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Design Study for an Ugly Bird

Those are seriously impressive images you put together!
Click to expand...

Not much, really, Ivan. In fact, SCASMing your Stuka would be even simpler!

This is, I think, the first possibility that our discussions with BRETOAL had me contemplate. I'm the kind of guy that likes to find ways to have his cake and eat it too! Staying within AF99 limits may be a noble exercise, but getting the best model I can make does supersede that ideal.
 
Design Objectives

I suppose we don't all build projects for the same reason. AF99 has been available just about forever. I originally started designing CFS Aeroplanes to prove a point that a good aircraft CAN be built well within the limitations of AF99. There is no question in my mind that there are better tools out there or a combination of tools that allow for improvements, but that is not really my goal for this project. I really wanted to see what I could accomplish staying within AF99. I don't think the result is all that bad. I have played with SCASM to redo the Group Glue prevent the Tail from bleeding through the Cockpit, but at that point, I was getting too far from the Graphical representation being the one for Reference.

With SCASM, I could easily put together a 3D Cockpit with Canopy Frames, a Control Stick, etc. I don't really want to do that an not be able to drill down within seconds to use a graphical interface to check out a project. That is why I just minimal adjustments in SCASM so far. That too may change. Who knows?

(2000 Parts and 40-60 components would be just about right. Also helpful would be being able do something other than "Glue" Pieces together. Who the heck ever uses 30 Structures anyway?)

- Ivan.
 
Looks great to me Ivan,
Lets slap some paint on that ugly bird and let her spread her wings.

Dave :jump:
 
Thanks No Dice,

Actually there is a lot more work to do to finish the Stuka B.

Just for grins though, the LG 10 Stuka doesn't have a bomb that displays either.
The AS version does, but I don't know that it goes away when dropped.

- Ivan.
 
I am debating on removing the little green brace above the gunner's head to replace with a couple wing gun muzles? .....Can't see the green frame most of the time anyway.

- Ivan.
 
More Parts would have made things easier. I believe that muzzles for the wing guns is something that a simple texture won't represent properly though I can say that I have tried it in prior designs.

- Ivan.
 
Revisiting the Nose Section

I had already decided way back to have the Radiator Flaps go pretty much straight back. Since this section isn't animated anyway, I combined the last two rows of Parts on the lower half and reworked the part above so that the vertices lined up with the Parts below. The net effect is NOTHING changed or perhaps the model is slightly improved because the one of the Polygons was triangulated as a result. Parts count dropped from 1198 to 1192.

With 6 additional parts to work with, I separated the Rudder Balance area from the Fin and Glued them as Separate Parts to the Top of the Fin area. With this arrangement, it is possible to animate the Rudder without any Bleeds. The remaining problem is that there are no Fin Polygons under the Rudder Balance, so it is completely see through at the moment if the Rudder is not aligned with the Fin. Animation of the Ailerons and Flaps was pretty much trivial. Note that on the real aeroplane, the Ailerons droop when the Flaps are lowered but this probably can't be done here.

- Ivan.
 
Examining the Nose Component

In looking at a detail shot of the Nose area, I believe that I can remove an additional 4 Polygons without affecting the appearance negatively. In fact, the effect might be to improve the Nose section. Note that the Yellow piece of the Nose section has a fairly sharp bend where it meets the Red Component in front of it. At least two Polygons can be removed there if the front edge of the Yellow portion is tilted inward slightly. It would not degrade the appearance because the real aircraft doesn't really have an angle there.

Note also from this Screenshot that there is one Yellow Part on each side of the Oil Cooler Intake. Those can be combined with the Nose Component without any loss of detail or bleeds.

Note also from this Screenshot that there is a Bleed of the Underside of the Wing through the Main Gear Strut. That issue will remain because it is a bit too expensive to fix.

- Ivan.
 
Removing the Yellow Parts on each side of the Oil Cooler Intake did not work. Seems like the parts are behind the CoG of the Component, so they display backwards in the Component rather than forward.

I still have it in my mind to see if I can have enough resources left over to animate the Elevators.

Animating the Dive Brakes was pretty much trivial. Animating the Propeller is turning out to be more difficult than I had expected. I like the Propeller Blur to rotate slowly in the same direction as actual Propeller rotation and so far I have not found the AIR file settings to make that happen.

- Ivan.
 
After a LOT of cycles through the Adjust AIR File and Test sequence, I finally got the Animation for the Propeller done to my satisfaction. I am not entirely certain I can reproduce this on demand though.

- Ivan.
 
Ivan said:
After a LOT of cycles through the Adjust AIR File and Test sequence, I finally got the Animation for the Propeller done to my satisfaction. I am not entirely certain I can reproduce this on demand though.

- Ivan.
Click to expand...

I do remember you having heated discussions with Sparks on that very subject; propeller animation. All this time, I though you had resolved the issue once and for all with him.

And, btw, the Ju 87 is not an ugly bird. To me, any aircraft that serves its purpose is not ugly, and the Junkers stuka certainly did what it was build for!

If you want ugly, build a Boulton-Paul Defiant; what a waste of efforts and money this one was!
 
Propeller Animation

Hi Hubbabubba,

Perhaps it was the same discussion with Sparks, perhaps not. I believe not because up until last night, I could not quantify what I was doing.

Background Information:
I use Aircraft Animator to for Animating the Propeller on my models.
Models typically have a Propeller Component which is made up of some number of Blades and is typically Dark Gray.
Models typically also have a non textured Transparent Light Gray Part which represents the "Blur" of the rotating Propeller Blades.

The Propeller is set to display from 0-35% and turn Transparent above 30%
The Prop Blur is set to display from 35-100% and is already Transparent.
The Prop Circle (Aircraft Animator Option) is set to display above 30% (When the propeller becomes transparent)

What I try to arrange is for the Propeller to turn transparent above Idle and at the same time the Prop Circle is displayed. Slightly above that, the Propeller is replaced by a Propeller Blur.

The limitations are that the Propeller Blur should spin slowly in the same direction as the Propeller rotation and at Idle, the Propeller should not be transparent.

The following factors appear to affect this:
Number of Blades on the Propeller
Idle RPM
Maximum RPM
Maximum Governed RPM
Minimum Governed RPM

The Odd thing about the Ju-87 is that the engine is very low revving with 2300 RPM as maximum, so I don't have a prior working combination to copy.

- Ivan.
 
no need to build a defiant.
i have one.
and it only took me a half hour
of digging to find it.

i guess i've got ugly taste.
i've always been attracted to the 87
 
We don't need no Stinkin Badges and we don't need no Stinkin Defiant,
What we need is some paint on that ugly bird so we can put her in
some Stinkin missions.

My 2 cents worth.

Dave :mixedsmi:
 
Other than Paint....

There still isn't a Flight Model, Damage Profile, Check List, Panel, OR much of anything else other than a 3D Model thus far.

I am also still working on trying to put in some animated Elevators..... THAT one isn't easy. I have enough polygons to build a separate Elevator, but the problem is doing it without introducing bleeds.

Besides, I don't know that I agree with Hubbabubba on this one. There are plenty of aeroplanes that look good but don't work well and some that are just plain UGLY but are quite effective. The Stuka doesn't quite look as Ugly to me now as it did when I started on this project.

- Ivan.
 
I will be more than happy to make an historical panel so take that one off of your list,
sorry the rest is up to you, other than suggestions on the paint so it will work in Corsica
and Italy 1941.

Luv ya dude :salute:

Dave
 
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