Someone to model a building for me

[OleBoy]

OleBoy, I've made many buildings with sketchup, even more complicated objects and imported them to FSX using Arno's ModelconverterX. Like this gate-guardian F-84:

I find sketchup very intuitive and I think you can do lots of stuff with it for FSX.

Your hangar looks great!

If you have any trouble converting it and compiling it let me know, I'd be glad to help.

Hello Dimus,

I would be very appreciative if you would share you methods. I tried getting my hanger into the sim, but it would not show. I opened the file with model Converter X, then converted it to an FSX.BGL, and xxx.mdl. I loaded up the sim to get the coordinates and jotted them down. I'm not sure even if I did that right. Nonetheless I put in the coordinates and heading. MCX seemed to do the job I thought. Once I went where it was placed, it was no where to be seen for 10 square miles.

Another question are the textures. Not the sizes, but how they are used for the model. I don't understand the process of how they're called, or placed. Overall, this is very confusing for me.

[Dimus]

The process is not that simple and involves some tricky parts but once you've done it once it gets easier. I'll try to put a procedure down in simple steps and pm you.

Until then, the basic procedure is described by Arno here:

http://msmvps.com/blogs/arnogerretse...-sketchup.aspx

[OleBoy]

I appreciate it more than you know Dimus. Getting my own model in FSX will be very gratifying for me.

In the meantime, I'm working on my office, lookout tower. :mixedsmi:

:mixedsmi:

[Meshman]

I loaded up the sim to get the coordinates and jotted them down. I'm not sure even if I did that right. Nonetheless I put in the coordinates and heading. MCX seemed to do the job I thought. Once I went where it was placed, it was no where to be seen for 10 square miles.

It helps to know where you are, especially placing stuff. One addition to the FSX.cfg file makes life a little easier. Under the [Main] section of FSX.cfg add this line;
FractionalLatLonDigits=6

This will give you Lat/Lon in 44.123456 -123.123456 formatting. Sure beats Degrees, Minutes and Seconds, though there simple math to that also.

If you want to find your work decompile the BGL file using BGL2XML by Jon Masterson, aka Scruffyduck. The XML code can be opened with a text editor like Notepad and will have lines for Lat and Lon.

I'm not a fan of using the \FSX\Addon Scenery\scenery and \texture folders. So I recommend making a new folder structure with a naming of your choice. The BGL file will go into the \scenery folder and the DDS file(s) that came out of MCX go into the \texture folder.


And if you want to get creative about doing 3D work, check out the free textures available here; http://www.cgtextures.com/

[falcon409]

Meshman, that "cgtextures" site is terrific. Found quite a bit I could have used on previous jobs, lol. Even a section on Military aircraft skins, great reference.

[OleBoy]

cgtextures is a good place. I've been using them for quite a few years. a lot of it has to be resized, or compressed to use it for flight sim though.

Here's an interior mezanine shot.

[OleBoy]

Gathering textures. I've got more building to do yet, but I couldn't resist adding character to it.

[OleBoy]

soffits, fascia and trim now being done.

[OleBoy]

I managed to get it in sim, but there's an issue with the textures not showing. They are within parameters 128x128,256x256,512x512. Also converted to DDS. Though I'm not sure the format to save them in. These were saved DXT3. Do I need to be mapping the model? I figured that when the textures were applied, it was mapped.




I messed with textures. Not sure what the issue is. It's stiill not showing all the way

[Dimus]

Hey Oleboy! You're very close. I did not have enough time to PM you. I promise I will tomorrow.

In the meantime, I can suspect that you are missing one step. Before saving to .mdl in MCX go to the "Material editor" and for every texture you use scroll down on the right scrollbox and in the "DiffuseTexture" field select the texture you have saved in dds. Once done the model will show in checkered surfaces in the MCX screen. Don't worry, export it in mdl and proceed as usual.

Your textures should reside in a "Textures" folder that belongs to an activated scenery in FSX.

[OleBoy]

This is absolutely amazing. I can see my labor in flight sim. Finally, I see MY work displayed. Thanks for the tips Dimus. If it weren't for fellow flight simmers like you, (as there are so few) that help, visuals would not come from so many people who have talents.


