New Developer Questions

[psmurf56]

Hi all,
I am a long time Computer Program Developer and 3d Modeler doing most of my modeling in SolidWorks as I am a Mechanical Designer. I have looked through the Tutorial Page and right when i started reading them it looks like there is a Plug-in for 3ds and it notes that you MUST have Autodesk's 3D studio in order to create/develop new models. Is this correct? I also saw a post on useful links and it listed several other modeling packages so this seems to me that maybe you dont need 3ds? I have a hard time believing that Knife Edge would limit developers to such a expensive program! if this is the case you would think that they would want others to expand the libraries.
So my main question is do you have to have 3ds or can i model in somthing that i am familiar with like SolidWorks and export to a 3ds format? If this is not possible is there a cheaper version of 3ds that others are using? I appologize if this has already been answered in another Thread i tried searching through them but could not find any answers.

Thank you very much for the responces!!!
Andy (psmurf56)

[rcplanefubar]

You can just use the 3ds to kex converter. It is not as easy as the 3dsmax plug in but it works.

you can find it here http://www.knifeedge.com/KEmax/downloads.php

[phrank]

Welcome to the forums Andy.

Doug and others have started a thread describing some useful information:
http://www.knifeedge.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20971

Although you don't need 3dsMax, it certainly makes creating a model much easier if you have access to it.

As rcplanefubar already pointed out, 3ds2kex utility can be used in conjunction with any software capable of exporting .3ds format. But that's not all.

The .3ds file needs hierarchy, mapping and pivot information. If your software package can accomplish that, then you are golden.

Good luck, looking forward to your contributions.

[Junkboy999]

Hey Psmurf


Welcome to the Forum. Just to piggy back on Phrank. even if your program cant not export a proper hierarchy, and pivot information this can be done in Right hemispheres, Deep Exploration program to install them before using the 3ds2kex Command line .exe file.

[maxkop]

If you want to stay freeware, blender is the best choice at the moment, because it creates a usable .3DS - file for the 3ds2kex - converter, correct export of object-, and material names, hierarchy and pivots. It also generates the .sup - file for you automatically. If there are other freeware utilities which creates a compatible .3DS - file, please let us know.

But Blender does not export to .3DS with the included 3DS - export script. You need a changed script by rayvel, here. Than you can use the 3ds2kex.exe to export to the .kex - file format. But there are still limitations to this way compare to 3dsmax.

You have no control about surface smoothing of your object. So NUP_MaxSmoothingErrorDEG and other parameters will not work or leading to crash events of the sim. Also mapping is a problem. You will get hard edges on your UV - Seams. This seems to be a limitation to the .3ds - file format (see also my bug report, here).

So at least if you do a clever mapping you can export to .kex with nearly the same functionality as 3dsmax and the .kex - plugin. But probably texturing will be horrible if you really want to prevent hard edges where you don't want them.

Perhaps KE is doing something against these bugs, perhaps not. Let's wait and have patience and welcome to the forum.

Greets,

Max

[psmurf56]

Thanks Alot! It sounds like it is possible to do this without having 3D Studio and I can use what I am familiar with. I have played around with Blender a little but since I am used to working with very precise models and how Blender works it feels a little weird to me but that might be my best bet.
If a model is created with too much detail does Real Flight automatically adjust the meshes and stuff so that the program doesn't come to a complete halt?
Another question, is there any kind of programming language that is used to create new features or events?
Thanks again for putting up with a newbie, i am really looking forward to creating new stuff and sharing it, that in my opion is the best part of having a program like this (other than saving thousands of dollars in new Planes and repairs ).

[psmurf56]

When you save a Color Scheme where does it save it to? is this in a bitmap someware so you can edit it?

Thanks again for all the information!!!!!

Andy

[phrank]

Detail:
You are limited to 20K polys maximum. 1500 of those which are available for a collision mesh. The .kex compiler will bark at you if you exceed the 20K poly limit.

Colorscheme:
It's just an uncompressed .TGA file with an ALPHA layer for transparency effects. It must be exactly square: i.e. 1024x1024 or 2048x2048, etc...

You set pivots and hierarchy in your 3D mesh:
Gear retracts, Gear Doors, are animated via NUP_ variables (see artist's reference guide)
Control surfaces such as Ailerons, rudders, flaps, elevators are animated via aircraft editor where you set up your servos and control throws.
You can animate other things too and tie them to a servo such as servo arms, pushrods, etc... all this is done via the aircraft editor with movable pods.

There are some fancy timed things you can do, but that is way more advanced topic...