F-4 Phantom
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@Manos - - Very nice work indeed.
On a parallel line, looking backwards to the Thoarek Phantom, I have had some success with using the DXM->LOD conversion process. On closer inspection of the model, it has only a few minor conversion issues that I can see in LODEditor - the front and middle windscreens use a black opaque color, the rudder, upper airbrake, and LEFs had their nodes reversed, the ejection rings above the seats didn’t convert to yellow and black as per the original, the nav lights require a reset, the Qawa afterburner lost its beautiful transparent colors and thus need to be batch converted to an appropriate transparent LOD color, and finally the aircraft will require shading normal corrections once the DOF nodes are reversed. I am hopeful that this process won’t take terribly long and at the very worst, this model can be a nice backup or alternative choice to Manos’ project. Like Manos, I am having a bit of a learning curve since I stopped using LODEditor quite some time ago, preferring DX tools while with FreeFalcon. LODEditor is a bit cumbersome to use but is still usable for this project and I am picking things up pretty quickly again which may be useful for other projects as well.
The really nice aspect of the Thoarek Phantom is it is a very compact model with less than 9000 polys when the Qawa afterburner is used and drops down to less than 4000 polys w/o the Qawa afterburner. Also, this model is, for the most part ready to go, with skins and variants to include: B/C/D/DSK/E/E HAF/E TuAF/E 2020/E Terminator/ESK/E IAF73/E IAF82/EJ/F/G/J/N/S, FGR-1, FGR2, and the RF-4 version with skins for Turkey/Greece/US, full PSDs, as well as complete F4Browse data packages. After collecting everything I had in one file I was amazed at how much there was. Reproducing this with the Manos Phantom will most likely take a pretty long time - so the Thoarek Phantom may prove to be a nice interim model while we wait for the ultimate Phantom for BMS.
The major obstacle for the Thoarek Phantom is clearing the issues outlined above for one model. Once complete, in most cases, these nodes are common to all variants and therefore once one clean model is done the corrective nodes can then be pasted onto the other variants. I will post up a pic of the F-4E IAF73 variant later today along with some in-progress shots of work.
I believe Manos and I are in agreement that between these two Phantoms, we have a lot of choices to look forward to. I believe long term the Manos Phantom will be the model of choice. We both agree that working in parallel on both projects gives BMS the best chance for something nice in the short and long term. However, for those with older computers (like me), the Thoarek Phantom may prove more friendly coming in at about 1/6th the size of the Manos Phantom and for folks wanting something ready to go for the short term this might be a good choice. Once Manos completes his work and is able to test it in game we an see how it performs and a decision can be made where to go from there. I am pretty confident the Thoarek Phantom should have no major performance issues since it did well in FF3/4/5/6 with very acceptable frame rates. If it proves later to be a model of choice it can be re-texmapped to a single large texture per BMS guidelines and would then I believe meet the necessary criteria for inclusion in the KoreaDB. Until then it can be a nice addition for anyone wishing to add it to their theater work.
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Thanks alot for your kind words Tony my hopes for both projects are high and my expectations also. I will try mine as is with 4ship maybe 2-3 more flights with inclement weather over kimpo to see how it performs and will post the outcome. If i have time today maybe later if not and i will be able to load everything on my laptop i will post updates from there as i will be for the next 2 weeks on vacation… I know though im very close. If u see though for the time being i kept the undercarriage plain and not with too many dofs/switches as i still trying to figure out how they work (lol) but im certain that i will be able to make it. And as for skins the whole package of the cloud 9 installer comes with huge variants of skins therefore i will again ask to be sure before posting anything or i will try to make my own as i have psd provided for reskinning.
Ps forgot to metnion that alone with another flight it performs really well in my machine at least. With all eye candy on tops around 190 fps (vsync off). Time will tell though…Στάλθηκε από το SM-J500F μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk
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Lol…. im even take my self on fire and wanna try make a pit for this beauty… but for now is out of my league hahahahahah… therefore i give open invite to anyone that can fix a pit for it
ps. I wonder why molni didnt showed up yet…
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Let us not forget that the tailplane also needs to be corrected a bit as the two horizontal planes are not symmetrically attached to the empennage (referring only to the model from FF lineage, not the lovely WIP, above)…
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What do u mean ???
EDIT: ok now i just saw the whole message… Yes it had a problem witch i had fixed when i started working on this model but it was for me preety much an experiment actually and i gave up after a mistake witch i couldnt fix but Tony allready knows about it and we spoke also for it so probably is gonna be fixed
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Very nice work, Manos…this one will be a beauty!
