Aircraft designer software

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Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,078

Hi guys

Any of you any experience in aircraft design software for the flight sims that are currently on the market ?.

I'm specifically interested in FS2004 and CFS2 and would welcome any advice on ease of use, technical ability, does the finished item look realistic etc etc.

I have a few pet projects I'd like to do but have no experience of designing and releasing for distribution add-ons for the above flight sims (or any flight sim for that matter !)

What do you recommend ?

Over to you

Original post

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,228

get gmax and the sdk needed for msfs. either that or fsds, never used this tho. if you know cad programs or are in the animation field you'll find gmax is a good tool. i find it a lot more restrictive operation-wise when compared to some of the cad programs i use, but it does the job. have to say i have never attempted an msfs aircraft.

my simflight is done with x-plane and that has its own inbuilt design program.

www.x-plane.com

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,261

G-Max is the free version of 3DstudioMax. The good thing about that is its very full featured, not dumbed down because its basically an older version of 3DstudioMax with the resolution turned down so it cant be used professionally. Maya is also a popular 3D program used professionally. How easy it is to learn depends on the person. There are people I know who have taught themselves to be professional 3D artists just by reading how to books. Most likely youll have to take a class to get up and running. There are tons of tutorials on the net for these programs. I recommend you visit this site as it tells you alot about how to get started in all phases of video game design: www.dperry.com Professional 3D programs cost on average about $5000 dollars, but there are plenty of free 3D programs out there that pretty much can do the same thing.

If you want some inspiration, check on this thread on a computer graphics forum:
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39835&highlight=airplane

regarding cost if you are a student you can get software (not games) for a fraction of the normal price. These education editions are usually fully featured, but should not be used professionally to earn money. If it is just as a hobby it would be OK.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,078

Thanks for the info guys. I'll let you know when the first one rolls off the assembly line

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 243

gmax from discreet is the best IMO.

I've started a few projects but have never finished as of yet, perhaps over the next few weeks I'll get a few finished, not like there's any football to watch now :mad: :mad: