Hubbabubba's Corner

[Johnny]

~S~ Hubbabubba,

As per your instructions, I have created a box 10X10X10, with a COG of 0.0,0.0,5.0, with the AAC_Destroyer at the model. Did you want me to color or texture it?

j:isadizzy:

[hubbabubba]

Did you want me to color or texture it?...it depends...

... if you have made it out of six square parts, do paint the "floor" in black, the "ceiling" in white, and the other four "walls" red, blue, yellow, and green.

Tell me if you can get them to show without bleed (it is possible).

...but if you have done it as a component, you only have one choice of color. I suggest grey.

In both cases, do produce and, then, with MDLDisAs, do disassemble the MDL into a SCX file and send it to me via e-mail.

The fun will begin here...:kilroy:

[Ivan]

Hey Folks,

Just out of curiosity, what is the theme here? I believe the rest of us are missing some crucial information without which this doesn't make sense. I can tell you are trying to build a 3D model but I am not sure of the point being demonstrated.

- Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

Hey Folks,

Just out of curiosity, what is the theme here? I believe the rest of us are missing some crucial information without which this doesn't make sense. I can tell you are trying to build a 3D model but I am not sure of the point being demonstrated.

- Ivan.
You're quite right Ivan:redf:...

Johnny is "jumping the gun" here and I am no better. This came out of an e-mail Johnny sent me a couple of days ago asking how I was painting my jeep. Here are excerpts;


(...)
As for painting outside AF99, it is a bit intensive and long to explain. Suffice to say for now that it involves SCASM, Easy Object Designer and MDLDisAsm.

SCASM= http://www.scasm.de/txt/download.htm (http://www.scasm.de/txt/download.htm)

The assembler program build by Manfred Moldenhauer. To be used with about every program that works with CFS1 to make things, airplanes or scenery. Get the latest version and the ancillary programs and files (some don't work on XP, sorry...). Sortava Swiss knife, to be used with other programs.

Easy Object Designer= http://www.echos.ch/eod/download.htm (http://www.echos.ch/eod/download.htm)

EOD is a "macro maker", created by Matthias Brückner, another German genius like Moldenhauer. It is oriented toward scenery object creation. It creates API macro files that are, in turn, integrated in sceneries with program such as Airport for Windows. The latest version was oriented towards FS2K2 constructions and the resulting API needs "tweaking" to work under CFS1.

But here, it is is "texturing facilities" interface that we exploit.

MDLDisAS= http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/tdestig/id17.htm (http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/tdestig/id17.htm)

By Trevor de Stigter, a "Kiwi" from New Zealand. This program is a front end for SCASM that decompile the BGL portion of a MDL file, let you do your things, and recompile the work you've done.

I have a registered version but the non-registered version is fully functional. Quite frankly, I don't see any difference betweeen the registered and non-registered versions! Maybe a little longer delay to start, 5 seconds instead of two???, but otherwise exactly the same.

You will also need a very good plain TXT editor. I use EditPadPro, but it is payware.

Go get those programs installed and come back to me.

In short, here is what you do;

1- Create something with AF99 and "produce" without any textures. Use specific colors to pinpoint parts later;
2- Decompile with MDLDisAs, clean the SCX file it creates;
3- "Tag" your parts and components so you know which is which, replacing the Labels alphanumeric system with a more comprehensive naming procedure for you;
4- Replace "old" manual vectors colors by "automatic" coloring;
5- Figure out which sides of polygons needs to be shown and the order they will be shown;
6- Apply textures where you need using different techniques depending on what kind of polygons you are painting, what kind of effect you want (hard or soft shading, transparencies, etc...);
7- Recompile the new SCX file and hope you have not screwed anything... ;-)

Remember, this is the "short" version. Details will come along the way.

It would make for a good tutorial at SOH, they now have plenty of space over there...

Regards,
Hubba


While on TS, I asked Johnny to build me a cube of 10x10x10 feet sitting on the ground with a POV dead center. This is where we are at this point.

Sorry again for the way it went, but I did ask Johnny to let me finish the jeep first, although I understand his impatience.:kilroy:

[Johnny]

~S~ Hubbabubba and Ivan,

I knew Ivan was curious about what was going on. It is a cross between "snatch the pebble from my hand Grasshopper" and Hubbabubba having me build balsa wood tanks.

I did jump the gun and I am sorry, but building the box with no bleeding was like building the balsa tank. I learned a lot from just that experiment.

Hubbabubba wants it done at the Outhouse so he will not have to put up with future interruptions. I thought I could push the issue with this thread.

Anyway the Box.SCX is on it's way, but I did it with textures. I would jump into the PT-Boat with this knowledge, but the restrictions in AF99 would have to be pushed to the limits. About like Khloee being larger in MB size then all of AAC_Ripe, when in fact it would be dwarfed inside Ripes smallest hanger.

j:redf:

[hubbabubba]

OK Johnny, I received your CUBE project.

Looks great, but...:isadizzy:

...you send me the "whole shabang", sound files included!!!, while I needed only the .SCX file. It took a good 30 minutes for it to download.

How to make the .scx ? Open MDLDisAs (that you have installed according to instructions in it), go get the MDL file, decompile it and save it. This is all I need. It should look like this; Box.scx. You can read and write in it with any TXT editor. And it will take seconds for me to receive it.

I have made my own SCX file, and I have found some anomalies in it, but I will wait for you to make your own and send it to me. It is crucial that you learn how to decompile-assemble a SCX file into a MDL file, upstream and downstream.

[hubbabubba]

OK...

Good news first; congratulations!:applause: You know how to decompile! I have received your two SCX files, colored and textured.

Now, the bad news; A cube is formed of six square polygons, each of them formed with four vertices (English plural of vertex, also known as vertexes, that means a 3D point in computer-assisted 3D design).

All six polygons in your SCX files have five points. That's one too many.:banghead:

Go back to AF99, find the superfluous vertex, remove it, produce, disassemble and send me the resulting SCX, with colors and textures if you want.

Funny thing is that it does not interfere with the outside view, only with the inside! You must adjust section 301 of the AIR file to have the POV at the center of rotation of AF99 (0,0,0) to see that.

But, apart from that, you're on the right track, Johnny:173go1:.

[Ivan]

OK, OK, now I am really confused.

I KNOW there are texturing effects you can't do with AF99, but I haven't found a use for them yet. If you want the left side of a piece on one texture file and the right on another, you need SCASM. If you want variable scaling on a part, you need SCASM. If you want to locate different textures on one component, you need SCASM. (Then again, the concept of a component really does not exist in SCASM.)

There are probably many other things I have not thought of, but in general, AF99 does a pretty good job of laying out textures on the various parts of a project.

I found that to accurately lay out a texture on a piece of an airplane, I needed to write a utility to calculate the range of numbers to use with a given scale and pixel or half pixel location in 3D space. The program itself wasn't all that complicated, but saved a lot of calculator use. AF5Paint also is very useful.

