Bald Mountain Uploaded
- Thread starter falcon409
- Start date
Navy Chief
Senior Member
Ed, you are one talented artist! I appreciate your efforts
NC
NC
Thanks Chief. . .appreciate that.:salute:Ed, you are one talented artist! I appreciate your efforts
MCDesigns
Charter Member
Nice work Ed!! I just checked it out, love the horses (you make those?) and the photoreal is nice and sharp! I did get a hit on performance, but I optimized the haybales and the stables and now it is smooth.
last year I was working on Wiscasset airport, will have to finish it up since it isn't that far away.
last year I was working on Wiscasset airport, will have to finish it up since it isn't that far away.
Thanks Michael. . .I also looked at Wiscasset, but I've decided on Block Island State. Found some good reference for the terminal/restaurant and some surrounding buildings. What needed to be done when you say you "optimized"? Just curious.
MCDesigns
Charter Member
I looked at the largest file sizes in the folder and the haybales2 was large, so I looked at it and saw how dense the mesh was (19K of triangles) so I made several LODs for it and saved. Same for the stables which was at 38K of triangles. Granted this is just for my personal use as I love what you have done, but wanted to enjoy it.
My rule of thumb for scenery objects is if a model has no LODS I try and keep it under 10K of triangles, with LODS, 20-25 K and ideally only one drawcall, the stables has 6, but I didn't change that as the LODs helped. For reference sake, the default Bell 206 model is only 23K worth of triangles, with 5 LOD models.
Did you get the stables at the warehouse?
Ed, I too am a fan of your small atmospheric airport sceneries.
Happen to be Stateside and staring straight at Block Island as I write this. Would be great if you also had a crack at next door Fishers Island Elizabeth (0B8) airport. Very challenging IRL for pilots with some larger GA e.g., B200, and as a kid I saw many times a private F27 come in and out the longer (2400') runway, which was a thrilling sight and sound.
http://www.flyinphilsphotos.com/aptspu/photos/rsz_22.jpg
Happen to be Stateside and staring straight at Block Island as I write this. Would be great if you also had a crack at next door Fishers Island Elizabeth (0B8) airport. Very challenging IRL for pilots with some larger GA e.g., B200, and as a kid I saw many times a private F27 come in and out the longer (2400') runway, which was a thrilling sight and sound.
http://www.flyinphilsphotos.com/aptspu/photos/rsz_22.jpg
I have so much to learn, lol. . . .my entire concept of custom building is the following. Build the object in Sketchup, import into MCX, adjust the textures for size, minimize the drawcalls to it's lowest setting possible, convert the textures to dds and export to a bgl. Done! The things you've mentioned, "triangles", "LOD's". . . .not even in my vocabulary, lol. Yes, the stable, "at least in it's original form", was from the Warehouse.
MCDesigns
Charter Member
It's OK Ed, My knowledge is only a cupfull based on what we both don't know, LOL. A few things to consider, one, most models at the warehouse are unfit for use in FS. They are way to heavy on polys, have too many textures and are modeled with overkill on detail and quality in mind and not any use outside of the warehouse. they are great for learning to model though and many can be stripped down, but I find that it usually takes longer to do this that to create one from scratch.
MCX has a Create LOD (level of detail) button. What this does is decimate the model based on a couple of methods, it's usually less than satisfactory, but it is good for creating an empty LOD which means at a certain distance the model does not display. You can also create multiple versions of your object, each with less detail/parts deleted and import each one at a different LOD with the simplest being at the lowest LOD. On your haybales, I can just barely see the LOD I created kick in as I am flying away, but if you are not looking for it, you won't notice it and that LOD took the model from 19000 polys to 759 polys at that distance.
Triangles or polys are bascially what the mesh is made of, the less the better, but really the thing FSX focuses on more is drawcalls which is the amount of textures and the converter in MCX isn't that reliable. i always make a single texture sheet BEFORE I do any modeling and them assign the textures that way.
It's funny, if you think Gmax is confusing, go d/l Blender, it is free and way more robust than Gmax, but the interface will throw you for a loop! LOL. I use it from time and time again when I need to get .LWO or lightwave files into gmax and it is great for texture baking.
Just some FYI to help you out, you are doing great!!
MCX has a Create LOD (level of detail) button. What this does is decimate the model based on a couple of methods, it's usually less than satisfactory, but it is good for creating an empty LOD which means at a certain distance the model does not display. You can also create multiple versions of your object, each with less detail/parts deleted and import each one at a different LOD with the simplest being at the lowest LOD. On your haybales, I can just barely see the LOD I created kick in as I am flying away, but if you are not looking for it, you won't notice it and that LOD took the model from 19000 polys to 759 polys at that distance.
Triangles or polys are bascially what the mesh is made of, the less the better, but really the thing FSX focuses on more is drawcalls which is the amount of textures and the converter in MCX isn't that reliable. i always make a single texture sheet BEFORE I do any modeling and them assign the textures that way.
It's funny, if you think Gmax is confusing, go d/l Blender, it is free and way more robust than Gmax, but the interface will throw you for a loop! LOL. I use it from time and time again when I need to get .LWO or lightwave files into gmax and it is great for texture baking.
Just some FYI to help you out, you are doing great!!