Hubbabubba's Corner

Hello Folks,

I wanted to illustrate the next step, but I could not get a screenshot from AF5Paint. The solution was a little goofy, but here goes:

This is a view from AF5Paint with the ZPWingL.afp part overlayed on the texture with the same dimensions as the A6M5. Note that wing tip extends past the side of the texture. The scale is 17 feet to 256 pixels with the texture covering -1.9 feet to -18.9 feet. (The real numbers are -1.94 feet to -18.94 feet but we will get into that later.) The short dimension can also be seen from the screenshot (8.5 feet to 128 pixels).

This screenshot shows what currently exists and why the textured wing looks so funny in the screenshot from CFS. Because the part extends past the texture, we essentially have to start over in texturing the wing which was the point of this exercise. Note that the outlines for the flaps, ailerons, gear doors, etc exist in the overlay so that creating these panel lines on the texture will be relatively easy. Note that the with the original texture locations, the pieces line up pretty well with the panel lines. We are about to throw all that away with the new wing texture.

Philosophy Discussion: Generally there are a minimum of 3 scales for the textures of an aircraft: Fuselage / Fin / Rudder; Wings / Flaps / Gear Doors; and Horizontal Stabilizer. The X and Y scales should be identical so that any images and markings used for texturing do not need to be stretched or compressed.

At this point, it is obvious that we will need to redo the scale for the wing texture for this aircraft in order to put the entire wing component onto a single texture which will be covered in the next installment.

- Ivan.
 
After spending most of the day outdoors, here is the next installment:

The first part was easy: 18 feet = 256 pixels works to put the entire wing within 256 pixels of the texture file.

After building with the new texture file we have what you can see in image Smoothing1. Note that the smoothing (possibly incorrect term) of the texture in CFS makes an entirely symmetrical layout LOOK incorrect. (Count the number of color bars on each side.)

If we hit the "Alt" key, we get the image Smoothing2. Everything is symmetrical, but this isn't the way the plane will generally be seen while playing.

If we offset the textures slightly (0.04 feet) in AF99 texturing as shown in the image Smoothing_AF99, we get the effect shown in the last image. In general, an offset of about 1/2 the width of a pixel seems to work here. For 18 feet / 256 pixels, we have 0.0703 feet per pixel, so 0.03 to 0.04 feet is expected to work well.

This is generally necessary to get the best effect with a Top / Bottom texture or a Fore / Aft texture but doesn't usually matter with a Left / Right texture. The simple explanation is that if the texture is skewed in complimentary directions, it doesn't matter. If they are skewed in contrasting directions, offsetting the textures slightly in AF99 helps the final results.

Sometimes, it is difficult if not impossible to get the textures entirely lined up. In my Fokker Eindecker project, the propeller hub and engine both spin. Both parts always seem just a touch wobbly even after lots of attempts at lining up the texture.

- Ivan.
 
Using the outline of the Painting Template ZPWingL.afp and AF5Paint's line and fill functions, a basic top and bottom texture is fairly easily created. I try to keep about a one pixel margin between the edge of the Painting Template and the unused space. The fore-aft dimension needed to be shifted 0.10 foot aft to allow for the margin. Original range was 3.5 to -5.5 feet. New range is 3.6 to -5.4 feet.

The rest of the texture is basically an exercise in tedium in adding panel lines and markings to the basic wing texture.

Please observe in the second screenshot that the outline of the landing gear doors meet up pretty well with the texture of the bottom of the aircraft. It could use some slight tweaking, but isn't bad for a first try.

Hi Hubbabubba, As you can see from the screenshot of the Wing Stations, the Airfoils are hardly a precise match to NACA contours. You can also see a slight positive angle of incidence at the wing root and zero angle of incidence at the wing tip thus the washout I was refering to. This and thinning the wing caused some contour inconsistencies that I have yet to address.

- Ivan.
 
Well, Stove_Pipe31 (look under your post, Ivan, for an explanation), it gives me a better understanding of your working procedure with AF5Paint. My problem with that program was always on how to "rig" AF99 and AF5Paint to work together.

With the procedure I'm using with EOD texturing tool and SCASM, I would not do the entire wing on "one pass", but the end result is pretty much the same.

The "fuzzing" of pixels that you described in the post above is a direct result of 3d rendering. You can obtain the same effect you're getting by hitting Alt key by going into "windowed mode", or by unchecking "hardware acceleration".

I'm in the process of texturing the rim of the jeep's footsteps and, in doing so, applying textures that have 3x3 pixels surface sometimes. The "skewing" appears on right/left as well. I'm gessing that AF99 is compensating correctly with right/left textures.

Your airfoil profiles may not be NACA "kosher", but they are certainly not far from the "real deal". When I have spare time (yeah...:kilroy:), I will look into it.
 
Hello Hubbabubba,

Stove_Pipe here. As you can see, texturing using AF99 isn't particularly difficult. Creating the textures is much more tedious. There are a bunch more techniques which were not illustrated here though. I did find a site which generates NACA 4 digit and 5 digit airfoils. I'll let you be the judge of how close I got to the real thing:

http://www.ppart.de//programming/java/profiles/NACA5.html

http://www.ppart.de//programming/java/profiles/NACA4.html

If you bring the points down to about 10, things start looking somewhat familiar.

