Six-seats FSX/P3D payware aircrafts

[MartinRex007 390]

1 hour ago, scottb613 said:

I've wanted the F1 King Air for a long time - the two issues that have stopped me:

• Reported performance (FPS)
• Lack of Airways on the G1000

Hopefully these are addressed in the update...

Regards,
Scott

Hi Scott, they have added airways to their upgraded G1000, Yoda posted a nice picture of the KA showing that on their forum. Not sure about FPS, I get a pretty consistent 30 fps on a i7-4790k, GTX970.

Cheers

Scott

[Steve Dra 7,588]

16 minutes ago, scottb613 said:

Trying to make a case for a special edition "Steve-O" model - TBM-850 - complete with matching paint and registration number...

I'd convert my current hangar'd TBM to Steve-o's config in a heartbeat!

The fact my name is also Steve and I like the idea of flying around in a plane associated with my name is purely coincidental.  

 

[scottb613 1,188]

1 hour ago, MartinRex007 said:

Hi Scott, they have added airways to their upgraded G1000, Yoda posted a nice picture of the KA showing that on their forum. Not sure about FPS, I get a pretty consistent 30 fps on a i7-4790k, GTX970.

Cheers

Scott

 

1 hour ago, Steve Dra said:

I'd convert my current hangar'd TBM to Steve-o's config in a heartbeat!

The fact my name is also Steve and I like the idea of flying around in a plane associated with my name is purely coincidental.  

 

Hi Martin,

Thanks for the info - yeah - working on a new build now - sounds promising - I'll keep that in mind... I do love anything Beechcraft...

Hi Steve,

Wholeheartedly concur...

Regards,
Scott 

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

2 hours ago, Steve Dra said:

I'd convert my current hangar'd TBM to Steve-o's config in a heartbeat!

The fact my name is also Steve and I like the idea of flying around in a plane associated with my name is purely coincidental.  

 

Heck, to me, it doesn't even have to be a Steveo version.  Just a steam gauge version with a realistic set of gauges and, perhaps, options.  Wouldn't it be cool to have different configurations. 

[Steve Dra 7,588]

41 minutes ago, Gregg_Seipp said:

Heck, to me, it doesn't even have to be a Steveo version.  Just a steam gauge version with a realistic set of gauges and, perhaps, options.  Wouldn't it be cool to have different configurations. 

I'm with ya Gregg!

Heck if 2 things weren't true I'd gladly paint the exterior to match what we see in Steve-o's excellent YouTube videos:

1. I'm a retired (some would argue semi-retired) painter
2. Its a Carenado model 

[himmelhorse 1,276]

SteveDra

Hello mate. 

Re your last.  I have heard previously that Carenado is incredibly hard to repaint. I also believe this if the Feel there products.  BUT... just what is it that makes them difficult. I am NOT a painter but i would have thought that all repaints from various devs would be same old same old.  I really hope I can understand your reply LOL

Cheers mate and regards to all

Tony Chilcott

 

[Steve Dra 7,588]

2 hours ago, himmelhorse said:

SteveDra

Hello mate. 

Re your last.  I have heard previously that Carenado is incredibly hard to repaint. I also believe this if the Feel there products.  BUT... just what is it that makes them difficult. I am NOT a painter but i would have thought that all repaints from various devs would be same old same old.  I really hope I can understand your reply LOL

Cheers mate and regards to all

Tony Chilcott

 

Hey Tony,

The answer invokes understanding a bit about how our paints, painted on a two dimensional (2D) file commonly referred to as a "map" as in texture map, gets wrapped around a three dimensional (3D) model we see in flightsim...which is almost always a cylindrical tube (with the exception of a Shorts 360 and a few others out there, LOL) 

Most devs' modelers try to arrange all the parts of the aircraft on the 2d texture maps in logical and space-saving ways, in hopes of minimizing the amount of maps they have to use to cover the whole plane.  The more maps they use, the more memory the model takes to load.

