FSDS 2 - Took the plunge

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Took the plunge on my first A/C design tool. I had mentioned toward the end of last year that such was my plan. I've only had one day to play with it, and I am not going to waste bandwidth on my shots of my first effort, but I can say that it seemed fairly easy to produce something which looked like an aircraft, with parts appearing where they should, and moving (roughly) the way they should. I was pleased that I could tag a part as the elevator, and it was basically "animated" as such.I loved the "wing wizard".... Doing something similar in GMAX just proved beyond me.... With it, I was able to make the wings and tail--just moving and rotating the parts along their axis, then renaming them accordingly. It's a wonderful tool! After playing with the product, I am even more curious as to why modelers don't include virtual wing views with their virtual cockpits.... I just copied the parts from my external model, pasted them into the new model, tagging them as part of the virtual cockpit. Everything was there....Probably what sold me on FSDS 2 was Jon's release of the BAE-146 200/300 aircraft. Those were the first airliners I'd seen with FSDS 2 that seemed of GMAX quality. I don't think I'll be putting out art like that anytime soon, nor anything like Bryan Gladden's work.... But I hope to reach a point where I can put out some simple fixed gear aircraft and 'copters... Wish me luck, and send tips my way.... My first efforts yesterday--sheer fun!-John

[Guest odog]

hey John, Im so sorry to hear that, say goodbye to all that extra sleep, the family and the pets, and say hello to OBSESSION!!! Enjoy! but dont give up on gmax! maybe importing your models in and playing around will make it understandable.joe

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Tks...I hear you on the sleep part--first thing this AM, I was in playing again after following one of David Eckert's tutorials last night...What are some of the advantages of GMAX? I'm finding I like FSDS 2 better as it seems so much more FS oriented. It really took me no time at all to come up with something that was shaped like an aircraft... I tried the same thing in GMAX, but really fell short. 'Bout the only thing which seems a challenge with FSDS 2 is the process of making windows.... I'm trying to learn the process, but it seems there's several different methods. I'm trying to find the best method for a beginner...