Abacus FS Design Studio
- Thread starter PeteHam
- Start date
Sidney Schwartz
Charter Member 2012
If other folks can get past that intimidating array of tools and buttons, I can too.
That was a big part of it for me. I made a couple of false starts before I finally stuck with it and it started to make some sense. The folks at the FSdeveloper.com forums were an invaluable resource. I maintain a small shrine dedicated to Arno in my home.
At times it's about as much fun as driving nails into your own head, but I have to admit it's extremely cool to be able to start with something in your imagination and turn in into something real. Well, sort of real, in a virtual sort of way.
Sidney Schwartz
Charter Member 2012
Coming soon to an FS near you. :ernae:
C
Crashwoody1
Guest
Ermm this is weird but after useing Fsds and gmax and 3dsmax.. I find fsds was harder then the other two.. and that is a testimont to how out in left feild I am...lol
Truthfully, if you want a world class building program that wont break the bank and you can get it to put out a file that is usable in Make mdl.. then go for Rhino 3d, its major easy to use and builds heck of a model. If you want proof of this, then down load my Beech 18. Its free and its 100% Rhino. you can down load it here www.cr1-software.com
Other then that I would say this ... pick a builder, and just stick with that one builder and get to learn it inside and out. If you do this then you will be productive.. if you just play with one for a bit then move to another for a bit, you wont get anything done, and you wont get to the real enjoyment of this great hobie. Designing.
I prefer Rhino 3d over anything personally, but Im playing around with fsds and there is alot to say about its qualities as well.
Gmax is the watered down version of 3dmax and they are simular to use. I have them all and I think I will probably just use 3d max in the end cause it can be used for anything in or out of flight sim. And it cost me a bundle and I want to get my investment out of it....
The most important thing to do right now is get one of them installed and get to the tutorials and get cracking, once you do that you will begin your 1st step into a very cool and rewarding world.
Tom/Crashwoody
Truthfully, if you want a world class building program that wont break the bank and you can get it to put out a file that is usable in Make mdl.. then go for Rhino 3d, its major easy to use and builds heck of a model. If you want proof of this, then down load my Beech 18. Its free and its 100% Rhino. you can down load it here www.cr1-software.com
Other then that I would say this ... pick a builder, and just stick with that one builder and get to learn it inside and out. If you do this then you will be productive.. if you just play with one for a bit then move to another for a bit, you wont get anything done, and you wont get to the real enjoyment of this great hobie. Designing.
I prefer Rhino 3d over anything personally, but Im playing around with fsds and there is alot to say about its qualities as well.
Gmax is the watered down version of 3dmax and they are simular to use. I have them all and I think I will probably just use 3d max in the end cause it can be used for anything in or out of flight sim. And it cost me a bundle and I want to get my investment out of it....
The most important thing to do right now is get one of them installed and get to the tutorials and get cracking, once you do that you will begin your 1st step into a very cool and rewarding world.
Tom/Crashwoody
Sidney Schwartz
Charter Member 2012
Won't break the bank? The price on their web site is $995, unless you are a student and can prove it, in which case it's "only" $195. FSDS costs $50 and Gmax is free. You must have a much bigger bank than most of us.
C
Crashwoody1
Guest
Well its just what i do for work and all.
Ok for instance to get 3ds max (honesly) you will need to spend around 3k ($3000.00) but then you are going to need plugins so you can count on paying another $500.00-->$1500.00) per plug in.
Miya I had to buy to get a 5 year contract and after i ran the cost out over the five years it was still profitable to buy it. It cost me like $20,000.00, then I had to spend another 10k on plugins. So yeah it gets hariy out there if you decide to get into this stuff for work.
So I guess comparing Rhino to those other ones its a steal...lol.
I will get flamed on what Im about to say but Im just telling you guys the truth.. Dont buy 3ds Max for flight sim, or Rhino or Miya or any of these crazy programs. Simply because they are so mega over kill for the stuff we are doing here that its really just not worth it. G-max and FSDS 3.5 will do all the stuff that Captain sim, and all these other guys are doing. You dont need 3ds max.
