What software do big scenery developers use?

[Chock 17,769]

As far as making 3D models goes, typically you'd find a three-view of the thing you want to model, and then load it in as a background image in your 3D program, and then create all the various cubes, tubes and other shapes to make the thing.

Most 3D programs will let you create simple geometric shapes and you can then manipulate the individual points on those to further shape them. Sometimes you will use one shape as a cutting tool in order to cut parts out of another, which is often simpler than trying to create them from scratch although you can do that too if you prefer. Doing that cutting action is called a boolean operation. Here's an example of that in action, just to prove it's not particularly hard to do....

So, here's a three-view drawing of a Land Rover I found on the interweb, I've loaded it in as a backdrop and I've started by making a simple box, which will eventually be the front fender (or front wing if you are British). I've scaled the box to match the size on the drawing and moved it so it is over all three views, front, side and top, you can see the box is outlined in blue. This way I know it is more or less the right size for my model:

Now I want to cut out the wheel arch, so I've made a basic tube which will act as the cutting tool and I've moved it to the right place so it passes through my box, this is so when it cuts, it will take an arch out of that box shape I started with:

Then I chose 'boolean operation' off the menus and that performs the cutting action, then I delete all the cut out bits and the cutting tool too, leaving me with this:

Now here's the tedious bit, selecting the individual points of the shape and moving them to the exact points on the curve so it's more like the shape of the actual wheel arch. you can see one of these which I am moving highlighted in yellow. If need be, I can add more points to the shape, which in fact I would need to do in order to make the curved bit at the top front bit of the part:

That's about all there is to it if you fancy giving it a whirl. As you can see, it's not rocket science, but it does take some time to make decent models. All I'd need to do then is slap some textures on the thing and export it and it would be ready to rock as either scenery or a vehicle in the flight sim itself. I would have to designate the wheels with animations and name them specifically to have the flight sim pick them up and play suitable animations etc if I wanted it to be a vehicle displaying in the sim with the wheels steering and rotating. Scenery of buildings is a bit less hassle in this regard, since most of it is static.

Although this is in FSDS, which is not typically what a big developer would use to create stuff, but happens to be installed on this computer I'm on, so was easy to fire up to demonstrate this kind of thing, the gist of it is the same for all 3D programs. They pretty much all work like this.

As you can see from all that, it's not the modeling which is especially hard, it is more the amount of modeling which makes it hard. For a well modeled aeroplane, that means literally hundreds of parts, and for an airport, that means loads of buildings, all of which have to be photographed and researched so they look correct. Then you've gotta do all the gate stuff so it works in the program, the taxiway and runway designations etc so AI planes land properly and taxy to the correct gates and park at them properly and use the jetways accurately etc, etc.  Google Earth helps a bit, as does Street View sometimes, but generally speaking for scenery or aircraft modeling to a high standard, it means going out and photographing stuff, a lot, and a lot of stuff beyond simply the modeling tasks too. That's why those sceneries sometimes seem like they cost a lot when in fact they're quite cheap really if you consider all the work involved, especially from small developer, many of which are often little more than a one person operation. Of course they make money from it, but if you think all of them are driving round in Rolls Royces, they aren't, much of the time it's a supplement to another full time job.

[DavidP 1,408]

Fascinating stuff. Bit above my pay grade sadly!

[scottb613 1,186]

Hi Folks,

3D Canvas/Crafter

Regards,

Scott

[decapod 1]

On 11/13/2017 at 11:27 PM, scottb613 said:

Hi Folks,

 Bleh - texture mapping - my least favorite part of modeling - I can throw and manipulate polys all day - getting textures to sit nicely on them can be a real chore on complex shapes.. 

Regards,

Scott

Hi Scott,

I think that's why I shifted away from FS a few years ago and now just make 3D printed models for shapeways - no texturing involved.

Pity I only ever completed one aircraft for FSX using 3D Canvas/Crafter

(Download link should anyone want it 16Mb - https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=6B528339820717E!406)

Cheers,

Paul

 

[n4gix 4,947]

On ‎11‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 5:51 PM, Chock said:

Of course they make money from it, but if you think all of them are driving round in Rolls Royces, they aren't, much of the time it's a supplement to another full time job.

As we sang in the U.S. Army during Basic Training:

"My Colonel drives a Cadillac, my Captain drives a Ford, I drive a donkey and beat him with a board..."

In a like manner, I drive a 1998 Toyota Camry but can pretend it's a Roll Royce Phantom...

[OzWhitey 3,353]

Which of the tools mentioned work with Prepar3d v4? I thought that 3dsMax was the standard, and there weren't a lot of other fully supported options, according the LM (unlike with FSX and earlier versions of P3D).

interested as I am looking for a 3D program to make airport buildings for v4, but 3DSMax is seriously expensive!

[scottb613 1,186]

2 hours ago, decapod said:

Hi Scott,

I think that's why I shifted away from FS a few years ago and now just make 3D printed models for shapeways - no texturing involved.

Pity I only ever completed one aircraft for FSX using 3D Canvas/Crafter

Cheers,

Paul

 

Hi Paul,

HAH - OMG - been ages and ages - sir... Hope all is well with you and happy to see you still kicking around here... LOL - yeah - throwing polys is the fun part - mapping and textures is the chore...

 

14 minutes ago, OzWhitey said:

Which of the tools mentioned work with Prepar3d v4? I thought that 3dsMax was the standard, and there weren't a lot of other fully supported options, according the LM (unlike with FSX and earlier versions of P3D).

interested as I am looking for a 3D program to make airport buildings for v4, but 3DSMax is seriously expensive!

Hi Robert,

I think Blender would be your best bet (free) unless you plan on making some serious cash with your projects... It seems well made and powerful... It's been on my "to do" list for a while - as I'd like to learn how to use it... I got very comfortable with 3d Canvas and the few times I played around with Blender - I just couldn't get motivated to learn the new interface...

Regards,
Scott