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Just short update - got distracted today with a few household tasks but I did make some nice progress on the DXM –> LOD model see below what was start point
was able to fix several items on the start point.
some thing obvious - like the windscreen and side screens, rudder was turned inside out, spoiler also turned inside out, hud fixed. The left and right LEF are next. I also noticed a few other smaller issues that could be fixed, and not forgetting the stabilator asymmetry. I think I am going to make it easy on myself - knowing this model is for the most part going to be shortlived, I am not going to spend too much time trying to make it perfect, instead just get it working and later maybe fix up a few other things in time. I really think the better way to go with models is to bypass the LODEditor and do models properly in 3ds and convert back to LOD. Working in LE is really a PITA.
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I agree with u Tony. Other than aligment edits and several copy/paste thhings and commands on dofs or whatever LODeditor is very very old and needs too much time to work on it. In the other hand when working on 3ds u have to export several times to lod so u can check what u made. But anyway good work. I had several times tried to work witg dxm to lod with no joy. So for me in that thing u are a hero
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Taking DXM models - what I notice now is that all the nodes that I put onto a DXM model in DXEdit - are turned inside out when the DXM model is converted back to LODEditor. I think it may have to do with the possibility that DXEdit and DXM models don’t have the same directional convention required by LOD models. So, nodes pasted in DXEdit may be “insided” out - there are several DOFs that this occurs as well as other cut and paste nodes. The key is to locate the nodes in LODEditor and reverse them and them only, then you need to run the shader normal on just them. No magic - just very time consuming looking up of the each set of nodes. In the interest of saving time I will probably create on super B style phantom and then put all the possible nodes on it then cut away those needed to make each sub-variant. The E model is pretty easy because they are all nearly the same.
I am hoping to have my IDF73 variant integrated this weekend to see how it looks and see what final tweeks are necessary so a I have a good idea of the complete set of fixes needed to reconvert the DXM model back to a usable LOD format for BMS. I am very encouraged by what I have found thus far and believe nearly all my models can be successfully converted back with a bit of work and time.
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I am very encouraged by what I have found thus far and believe nearly all my models can be successfully converted back with a bit of work and time.
Can’t wait for the gas guzzler variants to look this good again!! Thanks Ranger.
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Thugh im on vacations i found time and downloaded all needed programs and the model again and did some work. I believe im in 85-90% of the model it self. Some minor editing still needed and details. Maybe some more dof for the afterburner pedals and some good editing of the dat file so all animations will be look good in 3d world. I fixed the inner pylons as it seem to me too long and not as supposed to look. Gears have compression - extension as it suppose to have. Will post some pics when i will have the time. Therefore i think im in a good way. Also im thinking of adding the slots to the stabilators but dont know yet… time will tell… Cheers for now.
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I think is a little big the slots
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Beauty!
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Ok… the model “dofed”,slotted (13 slots) and few details left for fixing and we are ready to go i think. I want to add a dof for the front wheels to turn wile on the ground. The stabilators are changed (did some work to look more to the original) and then comes skining. The model is unwrapped in 3ds so i will try in skining as well or i get the psds publish for the skinners to do if i have a problem. And at the end of course add antennas and things for each e/f version. Of course first will come the AUP of HAF… pictures will come soon
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Small Update:
Exaust nozles work now as supposed to. I need to find afterburner and i want to animate also the intake ramps but still havent figure out how to declare it in the dat file.And any idea for the gun position would be great also
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Small Update:
Exaust nozles work now as supposed to. I need to find afterburner and i want to animate also the intake ramps but still havent figure out how to declare it in the dat file.And any idea for the gun position would be great also
If you find a/the way to call the ramps please share as I’ve just modelled the intake ramps of the F-14 and it would add a lot of immersion given the huge intake openings and visibility of the ramps.
Your model looks smokin’!!
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Mano, have in mind that the forward 2 bays hosting the AIM-7’s or -120’s are looking inboard. Don’t know how difficult is this to fix on the model. Take a look:
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really nice!
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Mano, have in mind that the forward 2 bays hosting the AIM-7’s or -120’s are looking inboard. Don’t know how difficult is this to fix on the model. Take a look:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YxQe9sCAy5Y/UzNuIX4paAI/AAAAAAAA-Rs/Hfd1nRem9cg/s500/F-4E_HAF_AFDS.jpg
https://nationalpride.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/45511-120801c.jpg?w=640&h=425
Hmmm It was one of the first things i noticed but as you said i dont know how easy is gonna be to re-model actually the whole front-bottom area of the of the model.
Stingray. I have some ideas but as i said on the first post im not a 3d modeller actually im going through Trial and Error proccess. i will check some ideas though i have! -
Found this in F-15 dat file… If someone can translate it in plain English would be awesome lol
#-----------------------------------------------------IntakeRamp
#-----------------------------------------------------
animIntakeRamp1Table 3, 0 8 15, 4, 0.00 0.40 0.50 0.95, 11 11 0 11, 11 11 0 11, 11 11 11 11
animIntakeRamp1Rate 11.0