Chronocidal

Looks REALLY good, I can't wait to see the finished product.. It looks kind of hunchbacked though for some reason.. I dunno, it looks good from the side, but the canopy looks kind of... flat.. I dunno... it's weird. Maybe the chest plate is just a little too thick. I can't tell. Still, looks incredible.

Heheh.. Personally, I'd like to see an SV-51 modeled.. looks like a challenge to me.

I've got several other skins planned too, just gotta get them done. This one was a really simple recolor of the basic skin, so I did it in about ten minutes. Also, as you may have guessed, the lens flare is added.. I figured I was due for a background change, and the stock FS sun looked pathetic. If you can't tell by these pics, the textures for two models are done.. I'll probably do at least two more shemes, maybe based on some of those optional decals sets you see all the time. I do have one particular custom scheme in mind... I won't say what it is yet though. The plane itself is done, all the parts work, animations are good, and the textures all have a slight bit of reflectivity to them, which looks incredible when the fuselage reflects the ground going by underneath. I'm just trying to figure out how to do a decent afterburner.. the one in that previous shot looks beautiful, but doesn't move with the feet. I also have to tweak a few textures to get the various lights and illuminated parts working right. But it's getting there. Btw, if the plane looks too white below, it's because I made it that way on purpose... Personally I like the clean white better than the beige color in the anime. I'll probably do both versions though, it's a simple 10 minute job to alter the colors.

Your wish is granted.

*thinks to himself, "Darn, they're on to me.. must deny that 21/22 mesh exists...must keep secret..."* Heheh.. Actually, there isn't a YF-21/22 mesh yet, but that's my next project, so don't worry. I've got the instructions all scanned in to make one. This one's almost done, I'll probably finish the exterior model this weekend, then it's on to the virtual cockpit! Then, MAYBE a regular cockpit.. I dunno, I have no idea how to make a standard panel. I'll probably end up altering some stock panel to look almost like a 19 panel, but I haven't a clue how to make my own instruments, which is what this thing will need eventually. Btw, the textures for the exterior model are done, I'm just working out the bugs in the program, and getting everything to work right.. I'm trying to find a way to make afterburner flames that move with the thrust vectoring, but it may be tricky...I'll put some screenies up later today.

Ahhh, I see then.. I really need to watch DYRL one of these days...

Ahhh, ok, so they do serve a purpose.. but still, it would have made more sense to make them recessed or flush with the fuselage.

Queer Eye for the Valk-Guy?

Lol.. actually, if he's taking off, the landing gear would be there. Nice effects. What's that done in?

Personally, I really like the delta variation of the VF-11 design.. but breasts? Really, there is such a thing as going too far. The custom design and paint I can understand... I can even kind of understand the face thing.. but arbitrarily adding two mounds on the fuselage that serve as nothing more than added drag in fighter mode makes me go

Hmm.. Truth be told, I think FS2002 is actually PICKIER than X-Plane.. particularly in things like the .air file that each plane needs. In X-Plane, all the values are calculated automatically in the aircraft file, so it's pretty simple. In FS2002, the values are in no way connected to the model. You actually have to do all the wing area, weight distribution, thrust, engine weight, fuel load, etc. on your own, and enter them in the program's aircraft editor. The most annoying aspect of this is that the program doesn't calculate ANYTHING with the model. All the landing gear contact coordinates, as well as any place the plane may touch the ground (ie a wingtip, or nose, or whatever) have to be entered manually, or the game won't register a collision. Wrong data can result in a plane that bounces up in the air like a balloon before flipping over and crashing. And that's with the engines off. There are just so many values to calculate it's ridiculous, and sometimes the game will just refuse to make a plane fly, no matter what you do. The only way to really get something to fly is find a similar aircraft, and copy values from its files. This one started with data I found in a variety of planes, mainly some kind of sst, crossed with data from a Tomcat. I eventually tweaked all the values, but it's a VERY long and arduous process. I had a lot more success with X-Plane than I have had with FS2002. As for making the actual planes, you need some type of 3d software, usually Gmax since it's free, and you need the Professional Edition of FS2002.. it has the plugins and programs to make the models for the games. That itself is a long process as well, since the actual formatting of the model for all the different types of animations is pretty complex (ie landing gear, control surfaces, etc.)

Actually, I imagine by going CG they would hope to conserve the actual structures of the plane.. my impression was that they only made the nose swappable so the legs would have a place to mount without deforming the nose horribly. I think they're two versions of the same size nose, one with leg mounts, and one without. I do agree with that idea though, I'd say go for the looks, and make fighter mode look good. Once you've got that down, you can work it into a transformable model later if you want.

Heheh.. I forgot how easy it is to make airplane textures compared to Star Trek stuff.. the exterior is done except for a few one colored textures, I'm working on interior details now, like the landing gear and cockpit.