What specifically are you trying to accomplish that can't be done via AF99? It sounds like the first part is just to get some familiarity with the tools such as MdlDisAs, SCASM, etc.

Yes, You've gotten me curious!
- Ivan.

[Ivan]

Hey Hubbabubba,

Do you remember that about two years ago, you and I were discussing scaling in SCASM and I tried to prove my point by putting a 1 or 1.5 inch cube at the POV of the AIR file? I don't believe that you are trying to prove the same point, but the method sounds quite similar.

BTW, If it is a PT Boat you are trying to build, I am not convinced it isn't possible to do it within AF99 and keep all the development visual rather than going crazy looking at numbers within SCASM. I figure the hull can be the center gear, Most of the deck and accessories can be the body, main and the masts and such can be canopy/high wing. The torpedo tubes / depth charges can be the wings. If this needs SCASM to accomplish, there must be something I am not seeing here.

- Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

There are probably many other things I have not thought of, but in general, AF99 does a pretty good job of laying out textures on the various parts of a project.
(...)

I found that to accurately lay out a texture on a piece of an airplane, I needed to write a utility to calculate the range of numbers to use with a given scale and pixel or half pixel location in 3D space. The program itself wasn't all that complicated, but saved a lot of calculator use. AF5Paint also is very useful.

(...)

What specifically are you trying to accomplish that can't be done via AF99? It sounds like the first part is just to get some familiarity with the tools such as MdlDisAs, SCASM, etc.
(...)

I was never able to figure out a good way to work with AF5Paint and ended up doing all my texturing with my own "pencil N' paper" calculations. It is tedious and very limited.

Within AF99, painting is done with commands that dated back to FS95 and FS5!!! CFS1 is almost on equal footing with FS2000 when it comes to coloring and texturing.

SCASM goes well beyond texturing and coloring, but this will be for another thread. Let's just say that, if all goes well, Johnny's cube will teach him all the basics to go beyond AF99 lame texturing functions. To name a few advantages;

1- AF99 components are colored all the same. SCASM let you use one color per polygons on the same component.

2- In fact, you could use different textures on that same component. Try that with AF99 sets of instructions!

3- You can use shaded textures for part of a component and "hard" textures for another portion of the same component.

4- It is not only very flexible; it saves in terms of byte-size. To make a cube with all six faces showing different colors-textures in AF99, you will need six calls to a label, six vertices arrays of four points, two polygons per call. With SCASM, only one call with eight vertices array is necessary.

5- You can paint only the inside, only the outside, or both. No more bleeds from "manual" AF99 texturing method, which always paint a polygon twice.

6- You can do transparent-translucent textures-colors without that "mauvish" effect my Taifun is showing.

7- You can adjust brightness as well. Very useful to create "dim" lights.

8- You are no longer limited to only half of the surface of a texture, you can use the whole 256x256 pixels to create very crisp details.

My experience in scenery design gave me an insight of the limitations imposed by AF99. They're is no reason to stop you from making concave components, or from making as much components as needed for that matter! In fact, as shown above on point #4, it saves on code lines.

As for other matters not related to coloring and texturing, I will gladly share my findings with all... as soon as the jeep is rolled-off the production line.:kilroy:

[Johnny]

~S~ Hubbabubba,

I am sorry it took so long, but the box has been changed. That too, helped with the PT-Boat. Sorry again but it will only be reflected in the last parts, making the final boat lighted then it would have been.

j.:isadizzy:

[hubbabubba]

What you send me look OK. I will install it in your project and look at it in situ within CFS1 environment.

Then we will commence tweaking ...

[Johnny]

~S~ Hubbabubba,

I received the new box, and could not get to it because of a computer problem. In fixing the problem all of the downloads you instructed me to get were returned to their zipped state. I unzipped them again, but now I can not figure out how to turn the .SCX back to a .MDL.

Happy Thanksgiving,

j.

[hubbabubba]

(...) now I can not figure out how to turn the .SCX back to a .MDL.

Very simple.

Open MDLDisAs > go get your MDL > DO NOT SAVE, instead, click on "Use Existing File" and go get the saved SCX > Assemble > Wait for the compiler log to show > click on "OK" if no error is found (as it should be...) > click on "Update.MDL" > voilà!

During intensive work, I leave my MDLDisAs open but reduced and start my CFS1 "working edition" from a shortcut on the desktop. This way, I can return to MDLDisAs without having to repeat the search for the MDL or the SCX path. You can even rework your SCX and start the game from the MDLDisAs menu, but I prefer to work outside, going directly to the game or to the TXT editor when I have to.

Once you have learn how to do it, we will use this procedure quite often. So, better get used to it right now!:173go1:

[Johnny]

~S~ Hubbabubba,

I have fixed my pc and while I was at it I made all of the suggested downloads run in Windows 98 ME mode, so we will be on the same page. All of the programs are in one main folder, for ease of access. The semi-annual garage cleaning has been done and I can get to work.

J.:isadizzy:

Well I am really confused. I did exactly as instructed and the box is still a box. It looks the same. Well I took it apart and put it back together.

[hubbabubba]

Of course, the box still look like a box. I just removed the fifth point that was in each squares.

But it should look the same:kilroy:.

[Johnny]

~S~ Hubbabubba,

When I finished the PT-Boat I ran it through the MDLDisAs, and disassembled the MDL into a SCX. When I reassembled it there was one error, "Symantec error in line 6177, ->enda, ->destination ":L001270" out of range [-32768], source line 5233 SCASM compilation status: error (s) 1" I am thinking it is the flag. I am not worried about it for now, I probably will be able to fix it on the PT-77.

j.:isadizzy:

[hubbabubba]

What it is telling you is that a jump or a call was made beyond the -32768 distance. Going to line 5233 of the SCX, you will probably find a Call( or Jump( instruction that call for a label "out of reach". The line 6177 is the line where the EndA command is, which terminates all BGL files and calculates jump distances. A "quick n' dirty" solution, which I use frequently, is to replace the Call( or Jump( instruction by a Call32( or Jump32( instead.

Normal 16 bit jumps are limited to 32767 or -32768. 32 bit are practically limitless...

P.S.- Quite frankly, Johnny, I'm surprised that you would "hit the 16 bit wall" with such a project. For the jeep, I only had to resort to 32 bit commands for the rear of the vehicle; and this may well go when I reorganize the file to have front-to-aft show "in sequence" rather than the way they are presently, adding parts at the bottom and sequences commands at the top.

