Search the archive:
YaBB - Yet another Bulletin Board
 
   
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print
Latest try for a fuselage... (Read 248 times)
Dec 24th, 2003 at 4:58am

Wing Nut   Offline
Colonel
Hoy-Hoy!

Gender: male
Posts: 14173
*****
 
Well, here is my latest attempt at a fuselage for a Spitfire.  Despite the goofy dog turd look, it actually represents a step forward on my learning curve.  The cylinder is 80 segments high, by 40 around.  My major concer right now is the cockpit area.  I don't get the feeling that it should be that big of a notch.

...

 

HP p7-1300w
AMD Athlon II X4 650 Quad-core 3.2 Ghz
23" HP Widescreen monitor/19" Dell monitor
Windows 7 Home Premium
16 Gb DDR3 PC10600 Ram
1 Gb GeForce GTX 550Ti video card
1 TB RAID Drives

If you want to see the most beautiful girl in the world, CLICK HERE!
IP Logged
 
Reply #1 - Dec 24th, 2003 at 6:18am

Hagar   Offline
Colonel
My Spitfire Girl
Costa Geriatrica

Posts: 33159
*****
 
Pippin. Gmax doesn't suit me at all but I'm sure the basic principles are the same with any modelling. In FSDS I would create the fuselage without worrying too much about the cockpit area. This can be carved out later, just as you would do if you were making it from a piece of balsa wood. This way you get a nice smooth joint with no ripples - as on the real aircraft.
 

...

Founder & Sole Member - Grumpy's Over the Hill Club for Veteran Virtual Aviators
Member of the Fox Four Group

Need help? Try Grumpy's Lair

My photo gallery
IP Logged
 
Reply #2 - Dec 24th, 2003 at 11:22am

Wing Nut   Offline
Colonel
Hoy-Hoy!

Gender: male
Posts: 14173
*****
 
I think I'll do that, Doug.  Thanks a lot.  The notch in the bottom is kind of funky.  It's on the side view, but I can't quite tell in any picture exactly how it goes.  Now, is smoothing the thing simply a matter of adjusting the vetices?  Does anyone have any tips on that?
 

HP p7-1300w
AMD Athlon II X4 650 Quad-core 3.2 Ghz
23" HP Widescreen monitor/19" Dell monitor
Windows 7 Home Premium
16 Gb DDR3 PC10600 Ram
1 Gb GeForce GTX 550Ti video card
1 TB RAID Drives

If you want to see the most beautiful girl in the world, CLICK HERE!
IP Logged
 
Reply #3 - Dec 24th, 2003 at 12:46pm

Felix/FFDS   Offline
Admin
FINALLY an official Granddad!
Orlando, FL

Gender: male
Posts: 1000000627
*****
 
Quote:
I think I'll do that, Doug.  Thanks a lot.  The notch in the bottom is kind of funky.  It's on the side view, but I can't quite tell in any picture exactly how it goes.  Now, is smoothing the thing simply a matter of adjusting the vetices?  Does anyone have any tips on that?



What notch?
 

Felix/FFDS...
IP Logged
 
Reply #4 - Dec 24th, 2003 at 12:59pm

Wing Nut   Offline
Colonel
Hoy-Hoy!

Gender: male
Posts: 14173
*****
 
Does this look any better?

...
« Last Edit: Dec 24th, 2003 at 3:41pm by Wing Nut »  

HP p7-1300w
AMD Athlon II X4 650 Quad-core 3.2 Ghz
23" HP Widescreen monitor/19" Dell monitor
Windows 7 Home Premium
16 Gb DDR3 PC10600 Ram
1 Gb GeForce GTX 550Ti video card
1 TB RAID Drives

If you want to see the most beautiful girl in the world, CLICK HERE!
IP Logged
 
Reply #5 - Dec 24th, 2003 at 3:47pm

Hagar   Offline
Colonel
My Spitfire Girl
Costa Geriatrica

Posts: 33159
*****
 
I'm not qualified to comment really. Being ultra-critical it looks a tad ripply to me. I would aim at a smooth outline & shape it from there.
 

...

Founder & Sole Member - Grumpy's Over the Hill Club for Veteran Virtual Aviators
Member of the Fox Four Group

Need help? Try Grumpy's Lair

My photo gallery
IP Logged
 
Reply #6 - Dec 24th, 2003 at 5:43pm

Travis   Offline
Colonel
Cannot find REALITY.SYS.
Universe halted.
Dripping Springs, TX

Gender: male
Posts: 4515
*****
 
First off: you seem to be coming along very nicely in your creations! Cheesy

Secondly: just as a personal opinion, I think you should cut down on the length segments, as 80x40 turns into 3200 polys, just for the basic outline of the fuselage.  I tend to have between 1200 and 1500 polys MAX in my exterior fuselages.

Just what tutorials are you following?
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #7 - Dec 24th, 2003 at 6:05pm

Wing Nut   Offline
Colonel
Hoy-Hoy!

