32 replies to this topic

[Goose]

Hello everyone. This would be my third time modeling San Carlos. The first time the model was bad. The secound time the file wouldn't open. The third time...going great so far.(Knock on wood) I am planing to model the whole airport, put it in the game and then do the AFCAD. I hope to get it realsed this summer. I still might have to do some work on the roads. Well heres one pic.



Goose

More pics coming soon!

Edited by Goose, 30 April 2006 - 04:54 PM.

[Mr. Schutte]

Is that a sloping runway I see? Please don't tell me this is GMAX

Looks good

[Goose]

No, its not a slopping runway. Sorry, it is GMAX.

Thanks for the nice comment.

[one.one.six]

w00t. are you gonna include the 747-100 cockpit behind the Hiller?

[Goose]

Most likely if I can fiqure out how to make the fusalage! (Well yeah I will include it.)

Update: Starting to work on the aprons,

[Panhead]

Is this the aviation museam south of San Fran? If so i think ive been there, i think ive been in the 747 cockpit your talkign about. There was an old pilot dude in there. They also had a 747 engine there too.

Chris

[Goose]

Yes it is. I don't know about the guy. And yes there is a jet engine there to. Those will be included too. Thanks for the comments!

Goose

[one.one.six]

Goose, on May 1 2006, 06:14 PM, said:

Yes it is. I don't know about the guy. And yes there is a jet engine there to. Those will be included too. Thanks for the comments!

Goose

What about 101? will you incude like the Signs and stuff? The hotel? the burger king? the gate?

Edited by spartan.one.one.six, 01 May 2006 - 08:25 PM.

[Goose]

Well, I might do the 101. Yeah all the buildings on the airport grounds will be included. I might do satilite images of the sourounding areas. I might even include the BFI dumps and the storage facilties. Thanks for the comment!

EDIT:Well, the BFI dumps and the storage facilties are accross the 101 so I might include the freeway. And that will include customs signs and all that.

Edited by Goose, 01 May 2006 - 09:25 PM.

[one.one.six]

Goose, on May 1 2006, 07:22 PM, said:

Well, I might do the 101. Yeah all the buildings on the airport grounds will be included. I might do satilite images of the sourounding areas. I might even include the BFI dumps and the storage facilties. Thanks for the comment!

EDIT:Well, the BFI dumps and the storage facilties are accross the 101 so I might include the freeway. And that will include customs signs and all that.

actually, its on the same side of KSQL, and its Allied Waste now. If you need me, i only live in Foster City so yeah.

Edited by spartan.one.one.six, 01 May 2006 - 10:29 PM.

[shagster22]

Nice work Goose! Keep it up   !
Although I noticed you were using a map to lay out your airport (is it on a plane or a background image?). Anyways, I looked in Google Earth for San Carlos and found your in luck; your airport has a very nice high-res satellite image. I would say lay that out now, and then use it to A) place and make some buildings in gmax, and already have a "decent" layout in FS (then you can also check the accuracy of placement). If you know photoshop, it'll take a little while to setup a nice high-res "copy" of what's in google earth, but I'll tell you its a good idea to have a basis for your project, and literally build from the ground up   !

But anyways, that's just my take on the situation. Good luck with the scenery   !

[Goose]

^Thanks for the comment. Yeah, the background image is on a plane and its  just there so I can get the buildings to scale.(or to scale to all the other buildings) I am going to place it in a while(the file is on a different comp and now my brother is on that one)and just see how I'm doing. Yeah, that might be a good thing to layout now, I just need a little help on that. It might make it easyer to model. Thanks for the comment!

Just one question,

Whats a good poly count for a good framerate senery? Thanks!

Goose

Edited by Goose, 02 May 2006 - 07:05 PM.

[one.one.six]

Goose, on May 2 2006, 05:04 PM, said:

^Thanks for the comment. Yeah, the background image is on a plane and its  just there so I can get the buildings to scale.(or to scale to all the other buildings) I am going to place it in a while(the file is on a different comp and now my brother is on that one)and just see how I'm doing. Yeah, that might be a good thing to layout now, I just need a little help on that. It might make it easyer to model. Thanks for the comment!