[Ivan]

Hi Johnny,
Try your initial disassembly with an older version of MdlDisAs. I found that with AF99 models, the latest versions of MdlDisAs always hit some kind of error. The resulting code could be tweaked by hand, but I wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

Hi Hubbabubba,
I agree that texturing with SCASM does offer a lot of possibilities, but most of them are for situations that are very rarely encountered. (At least *I* haven't encountered them yet.) There just hasn't been a call yet to texture single polygons within a component. I also don't tend to use many translucent textures thought I probably should. The shaded versus hard textures are certainly a goofy thing in AF99. As for concave components, I finally figured out how to do those (to an extent) in AF99. I believe I sent you the "Workshop" model that I built to test the theory.
Although I agree with you that SCASM offers nearly unlimited possibilities, I prefer to keep things visual as long as possible and prefer to use the AF99 project as my baseline rather than the SCASM code.

BTW, I believe that texturing in AF99 is tedious but not really all that difficult and will write a little tutorial when I can find the time. I believe someone may already have done that at Freeflight Design Shop. I have a lot of flight model stuff stacked up though. Last night, I finally finished up the Ki-61 and just need to document the test results.

- Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

I, for one, eagerly await your tutorial on texturing with AF99. I will probably do mine on texturing without AF99 in a thread dedicated to SCASM techniques. Johnny seems to have gone its own way and texturing goes hand-in-hand with SCASMing.

We are not disagreeing here; we simply see things differently. And I do mean "see"; you rely more than I do on AF99 CAD "blueprints". I still do too, but only for preliminary work and for "primitives" creation.

It is probably due to the fact that you started squarely with AF99 while I only came to it after doing sceneries. I have always been frustrated by AF99 limitations, limitations that did not existed in scenery-making. Building an API macro for Airport for Windows meant tweaking a lot of the code within the API - which ressemble the SCX files.

The assembling was done by AfW. I didn't had anything comparable for AF99 MDL until Bretoal opened my eyes to MDLDisAs.

The jeep is basically my first project in which I put my scenery and a/c modelling hat at the same time. I think it is advanced-enough for a teaser;

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/3678/teaserwo5.jpg
If you can do the same with AF99, I will eat both of my hats!:costumes:

[winslow33]

Wow... the jeep is impressive. Looks a h:censored:ll of a lot better than my repainted KG 200 static jeep...:redf:

[Ivan]

Hi Hubbabubba,

As you might have already noticed, I am not much for doing tutorials. The reason why is that they don't normally progress any of my tasks. In this case though, the two might just overlap a bit. One of my projects is to rebuild the A6M5 Zero that I built a few years back into a A6M2 Zero. The A6M2 has a slightly longer wingspan than the A6M5. The A6M5 wing texture was made as large as possible and there is no room in the texture files unless the wing were rescaled. Rebuilding the wing polygons is not difficult but re-texturing is tedious. Now I have an excuse to do this because I can take some screenshots for a tutorial. The intermediate step will be a A6M3 Model 22 Zero (Longer wings but no cowl reshaping).

I was debating on texturing the wheels on a SBD or a CW-21B as an example because they illustrate more techniques. With wings, there isn't a scale to match with other texture files. Those two planes are not anywhere near completion though.

Regarding the Jeep: It's beautiful! There isn't anything that AF99 can do that SCASM can't, so there is no doubt that your jeep will look better than whatever I build. I just believe that I can build something with much less effort that won't look a whole lot worse. I have a rather cool idea for the wheels that I believe you will like.

Wasn't there someone who was building a deuce (truck) a while back?

- Ivan.

[Johnny]

~S~ All,

Ivan, I was building the Duce, and gave up, for good reasons.

Hubbabubba, all I can say is WOW! I have seen a lot of Jeeps in my life and could knit pick on little things, but it is great. I can see where the knowledge of scenery comes into play. I am guessing that the Jeep file is much bigger then all of AAC_Ripe? I am also guessing it is the M1 Jeep?

Congratulations, it is a beauty,

Johnny:applause:

[hubbabubba]

I am guessing that the Jeep file is much bigger then all of AAC_Ripe?

Not at all! The MDL file is at 70Kb only. The textures do increase the size of the file but it should be around 10Mb upon completion with all original sounds, textures and panel.


I am also guessing it is the M1 Jeep?

It is a mix of Ford GPW with parts from Willy's MB, as it was frequently seen during the war. To be sure, you will have to get under to check the front chassis...:kilroy:

[Johnny]

~S~ Hubbabubba,

The Minute-Maid Zips out at 27.8 Mb, but it is a lot bigger then a Jeep.

J.

[Ivan]

Hey Hubbabubba,

This morning I was working on jigs for building the longer wing for a A6M3 Model 22 Zero. Did you know that the leading and trailing edges of the wing projected to the wingtip are 3.86 feet apart?

- Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

The Minute-Maid Zips out at 27.8 Mbfrom Johnny

This is heavy, too heavy to be correct in fact. This project must have something way wrong. Your last e-mail was referring to a 39Mb baby. AAC_Ripe stands at 19.4Mb, unzipped!

This is the kind of file I would only dream of uploading during the night. So it will have to wait.

Ivan, are-you telling me that the chord of A6M3 Model 22 Zero at the wingtip is 3.86 feet? That thing should fly like a kite.

[Johnny]

~S~ Hubbabubba,

I only sent the link out of respect. It is still a work in progress. You have me wondering. What all goes into the file? The AF99 folder is full of parts that I did not use, are those in there as well? The Sound file is over 32Mb, I think I can bring that down.

I will be back,

J.:running:

How does 2.1Mb sound?

[hubbabubba]

How does 2.1Mb sound?This makes more sense...:kilroy:

Sound files can be heavy, but 32Mb is overkill! I just checked my Taifun sound folder; 7.08 Mb.:redf:

[EMatheson]

wow - it has been so long since I touched CFS1 that I had forgotten how small the files were - I have individual texture folders that are larger than 20 Mbs! I think I have one aircraft that tops out at more that a gigabyte when you include all the liveries, gauges, sounds, panel files, readmes, etc... a tiny mdl for an AI specific aircraft is still usually around 200 Kbs!
Great work you guys!

[Ivan]

Hi Johnny,

The parts you have that aren't part of the AF99 assembly are NOT included. I have generally about 30 template parts that never make it into the final assembly.

Hi Hubbabubba,

The tip chord is more like 4.5 feet. The 3.86 foot dimension was the leading and trailing edges projected out to the rounded wing tip. This is not a particularly unsual size. Consider that a 40 foot wing with a tip chord of 4 feet and a root chord of 6 feet would only have 200 square feet of area which is on the small side.

I have a Spitfire Mk.VII, a Macchi C202 Folgore, a P-51D, a Me 109G, a A6M5 Zero, Me 262, SBD Dauntless, F4F Wildcat all within walking distance from my office.

The changes to the wing from A6M5 to A6M3-22 were actually MUCH worse than I thought they would be.
1. Dihedral angle from 6 degrees to 5 degrees 42 minutes.
2. Leading edge sweep increased
3. Wing tip thickness was reduced from about 12% to about 8%
4. A very small amount of washout was put in.
5. Check polygons for alignment and adjust parts and jigs.

