Gmax Help For a Newbie?

[Walter]

Hi, all!

I have finally gotten a ton of time to do nothing, and was thinking about making some planes for FSX. Does anybody know of some good tutorials for this sort of thing? I have very little knowledge of computers.

Thank you all for your help!

Walter

[N2056]

Here's a very good one...From Milton Shupe :salute:
http://www.flightsimonline.com/C162/

[mmann]

Hi Walter, how much experience do you have with Gmax? If you are just starting out, I would highly recommend starting with scenery objects and getting the basics down first before tackling an aircraft model! As for tutorials I would recommend heading over to FSDeveloper (http://www.fsdeveloper.com/).

Regards, Mike Mann

[Walter]

Wow! Thanks, guys! I got dinner and came back, and there was two responses! Talk about fast! Yes I am very new to gmax, but I'm willing to give it a spin!

Thank you,

Walter

[Vitus]

Hi Walter,

I second the two suggestions. Milton Shupes tutorial is the best and most complete you can get. It covers 3D design, mapping, texturing and even touches on instrument implementation.
fsdeveloper.com is probably the best community out there for fs design and you'll get help from the best designers of the scene there. And if you don't find your solution there, you probably get directions.

I don't think that you should start with scenery design though. True, it's mush easier to construct and map a house than creating the complex shape of an aircraft. But if you want to build an aircraft, build an aircraft!
But be aware: the learning curve is steep and you WILL be frustrated at times. But if you stick to it it can be very awarding as well. Start small, keep it simple.

Cheers,
Vitus

[Mathias]

If you're absolutely new to CAD-like work and design start out with the tutorials that come with Gmax, just the best way to learn the basics.
Other than that I'm with Vitus, if you want to make airplanes, make airplanes. :-)

[michael davies]

Take up Golf, its less stressfull, you will see sunlight, its less addictive .

Best

Michael

[Francois]

[Vitus]

Take up Golf, its less stressfull, you will see sunlight, its less addictive .

The three enemies of any fs designer:
fresh air, sunlight and the unbearable singing of the birds.

[mmann]

I get the feeling Count Dracula would have been a first rate FS designer!

Regards, Mike Mann

[michael davies]

The three enemies of any fs designer:
fresh air, sunlight and the unbearable singing of the birds.

Now that, kind sir, is the first post I've read here in weeks thats made me grin.

Thank you!.

[Dangerousdave26]

my suggestion for the newbie

Make sure you install the Gmax tutorials and do everyone of them. It will help teach you about Gmax controls. Yes I know I wanted to Puke they were so boring and not FS related at all however I found myself using that information later. It was worth knowing how to go back and find it.

After that get the FS9 Gmax game SDK from FSDeveloper http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/dow...?do=file&id=32

I know but you want to model for FSX. Well there are some really good simple scenery tutorials in the Docs section. I suggest doing those tutorials over and over until making the object becomes second nature. This will help you understand the controls, LOD, Animations, and Attachpoints. All of which you will need to develop planes.

Finally after you develop these simple and easy skills now you can start on your Hanger. Every FS Developer needs a hanger to place all his planes in. :salute:

[Lionheart]

And walking.. Walking is good.. Gmax will take that from you if you let it.. and the birds.. and golf..


If you do the tutorials, do them in order, or you will not get it. They teach you things in one lessen that you use in the next, so if you go backwards, it will mess you up big time.


www.fsdeveloper.com in the Modeling room is where most of us hang out.


Gmax is awesome! Fast, filled with lots of power tools.. .

[hairyspin]

Learning model building for FS is like climbing the Eiger North Face - massive, near-vertical, how am I ever to get up there? But the higher you climb, the more you see and you do get the hang of it.

The bit that irritates is when you reach the top with a finished model, all sweaty and breathless. There's some downloader waiting who got the train round the back to the top who wants to know why you didn't model the landing light bulbs accurately or make the interior puke green instead of firebrick grey...

Have fun!

[michael davies]

To be fair, the hardest thing I found with Gmax was the compiler, actually getting something into the sim was a beatch, I think above all else, getting that to work is the most important, modeling in Gmax is great but seeing something you created in the sim is a real ego booster.

Rather than try to get your newly made plane with all its animations into the sim I'd suggest starting with a simple box or sphere, making that is easy, then learn how to apply a basic texture and then get it into the sim, a real quick way to do this is take a default aircraft, grab the mdl file and rename and save it somewhere safe, then compile your box/ball with the name of the original model, fire up the sim, select that aircraft and you should now have your object in the sim, you need to make sure your texture...if you added one is in the aircraft texture folder, I think FS9 allowed objects that were not textured into sim, FSx does to but they just appear black with no surface properties, but they do appear. Doing this obviates the need to learn sounds, cfgs, and all that other stuff that you will need to learn later.

There is nothing worse than trying to get your model in sim, theres so much to go wrong and you've no idea if its the mesh or the compiler, if you get a rock solid compile every time with just a box it takes a huge slice of the potential problems away when you try to compile larger meshes.

Best

Michael

[Walter]

Thanks for the tips, peoples!!

I am quite excited about starting up my own project, and this advice is exactly what I need!

Thank you all,

Walter :salute:

[Bjoern]

The three enemies of any fs designer:
fresh air, sunlight and the unbearable singing of the birds.

Add "hunger and thirst".

Nothing worse than the endless battle off dry mouth and roaring stomach versus the brain's "One more vertex!" screams.

Can't beat the immersion of modeling tools when it comes to losing a few pounds.

[n4gix]

Add "hunger and thirst".

Nothing worse than the endless battle off dry mouth and roaring stomach versus the brain's "One more vertex!" screams.

Don't forget the inverse of that, "bathroom breaks!"

Nothing worse than tightly clenching the muscles that control the bladder and/or sphincter versus the brain's "one more vertex!" screams.

Real modelers and programmers use Depends!

[Milton Shupe]

Don't forget the inverse of that, "bathroom breaks!"

Nothing worse than tightly clenching the muscles that control the bladder and/or sphincter versus the brain's "one more vertex!" screams.

Real modelers and programmers use Depends!

LOL

[hairyspin]

Real modelers and programmers use Depends!

We learn something new every day.....

[Walter]

Well now.... I guess I'll have to head on over to Wal*Mart to buy some of those.....

[n4gix]

We learn something new every day.....

There's nothing quite as embarrassing as opening the door to sign for a UPS delivery, and then noticing that "Depends" was all you were wearing at the time. :redf:

[Bjoern]

Don't forget the inverse of that, "bathroom breaks!"

Nothing worse than tightly clenching the muscles that control the bladder and/or sphincter versus the brain's "one more vertex!" screams.

Yeah, that too.


Even smoking gets less important once your modeling tools are running.

[lazarus]

Hmm...I'd not thought of Depends...I usually dash to the laundry and take a leak in the washer-then toss in some socks for the 'flush' cycle...
Where did I see one time...'I went out side once. The graphics were TERRIBLE!'

[Mathias]

Yeah, that too.


Even smoking gets less important once your modeling tools are running.

I wish that was true!
Once the oven is warmed up the smokestack doesn't stop smoking.:isadizzy: