posted 01-20- 02:33 AM               

Here's a pick of the smoothed Tomcat in a SuperTomcat paintscheme. http://members.xoom.com/hawkersop/images/19Jan/
select SuperTomcat.jpg

posted 01-20- 06:29 AM               

------------------
-Sv =FC=

WWI in SDOE!

posted 01-20- 07:22 AM            

That looks killer.

Do you think you could send me a copy so I can paint it? I won't give it to anyone else.

posted 01-20- 07:26 AM               

Dan, give me a couple more days, cause believe it or not, even though the picture looks ok I made some really dumb mistakes on it since I was up so late (very tired). I'm taking almost 1 month's leave (USAF) and will have lots of time to work on it. But since I'll be waking up and eager to go with it it shouldn't take too long to get it where I'm happy with the mapping. I'm saying this cause the time I'm working on it now is after a full days work and I'm dead tired (not the best way to turn out a decent looking plane... I need sleep damn it! )

I'd say maybe Fri or Sat I'll get it to you. Also, if you can export the obj file in OPS and have the wherewithall to remap it yourself (to improve it even more) feel free. Just let me know.

Also part of the reason you guys haven't seen any cockpit shots is because I haven't even begun that stuff yet. I MUST get the outside and all that goes with it (dof city) up to par first. Then it'll be cockpit makeover time. I'm looking forward to it. It'll be my first attempt at it.

[This message has been edited by Pete Hawk (edited 01-20-2000).]

posted 01-20- 07:29 AM            

Maybe someone could help me....can you remap in OPS only, or do you need other software?

posted 01-20- 07:43 AM               

Re-mapping is kind of a pain in the ass, but this is key to making the planes look good as you know

The Re-mapping process involves editing each part of the plane in a 3D editor, breaking the part into the seperate surfaces that need to recieve sperate texture mappings. You need a complete texture skin made, even if it looks ugly - it needs to be the correct shape to match the plane. You can make these by taking screen shots of the untextured plane in SDOE, using the plan files you used as blue-prints as you modeled, or create real good textures from the get-go using either of the above as a starting point.

Now another thing that needs to be done is lining up certain parts in the 3D editor like the wing, flaps, and aileorns. So you will have 6 objects: wing_top, wing_bottom, aileron_top, aileron_bottom, flap_top, and flap bottom. Now line these up like the real wing will be. Now merge all the top objects into one object, and merge all the bottoms into a bottom object. Now texture the top object with the upper surface texture, and the bottom object with the bottom surface texture.

Now for the fun part - re-seperate the top 3 and bottom 3 objects. Now remerge the top/bottom wings, top/bottom ailerons, and top/bottom flaps. Now you have 3 objects again like you started! But now they have the correct textures. Now they are exported back to LODS and the plane is rebuilt. Bingo! New texture mapping!

So re-mapping is 100% a 3D editing task, not an OPS task. It is not fun either - especialy if you make a mistake half way though like merging the wrong objects. It feels like freekin' brain surgery at times! (but I suck at 3D editing)

It is, however, like the #1 improvement you can do to make a plane look better. People see the skins before they see the plane. A good skin turned by hacked up SE5a into a real live plane!

------------------
-Sv =FC=

WWI in SDOE!