With that in mind, most modelers try to strike a balance between the logical arrangement and use of as few maps as possible.  Without getting into a very long explanation about the virtues of each and how some modelers take one road vs another....Carenado seems to randomly and very haphazardly place strategic fuse parts all over the maps.  So when you have a curved line that goes from the front to the back of the plane, you have to really work to get it right.

In addition, most companies provide a "paint kit", which at the most basic level provides a layered fuse "master" that has the entire fuse as one piece.  This master typically has alignment marks that correspond to the places on the 2d maps the parts go on.  This makes is simple to paint the whole fuse (and if you're lucky they also include the vertical tail).  Here is an example on the Majestic Q400 I'm currently painting in UPS colors:

Click here to go to a post in the painter's forum on the Q400 UPS paint...click your browser's back button to come back to this post

The top fuse (with the tail attached) is the left side of the fuse, just below that is the bottom of the plane, and below that is the right side of the fuse.

For some reason I can't post a pic in this forum of what the 2d map looks like, but rest assured its very logically laid out on the Q400.  Anyway...unlike Carenado's map...the Q400 fuse pieces are easy to place as they are laid out almost all in one piece.  Some of Carenado's maps have multiple fuse pieces laid all over the map at different angles...in what looks like an attempt to utterly maximize ever centimeter of the map.  And what's even worse...modelers can code into the part placement, a scaling differential to further optimize space on the map. 
For example, let's say they need the last part to fit on the map or they'll have to add a whole new map just to place the part.  They need to scale it down a juuuust a bit (let's say 97.234% of its original size) and code in that when the texture reader reads that part, it needs to scale it up 2.766% (which would paste it at 100% on the 3d model).

I have yet seen a modeler include that bit of info to use painters, so we're left to figure out how small to scale that part down to make it line up...especially tough if you happen to have a paint line running through the part onto several other parts. 

I hope that explains it well enough....It might help to watch some youtube tutorials on painting ...it might clear my textual explanation up a little. 

 

[himmelhorse 1,276]

Steve,

That was actually fascinating and I thank you sincerely for taking the time to impart all of that information.

The only question now, I guess,  is "WHY the >>>>,  do they do it that way". I understand that such things may be proprietry but surely that is going just a tad too far, and that would surely mean less attraction to their  product. It is one of the reasons I do not buy their products.

I actually have a dream of starting a fictional and purely personal "Five Star Charter" airline with a unique and, I believe, attractive repaint.  This was started via the very kind auspices of "Holo" or Bartek of Kazhol Designs and my Ifly 737 BBJ3 was the first cab off the ranks. It was featured in a post of mine here on AVSIM under "My baby is born" 

You may or may not be  aware of Barteks work but I, for one, am obviously impressed with his standards. This design is now freely available in the AVSIM Library. He is also currently working on the P3Dv4 version of the IFly 737 which will also become available. I am hoping he will eventually do all of my proposed fleet, and again, all aircraft will become available in the Library. This is not a project for any VA nor does it have any commercial aspects involved. It is just an incredibly nice looking repaint that would sit well on almost every aircraft.(well...from my point of view anyway)

Having got slightly off topic here, for which I apologise, I thank you again for your response wehich I guess has reinforced all of my reasons for not getting into the realm of repaints generally.  I do find it fascinating though and really do admire the "painters" skills. You are all indeed artists in every sense of the word.

Thanks again Mate

Tony

 

[scottb613 1,188]

7 hours ago, Steve Dra said:

I hope that explains it well enough....It might help to watch some youtube tutorials on painting ...it might clear my textual explanation up a little. 

Hi Steve,

A most excellent write up... Yeah - I always wondered if 3DSMax has some tool to automate the texture mapping process to make the most efficient use of texture sheets... The way they chop things up seems almost mechanical in nature... I can't imagine the Carenado guys painting the aircraft the way we do - especially with their extremely tight time lines - 45 days for a product from start to finish...

Regards,
Scott