Still to do:
Flaps no longer line up with rebuilt wing. Need to rebuild
Pitot does not meet wing leading edge. Need to rebuild and realign textures
Retexture the wing (The point of this exercise).

Sad thing is that most of this work won't be easily visible.

- Ivan.

[Johnny]

~S~ All,

Thanks Ivan for reminding me that we will have an Air Show this Saturday in Lumberton, MS. They usual have about half a dozen vintage craft. This year is suppose to be bigger and better. I will have to bring my camera with me. Most people go for the Ax Throwing or the Hot-Dog Eating Contest. I am sure that P-51 D will show up and I can find out who's it is. It has not buzzed the house in months.

All of that calculating makes me glad I do not build aircraft.

~S~ EMatheson, Glad to see you on board, but I think that is way to much information to give out. I am talking about your address. Spark up your CFS and join us for some fun on Sunday. If you want directions, just say so.

j.:cost1:

[hubbabubba]

Sad thing is that most of this work won't be easily visible.:173go1:If its any consolation, Ivan, I agree; what we break our a:censored:s for is what nobody will ever notice:costumes:. Better get used to it...:kilroy:

[Ivan]

Hello Hubbabubba,

I AM used to it. I probably should start another thread because this is going to get into texturing a bit, but this is somewhat related.

A funny thing happened in the hangar last night. I was setting up the machine to cut metal for the right wing using the left wing as a template when the duplicating machine malfunctioned (user error in setup) and ate all the left wing panels.

(I set up a script to mirror all the left side wing panels to right side and goofed it up. It overwrote all the left side part files.)

I was somewhat upset by the accident until I realised that this was the perfect opportunity to reset the wing tip thickness from 8% to 9% which is the actual measurement. I rebuilt the jigs and in about 1.5 hours, the parts for both sides were finished. I still don't like the shape of the trailing edge of the wing tip because it does not follow the aileron shape, so will likely rebuild it again.

I also reworked the Painting template part to match the new wing. See screenshots.

First is the current wing with no texture changes and the second illustrates the reworking of the painting template. The template is a single AFP part that matches the outline of the part being painted.

- Ivan.

[Johnny]

~S~ Ivan,

Could you please explain: "The template is a single AFP part that matches the outline of the part being painted."

j.:isadizzy:

[Ivan]

Hi Johnny,

The wing is a component. I create a single AFP with vertices at each of the points of the component. I also add vertices and lines to represent other related parts. You should be able to see a gear door outline and lines for the flaps and ailerons.

The resulting "part" is just a jumble of lines but works pretty well as an overlay for AF5Paint. AF5Paint in theory also works with components, but is an old DOS application and might have issues with parts of the component that are not in 8.3 format which is why I use a single AFP for the overlay. There are also fewer lines which limits the confusion when texturing.

I like for SOME of the polygon edges to line up with the panel lines / control surfaces, so I will mostly likely rework and add one polygon to the trailing edge at the wingtip. I don't know if I want to leave a sparkly at the edge of the panel.

- Ivan.

[Ivan]

Hi Johnny,

You probably already know this since you also work with AF99, but the white lines are the reference assembly. The light blue lines are the Painting Template I am reworking.

- Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

Great pictures Ivan! The first one tell it all; we clearly see the elongation of the wing tips.

Your blueprint also show that you have come to use triangles for pretty much all wing surfaces. This would greatly help in "bending square" concavities.

Are you using NACA airfoils data for your wings, or do you get the wing shape from other sources?

Anyway, I just hope that you will open your treasure chest and release some of those little wonders tucked-in...:jump:

[Johnny]

~S~ All,

Ivan, I noticed that the line goes on and on it even appears to go under the cockpit. I tried that on Khloee, but only had limited success, with small parts of the tracks.

j.:applause:

[Ivan]

Hi Johnny,

I believe you are not understanding the purpose of the part that I am calling ZP_WingL.afp. It isn't a part of the airplane. It is just a part that has the same outlines as pieces of the plane I wish to paint. It can't even properly be called a polygon because often the endpoints don't close and the lines overlap. It is one of the typical 30 or so AFPs that are just template parts I use in a project.

The Pitot and its textures were relocated and the pitot was shortened a bit since the last screenshot. (This was a non-trivial task.)

Observe that the polygon lines now pretty much match up with the outline of where the aileron should be. Every single polygon in the wing has been redone at least twice since the last AF99 screenshot. This resulted in 4 additional polygons per wingtip. The early model Zero has a parabolic outline at the wingtip (from Eagles of Mitsubishi by Jiro Horikoshi)which I have tried to duplicate by eyeball. I also included a profile shot for general amusement.

Hi Hubbabubba,

This project was one of my first many years ago. It was based on a set of rather poor drawings from a book I had. I kept using drawings from the book until I got to the Shiden-KAI and the issues were too blatant to be ignored. (That is also why my Corsairs are too fat.)

Regarding the triangulated polygons in the wings, it is basically a waste of resources because I didn't know any better at the time. It only costs about 15 or so extra polys so I am probably not going to fix it. These days, I only triangulate when a polygon is VERY non-planar. If you look very closely, the flap outline on the wing does not align with any of the wing polygons. That is the next thing to fix but only one side at a time so that I can copy the animation sequences from the unmodified one.

The airfoil shapes are not really based on anything precise. They are just eyeball airfoil shapes. (The Spitfire has a 2200 series airfoil but the one I built looks more like a 23000 series.) The chord is pretty close, the thickness is proportional, but otherwise, it is just a cambered, sharpened tear drop.

Hope I covered everything.
- Ivan.

[Ivan]

Hello Folks,

I wanted to illustrate the next step, but I could not get a screenshot from AF5Paint. The solution was a little goofy, but here goes:

This is a view from AF5Paint with the ZPWingL.afp part overlayed on the texture with the same dimensions as the A6M5. Note that wing tip extends past the side of the texture. The scale is 17 feet to 256 pixels with the texture covering -1.9 feet to -18.9 feet. (The real numbers are -1.94 feet to -18.94 feet but we will get into that later.) The short dimension can also be seen from the screenshot (8.5 feet to 128 pixels).

This screenshot shows what currently exists and why the textured wing looks so funny in the screenshot from CFS. Because the part extends past the texture, we essentially have to start over in texturing the wing which was the point of this exercise. Note that the outlines for the flaps, ailerons, gear doors, etc exist in the overlay so that creating these panel lines on the texture will be relatively easy. Note that the with the original texture locations, the pieces line up pretty well with the panel lines. We are about to throw all that away with the new wing texture.

Philosophy Discussion: Generally there are a minimum of 3 scales for the textures of an aircraft: Fuselage / Fin / Rudder; Wings / Flaps / Gear Doors; and Horizontal Stabilizer. The X and Y scales should be identical so that any images and markings used for texturing do not need to be stretched or compressed.

At this point, it is obvious that we will need to redo the scale for the wing texture for this aircraft in order to put the entire wing component onto a single texture which will be covered in the next installment.

