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[Mission_bug]

Excellent 'blog-like' progress report! And good work, with an admirable attention to detail.

Glad you like the progress so far WxTech, thank you very much for the kind words, really appreciated.

I like to add each bit of the development in here so those interested in the subject can follow what I do
and hopefully from my input and that from you and others help them with their own projects, they can
ask questions if they like of things I post if it is something they have difficulty with, that way hopefully
even if I cannot answer them maybe others looking in can, it also keeps a little activity going in the forum
so we all have things to read and tinker with if we feel the need.

There is nothing more frustrating than looking all over the place for answers to things that can probably
be described in a few words here if the question is asked in the right place, I also hope it might inspire others
to have a go.

Oh, Lordy, how I envy you the use of 3D creation software! My Poor Man's 3D Package, a spreadsheet application, is brutishly crude by comparison. I can only dream about how much *faster* I could work with such a slick tool.

I have to tip my hat to you on that, I have the advantage of at least being able to see what I am trying
to fix, how you do it with a spreadsheet is awesome.

I have mentioned before that there are free applications, gmax and Blender, I think there are links here in the
forum somewhere to point you in the right direction and enough links to tutorials to get you going, you only
need to ask if you have any difficulty setting up.  I use gmax but others use Blender so between us we should
at least be able to get you started once you have downloaded the programs, be aware though it is along time
ago since I set mine up so I might not be the best teacher.


The rudder has proved to be as annoying as the elevators, I cannot believe how much time I spent today in between
catching up on the football just trying to get rid of such a small problem area.

Eventually I had to add strips to separate some faces, especially on the top:




Anyway, the rudder is done and the Co-Commons and shadows added so I think I have now
gone as far as I really want to with this I just need to add the parts to the other models and
update the skins again and we should be done:





Never again, how many times have I said that I wonder.

I am going to bed now, I have a headache and can feel a nervous breakdown coming on.

Take care and be safe.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[WxTech]

Pete,
I've found that the most common cause of weird surface normals is the use of just one vertex for two or more polys that meet at an angle and should exhibit a hard change in illumination reflective of the hard bend.

If you jump in the Zero, you'll see several 'boxes' on the left and right sidewalls. As you maneuver about, you'll see that most of these boxes show an odd lighting gradient, with the corner that is uppermost and forwardmost often tending to be most brightly lit. That's because--I'm certain without having got round to looking at them yet--that those particular corners are serving the three faces that meet at that corner.

It'll take me perhaps three to four  hours to fix them all with my spreadsheet. You could probably do the job in 15 minutes.

I should look into Gmax...

[Mission_bug]

I've found that the most common cause of weird surface normals is the use of just one vertex for two or more polys that meet at an angle and should exhibit a hard change in illumination reflective of the hard bend.

Yes, the rudder issue had something similar in that there were places were many vertices came together joining the polygons, bit like half of one of those paper hand held fans if you will, it all came from one point to build the shape.  Sometimes you can separate some of them and weld them together, leaving others alone, to help improve the issue, other times if you take a group of selected polygons and either pull them away or push them into the surface it can help used alongside those things already mentioned by Dreamk.

How the guys that build these programs imagine it all is beyond me, taking pencil and crayons and turning it into numbers like they do must take some awesome thinking, I cannot sort things out and I can see what is in front of me.

It'll take me perhaps three to four  hours to fix them all with my spreadsheet. You could probably do the job in 15 minutes.

You have to be joking, if you knew just how many hours it took overall to get this looking something like you would realize just how wrong you are about that, I can only hope that one day that might be the case though with much more reading and practice.

I should look into Gmax...

Yes, it would be beneficial to someone with your ability as you already fully understand the process, me, I just tinker and hope. 

The program is no longer supported as such, it came out as a stripped down version of 3ds for a SDK, however, if memory serves
there are links somewhere at the 3ds forums, you have to register for it but it is/was free, although now very old it can do a job
for us using this old game as we are not doing it for a living so our efforts do not need to be up to such a professional standard, it
could be used as a training aid to take you on to the full 3ds program.


The full up to date 3ds max is itself also available free to students, not sure just what criteria has to be fulfilled but that is for three years.


Anyway, I am having today away from the program and the Hs-126 before I get around to adding all the various changes into the other two models.


Take care and be safe.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Dreamk]

Gmax 1.2 download page
https://www.turbosquid.com/gmax
direct download link
https://www.turbosquid.com/Download/?ID=L567271&DLC=XFM83W83US
The program is free but no longer supported, therefore the registration does not run any longer and you need to use this workaround after installing gmax:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/f9gf4qcc7rfyfyj/GMAX_Registration_Workaround.zip/file

You'll need also these 2 utilities:
The Buggy-Buggy exporter (can also import original coded msh files, not modded ASCII msh files)
https://www.mediafire.com/file/diev8sbikvdi4pt/BuggyBuggyPack.rar/file
Kumpel Matrix solver:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/7v0u959nixov8y8/Kumpels_MatrixParams_v20.7z/file

[Mission_bug]

Thank you very much for the links Dreamk, really appreciated.

Hopefully WxTech has seen your post and will finally be able to dispense with his spreadsheets allowing him to devote more hours to his craft.


It might also help if these could be pinned somewhere for those who might like to try their hand at 3d work in IL-2 and in general, admin, is
that possible please, pretty please.


Take care and be safe.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[David Prosser]

I'd like to use this in future WWII campaigns. I'm sure I can arrange a meeting between one of these and a French Wildcat, or Hellcat from the Bearn.

cheers

David

[Mission_bug]

I'd like to use this in future WWII campaigns.

Good to know David, always nice to actually have something to use the work in, really appreciated.


I am still tinkering.

The strut on the starboard side seemed to have some odd visuals and sure enough once I took it
into gmax I found some faces flipped the wrong way and some lighting issues, I did not mange to
sort everything but it and the other side now look a little better:





All the altered parts have now been added to each version, here the Greek aircraft comes apart quite nicely:






Right now I am trying rather unsuccessfully to sort out the cockpit view, it is not going well so I might just
upload it as it was, I am at the end of my tether now and need to bring this to a close.

Take care and be safe.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[David Prosser]

It can probably meet a Polish VG-33 near Leningrad, or Rzhev at some stage too.

[Mission_bug]

Hello guys, I have gone as far as I feel I can with this update so have posted a release in German singles.

https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/board,63.0.html


Take care and be safe.


Wishing you all the very best, Pete.