unfortunately for me, that this is a really big project

 

 

So you just asked a company with a good few employees, a global and very loyal customer base, and Boeing licensed software provider, to share their proprietary information so you can develop a competing product?

 77west, i make a Airbus, not a Boeing! ^_^


I think the point is he is effectively asking for a PMDG template to create an A350 that is equivalent to PMDG products. With that, I am not going to respond to this thread any further, as I don't wish for any ill will amongst us all. I am sure he didn't mean any harm, but Google might have resulted in better answers for "how to make an FSX .mdl" 

77West, i don't wanna have a template, i just wanna make a A350 add-on for FSX with a detailed (virtual) cockpit. And about the Google search, really, i can't find anything then just this answer: ,,sombody the makes a .mdl file will 'lock' the file.". So? I can't do anything with that kind of answers.

 

I offer a sincere apology to the OP as I think I may have misunderstood the tone of what he was asking. It came across to me as someone who knew quite well they were asking the right question in the wrong place. So again I offer my apologies if this was not the case

 

 

if you think, please give me a website where i ask it normal or just stop then with saying i am on the wrong place


Why don't you let the OP and the people at PMDG discuss the matter. If the people at PMDG want to answer his question they will, if not your lives will move on. I don't understand why so many of you feel the need to speak for others. People have their own voices, you don't need to be their voice...

 

 

Suraj Hussain

Flashkick, you are right, but where we can find them????

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Neither the MSFS nor the P3D SKDs will import NURBS-based meshes. You can do all the modelling in SolidWorks, but you'd want to check the mesh in 3ds max, modo, Blender or any of the available polygon-based apps first before throwing it at FSX.

Edited by jag heter jan

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if you think, please give me a website where i ask it normal or just stop then with saying i am on the wrong place

Great post by Jason.

 

I recommend signing up at http://www.fsdeveloper.com

 

I think you will get better answers there, and you can learn a lot from the posts. :)


- Jens Peter "Penz" Pedersen

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