Pond Racer

[falcon409]

A pretty cool little racer for FS9 that, after some fixing in DXTbmp (all textures had a solid black alpha which rendered the aircraft invisible), looks and flies pretty well in FSX. The guys in the FS9 forum are working on tweaking the FDE some, so if you want additional info, you can find it over there.

 

[harleyman]

How did I miss this?

Thats a pretty sleek looking racer there.....

Thanks for the heads up on this...I like its look...

 

[falcon409]

How did I miss this?
That's a pretty sleek looking racer there.....
Thanks for the heads up on this...I like its look...

It's actually a pretty nice airplane and as I mentioned, the FS9 guys are working an updated FDE. I'm redoing the original livery with updated graphics, panel lines, rivets, etc to make everything much sharper.

This was a Rutan composit production, built as a Reno Air Racer with the hope that it would rise in popularity at some point and become a regular competitor. Unfortunately after only a few appearances in the early 90's the aircraft was lost and the pilot killed after a crash landing in 1993. The project was subsequently dropped and no other aircraft ever built.

 

[hey_moe]

That is something different. Wonder how she flys and handles.Hope they get it all done for FSX....Mike

 

[falcon409]

That is something different. Wonder how she flys and handles.Hope they get it all done for FSX....Mike

Hey_moe, it is extremely fast at about 350 to 400 kias, but of course that was the intent all along. . .to make a super competitive Reno Air Racer. The developer admits to having very little ability for fine tuning a solid FDE, that's why a group of folks on the FS9 side have taken it up to get that done. He told me that the textures were mostly done with MS Paint and one other program and he didn't really have what he needed to do a better job on the paint, so I'm redoing all that in Hi-Res to make everything much more detailed.

There won't be a dedicated FSX version, however I am going to supply the developer with what I accomplish so that he can redistribute with updated textures. Those updates, by the way, will make it usable in FSX, as right out of the box, it is not. As a matter of fact, the airplane is invisible when first installed. All the textures had a solid black alpha and the model was done in FSDS. . .that computes to invisibility in FSX. So I dropped all the alphas, adjusted the canopy transparency to make it more transparent and now, as you can see from the screenshots, it's visible again.

 

[falcon409]

Here are a few screens with the new textures. All 2048x2048 and there is still a bit to be done. Interior is pretty nicely done, a few gauges are 98 gauges and have to be replaced, but overall, for a first time design, he did a pretty nice job. The updated FDE should really help too.

 

[DaveKDEN]

Looks nice. Tried it yesterday and found out it was Wonder Woman's plane in FSX (invisible). Was thinking about adjusting the alpha myself, but I guess I'll just wait until you're done with the "FSX-ing."
Cheers,
Dave

 

[falcon409]

Looks nice. Tried it yesterday and found out it was Wonder Woman's plane in FSX (invisible). Was thinking about adjusting the alpha myself, but I guess I'll just wait until you're done with the "FSX-ing."
Cheers,
Dave

I would like to add a little shine to it, but as soon as I apply any alpha to it, the "Cloaking device" starts to kick in, lol.

 

[Dain Arns]

I always liked the design. Kinda like a Cri-Cri on steroids.

 

[Hurricane91]

All the textures had a solid black alpha and the model was done in FSDS. . .that computes to invisibility in FSX. So I dropped all the alphas, adjusted the canopy transparency to make it more transparent and now, as you can see from the screenshots, it's visible again.

When you say,"...dropped all the alphas,...", what do you mean?

 

[falcon409]

When you say,"...dropped all the alphas,...", what do you mean?

basically eliminated them, there are no alphas on the new textures. Any alpha applied in any percentage even just a slight 10% gray will cause the textures to go transparent. If it had been done in GMax that wouldn't be a problem, but in FSDS it is.

 

[peter12213]

Love the looks of that! thanks for the Heads up falcon buddy!:salute:

 

[bushpilot]

Drooooool

 

[falcon409]

A few more at Reno:

 

[deimos256]

What's the vc like in it?

 

[falcon409]

What's the vc like in it?

Yea, I guess I oughta get one of those and post it, lol. He did a nice job on the VC, Plenty of animations and most switches work. I think I mentioned that some of the gauges were '98 gauges which FSX doesn't like, so a few had to be changed, but overall. Nice Job.

 

[Hurricane91]

basically eliminated them, there are no alphas on the new textures. Any alpha applied in any percentage even just a slight 10% gray will cause the textures to go transparent. If it had been done in GMax that wouldn't be a problem, but in FSDS it is.

Thank you Falcon, inverting the alpha seemed to work. Due to a lack of understanding, I often have trouble converting transparent textures in FS9 to FSX portovers. This is a major advancement for me, Thanks again.

 

[falcon409]

Thank you Falcon, inverting the alpha seemed to work. Due to a lack of understanding, I often have trouble converting transparent textures in FS9 to FSX portovers. This is a major advancement for me, Thanks again.

Glad I could help. I'll be releasing the newer textures here soon. I just want to clear it with the developer first.:salute:

 

[Matt Wynn]

and i'm taking a LOOK at the FDE, as such i'm not gonna promise anything...

 

[Hurricane91]

The Pond certainly has pizzazz. What a roll rate!