PMDG 737 update

[Sylvenzo 48]

https://forum.pmdg.com/forum/main-forum/general-discussion-news-and-announcements/152231-12noc21-a-couple-of-raw-unedited-preview-images-for-737-lovers-to-start-your-weekend
 

Captain,

One of the things that I struggle with when creating previews of our work, is that I look at it for hundreds of hours each month- and from my vantage point it is hard often hard to say "oh- they would enjoy seeing *this*" or "wow- they will appreciate the quality of *that*." It is a bit like enjoying the finest cut of steak for dinner every night... after a while you lose your appreciation for just how good it is, because it is "just dinner."

This reminds me of how I feel when we take the DC-3 to airshows, or have it serve as the backdrop for a movie or TV show or charitable event. After spending ten years restoring/maintaining/flying the airplane, I find it hard to see the machine through the eyes of someone who hasn't viewed it before. Instead of taking in the magnificence of the machine I see only the minor flaws, dings, scratches and drips, bug splatters and fingerprints.

Recently, while talking to a fellow aviator about this affliction, he observed that "Michaelangelo probably hated that bloody chapel ceiling as well, but that doesn't mean it isn't beautiful."

And that might indeed be a lesson.

All of us at PMDG have been looking at our upcoming 737 release for so long that it rarely crosses our mind just how fantastically the product is coming together. We are so focused on where we know the product will be upon completion, that we rarely take the time to step back and say "hey- lets show this to our customers so they can see how cool this is going to be when finished!"

In fact, since most of us on the team have been doing this for a few decades, it is often hard for us to shake off the hesitancy to show work-in-progress. We have a very high standard for ourselves as has been shown in our previous products across multiple platforms and we all much prefer to show you a product when we have finished buffing out the imperfections.  

I was working on some aspects of the equations that drive the flight control animations today, and since we still don't have modern coding/debugging tools that can be used with MSFS, I have Prepar3D v5 running in one quadrant of my screen (with modern debugging tools, thank you very much) and I have MSFS (with which I can only use the same coding/debugging techniques we used back in 1992...) and I am editing code in one simulator, testing, verifying behavior then copying to the other and checking that the results appear to match, etc etc.... And in the midst of doing this I had a moment in which my focus shifted outward from my own work- and I looked objectively at the two images on my screen.

I took this screen capture of it and sent it to the team...

PMDG737InDev001.jpg

This is about as raw an image as I would ever share with you as a preview. It was captured with Windows Snipping Tool by simply selecting that area of my desktop while I was working. No editing, no posing, no post production... Hell I didn't even have one of the guys put our usual color border and branding on it. This is what my desktop looks like with both simulators running side-by-side.

I took a photo of my screen and sent it to a buddy of mine who just happens to by flying a 737 from KSAN to KIAD this moment, and he replied back with a similar photo taken over the panel of the airplane he is sitting in this moment. I began comparing details- and thought: "simmers are going to LOVE this when we are done."

And that caused me to think: Well... Sure... It is in development and has plenty of flaws- but lets put this out there so you can see the state of things- and that the silence and hard work on our end, combined with the patience on your end is close to paying off.

PMDG737InDev002.jpg

This second image isn't quite as spontaneous, but it is equally raw. I just turned the head viewpoint to the right a bit so you can see more of the detail work.

I want to be clear: This is NOT what the finished product will look like, because it is still in development. We are still addressing animation issues, lighting issues, and large swaths of the cockpit are still being re-textured to bring their light reflective/refractive and texture qualities up to the fully capability of MSFS. There are some panel gaps that have to be addressed, and lots of other ticky-tack details that get addressed as we keep moving the product down the production line- but this is the current state of it as of this moment.

You may recall that when we originally did our cockpit rebuild for the PMDG 737NG3, it was expected to be released for Prepar3D because nobody had any inkling that MSFS was in development back in early 2019. Now, two years later we have gone back to the roots and rebuilt the cockpit again. Massive sections of geometry have been rebuilt, dramatically increasing the definition of of all aspects of the model. We are rebuilding materials, laying purpose-built textures onto the geometry and improving animations using tools not available to us in Prepar3D.

The results, while not finished, are stunning.

PMDG737InDev003.jpg

I created this third image because it shows you another example of an area that is actually in-development while I took the image. This portion of the cockpit is being rebuilt/textured pretty much in real-time this afternoon, but the PBE case has been affixed to the cockpit wall and it really shows the difference in what we can accomplish between MSFS and Prepar3D. To give you an idea what I mean by "in real time" you will notice that the green locking tag appears to be floating in air. As I was posting this, Vin reported that he is nearly finished with the knurled plastic tie-wrap that holds it in place...

Normally we wouldn't show you something like this until it was finished, properly lighted, staged, imaged, reviewed and branded....

But today we thought we would do something a little different just to give you an idea what is happening in the background.

Alright- so I need to get back to my computations before anyone notices I have gone missing. Then my covid booster at 2300Z, possibly some DC-3 flying tomorrow and then back to coding in the evening... I may be making a guest appearance on SkyBlue Radio next Friday if Jeff and I can firm up our schedules a bit... Stay tuned for more on that.  

I hope you all have a very nice weekend!
 

[Richard Sennett 2,499]

Wheres pics ? oh have a nice weekend also 

[Sethos 4,304]

Those details are incredible, really looking forward to this one.

[Amon1973 1,421]

11 minutes ago, Richard Sennett said:

Wheres pics ? oh have a nice weekend also 

You need to log in to the PMDG Forum to get the photo's

[Richard Sennett 2,499]

2 minutes ago, eaim1973 said:

You need to log in to the PMDG Forum to get the photo's

Im all set 🙂 thanks 

[flyinpilot212121 724]

This is going to be well worth the wait…I’m one that wants it now, but at the same time have no problem waiting for PMDG’s usual perfection!! Can’t wait to see this thing fly in msfs!!

[Alaska738 8,389]

What's certain is that they did a great job on improving the details...

Edited November 12, 2021 by Alaska738

[michaelray 236]

Thanks for the pics Alaska.

[Alaska738 8,389]

Just now, michaelray said:

Thanks for the pics Alaska.

No problem! 😉 

[steve310002 1,198]

Christmas is coming, the 737's getting fat

Please put a Boeing in the old man's hat

If you haven't got a Boeing, a Twin Otter will do

If you haven't got a Twotter, then God bless you!

Edited November 13, 2021 by steve310002

[Car147 2,276]

Simply stunning.

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Wow, what a difference between the MSFS and P3D version. It’s almost is like the difference between FS9 and P3D.

[pilatuz 141]

Christmas 2022 is gonna be awesome!

[Keirtt 574]

23 minutes ago, pilatuz said:

Christmas 2022 is gonna be awesome!

I see what you did there 😂😂😂

[Ricardo41 5,936]

Need to create an account to view a couple of pics? No. Hard pass.