WIP - Ft. Worth Alliance

[thetford569]

Hey everyone! This is still a work in progress and there is lots of work to be done but I thought I would show off a few shots of the custom buildings I am working on for Ft. Worth Alliance Airport (KAFW). I've already been working on this for a few months (in my spare time which is VERY limited) and I am happy so far with the results. I have never done any 3d modeling before so I'm pretty happy that things have turned out looking fairly good. I know this is probably not the quality of someone who has spent years as a developer but I am pretty impressed with the ease of using Google Sketchup to make models for FSX. The buildings are using photo textures which were all taken from outside the airport. I had to use some serious photoshop editing to make some sides of the buildings that I had no photos for and I'm pretty happy with the results...I now have an intimate relationship with the clone tool!

Anyway I thought I'd post a few shots even though this is far from finished and I'd love to hear any comments. This will be a freeware project and it is far from finished and will probably still take at least a few more months with the amount of time that I have to work on it...I haven't actually flown FSX in over 3 months now. I'll try to post more updates here as I get farther along. The modeling only becomes more difficult...I started with the easier buildings! Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy!

Brandon Thetford

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Southwest Cargo Ramp

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Airport Overview with Aerial Photo background

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Night Textures Sample...

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DEA Hangar and Preregrine Point Hangars

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Bell Helicopter Military Center and back of the DEA Hangar

[Felixthreeone]

Looking good!!

[jdhaenens]

Looking good Brandon. The tower should be interesting....:jump:

Jim

[falcon409]

Looking good Brandon. The tower should be interesting....:jump:
Jim
For me, just drawing a box is interesting, lol. These guys make that sketchup look so easy, grrrrrrrrrrr. Great job Brandon. Too bad the terrain in FSX doesn't fit the real world terrain. Coming north on I-35 toward Denton you sit above the airport at one point and almost exactly line up with the rwy as you're driving. Pretty cool!

[thetford569]

Looking good Brandon. The tower should be interesting....:jump:

Jim


Like I said Jim...I picked the easy buildings first! Lol! I just hope I finish the project soon...it seems to be taking FOREVER! Falcon you are correct...it's almost like you are on short final when you're driving along I-35W! This is an airport I frequent alot for photography work with the many transient military aircraft that go through the FBO there. I hope to re-create it as faithfully as I can in FSX. I'm still learning as I go! In a little while the scenery will be a piece of history as I will be modeling the American Airlines Maintenance Hangar which is set to close later this year probably...sad news as I enjoy seeing their 767s and 777s come through for maintenance work.

Brandon

[mal998]

I'm looking forward to this scenery as my brother-in-law is an FAA inspector at Alliance.

Last summer we spent an afternoon touring the FAA facility there.

I was lucky enough to be given some time in one of the FAA simulators.

http://rides.webshots.com/album/580589932VtPiYc

[thetford569]

Hey guys! I don't know why the images in my post above are no longer working?! Anyway shortly after starting this thread my desktop computer died and since I was going to upgrade later this year anyway I have spent the last several weeks buying equipment, building my system, and re-installing FSX and all my add-ons. I'm still in the midst of this so my AFW project has kinda gone to the back burner however I have found some time at work to continue modeling on my laptop so here are a few more progress pics...the tower is finally here for you Jim! Please keep in mind this is my first time modeling any 3d buildings and I know they're not up to the quality of our very good designers out there (like Jim and many others)...hopefully I will get better as I go! Here are some pics of the Bell-Helicopter hangar and the AFW Tower and building.

Brandon

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[jdhaenens]

You've got nothing to be ashamed of, Brandon, those buildings (and the tower) are georgeous!

Jim

[Cag40Navy]

Brandon, in my opinion, you are UP THERE with Jim. You just keep working a bit at a time and soon we will see a first class scenery for our sims to enjoy. A must have! Its looking great brandon! Just keep up the great work. :icon29:

[thetford569]

Thanks Gentlemen! I'm pretty happy with the results so far and it's fun designing! Still a LONG way from finished due to only having an hour or two a day to work on this (if that much) but it's slowly coming along! I now have an intimate relationship with the clone tool in photoshop as well as some other tools since these photos were not able to be taken from ramp side. Everything you see is from the streets around the airport and in some cases taken with a zoom lens from across the field. I had to use alot of cloning, pasting and other methods to get these textures correct and it's been a pain. Hopefully my next airport project will allow me to get some better photos to use as textures. I'll keep updating this thread as soon as I have some more shots to display from inside the sim!

