When we return from vacation we will continue building our AI fleet of GA aircraft. One short cut I am considering, which you may not not like, is the use of existing paint jobs.What I would like to do is, after building the gmax model, use an existing texture map to paint it. An example would be the Legacy that BobC built. Right now I count at least 7 repaints. We can build a low polygon model with just a little effort. http://www.mtco.com/~rsam/LegacyNshop.jpgAnother example would be using all of the repaints that have been done for the various posky models. Over 300 hits when you search on - posky 74* repaint.To avoid the "don't use this without ....", I will not include the actual textures. I will however provide links in the readme html to the files in the AVSIM library.This will provide a broad range of repaints for the AI aircraft at introduction.I also plan on providing information on how to "dumb down" the textures to enhance frame rates.QUESTION: Am I creating any hard feelings? Is this "fair"? Regards,BobS

Hey Bob,Long time no see!I think the idea behind a fleet of AI GA aircraft is phenomenal. I like the heavy iron as much as I do the GA, and when I am flying the little ones, watching only Barons and Cessnas and Mooneys gets tiring.As far as I understand, you wanna take real models, dumb them down poly-wise, and then use the same texture as the high poly ones, correct? That may generate some problems, as a lot of the textures are assigned to specific polygons, so you will have your work cutout for you having to re-map each aircraft.If that is not the intent, my apologies.

All this retirement just leaves to much time for the wife and travels. We are making this one a "business" trip as well by going to the Hot Air Balloons in early October. ;-) Now she is thinking about renting for three months in Florida instead of our normal 2 week stay with our son. I told here I must be able to have my computer and a connection if I was going! ;-)Yes, you are absolutely correct, I take the textures and remap them to my low count poly aircraft. The good part is that the textures can be scaled in both the x and y axis if needed and also shifted in the x and y. Took a while to realize what an advantage this offered. Allows an instant "fleet" of repaints if it is done correctly. The good part is, we are going from "great" detail to "AI" detail. Not sure it will work very well in the inverse. ;-)I still need to share with you the lofting of the aircraft to achieve a low poly smooth design. When we get "home" in mid October....Does any one here think it is "unfair" to use other peoples texture work/effort in this manner? Thanks.Regards,BobS

Hey Bob,Rgr on retirement, but good thing you have a hobbie! And travelling is great, enjoy the baloons! Snap some pics, please.Not unfair at all in my opinion, as long as the painters agree to it. I thnk it would be a faster way to create GA AI aircraft. And yes, scaling and moving x and y is awesome.Man, shoot me an e-mail at [email protected] I am still interested in how to do the lofting. I think I have gotten it to work a couple times, but I wanna make sure.