- Ivan.

[Ivan]

After spending most of the day outdoors, here is the next installment:

The first part was easy: 18 feet = 256 pixels works to put the entire wing within 256 pixels of the texture file.

After building with the new texture file we have what you can see in image Smoothing1. Note that the smoothing (possibly incorrect term) of the texture in CFS makes an entirely symmetrical layout LOOK incorrect. (Count the number of color bars on each side.)

If we hit the "Alt" key, we get the image Smoothing2. Everything is symmetrical, but this isn't the way the plane will generally be seen while playing.

If we offset the textures slightly (0.04 feet) in AF99 texturing as shown in the image Smoothing_AF99, we get the effect shown in the last image. In general, an offset of about 1/2 the width of a pixel seems to work here. For 18 feet / 256 pixels, we have 0.0703 feet per pixel, so 0.03 to 0.04 feet is expected to work well.

This is generally necessary to get the best effect with a Top / Bottom texture or a Fore / Aft texture but doesn't usually matter with a Left / Right texture. The simple explanation is that if the texture is skewed in complimentary directions, it doesn't matter. If they are skewed in contrasting directions, offsetting the textures slightly in AF99 helps the final results.

Sometimes, it is difficult if not impossible to get the textures entirely lined up. In my Fokker Eindecker project, the propeller hub and engine both spin. Both parts always seem just a touch wobbly even after lots of attempts at lining up the texture.

- Ivan.

[Ivan]

Using the outline of the Painting Template ZPWingL.afp and AF5Paint's line and fill functions, a basic top and bottom texture is fairly easily created. I try to keep about a one pixel margin between the edge of the Painting Template and the unused space. The fore-aft dimension needed to be shifted 0.10 foot aft to allow for the margin. Original range was 3.5 to -5.5 feet. New range is 3.6 to -5.4 feet.

The rest of the texture is basically an exercise in tedium in adding panel lines and markings to the basic wing texture.

Please observe in the second screenshot that the outline of the landing gear doors meet up pretty well with the texture of the bottom of the aircraft. It could use some slight tweaking, but isn't bad for a first try.

Hi Hubbabubba, As you can see from the screenshot of the Wing Stations, the Airfoils are hardly a precise match to NACA contours. You can also see a slight positive angle of incidence at the wing root and zero angle of incidence at the wing tip thus the washout I was refering to. This and thinning the wing caused some contour inconsistencies that I have yet to address.

- Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

Well, Stove_Pipe31 (look under your post, Ivan, for an explanation), it gives me a better understanding of your working procedure with AF5Paint. My problem with that program was always on how to "rig" AF99 and AF5Paint to work together.

With the procedure I'm using with EOD texturing tool and SCASM, I would not do the entire wing on "one pass", but the end result is pretty much the same.

The "fuzzing" of pixels that you described in the post above is a direct result of 3d rendering. You can obtain the same effect you're getting by hitting Alt key by going into "windowed mode", or by unchecking "hardware acceleration".

I'm in the process of texturing the rim of the jeep's footsteps and, in doing so, applying textures that have 3x3 pixels surface sometimes. The "skewing" appears on right/left as well. I'm gessing that AF99 is compensating correctly with right/left textures.

Your airfoil profiles may not be NACA "kosher", but they are certainly not far from the "real deal". When I have spare time (yeah...:kilroy:), I will look into it.

[Ivan]

Hello Hubbabubba,

Stove_Pipe here. As you can see, texturing using AF99 isn't particularly difficult. Creating the textures is much more tedious. There are a bunch more techniques which were not illustrated here though. I did find a site which generates NACA 4 digit and 5 digit airfoils. I'll let you be the judge of how close I got to the real thing:

http://www.ppart.de//programming/java/profiles/NACA5.html

http://www.ppart.de//programming/java/profiles/NACA4.html

If you bring the points down to about 10, things start looking somewhat familiar.

Compensating for the smoothing effect is something I picked up only a couple years ago. I believe it is a useful technique with the settings that most people use with CFS.

If you haven't gotten bored yet, (or upset at me hijacking your thread) there is a bit more that is directly related to the wing rebuild: Texturing the Flaps....

- Ivan.

[winslow33]

Just out of curiosity, how is it possible that Stove_Pipe31 edited this post in 2006? I checked: THERE IS NO MEMBER EVEN CALLED STOVE_PIPE31 AT THE OUTHOUSE:isadizzy::isadizzy::isadizzy:!!!!

[Ivan]

Hello Hubbabubba,

I guess this is the last installment for texturing related to the A6M3 Model 22 Zero: Texturing the Flaps.

I like "Square" textures. It makes laying out a design so much easier if you don't have to stretch it in differently in the X and Y directions.

The wings as you might recall were textured at 9 feet = 128 pixels in the Fore-Aft dimension. In the Left-Right Dimension, we used 18 feet = 256 pixels. So far, everything is the same. The problem is that the flaps are built as deployed with an angle. The measured angle in AF99 is 56 degrees from horizontal. (Consider that fully retracted flaps are NOT horizontal if you are wondering about the unexpected angle.)

For laying out the texture for the flaps, we use a scale of 18 feet = 256 pixels in the Left-Right dimension, but change the Fore-Aft scale to 5.00 feet = 128 pixels. 9 feet * cosine (56 degrees) = 5.03 feet.

As you can see from the screenshot with the red circle on each flap, the image looks like it is pretty close to square on each flap.

This technique also works pretty well in laying out a texture for a Control Panel that is some angle between Horizontal and Vertical.

Now I have a few evenings worth of work to draw new textures for all the parts I just changed and possibly unbend some sheet metal on the new wings. (The wing tips don't line up all that well with the wing root.)

- Ivan.

[Pratt&Whitney]

I was wondering how the Ken doll got into that first shot :isadizzy:

Or I guess it is Ken, I don't know Barbie dolls too well.

[Ivan]

Hi Pratt&Whitney,

Yes, it is Ken. I believe he is circa 1966-1968 or so. He arrived with an injured arm (mauled by a dog or cat or something). The rest of the body was in fairly good shape, but he was tired of being an "inaction" figure. He became my first Mattel subject in the GI Joe Hospital and received a body transplant. The new body is a Dragon / DML Adam with a neck post that is a combination of his original neck and a "Ever Sparkle" neck post which is compatible with the DML Adam. (Most of the bodies I use are DML with a few Hasbro thrown in.) Ken is currently in training to go to Viet Nam. Bet you never knew that Ken was a Viet Nam veteran!

When I found that I could not take a proper screeshot from AF5Paint, I took out my digital camera and took a shot at low resolution. Ken figured he would help point out the overlay part and wingtip outline.

- Ivan.

[Johnny]

~S~ All,

I guess I should have named it "Hubbabubba & Ivan's Corner". I can only hope the Outhouse does not get attacked again, or I could start coping now. I know I will not remember all this next time I need it. I have been pushed to the limits by Hubbabubba and yet only just begun to understand just how hard it all is.

