Simviation Forum - FSDSv2 -=NOT=- Acft Design

Jun 1^st, 2004 at 11:45pm

The_Sarge Offline
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There are over 100 pages in this forum, so I don't know if this has been asked before; it it has, slap a "dummy" label on me and shove me out the door.

I'm using FSDS2 -=NOT=- just for aircraft design, but also macros of vehicles, buildings, etc. I use FSSC for placement based on AFCAD2 locations. Everything is working fine -- no problems whatsoever with any of the three programs.

HOWEVER!!!!! Inadvertently, I opened the wrong macro library in FSSC (I have 4 identified) and was just slow enough to actually read the choices in that library. One of them was labeled "Adjustable." Now, I've made a few dozen .scm and .api macros with FSDS2, but I have never seen anything in FSDS2 that makes an "adjustable" .api or .scm macro. (When opening that macro, the height/width/depth (or some combination thereof) can be adjusted at the time of placement by FSSC.)

Question: Is this possible in FSDS2, and if so, how? if not, which design package makes "adjustable" .smc and .api macros? ???

None of the FSDS2 tutorials I've found on the web deal with ANYTHING other than creating aircraft in FSDS2. Surely there's a tutorial out there somewhere on how to make OTHER things with that program.

The Sarge

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Reply #1 - Jun 2^nd, 2004 at 9:23am

Felix/FFDS Offline
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General statement:

gmax and FSDS2 are modelling programs. Whether you're building aircraft or scenery objects is "invisible" to the program - until you export it as anaircraft or scenery pobject/macro etc.

The only scenery tutorials I've seen for FSDS are in the FSDS help files themselves.

I"m moving this to the scenery design forum, since some folks may be able to help you better.

Felix/FFDS

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Reply #2 - Jun 2^nd, 2004 at 9:57am

The_Sarge Offline
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Quote:

I"m moving this to the scenery design forum, since some folks may be able to help you better.

No problem; wasn't sure where exactly it was to go, since FSDS is a universal design package.

Appreciate anything anyone can come up with; the tutorials included with FSDS are VERY skimpy on anything other than aircraft design.

The Sarge

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Reply #3 - Jun 2^nd, 2004 at 10:32am

Felix/FFDS Offline
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Quote:

No problem; wasn't sure where exactly it was to go, since FSDS is a universal design package.

Appreciate anything anyone can come up with; the tutorials included with FSDS are VERY skimpy on anything other than aircraft design.

I've "kicked" this question up a notch or two, but not having the scenery design knowledge, my answers are more or less limited.

With FSDS, you make your object, but use your scenery program to manipulate it. You CAN adjust your object in FSDS (select all parts and scale the lot), but then you create a new, specific object. I presume that FSSC can take the object and "adjust" it on the fly?

Felix/FFDS

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Reply #4 - Jun 2^nd, 2004 at 10:51am

Hagar Offline
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I hestitate to answer this as I'm only a dabbler, not a scenery guru. I find that objects created with FSDS or Gmax are generally far too complex for simple scenery objects like buildings etc. This makes them highly graphics intensive which can badly affect frame rates in the sim. As you're importing the macros into FSSC something like EOD might be far better. http://www.echos.ch/eod/

I believe some of the library objects included with FSSC were created with EOD. I haven't used it for some time & have no knowledge of adjustable macros. Being specifically intended for creating scenery macros, EOD might well have options for adjustable macros or this might involve manually editing the API files in Notepad.

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Reply #5 - Jun 2^nd, 2004 at 11:01am

The_Sarge Offline
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Quote:

I've "kicked" this question up a notch or two, but not having the scenery design knowledge, my answers are more or less limited.
With FSDS, you make your object, but use your scenery program to manipulate it. You CAN adjust your object in FSDS (select all parts and scale the lot), but then you create a new, specific object. I presume that FSSC can take the object and "adjust" it on the fly?

Not quite what I'm getting at (or I haven't had enough coffee yet and I'm completely misreading your post, which is a LIKELY scenario for me Cheesy

)

I've created several projects in FSDS2 (some a bit more complicated than others, like a see-through/walk-through cargo warehouse for an airport cargo ramp). I've then created both .scm and .api macros from them and used FSSC to place them. Except for color and texture, however, the actual dimensions of the macro are locked by FSDS2 once I convert them to the macro format.

I don't know where the macros in that specific FSSC library came from (I've got nearly 250mB of macros that I've d/l'd as well as those I create), but there is a sub-category in the macro library that is titled "Adjustable." And, when I pull any of those "adjustable" macros (they are .api format) using FSSC, I can adjust not only color and texture, but also height, width, and depth just prior to actual placement. Those that I create in FSDS2 are limited to adjusting the color and texture; there is no manipulation of dimension.

This isn't a problem for me that I'm trying to solve, and shouldn't be anyone's high priority. It's a curiosity that I've discovered that (thinking down the road to my next project -- reworking Offutt AFB and Hq SAC) will come in very handy in creating the macros for it. I'm just wondering how one creates a .scm or .api macro where the dimensions are not locked and can be manipulated by the user? like turning a 50hx75wx50d building into a 50hx100wx75d bldg? Can FSDS2 create a .api that is "adjustable," or is it another design program that "free floats" the dimensions?

The Sarge

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Reply #6 - Jun 2^nd, 2004 at 11:21am

The_Sarge Offline
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Quote:

I hestitate to answer this as I'm only a dabbler, not a scenery guru.

And here I thought I was the only one in this boat!!!! LOL!!!!!

Quote:

I find that objects created with FSDS or Gmax are generally far too complex for simple scenery objects like buildings etc.

For my project creating Loring AFB and Loring International, I've created warehouses for the cargo apron using FSDS2. They are by no means simple, as a single section of the warehouse contains 21 parts (including 32-section tubes for the loading bay bumper blocks) to create a see-through/walk-through warehouse section. And a single run of warehouses on the Loring International cargo ramp contains 18 such sections, and there are 3 separate runs adjacent to the ramp. Since it's an open area, other macros for palletized cargo, free-standing cargo, etc., can be placed inside each section and actually seen from the cockpit when the aircraft pulls up to the spot. With both sides' doors opened, anything passing on the other side of the warehouse can also be seen as it goes by.

Quote:

This makes them highly graphics intensive which can badly affect frame rates in the sim.

No more so than a graphics intensive aircraft.

Quote:

As you're importing the macros into FSSC something like EOD might be far better. http://www.echos.ch/eod/

Thanks for the link; I'll grab EOD and play with it. There are some "less complicated" macros that I'll need for Offutt, and after looking at the url you provided, I think EOD might be useful to me.

Still, I'd like to know how those "adjustable" .api's were made ..... ???

The Sarge

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