Now I'm wondering what file formats the textures can be saved in for the best visuals. Any suggestions?

Your knowledge is greatly appreciated sir :salute:

[OleBoy]

not relevant to the model in sim, but I'm enjoying myself :mixedsmi:

[N2056]

Your application to Modelers Anonymous is in the mail, and you should get it in a day or two.

[OleBoy]

Good. I need a job anyway. This is too much fun!!

[Dimus]

Well, you figured most of it out yourself. I would have made a step by step procedure but I guess this is not needed any more. That's for the best as I happen to be extremely busy these days.

It's great isn't it! There is more to discover, as you can also make textures with alpha channel for transparency. I did that to create the steel bars on the fence in front of the gate guardian. Also the material editor lets you define a lot of stuff concerning reflectivity, transparency and shine of the surfaces. Check the windows of the "IKAROS" terminal that reflect the environment.

If you download my two airport sceneries here at SOH (Tatoi and Ikaros), all my objects are in single bgl files. You can open them with MCX and check the entries on the material editor to see examples of usage for shine and reflectivity.

The thing I don't do, mainly out of laziness is to combine many textures of an object in one sheet, to save on drawcalls. If I build something too big I will do so to save on FPS.

As for texture format, I usually save in dds format or DXT5 bmp. I don't see much difference in quality and the size is much smaller than normal bitmaps.

Another nice technique is to create pseudo shadows below roofs. You may draw a strip just below the roof on the wall that you can paint using a texture that is slightly darker than the wall texture. It adds a 3d feeling to the building and adds just a couple of more polygons. You can also paint the shadow on the texture if you wish.

[OleBoy]

I'll play around with the settings for the glass. At this point, that, and maybe some shine would be nice on a few things. Though later on I'll likely be doing more stuff. So if you don't mind, I may be asking more questions directed towards you. It's always nice to ask those who have experience with things.

[Dimus]

Please feel free to ask. Either pm or post.

I don't claim to know much, I just played around with stuff and also did a lot of searching and asking at the FSDeveloper forum. Lots of knowledge and help over there too.

If you pm me your email I can send you the source files of three control towers that feature three different types of glass, one almost transparent with light blue tint, one with dark tinted glass and the reflective one you see in Ikaros. I may then tell you which settings in MCX control this stuff.

[Shylock]

Very nice Ole boy now the addiction has begun. Your hooked and now you'll be like the rest of us wit h50 plus projects on your PC and looking to start new ones lol. Kudos to you bud, great job.

[OleBoy]

Today while driving through town, I found I was looking at things in a different way. Not just looking at certain things, but everything. I almost went off the road because I was staring at things perspectively. Almost as if like an x-ray. Addicting? Like a cold beer to a 90 degree day!

[Bjoern]

Doing buildings is kind of fun, but I've been doing this in Minecraft lately instead of FSX.

[BillgjCook]

Wow that is looking good. Looks like you will have a nice paint hanger ounce you are done.

[mmann]

Very nice Ole boy now the addiction has begun. Your hooked and now you'll be like the rest of us wit h50 plus projects on your PC and looking to start new ones lol. Kudos to you bud, great job.

Addiction it is!! I am so fascinated by 3d creation that I have forsaken FSX object creation and moved back into the world of 3d creation without limits. I am currently using 3ds Max 2011 with VRay 1.5, VRay Autograss, Terragen 2 and Xfrog 3.5. The only downside is that instead of dealing with the number of frames per second in FSX, I have to deal with the number of hours per frame for a final render in Max!

Regards, Mike Mann

[Francois]

I gave the same problem as Oleboy. Using GSU and starting building again after a 15 year hiatus is addicting. The 'problem' I have is that I don't really have time for fun anymore.... I'm a publisher !

By the way, Arno's very good tutorial on how to build Sketchup models AND get them into FSX is on the FSDeveloper website !

[monk1]

Great thread! You guys are motivating me to start building! Or start to learn how to build.

[Astoroth]

Looking real good! Nice work.