You two are perfectionist where I look at it as, what can you see when you are fling past each other at 600+ MPH. Granted they are beautiful to look at and true works of art with exacting accuracy and when compared to what M$ has given us, it is like night and day.

I made a Radar Station and Hubbabubba saw bleeds. The idea was to give pilots a target to blow up, not a place to live and call home. We have that at AAC_Ripe. All I am trying to say is, I do not know if I can even attempt to catch up with your standards. Winslow is young and stands to gain more from your teachings then I can. I do manage to pick up things here and there and that is reflected in the Minute-Maid, a vast improvement over Khloee. At least I am learning somethings from you two.

Thank you both and keep up the great work,

Johnny:isadizzy:

[hubbabubba]

I have been pushed to the limits by Hubbabubba and yet only just begun to understand just how hard it all is.

If you think I'm pushy, wait until Ivan mingle in your affairs:jump:! LOL

If you are starting to grasp how hard it is, you're halfway there! :173go1:

The second part of this journey is finding solutions to things that everyone, including you, thought impossible.

Improving is an understatement, Johnny; there's a quantum leap between Khloee and Minute Maid.

And there is no age for learning. It keeps a mind alert... with occasional mind meltdown of course!:banghead:

[hubbabubba]

If you haven't gotten bored yet, (or upset at me hijacking your thread) there is a bit more that is directly related to the wing rebuild (...)

This is Johnny's thread, not mine, so; do whatever you want with it:kilroy: (:costumes:)

[Johnny]

~S~ Hubbabubba,

Ivan is sometimes confusing, but I do catch on to some of the things he says and use them. AF99 came with two books and yet I learned very little from them. You and Ivan have taught me most of what I know about AF99.

J.

[hubbabubba]

Just out of curiosity, how is it possible that Stove_Pipe31 edited this post in 2006? I checked: THERE IS NO MEMBER EVEN CALLED STOVE_PIPE31 AT THE OUTHOUSE:isadizzy::isadizzy::isadizzy:!!!!
I was told that it was caused by the forum counter still keeping logs on the previous thread numbers. So, in 2006, a certain Stove-Pipe31 edited a post that was in the same place in the forum ante Armageddon (before the big crash).

[Ivan]

The wing panel lines are not quite done yet, (Topside hasn't even been started) but here's a view of what it looks like after about 3 hours of messing around.

BTW, It really doesn't apply to this message, but if I am confusing or unclear about a subject, just ask for more detail. We all go into a task with some basic assumptions and yours may not be the same as mine.

- Ivan.

[Johnny]

~S~ All,

I am having problems with my sound files. How do I get the starter to work for three engines and have the motor run. I am missing something in the way the sound goes from point A to point B. Last night I purchased FS Sound Studio, but it is not for CFS1, so I put the Minute-Main into FS2000 and wrote the file there. But that was not any help. I have taken apart all of the multi-engine aircraft I have in CFS and still can't find a clue. I may have to use stock files instead of real PT-Boat sounds. It is almost like a RAF662_MosquitoFBV1, (FW_190) but more like a Redneck Pickup built by Big Daddy Don Garlits.

j.:banghead:

[Ivan]

Texturing is finished. Now it's time to go back and straighten out some sheet metal.

It wasn't illustrated here and really isn't a part of texturing using AF99, but whenever I finish building a component (such as extending the wing), I change the component to Sharp, Untextured, and color it Light Tan. I then take it into CFS with Dusk lighting and flip it around a bit to see how the shadows fall on the polygons. In this case, there are some very slight inconsistencies in both the leading edge and the trailing edge. I believe it was resulted from the thickness change to the wing tips. It can't be seen in a Smooth, Textured part, but I know it's there, so I'll most likely fix it.

The textures here are probably a final as far as the panel lines and pretty close to final as far as paint scheme. (For the purists out there: Yes, I know this is not quite standard, but I prefer this appearance over the standard scheme.)

- Ivan.

[Johnny]

~S~ All,

Ivan and Hubbabubba, you two remind me of the aircraft designer in the movies "Flight of the Phoenix." Everyone was listening to him until they found out he only did model aircraft. While principals are the same, the scale is different, as they learned.

I have a lot of books, not as many as I once had, but a lot to do with military aircraft and vehicles. I checked on Ivan's Spitfire and there was only the mention of the change from fix to variable pitch props in the 1930's. It did have the fact that the wing system was very utilitarian and listed most of the gun combinations that were used.

Well, I guess I am ready to meet the day,

j:ernae:

NOTE: I had more books then the Kiln, Mississippi Library, but with less pictures, and fewer coloring books.:costumes:

[Ivan]

Hi Johnny,

Is this what you are looking for?

- Ivan.

[Johnny]

~S~ Ivan,

I was just checking to see just how technical my references were. I did not go through the books on modeling only because they mainly deal with military vehicles. I guess if you did not rule the sky and Hubbabubba, the land, I would have picked one of those directions. I did not know just how far Hubbabubba was into vehicles at the time.

Remember the guy who wanted you to build the Calvin space ship? I saw one on a website the other day. It was the wrong color, but it looked right.

Back on subject: I am not sure just what direction I should go in anymore. I bought most of the programs that I use and some that I have not used yet. I am sure Hubbabubba understands I am not in competition with him. I am not even in the same boat with him.LOL

Well I have run out of time,

j

[Ivan]

Thanks for the compliment Johnny, but I certainly don't "rule the sky". I just mess around and hopefully every once in a while something useful to the rest of the Flight Sim community comes from something I worked on. As I see it, there isn't really any competition here. We all build what we want and sometimes it benefits others as well.

If you think this is modesty, it really isn't because I am really making no special effort to finish anything to release to the general public. Then again, I'm not ruling out releases either.

- Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

Well Johnny, I don't even have a driver's permit...:kilroy:

Not that I flunk the MV test; I simply never had the will when I had the means and the means when I had the will:redf:.

I once told Ivan that I am the expert of one project; the one I'm working on.

I now know more about Bf 108 than most people on this planet, some of them having fly the thing! I never saw one with my own eyes. LOL!

Same thing with the jeep now and, as I just said, I don't even drive!

We are not in competition:173go1:, sometimes we may even collaborate:ernae:!
Do as you see fit, there is no "niche" to fill.

You should have seen my first aircraft :costumes:, this one piece of :censored: I will never post a picture of.

P.S.- Ivan may be "ruling the sky", but not for long...

[Ivan]

Hi Hubbabubba,

Now you have me curious. I never claimed to "Rule the Sky", but if you also make that claim, is there an aircraft project coming out of your shop that I should be expecting shortly? I do remember you were working on a AT-6 Texan at one point. Have you finished?

I think I need to go find a hammer and pound out some sheet metal for a Japanese Zero now.

- Ivan.

P.S. Hubbabubba is right. There is no "Competition". He and I even work together on occasion.