Just one question,

Whats a good poly count for a good framerate senery? Thanks!

Goose

Just make it look like an Mega Airport...but frame rate friendly.


Did you mean the Parkway when you said the former BFI dump?

You should do a photoreal scenery of the peninsula next

[Goose]

I just meant, you know the storage facilties? Its like the building next to those.  I think its on the other side of Holly than the airport. Its down Shoreway Rd.(I think. I am looking at Google Maps and I see the storage facilites. I just know its by them.) I acctually might do the whole area around San Carlos Airport maybe in a seperate package like you said. I would include it in there. It would add at least a little reilism to that area.

Thanks for the comment!

Goose

Edited by Goose, 02 May 2006 - 09:04 PM.

[shagster22]

Hey,
Start small; Just work on the airport alone, you'll notice that, if you really want to make it good stuff, that alone will take a long long time. Worry about the rest later. From what i see, the airport is large enough.

As for a poly count, thats very hard to say. There's often (not always) a tradeoff between polycount/framerates (FR) and detail. Higher detail tends to take more FR, but if you mess with LOD's and stuff, you can partially get around it.

Again, poly count depends on the size of the scenery, the complexity of the scenery/airport, the detail you want to bring, and your skill at scenery design.

I have no clue what my poly count is, but I do tend to go back and remodel a lot of things. For instance, I retextured the tower to go from 12 bmps (night + day) to 2 bmps (1 night, and 1 day). Thats also important: textures. If you can use almost every pixel in a bmp, really optimizing space and have some skills at mapping, you can really save on FR's.

Tip: in gmax press alt-B to bring up the background menu. If you load an image as a background (and match to bmp and lock pan and view), you have a solid and higher-res background to work with.

As for a google earth background/sat. ground textures, start by zooming in to some height, and taking a screenshot, cutting out the part of the sat image (removing the google earth interface, including that compass and logo). Then in photoshop or PSP compile them like a puzzle. I compiled over 140 screenshots to get just the high-res airport grounds on my scenery, but if you want less detail go ahead and zoom out a bit. With a high-res layout, i have the opportunity to get some high-res ground, but I've actaully resized it down to a bit lower-res for textures and polies.

[Goose]

Thanks a lot shagster22. I will try that tommorow. Its late here. Thanks again,

Goose

[one.one.six]

Goose, on May 2 2006, 07:02 PM, said:

I just meant, you know the storage facilties? Its like the building next to those.  I think its on the other side of Holly than the airport. Its down Shoreway Rd.(I think. I am looking at Google Maps and I see the storage facilites. I just know its by them.) I acctually might do the whole area around San Carlos Airport maybe in a seperate package like you said. I would include it in there. It would add at least a little reilism to that area.

Thanks for the comment!

Goose

ya better include foster city..

[Goose]

lol. Yeah, no problem!

[one.one.six]

Goose, on May 2 2006, 09:16 PM, said:

lol. Yeah, no problem!

We should do KHAF next, wait, that airports too boring...

[Skydvdan]

Quote

As for a google earth background/sat. ground textures, start by zooming in to some height, and taking a screenshot, cutting out the part of the sat image (removing the google earth interface, including that compass and logo). Then in photoshop or PSP compile them like a puzzle. I compiled over 140 screenshots to get just the high-res airport grounds on my scenery, but if you want less detail go ahead and zoom out a bit. With a high-res layout, i have the opportunity to get some high-res ground, but I've actaully resized it down to a bit lower-res for textures and polies.

Though I doubt that Shagster is endorsing this method since it's not exactly legal if you read the Google Earth license agreement.

Be very careful about where you get your imagery.  Or at least keep it to yourself.  Lawsuits are not fun.

Edited by Skydvdan, 03 May 2006 - 09:38 AM.