Project XR3 Phoenix (WIP)

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

I must admit it took some time to match displays to existing panel.

It looks good.

I would assume that the AP indicators will be used only as status indicators (ie backlit when running), and they'll be triggered through a different input, or will they act like a big pushbutton?

 

[Loru]

That's question for doug at this point.

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

That's question for doug at this point.

True. I think backlit indicators would be much cooler, but he might want to retrofit any style changes to the rest of the XR fleet, leading to more coding work, and so on...

My only real dislike of the XRs is that their controls are all so similar. The DGIV was really distinctive with its layout, which I liked as it stood out compared to other craft. (When you see a DGIV panel, you know exactly where it's from) The XR fleet is so standardized that it loses that nice feel IMO.

If you are going to use the green buttons on the panel it might be worth extruding a button face (ie the RAD Deploy, AUTO CG Shift buttons)

 

[Loru]

Experiments with materials.

---------- Post added 10-31-13 at 11:50 AM ---------- Previous post was 10-30-13 at 11:25 PM ----------

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Looking better and better.

 

[Donamy]

Experiments with materials.

---------- Post added 10-31-13 at 11:50 AM ---------- Previous post was 10-30-13 at 11:25 PM ----------

How did you get it right ?

 

[Loru]

How did you get it right ?

What do you mean by getting it right?

 

[Donamy]

Looks like you got the normals on the fuselage and door, to line up better and look seemless.

 

[Loru]

That was easy - I first UVW mapped fuselage and then cut out the door faces along edges. That way UVW maps preciselly match.

Well - afterthat I broke those door and I had to re-UVW map new doors and this time I adjusted Z axis edges to match hole in UVW map. I use multiUVW for 3ds max which can handle multiple meshgroups on single UVW map.

---------- Post added at 08:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:39 PM ----------

Here is map:

 

[Ripley]

Yeah...right...easy!!

 

[Loru]

Well - it's not that hard once you understand your UVW mapping tool - I hated UNWRAPPING other than planar and cylindrical projections to entire meshgroups but at some point I just forced myself, loaded few tutorials on YT and learned how to do it.

Despite the fact it isn't hard, it's still time consuming

---------- Post added 11-01-13 at 03:16 AM ---------- Previous post was 10-31-13 at 11:21 PM ----------

Hmm. During experiments with materials I noticed terrible smoothing issues in front of engine naceless (invisible with matte material) - had to fix ton of polys and re UVW map whole fuselage and elements.

Took a long time (as usual) but this part of model is now smoother and better looking IMO.

I'll post some pics as soon as I recreate main texture to match new UVW.

 

[Donamy]

I know what you mean.

 

[teslax]

Loru I noticed that there are high amount of tris in the mesh, is that somehow created by your 3d modeling package from quads automatically? Or do you intentionally create them?

 

[Keatah]

True. I think backlit indicators would be much cooler, but he might want to retrofit any style changes to the rest of the XR fleet, leading to more coding work, and so on...

I don't know about retrofitting the older ships. I'd much rather have efforts going toward making a nice 3d virtual cockpit.

 

[malisle]

This is probably a question for both Doug and Loru - is the XR3 going to feature the heat glowing effect on the nozzles like Hyperion?

 

[Loru]

Loru I noticed that there are high amount of tris in the mesh, is that somehow created by your 3d modeling package from quads automatically? Or do you intentionally create them?

First thing is that Orbiter's native msh format uses triangle faces. This mesh is done without any "NURBS surfaces" or similar tehniques to avoid automatic conversion on export and I work directly on polygons/faces. In this mode 3ds max alows polys of more vertices and you can see them in the mesh however they're still moasic made out the triangles.

There are 2 reasons you see lots of triangles.

1.) After my HDDs burned earlier this yer, this model is a backup from MSH format so all edges were turned visible on import.

2.) I often found that for example in 5 vertex poly edges of triangle faces are aranged wrong way causing strange smoothing issues.

I don't know about retrofitting the older ships. I'd much rather have efforts going toward making a nice 3d virtual cockpit.

There will be nice VC however I want to make it look similar to 2d cockpit . With all due respect to XR2 mesher/texturer I find it strange that both don't match.

This is probably a question for both Doug and Loru - is the XR3 going to feature the heat glowing effect on the nozzles like Hyperion?

I don't see reason why not - code for that is 2 or 3 lines however while Hyperion used classic bell shape nozzles, in XR3 bell shape is only on the inside. It has thick cover on the outside housing cooling equipement inside. So - if doug agrees to add "glow effect" to nozzles, they'll glow but on the inside.

 

[teslax]

First thing is that Orbiter's native msh format uses triangle faces. This mesh is done without any "NURBS surfaces" or similar tehniques to avoid automatic conversion on export and I work directly on polygons/faces. In this mode 3ds max alows polys of more vertices and you can see them in the mesh however they're still moasic made out the triangles.

There are 2 reasons you see lots of triangles.

1.) After my HDDs burned earlier this yer, this model is a backup from MSH format so all edges were turned visible on import.

2.) I often found that for example in 5 vertex poly edges of triangle faces are aranged wrong way causing strange smoothing issues.

Ah ok, so it's how max displayed them, whereas they are originally quad or n-gon?

 

[Loru]

No - they were triangles from start however some edges were turned invisible to appear as quads or n-gons. In #dsMax when you work in "edit mesh" mode you work on "polygons" (3,4 or more sides) but they're still triangles.

Take a look at picture below - it's quad poly however 3ds max already divided it to triangles since I'm working in "mesh edit" mode.

 

[Urwumpe]

Actually, you can represent ANY surface by multiple triangles (and in extension, any volume by multiple tetrahedra).

Thats why even if you work with them as other geometry entities, it is easier to render and process them as triangles anyway.

 

[RisingFury]

Well - it's not that hard once you understand your UVW mapping tool - I hated UNWRAPPING other than planar and cylindrical projections to entire meshgroups but at some point I just forced myself, loaded few tutorials on YT and learned how to do it.

Despite the fact it isn't hard, it's still time consuming

You might wanna try Blender for UVW unwrap. I found its unwrap tool to be quite intuitive.