[hubbabubba]

Well Ivan...

I am working on details for the jeep and, just to see, I animated it (blackout lights, night lights, front wheels and steering) and, after assembling, my MDL was still fitting squarely in a 70Kb "run of the mill" AF99 format. The calls do not need 32 bit commands.

In comparison, the Taifun was forced to fit in a 133Kb AA format.

The BGL portion stands at 54 722 bytes.

I still need to do test in MP with smilo, but I'm pretty sure the FPS is very reasonable. I've tested it in test missions and had no severe drop of frame rate.

I told you it was only a "testbed" for my theories;
- Was I able to make an MDL using VectorJump commands in a more efficient manner; YES!;
- Was I able to use more components than AF99 limit?; YES!;
- Was I able to get rid of all that s:censored:y groups-coding?; YES!;
- Does it reduce size of BGL code?; You bet!;
- Finally, to satisfy your curiosity Ivan, does it apply to aircraft as well?; WHY NOT?

I just have to decide which project will benefit first; Taifun or Harvard?

I still have to make a "windshield down" position, actuated with spoiler key, and "beta" testing versions will be on their ways. If you could help me with the AIR file, I would appreciate (you see Johnny?). smilo will help me with the MP aspect.

Just went for a "stroll" at night in AAC_Ripe compound; eerie! When I cut-off the engine near the squash court, I coud almost smell the short grass and hear the crickets!

[Johnny]

~S~ Hubbabubba,

Sometime I wish I could move to Ripe. I even had a dream about it. The problem was there was nothing inside the house. It was just an empty box with four white walls and green tinted windows, no door. Some how I found myself outside and I walked in the shade of the trees and felt a gentle breeze blowing ever so softly on my face. I stood there and watched the airfield, waiting for you to return so I could get a TV, door and a bed.

It reminds me of a Country and Western song:

"When I die, I may not go to heaven, I don't know if they let cowboys in...I hope I go to Ripe, cause Ripe is as close to heaven as I've ever been." Or something like that.

That could be my next project. An AF99 me.

j:isadizzy:

[smilo]

"That could be my next project. An AF99 me."
talk to Rebel, he did a Hubba standing on the Carrier, remember?

[Ivan]

Hi Hubbabubba,

I had no doubt you would be able to accomplish what you set out to do. I just don't find your method to be as useful to me.

This is really not intended as an insult but rather as a statement that we work differently. I try to do as much visually as I can. Consider how you would go about doing what I just did over the last 24 hours:

I finished texturing the wings of the Zero. (Not a big deal.)
I then went back to the problem of non-optimum contours in the wings.
I rebuilt the wings once last night with a significant change to the number of polygons (removed the triangulation) and found that there were now bleeds from a profile view. The weird shadows were gone though.

This morning, I was dissatisfied with the bleeds and triangulated the wings again, but went through a visual check for angles and then calculated the slopes of each segment in the wing root station as compared to the wing tip station. After that, a couple points were moved to adjust the angles and then all the polygons were rebuilt.

The visual mistakes would hardly be noticeable to anyone but the author, but to me they needed to be addressed. Having the reference copy in SCASM code makes that kind of tweak much more difficult.

Consider that each time I moved a point, I change the views a couple of times to make sure that the contour lines were still the way I wanted. I also created a few throwaway parts that were snapped to the existing points just to see if they were all co-linear or close to it.

So far in the last day or so, about 35 polygons have changed over two components and to accomplish those changes, I have used templates and other parts at least a couple hundred times. Yesterday morning, the wing was made up of 50 polygons. Last night, it was 44 polygons. This morning it is 49 polygons again. I doubt this would be easy with just looking at SCASM code.

- Ivan.

[Johnny]

~S~ smilo,

I do not want to stand or slide on my backside around CFS. I want to walk up-right like my grandfather 126 times removed, Udda "The Mammoth Lover". He was one of the first known humans in what is now the British Isles and my favorite. Or Grandfather 647 times removed Adam.

j:isadizzy:

[smilo]

okay...that should keep you busy for a while.
if you can get one to work,
then build an army and we'll strafe it,
or, we can sit around Ripe and pick virtual daisies.
there was talk of making the Officer's Club accessible so we could walk around inside, but the idea never materialized.
heck, then we could sit around, have a beer and talk about the mission.

[hubbabubba]

The visual mistakes would hardly be noticeable to anyone but the author, but to me they needed to be addressed. Having the reference copy in SCASM code makes that kind of tweak much more difficult.

I have to disagree here (surprise!...:kilroy:). I think that you're having a false idea of what a SCASM "working copy" may look like. Let me show you what I mean;


;*** Start of Main Aircraft Code ***
:L0015FC
Call( :L001602 )
Return
:L001602
VectorJump( :L00161A p 0.00000000 180.00000000 -517.000000 )
Call( :L001624 )
Call( :L00470E )
Return
:L00161A
Call( :L00470E )
Call( :L001624 )
Return
:L001624
VectorJump( :L00163C p 0.00000000 180.00000000 -959.000000 )
Call( :L0045F2 )
Call( :L001646 )
Return
:L00163C
Call( :L001646 )
Call( :L0045F2 )
Return
:L001646
VectorJump( :L00165E p 0.00000000 270.99148560 273.920164 )
Call( :L001668 )
Call( :L0018EE )
Return
:L00165E
Call( :L0018EE )
Call( :L001668 )
Return
:L001668
VectorJump( :L001680 p 0.00000000 269.00851440 -273.920164 )
Call( :L0018AA )
Call( :L00168A )
Return
:L001680
Call( :L00168A )
Call( :L0018AA )
Return
:L00168A
Call( :L0016A4 )
Call( :L001778 )
Call( :L001D3E )
Call( :L001E40 )
Call( :L001F42 )
Call( :L001F96 )
Return
:L0016A4
VecPoints( 1 ; 8 points
-273 -472 754 -9612 -16621 26551 ; 1
-273 -620 754 -8824 -20041 24373 ; 2
273 -620 754 8825 -20042 24373 ; 3
273 -472 754 9612 -16621 26550 ; 4
-273 -472 704 -10045 -17367 25904 ; 5
-273 -620 704 -9154 -20793 23610 ; 6
273 -620 704 9155 -20792 23609 ; 7
273 -472 704 10045 -17368 25904 ; 8
)
LoadBitMap( 0 6 EF 0 0 0 "jeep0010.bmp" )
TexPoly( m 0 0 32767 754.000000
3 3 25 4 3 54 1 123 54 2 123 25 )
TexPoly( m 0 0 -32767 -704.000000
7 3 25 8 3 54 5 123 54 6 123 25 )
RGBSColor( EF 10 10 10 )
Return


This is what you get when you decompile a MDL file BGL section with MDLDisAs. But my working copy look like this;