Brandon

[thetford569]

After my computer crashed I got a new one and I can't believe how well I am able to run FSX now! It is so fast and smooth! Anyway my tweaking and testing have finally come to an end and I have a great simming and developing machine now. So I have done some more work on Alliance and placed the objects in the sim. Since the screenshots at the beginning of this post are missing I thought I'd re-post some shots of stuff I have already developed as well as show some new shots of the buildings that have not yet been in the sim. Hope you like them! Still have a few more buildings to design in Sketchup and then it's time to add in autogen and tweak the AFCAD for the airport. It's coming along nicely and I am quite happy with the progress so far.

Brandon

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[thetford569]

A couple more shots...

Brandon

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[jdhaenens]

Looking really great, Brandon.

[thetford569]

More pics of the work in progress that is Alliance Airport! I'm getting much closer now and although I don't want to pin down a release time I would say this one is "Coming Soon!" This has been a fun project but I'm ready to be done! Lol! Here are some shots of the American Airlines ramp area/buildings and FedEx ramp...

Brandon

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[thetford569]

A couple of overview shots and some of the main ramp area including the Alliance FBO. I also modeled some of the Honor Guard Memorial and the JC Penny Distribution Center which is a prominent building in the area even though it's not on the airport grounds...

Brandon

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[falcon409]

Hey Brandon, I read in todays paper that American Airlines says it will be closing "A Maintenance Facility in Ft. Worth". . . .that wouldn't be Alliance by any chance would it? lol

[Dimus]

I have missed this! It is really looking good Brandon! Great work there! The buildings look great and the photoreal background blends very well with them.

I know exactly how it is with time and all the things we would like to create. Even if your time is limited, I would advise you to spend at least a few minutes flying over your airport, even in unfinished state, instead of just slewing around. It will take the tension off as flying is fun, and you will get to see your creation from various angles and from within a plane.

[thetford569]

Hey Brandon, I read in todays paper that American Airlines says it will be closing "A Maintenance Facility in Ft. Worth". . . .that wouldn't be Alliance by any chance would it? lol

Yes...sadly it is the Alliance facility that is scheduled to close but for now they are still operating as normal. I planned to have it live on in FSX! Maybe one day I will change it to reflect whoever decides to move in there but for now it will stay as an American facility.

Brandon

[thetford569]

I have missed this! It is really looking good Brandon! Great work there! The buildings look great and the photoreal background blends very well with them.

I know exactly how it is with time and all the things we would like to create. Even if your time is limited, I would advise you to spend at least a few minutes flying over your airport, even in unfinished state, instead of just slewing around. It will take the tension off as flying is fun, and you will get to see your creation from various angles and from within a plane.

Thanks! I do plan on flying some out and in's at the airport soon just to test everything out and get the "pilots view" of things!

Brandon

[falcon409]

Yes...sadly it is the Alliance facility that is scheduled to close but for now they are still operating as normal. I planned to have it live on in FSX! Maybe one day I will change it to reflect whoever decides to move in there but for now it will stay as an American facility.
Brandon
Yep, works for me. Too bad they have to close it as American is about the only thing out there other than the small contingency of Military Jets.

[groggemator]

:jawdrop:This absolutely amazing Brandon!!! I've been out there many times and I can't tell you how awesome everything looks!!!. BTW, with the Alliance Airshow coming up on the 6th & 7th, you might be able to get some angles of buildings you haven't been able to get yet, if that's still an issue. Fantastic work sir! I look forward to flying in and out of here more far more often now!.
:greenbo:
Chris Grogg

Just to dump the fuel and start a fire...any chances you'll do Meacham next? :icon_eek:

[thetford569]

Thanks Chris! I am honestly pretty happy with my artistic results in creating the angles of the buildings that I didn't have photos. Plus I am ready to put the finishing touches on this one soon and get it out there for download. I was hoping to actually have it available before the airshow but it looks like that's not going to happen. I just got a new camera and I will be practicing alot with it over the next week for the airshow. I will be out there Thursday through Monday as I am every year taking photos. After the show I'll try to get this in gear and hopefully have it done by the end of October. As for my next project I have some ideas but it will probably be next year before I start anything new. I haven't really flown FSX in about a month and had an even longer break before that so I'd really like to enjoy the sim again instead of just firing it up for development work. I have thought about Meacham as a project one day but I am really thinking about doing NAS Ft. Worth next. Their airshow is in April and I should be able to sneak some photos of buildings in then...maybe...we will see!

Brandon