Gender: male
Posts: 14173
*****
 
Really, I am just picking from several different tutorials.  I've read a few, but each leaves me with questions in their own way.  The Gmax Tutorial is about useless...

I guess I did get a bit carried away on the segments, but that's only because of a passion for the subject.  I have a tendency to overdo things anyway, and I even went into this telling myself not to set out to build the world's greatest Spitfire...  Grin

Can you point me where to learn how to smooth the fuselage?
 

HP p7-1300w
AMD Athlon II X4 650 Quad-core 3.2 Ghz
23" HP Widescreen monitor/19" Dell monitor
Windows 7 Home Premium
16 Gb DDR3 PC10600 Ram
1 Gb GeForce GTX 550Ti video card
1 TB RAID Drives

If you want to see the most beautiful girl in the world, CLICK HERE!
IP Logged
 
Reply #8 - Dec 24th, 2003 at 9:51pm

Felix/FFDS   Offline
Admin
FINALLY an official Granddad!
Orlando, FL

Gender: male
Posts: 1000000627
*****
 
Quote:
Can you point me where to learn how to smooth the fuselage?


Before "smoothing" the fuselage, I would go to less segments first, getting the shapes right in the target cross sections, then adding segments sparingly, as needed, for details.  Too many segments in the first place gets you the "ripply" surface.

 

Felix/FFDS...
IP Logged
 
Reply #9 - Dec 24th, 2003 at 10:01pm

Travis   Offline
Colonel
Cannot find REALITY.SYS.
Universe halted.
Dripping Springs, TX

Gender: male
Posts: 4515
*****
 
The first fuselage I did took me five tries.  I would get it EXACTLY right on the crfoss sections, but it would always have either too many segments or too few.

I would always recommend that you get things how YOU want them.  Its about the most important part of aircraft designing, IMHO.  If I am not happy with the stuff I have come up with, I will throw it away and start over from scratch.  I've only completed two aircraft to date, and both of them are of good quality, simply because I wouldn't accept a poor product.

Moral of the story: KEEP TRYING TILL YOU GET IT RIGHT!
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #10 - Dec 24th, 2003 at 10:26pm

Wing Nut   Offline
Colonel
Hoy-Hoy!

Gender: male
Posts: 14173
*****
 
So it's a case of 'Less is More' then, where vertices are concerned?
 

HP p7-1300w
AMD Athlon II X4 650 Quad-core 3.2 Ghz
23" HP Widescreen monitor/19" Dell monitor
Windows 7 Home Premium
16 Gb DDR3 PC10600 Ram
1 Gb GeForce GTX 550Ti video card
1 TB RAID Drives

If you want to see the most beautiful girl in the world, CLICK HERE!
IP Logged
 
Reply #11 - Dec 25th, 2003 at 12:37am

Travis   Offline
Colonel
Cannot find REALITY.SYS.
Universe halted.
Dripping Springs, TX

Gender: male
Posts: 4515
*****
 
Pretty much.  A good idear is to just figure out how many straight pieces you're going to need for the length.  You can check the template you're using for that.  Every aircraft is going to be different (of course) but anything more than 30 is pushing it.  As you probably already know, the amount of polys in an aircraft has an effect on the FPS, so I try to keep the polys low, just in case I need to add more to a certain spot later on.
 

...
IP Logged
 
Reply #12 - Dec 25th, 2003 at 8:36am

Mike Thurman   Offline
Colonel
Mmm, forbidden donut!!
Umm, underwater

Gender: male
Posts: 1061
*****
 
Quote:
 The cylinder is 80 segments high, by 40 around.  


Pippin, the second shot looks like it's improving pretty well, but you don't have to make such a complex fuselage. Try something like 10-14 segments high, and 16-20 around. Then add a tiny bit of mesh smooth to finish it off.



Mike
 
IP Logged
 
Reply #13 - Dec 25th, 2003 at 12:24pm

SilverFox441   Offline
Colonel
Now What?
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Gender: male
Posts: 1467
*****
 
The only thing I have to add is to say that during my learning curve I went through the exact same stage..rippling fuselages. Smiley

Turns out the problem was caused by too many cross-sections. Smiley It was making it too hard to get a smooth curve.

Of course, too few and you have trouble avoiding straight lines!

Looking' good Pippen, for a single engine fighter you might want to model the spinner as part of the fuse and then split it off after you have the curves right.
 

Steve (Silver Fox) Daly
&&
IP Logged
 
Reply #14 - Dec 25th, 2003 at 12:29pm

Wing Nut   Offline
Colonel
Hoy-Hoy!

Gender: male
Posts: 14173
*****
 
I had thought of that, but decided not to after looking at the abrupt way the fuselage slopes off after the spinner... Smiley
 

HP p7-1300w
AMD Athlon II X4 650 Quad-core 3.2 Ghz
23" HP Widescreen monitor/19" Dell monitor
Windows 7 Home Premium
16 Gb DDR3 PC10600 Ram
1 Gb GeForce GTX 550Ti video card
1 TB RAID Drives

If you want to see the most beautiful girl in the world, CLICK HERE!
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print