;*** Start of Main Aircraft Code ***
:L0012B2
Call( :AACJeep1 )
Return
;***assemblage capot avant au reste***
:AACJeep1
VectorJump( :persavmid00 p 0.00000000 180.00000000 -517.000000 )
Call( :hoodfront )
Call( :midhoodarrass )
Return
:persavmid00
Call( :midhoodarrass )
Call( :hoodfront )
Return
;***assemblage capot avant au reste END***
;***front hood assembly***
:hoodfront
VectorJump( :persavg01 p 0.00000000 180.00000000 -959.000000 )
Call( :bumperf )
Call( :ASSavant )
Return
:persavg01
Call( :ASSavant )
Call( :bumperf )
Return
:ASSavant
VectorJump( :persavg00 p 0.00000000 270.99322510 273.920164 )
Call( :avdavgass )
Call( :ASSavg )
Return
:persavg00
Call( :ASSavg )
Call( :avdavgass )
Return
:avdavgass
VectorJump( :persavd00 p 0.00000000 269.00677490 -273.920164 )
Call( :ASSavd )
Call( :ASScent )
Return
:persavd00
Call( :ASScent )
Call( :ASSavd )
Return
;***ASSEMBLY CENTRAL code***
:ASScent
Call( :frontaxel )
Call( :mainass )
Call( :pharedroit )
Call( :pharegauche )
Call( :feugabdr )
Call( :feugabgc )
Return
:frontaxel
VecPoints( a 1 ; 8 points
-273 -472 754 ; 1
-273 -620 754 ; 2
273 -620 754 ; 3
273 -472 754 ; 4
-273 -472 704 ; 5
-273 -620 704 ; 6
273 -620 704 ; 7
273 -472 704 ; 8
)
LoadBitmap( 0 6 EF 0 0 0 jeep0010.bmp )
TexPoly( a 3 3 25 4 3 54 1 123 54 2 123 25 )
TexPoly( ai 7 3 25 8 3 54 5 123 54 6 123 25 )
RGBSColor( EF 10 10 10 )
Return


If you observe carefully, you will see;
- inserted comments (;***assemblage capot avant au reste***) which tell me what this section I'm dealing with (here, it is the assembling of the front hood with the rest of the jeep - I use French and English as you can see). The same comment is repeated a few lines under with the added comment END, so that I don't have to wander around.:running:

- evocatives label names (:avdavgass -> AVant Droite AVant Gauche ASSemblage -> Front right and left assembly), at least for me, that gives me an idea of what they represent or what they do. Btw, labels with "pers" suffix are for perspective calls, if you wonder.

- automatic vectoring. Just look at the point declaration of my working copy and compare it with the "manual" counterpart. SCASM, during compiling, does the dirty work, not me.:icon_lol:

On top of that, add my "blueprint" copies in AF99, my "in game" partial models, and it start to get very "visual".

If I ever find myself looking at an unidentified section, I just have to compile it using a vivid color (red, yellow). I don't even have to compile the whole model, only the polygon section I'm looking for will do.

I hope it clears the matter a bit.

[Johnny]

~S~ Hubbabubba,

I hope Ivan knows what you are doing, because I am lost. I did not know SCASM could read French. LOL Maybe in the next installment of your lecture I may understand more. Especially if we keep it to the box, 6 parts, 12 sides, 8 points and 6 colors, I think.

j:isadizzy:

[Ivan]

Hello Hubbabubba,

You've seen the SCASM copy of my F6F-5 Hellcat, so you should already know that I labeled things after disassembling as well. I just did not go beyond groups because I had no intention of building each part separately below that level. It was a minimalist attempt at addressing the group silliness of AF99.

A few years back, I saw Pennti Kurkinen's (Sp?) description of his very excellent Me 109 and how he built parts using AF99 and added the generated code to his SCASM source. What you are doing here goes a bit beyond what he was doing but the basic concept was there in his assembly of the 109.

My issue with doing just about all the work in SCASM is that *I* can't tell when things line up properly and when they don't. In your example SCASM code, if you look at the VecPoints section, are you sure that your value of 472 is the best selection? Are you sure that 473 would not put it in better alignment with another part? Perhaps some of the points should be 475 and some should be 477? Perhaps the shape would be better with (X,471,757). With this jeep project, just about everything is at right angles with everything else, so the numbers are pretty easy to figure out, but take a look at the wingtip of the Zero. I probably scooted the points around several hundred times to get the appearance I wanted. In order to get the dihedral of the wingtip lined up with the rest of the wing, I had to move each point up/down and do fine adjustments by moving the points left/right because the vertical dimension was too granular. (The fore/aft setting had complete freedom as far as dihedral was concerned.)

At least a hundred times, I created just a simple line in AF99 and rotated it or translated it to check whether three points were in alignment or to make sure that the curve I was looking at was concave in the right direction.

At least as many times, I adjusted several points in a template part (jig) and then snapped a couple vertices from each of 10 or so polygons to match the new template.

When I had to rework the flaps because the dihedral and sweep of the wing changed, in order to make sure that an oblique part was in alignment with a polygon on the wing, I kept inserting points in the wing polygon until I had the lateral offset where I wanted.

This just happens to be the way I work. I don't see how I could do any of this working from SCASM code, which is why I prefer to use SCASM as just a final adjustment to the model to do things that can't be done any other way.

- Ivan.

[hubbabubba]

I'm not trying to change the way you work, Ivan. I was simply dissipating the misconception that you - and probably others - had that I was SCASMing on raw disassembled SCX files.:173go1:
Johnny, I will return to the "cube project" once the jeep is released. I'm not sure yet if I will continue on this thread or make a fresh one. I will also start a thread on SCASMing (the spelling checker is still making a fuss about that word...:redf:) that will include texturing notions.

Per smilo's demand, I will start "from the ground up", assuming only that people know how to install and run the programs. The idea here is to help, not "show-off". When I embarked on AF99 train myself, I wished that something like this had been there for me, as AF99 help file was not helping much.

[Ivan]

Hi Hubbabubba,

I never took this as a "showing off" type of demonstration. Let's hope no one took the texturing with AF99 discussion as "showing off" either. If there are some folks who want some more "Texturing with AF99 / AF5Paint" discussions, I might start another thread to describe the other 2/3 of the process. Please be prepared to suffer another half dozen or so only moderately related screenshots though. ;-)

I believe these "Tutorial" types of threads benefit others who may not have played with the tools as much as we have. You certainly have done more with SCASM than I have, so I get some benefit from it also.

Regarding AIR files, I do well enough with aircraft, but I don't know if I can help with other types of vehicles. I simply don't know enough to do it. I believe I have hit critical mass with AIR files as well. Up to this point, I have had two steno notebooks full of notes on how to create and adjust various performance parameters. The handwritten notes have gotten to be too difficult to search now. I have to create an electronic copy and organise, so perhaps it is time for a tutorial in that area.

- Ivan.

[Ivan]

This is the final configuration. Earlier shots are on this thread also for comparision.

- Ivan.