I am finding FSDS a little backwards to the industry standard but the other day I built a really good Cessna T50 at around 150,000 polies and with a ton of detail, and yes even the small details that every one says you cant do in fsds, and I built it in 2 weeks.
For 50 us bucks it was more fun then I have ever had in a utility.
Now here is my advice with some facts.
Fsds=$50.00 = easy to use, easy on the pocket book, and lots of community help= perfect for flight sim either free ware or pay ware.
G-max= Free--> Auto desk tutorials= awesome. A little harder to learn at 1st but if you stick it out you will be happy with it, but it will be going off the radar one day so there is a consideration.
Also there is a G-max bible available that you can order, it is like 1000 pages and will get you so in tune with the program that it will be perfect for you. It is around $40.00--->$50.00 to buy the book.
So in short lets See.
Fsds--> $5O.00 Initial investment + easy to use with free tutorials and lots of community involvment and can build world class addons= 10/10 score for guys just doing flight sim=perfect!
G-Max-->Free Initial investment + Free tutorials, Ilbeit they are not to great but will get you started. Lots of community involvment BUT you can also get the G-max Bible for $50.00 and that is really needed to make the progam sing any tune you want. So this scores a 10/10 with me to.
The main thing is to get going, grab one of these programs and stick to it and you will be on yor first step into a real cool hobie and a whole new world of your makeing.
Dont buy anything over $200.00 and if you can dont buy any thing over $50.00 for this game and definately dont torrent it...bad.
Good to see anohter possible member of designers club...lol
Looking forward to your creations!
Tom/Crashwoody
Ok for instance to get 3ds max (honesly) you will need to spend around 3k ($3000.00) but then you are going to need plugins so you can count on paying another $500.00-->$1500.00) per plug in.
Miya I had to buy to get a 5 year contract and after i ran the cost out over the five years it was still profitable to buy it. It cost me like $20,000.00, then I had to spend another 10k on plugins. So yeah it gets hariy out there if you decide to get into this stuff for work.
So I guess comparing Rhino to those other ones its a steal...lol.
I will get flamed on what Im about to say but Im just telling you guys the truth.. Dont buy 3ds Max for flight sim, or Rhino or Miya or any of these crazy programs. Simply because they are so mega over kill for the stuff we are doing here that its really just not worth it. G-max and FSDS 3.5 will do all the stuff that Captain sim, and all these other guys are doing. You dont need 3ds max.
I am finding FSDS a little backwards to the industry standard but the other day I built a really good Cessna T50 at around 150,000 polies and with a ton of detail, and yes even the small details that every one says you cant do in fsds, and I built it in 2 weeks.
For 50 us bucks it was more fun then I have ever had in a utility.
Now here is my advice with some facts.
Fsds=$50.00 = easy to use, easy on the pocket book, and lots of community help= perfect for flight sim either free ware or pay ware.
G-max= Free--> Auto desk tutorials= awesome. A little harder to learn at 1st but if you stick it out you will be happy with it, but it will be going off the radar one day so there is a consideration.
Also there is a G-max bible available that you can order, it is like 1000 pages and will get you so in tune with the program that it will be perfect for you. It is around $40.00--->$50.00 to buy the book.
So in short lets See.
Fsds--> $5O.00 Initial investment + easy to use with free tutorials and lots of community involvment and can build world class addons= 10/10 score for guys just doing flight sim=perfect!
G-Max-->Free Initial investment + Free tutorials, Ilbeit they are not to great but will get you started. Lots of community involvment BUT you can also get the G-max Bible for $50.00 and that is really needed to make the progam sing any tune you want. So this scores a 10/10 with me to.
The main thing is to get going, grab one of these programs and stick to it and you will be on yor first step into a real cool hobie and a whole new world of your makeing.
Dont buy anything over $200.00 and if you can dont buy any thing over $50.00 for this game and definately dont torrent it...bad.
Good to see anohter possible member of designers club...lol
Looking forward to your creations!
Tom/Crashwoody
Sidney Schwartz
Charter Member 2012
Excellent comments, Tom. :ernae: