Martin Marauder Gold for FS9 has been released

[gaucho_59]

Question for all you painters interested in painting this aircraft:

Do you want every inner surface paintable (i.e. bomb racks, cat walk, bomb bay walls and ceilings all the way back to the tail gunner, tables, seats, racks, shelves, etc.), or shall I do some of those miscellaneous things.

Generally, things inside should be dark and subtle (not highlighted like in pictures with lights to show details).

I want consensus and lack of that will get everything mapped for textures for your brushes. :-)

Thanks in advance for your input.

EDIT: Full disclosure: there are 374 parts in the interior. Some small items I could do for you but the bulk of the items will be yours to paint.

You know I love to do interior work... so count my vote...


G.

[Milton Shupe]

You know I love to do interior work... so count my vote...


G.

G,

LOL yes, and so far, that is the consensus vote ... of one.

EDIT: Last night and early this morning I was able to get the co-pilot, turret gunner, tail gunner, and bombardier in the model, all animated, and working in the sim. :-) So we have 5 animated figures in the model.

I worked yesterday morning trying to get the "bulges" in the nose gear doors and fuselage, and in the main gear bays. That did not turn out well at all. Really messed up the mesh and did not look good to my artistic eyes at all. So, after trying 3 different ways to accomplish this, I am dis-satisfied with results. I will have to ponder on it a while before the next series of attempts.

Meanwhile, also got the rudder pedals mapped and a few other internal things to wrap up the inner sides of things to eliminate see-though issues.

Since I am not yet constrained by polys even though my count is climbing well upward, I will try to add a few more eye candy thingies in the cockpit and nav/radio areas before starting the interior mapping.

[Willy]

Just out of curiousity, what is the poly limit?

[Milton Shupe]

Just out of curiousity, what is the poly limit?

In FS9 exports, 64K, or 64 X 1024 = 65536

Not really sure if that is polys or vertices but they usually run pretty close.

[nater]

With Gaucho on this one.... Vote count=2

[stansdds]

Me too, that makes 3!

[huub vink]

Lol, although I agree with G. (and others) I am wondering who will do these internal textures. Which is why I was a bit slow with reaction to your question. Is it possible for you to map them, and create a solid FS 34151 texture and bake this texture?

I think this solution leaves room for those who want to do additional texturing, but also offer a solution for those who don't (or in case there isn't a volunteer to do them....).

Cheers,
Huub

[falcon409]

Lol, although I agree with G. (and others) I am wondering who will do these internal textures. Which is why I was a bit slow with reaction to your question. Is it possible for you to map them, and create a solid FS 34151 texture and bake this texture?

I think this solution leaves room for those who want to do additional texturing, but also offer a solution for those who don't (or in case there isn't a volunteer to do them....).

Cheers,
Huub

Huub,
My original assumption on this was that Milton would map everything and then leave it to the individual painters to "express themselves" with their own individual takes on how the interior texturing should look based on their own current work. I suspect however that one will rise to the top as the standard by which all others are eventually done. . .or. . .that one will be "the" default interior and others can customize it as they wish.

[falcon409]

A question for the pro's. . . .How should the left side art be configured? I can only find images showing the right side. Should it remain slanted as the duplicate suggests (I haven't moved it into place yet). or should the text slant down so that the "T" (in "This") is what extends over the nose". It may be an obvious choice but I don't see it as I could argue for either one being correct.

[nater]

My guess would be that it slanted as the duplicate suggest....I am by far an subject expert by any means of the term though...

[falcon409]

My guess would be that it slanted as the duplicate suggest....I am by far an subject expert by any means of the term though...

Thanks nater! I have moved it up in position just to ponder it further. . .most nose art is easily placed as it's normally imagery with some slogan attached and those just seem obvious when placing left or right, but straight lettering, especially when slanted as this is just seems to require a bit more thought, lol.

[gaucho_59]

Most of the WW2 bombers did not sport the nose art bilaterally.... (especially complex artwork... for they were
usually hand painted... and a bit cumbersome to reproduce) the same applies to fighters... (like "The Dragon and its Tail ")

Really, very few had bilateral artwork... notably one of the P-51 Red Tails... (Creamer's Dream)... which showed a nudie from the front in
the right side and the same gal's reclining backside on the right...
In the absence of a photo... any guess work will probably render a beautiful thing... but probably bogus...


G.

[nater]

The Big Hairy Bird is 99% done. I am afraid to touch it anymore in case I screw something up.... Alpha channel has been applied and I think it gives is a nice bare metal look. The painted parts have no alpha applied to them to give it that painted bare metal look.

[lemonadedrinker]

That looks amazing, nater!

[nater]

Thanks!
Beginning of Missouri Mule II

[huub vink]

Great work Nater! And you sure are very fast!

Cheers,
Huub

[mrogers]

Awesome work Nater!

[nater]

Thanks guys! Means a lot! Huub, ya...seems to go pretty quick with MMII because both MMII and The Big Hairy Bird were both part of the same bomb group.

[nater]

Birds of a feather....

[falcon409]

. . . . .In the absence of a photo. . .any guess work will probably render a beautiful thing. . .but probably bogus. . .
G.

To answer your question, No, I could not find any reference to this aircraft other than the single shot of the right side with the art on it. That probably should answer my question right there, however it also doesn't give me any idea what actually is on the left side (bomb symbols, Pilots name, numbers, etc.) I can't imagine the Pilots side was left unpainted in some way. Anyway, I'll soldier on with this paint which won't be uploaded anyway.

[falcon409]

A look at the left gear wheel well. I'll probably just duplicate it (flip it) for the right side. . .it isn't anything people will spend much time looking at I'm sure.

[Milton Shupe]

Wow! You guys are doing beautiful work there. It great to see your progress.

Ed, very nice work on the wheel wells. People may not look at it much but you know they want it there. :-)

[Milton Shupe]

Lol, although I agree with G. (and others) I am wondering who will do these internal textures. Which is why I was a bit slow with reaction to your question. Is it possible for you to map them, and create a solid FS 34151 texture and bake this texture?

I think this solution leaves room for those who want to do additional texturing, but also offer a solution for those who don't (or in case there isn't a volunteer to do them....).

Cheers,
Huub

Good response Huub :-)

All parts of course must be mapped for textures so the only issue is which of those parts will I apply a general mapping and common texture and which parts will be mapped specifically for the texture artist to paint. Floors, walls, ceilings, bulkheads, tables, seats, bombs, etc will be mapped specifically for the artist's brushes. Less common parts like bolts and hinges, wire antennas, inner surfaces of engines, etc. will be group mapped using a common dark texture.

I should be starting the interior mapping today.

EDIT: Nader, I see the gear parts are not textured. Is there a problem?

[Stratobat]

You guys are doing an excellent job

Now, no cheating Ed; this is what it really looked like. It better be just like this one. :-)

Hey Milton,
Hehe - you should see what the starboard side of the fuselage looks like

There is a photograph of it in the Squadron/ Signal book on the Marauder in Action.

Regards,
Stratobat

[Milton Shupe]

To make it easier on the painters, I am moving the main gear and nose gear mapping to a separate texture sheet. I did not like the way I did that mapping and this will make it easier for those who do not need to change gear parts colors.

So, the main gear mapping will be removed from eng0_t.bmp and the nose gear will be removed from the fusefront_t.bmp.

I hope this will help those who just want to do the basic textures.