Well, I guess I could, but it would probably be easier for me to do the update and release it when it's final. I don't have the model in Gmax format anyway, so all the animations would be lost in the transfer. I'm through texturing about 1/3 of the model, and I can't imagine it being that hard to get the flaps working for you. Probably just a simple renaming of a part. I'll get the FS2004 SDK, and I can release two versions when it's done. The nozzles on the other hand shouldn't move anyway. I've been experimenting with that on my own after I released the current model. I might simply eliminate the thrust vectoring unless I can find a way to make the engine flames move, cause right now it looks ridiculous to have the nozzles moving while the afterburner flames shoot through the center of the feet.

Hmm.. pardon me while I go chase my eyes.. they just jumped out and decided to go rolling across the floor...

Heheh.. well, Isamu said on his first flight that it was able to reach the atmospheric service ceiling in 40 seconds...I tried to match that roughly. It'll probably get closer with later updates. I've gotten quite a bit of texturing done in the past two days, but it's going kind of slow.. I should have textured the model BEFORE I broke it up and animated the different parts.

Yep.. there's no way a real aircraft could fly like that.. at least using today's technology. I based the stats off the kind of maneuvers it pulled during the dogfight scenes in the movie... I'll have to look over the movie again, though. I probably overdid it.

Ooh, please do... It'll let me concentrate more on the Mac+ Valks. If you need any help getting stuff flying correctly, I'm sure I could help. Getting the model in the program is the easy part...It takes a lot of trial and error testing to get the plane flying like it should, but it's less time consuming than modeling, so I'll be able to do multiple planes at once. If you need any plugins for Gmax or Max, I've got them. I have no idea how to do thrust vectoring, I've heard it's not possible. I've been using Max to directly export the FS Models, and format them, instead of the Gmax Plugin, because I can't texture in Gmax well, and I always lose all the animation data in the transfer from Max to Gmax. What I'm tempted to buy is the Flight Sim Design Studio program, which hacks into the model data in specific ways, and can change a LOT of model characteristics, based on changes in data from the game... basically, as is, you have to activate the afterburner flame on the YF-19 by pressing L, which also turns on the nav lights... With FSDS, there is a way to link the activation of those effects with the throttle percentage, so they appear automatically. The same is true for many other things as well, and they can't be done with Gmax. It's not too expensive, and I'm seriously considering it, if it will make things like true thrust vectoring possible. As it is on my newest model, the feet are linked to move with the elevator and aileron control, so they do appear to vector the thrust, but there's no actual change in the direction of thrust. It just looks cool. Except of course when the afterburner effects are on, since they don't move with the feet. I've got a VF-22 Hasegawa kit sitting up in my closet, as well as a VF-1J, so I'll probably be doing both in the future, but I'll probably do the VF-22 first.. as well as a YF-21 paint scheme for it, of course.

Yep, no reason I won't repaint it various ways. Those are just the material colors from Max, which transfer over to FS2002. Once I make up the actual textures I'll do several versions, most likely the VF-19A scheme, and maybe a couple other custom ones. I'd like to see how this plane would look in some of the old high-vis Tomcat markings.

LOL.. Whoops, yeah, I gotta get my wording straight, considerig I'm an aeronautics major. You're right, it does just have a hinged leading edge... It did have slats at first, but I replaced them, and just made them hinge downward. What's the actual difference between a leading edge flap and just a hinged leading edge though?

Hmm.. which version is FS9? I know I included flaps of two types on it, but they might not work if that version uses different flap naming conventions than FS2002. It should have hinged leading edges that drop, and the inner half of the wing control surfaces should drop as flaps as well.

Don't worry, I've had lots of texturing experience, so it won't be a problem. I just don't know when I'll get around to doing it.

K, I think there's an option to tweak that, I hadn't played with it much before. Thanks for the tip. Also, the speed brakes should be easy enough, I just have to reverse the axis of rotation. But the position of the speed brakes was something I wondered about.. is there any evidence that the -19 had its brakes elsewhere? I may increase the stall speed later, but for now it makes it easier to see how stable the plane is at low speeds. I exaggerated many flight characteristics to try and get the plane to fly like how the -19 behaved in the movie. Truth is, I mainly went for movie realism, not real life realism. It resulted in some ridiculous stats, and impossibly high g-levels, but it is fun to fly. I'll probably tone it down some once it's done, but I'm still trying to figure out how to tweak the specific stats to get it to fly well. FS2002 is REALLY picky, and has a way of corrupting the aircraft stat files somehow. It's like the program doesn't like certain values and decides to re-write them, changing how the plane flies without me doing anything.

I don't think 2002 is too expensive anymore, since a new version is out. You might be able to find a copy of the basic edition for around $20. I'm planning on eventually making a whole series of planes like this, all from the various Macross stories. I started with Mac+ because I bought the YF-19 model first.

Here's a screenshot to look at, I didn't include it in the zip to save space.