FSDSv3 from Abacus is quite user friendly, although the Boolean function is limited which becomes very annoying at times.  Exporting your design to FS9 is as simple as clicking a couple of buttons.

You already have Gmax (it's sitting quietly on one of the FS9 CDs), it's less user friendly - especially for beginners.  It's also much more powerful and will do just about anything you want.  Getting your finished design into FS9 requires more work than FSDS.

I suggest installing Gmax and working your way through the tutorials.  Whichever package you finally decide to use, it'll be useful experience.

Gryshnak

hmmmmm I think im kinda swinging towards gmax, seeing as its free and more powerful...

if i did start on FSDS would it make going onto gmax later on significantly easier, or are they very different??

Quote:


I've had gmax since v.1.0, released with FS2002 - and I've been helping others through Gmax initiation - and my own gmax abilities are zilch... (not that my FSDS ablities are that much better).

HOWEVER,

Typically, I would suggest that a new user stick to the "free" software, although I prefer FSDS, because of its ease in creating a flyable model.

CAveat - both gmax and FSDS have to go through makemdl.exe, and that alone is the source of *most* model file creation into FS.

gmax is the more powerful modelling program, although in the end, it's the artist, not the brush, that produces the artwork.

BOTH programs have a learning curve.  Some of us think that FSDS' learning curve is smoother and easier to travel, but I've seen others take to gmax like a duck to water!

I have started with Gmax and had no real problems with it : it is indeed a slow process and there is a learning curve, but I didn't find it as steep as some people. The trick is really to follow the method : do the Gmax tuts before even thinking about modeling an aircraft. "Practise" regularly, especially at the beginning, to learn the tool. Customize the shortcuts to the different tools (or learn them) to be more efficient.

My first models were bridges for OFF, and I'm now modeling an aircraft (some WIP here soon) : I've been modeling for a year and an half now. So I'm quite slow (a perfectionist too).
http://off.oldbrowndog.net/images/0205/bridge%20WIP.jpg

http://off.oldbrowndog.net/images/0205/Clipboard002.jpg




From my reading of forums, I get the impression that it was harder to get into Gmax for people who had an experience with another software. Old habits die hard... But if you start directly with Gmax, you'll get better results eventually at the end - the better designers out there, for cfs at least, use Gmax.

Here's the trade-off I've found, having used both, quite a bit:

GMAX makes certain, complex modeling tasks (I really like the uniform-scale and soft-select) "easier" (quicker is more like it). The time it takes to accomplish something in FSDS is about the same as what it takes to set up, strategize and test in GMAX.

If I had to make many models quickly; or had to be prepared for an unknown modeling challenge, I'd use GMAX. Making unique models for FS, one at a time,  I'd choose FSDS.