Does anyone have any idea about what kind of development tool we'll have in FSX since Gmax is discontinued? Maybe a MS proprietary tool? Or it'll be a 3D Max plugin? This is so important for us who develop addons.Bachian

We're trying to make sure gmax is available for the FSX timeframe as well as making the SDK tools available for 3DS as well. Beyond that we don't have anything firm to report.

3DS direct support?? Sweet!! (does a happy dance, LOL) before I even got a grasp of Gmax I went straight to 3DSMax and after using that for the pasy 8 months, I just reinstalled Gmax, man talk about spoiled with 3DS.Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpgCalVirAir International

Hi tdragger.I been reading about Arno Gerretsen's investigation of the animation frame limits of our scenery. Basically, Arno has discovered that the 1024 frame limitation is caused by MakeMDL... not by gmax or the FS2004.http://www.scenerydesign.org/blog/category/Scenery-design/I'm hoping this limitation will be increased for FSX with your gmax/3ds converion modules. ( Perhaps even a new release of MakeMDL for FS2004? )Dick

I'll ask our MakeMDL developer.

Hi there "TD" so I will finally be able to use Max instead of gamx?!!!2nd will the tools allow me to write a plug-in for maya as an example?.In other words will the SDK (and API) be opened up so that I can write an exporter for Maya?. You can see of course that I'm a Maya fan(I use it to make living), but even if I get to use Max to get my visuals into the sim that for me would still "make my day" as I will be able to use Max's tool set and finally not have to use gmax's out of date and somewhat limited tool set to create my visual goodies and that like I said above that will still make my day!. BTW thanks to all the team for not forgetting about all of the little things like proper tools that allow the community both payware and freeware to do their thing and add to what should be a great product. Dan Martin Team Flight Ontario

>Hi there "TD" so I will finally be able to use Max instead of>gamx?!!!>2nd will the tools allow me to write a plug-in for maya as an>example?.>In other words will the SDK (and API) be opened up so that I>can write an exporter for Maya?. You can see of course that>I'm a Maya fan(I use it to make living), but even if I get to>use Max to get my visuals into the sim that for me would still>"make my day" as I will be able to use Max's tool set and>finally not have to use gmax's out of date and somewhat>limited tool set to create my visual goodies and that like I>said above that will still make my day!. BTW thanks to all the>team for not forgetting about all of the little things like>proper tools that allow the community both payware and>freeware to do their thing and add to what should be a great>product.>>> Dan Martin Team Flight OntarioOur intent is to move to support as many packages as possible, or at least to allow for easier support of such packages.We worked with Discreet to get GMax out because it was a free tool, and we figured the greatest good for the community was to give as many people people as possible the means to create their own stuff.We can't really comment much beyond what I said up above, other than to say that everybody can expect to hear a more finalized plan with regards to GMax, sdks, and such in the months to come. Our goal and intent is to encourage growth in both the professional and amateur 3rd party community.Cheers,Jason

Like I said I will be one happy little camper if what the people who look after things like the SDK and other tools can get the above tools fully intigrated with the programs code as I know that's often one of the hardest things to pull off. (BTW I understand fully that you can't say too much at this time). BTW while gmax does at times drive me nuts due to its limited tools set it is FREE and as such it is a great tool!. Dan Martin.

Danyou can use 3dsmax already - this is what I use, because I can't stand developing scenery with gmax (for some reason it always takes me longer to figure things out in 3dsmax).All you need to to is use the Panda X exporter for 3dsmax. Works like a beauty. I suspect that Maya works also as there is an X-exporter available. I have never tried it though.Christian

Boy I must have been asleep!! will check that out for sure but it still would be REAL nice to get an exporter for FS specific file types MDL,BGLetc and I might add a good .FX exporter as well(then I and others using Maya Unlimited's Fluid effects might me able to add some WAY cool effects after converting them from a fluid dynamic to a particle effect and getting that into the sim (and that my friend would really be cool).Up till now I've been mostly using gmax simply as a tool to get stuff into the sim. Anyway thanks for the heads up on the Panda thing! Cheers Dan.

tdragger's comments are encouraging. If I remember correctly discrete stated that gmax was being discontinued as a stand-alone product. That certainly means you can no longer download it from discrete's site and it would not be supported. However, it may be that gmax will still be bundled with games/simulators that support it. Even if gmax will no longer be developed it's still a very capable program and should be for a few more years at least. I certainly hope that FSX supports gmax. I certainly can't afford 3dsmax and I regard gmax as an excellent modelling program. Long may it continue! Best regards, Chris Tsunami: http://www.lulu.com/content/170114

I hope gMax can be ported to FSX, or a suitable 3D modeling tool be supplied with FSX in a manner that gMax was (ie. on one of the FS installation discs).

Hi Jason,What about Multigen? Based on the fact that the modelling platform was built for simulations, I would hope that for designers like myself who use it, would have the option to use the capabilities of it (much more advanced than 3DS or Gmax). Even though it's priced way out of range for a good portion of developers (base modelling package is around $25,000), I still think based on the type of options it has to offer would be of benefit to those who do use it. What's even nicer about the platform is, the ability to model lights with directionality, intensity, multi-texturing, etc., something the previous SDK's fall down on significantly.Allan

I highly doubt a $25,000 dollar (retail price) 3D modeling software program will ever be incorporated into an SDK.

Will we be able to add strobes and Nav lights on flexing wings?Regards,CJ