Compensating for the smoothing effect is something I picked up only a couple years ago. I believe it is a useful technique with the settings that most people use with CFS.

If you haven't gotten bored yet, (or upset at me hijacking your thread) there is a bit more that is directly related to the wing rebuild: Texturing the Flaps....

- Ivan.
 
Just out of curiosity, how is it possible that Stove_Pipe31 edited this post in 2006? I checked: THERE IS NO MEMBER EVEN CALLED STOVE_PIPE31 AT THE OUTHOUSE:isadizzy::isadizzy::isadizzy:!!!!
 
Hello Hubbabubba,

I guess this is the last installment for texturing related to the A6M3 Model 22 Zero: Texturing the Flaps.

I like "Square" textures. It makes laying out a design so much easier if you don't have to stretch it in differently in the X and Y directions.

The wings as you might recall were textured at 9 feet = 128 pixels in the Fore-Aft dimension. In the Left-Right Dimension, we used 18 feet = 256 pixels. So far, everything is the same. The problem is that the flaps are built as deployed with an angle. The measured angle in AF99 is 56 degrees from horizontal. (Consider that fully retracted flaps are NOT horizontal if you are wondering about the unexpected angle.)

For laying out the texture for the flaps, we use a scale of 18 feet = 256 pixels in the Left-Right dimension, but change the Fore-Aft scale to 5.00 feet = 128 pixels. 9 feet * cosine (56 degrees) = 5.03 feet.

As you can see from the screenshot with the red circle on each flap, the image looks like it is pretty close to square on each flap.

This technique also works pretty well in laying out a texture for a Control Panel that is some angle between Horizontal and Vertical.

Now I have a few evenings worth of work to draw new textures for all the parts I just changed and possibly unbend some sheet metal on the new wings. (The wing tips don't line up all that well with the wing root.)

- Ivan.
 
I was wondering how the Ken doll got into that first shot :isadizzy:

Or I guess it is Ken, I don't know Barbie dolls too well.
 
Hi Pratt&Whitney,

Yes, it is Ken. I believe he is circa 1966-1968 or so. He arrived with an injured arm (mauled by a dog or cat or something). The rest of the body was in fairly good shape, but he was tired of being an "inaction" figure. He became my first Mattel subject in the GI Joe Hospital and received a body transplant. The new body is a Dragon / DML Adam with a neck post that is a combination of his original neck and a "Ever Sparkle" neck post which is compatible with the DML Adam. (Most of the bodies I use are DML with a few Hasbro thrown in.) Ken is currently in training to go to Viet Nam. Bet you never knew that Ken was a Viet Nam veteran!

When I found that I could not take a proper screeshot from AF5Paint, I took out my digital camera and took a shot at low resolution. Ken figured he would help point out the overlay part and wingtip outline.

- Ivan.
 
Hubbabubba & Ivan's Corner

~S~ All,

I guess I should have named it "Hubbabubba & Ivan's Corner". I can only hope the Outhouse does not get attacked again, or I could start coping now. I know I will not remember all this next time I need it. I have been pushed to the limits by Hubbabubba and yet only just begun to understand just how hard it all is.

You two are perfectionist where I look at it as, what can you see when you are fling past each other at 600+ MPH. Granted they are beautiful to look at and true works of art with exacting accuracy and when compared to what M$ has given us, it is like night and day.

I made a Radar Station and Hubbabubba saw bleeds. The idea was to give pilots a target to blow up, not a place to live and call home. We have that at AAC_Ripe. All I am trying to say is, I do not know if I can even attempt to catch up with your standards. Winslow is young and stands to gain more from your teachings then I can. I do manage to pick up things here and there and that is reflected in the Minute-Maid, a vast improvement over Khloee. At least I am learning somethings from you two.

Thank you both and keep up the great work,

Johnny:isadizzy:
 
I have been pushed to the limits by Hubbabubba and yet only just begun to understand just how hard it all is.
Click to expand...

If you think I'm pushy, wait until Ivan mingle in your affairs:jump:! LOL

If you are starting to grasp how hard it is, you're halfway there! :173go1:

The second part of this journey is finding solutions to things that everyone, including you, thought impossible.

Improving is an understatement, Johnny; there's a quantum leap between Khloee and Minute Maid.

And there is no age for learning. It keeps a mind alert... with occasional mind meltdown of course!:banghead:
 
If you haven't gotten bored yet, (or upset at me hijacking your thread) there is a bit more that is directly related to the wing rebuild (...)
Click to expand...

This is Johnny's thread, not mine, so; do whatever you want with it:kilroy: :)costumes:)
 
Ivan

~S~ Hubbabubba,

Ivan is sometimes confusing, but I do catch on to some of the things he says and use them. AF99 came with two books and yet I learned very little from them. You and Ivan have taught me most of what I know about AF99.

J.
 
Just out of curiosity, how is it possible that Stove_Pipe31 edited this post in 2006? I checked: THERE IS NO MEMBER EVEN CALLED STOVE_PIPE31 AT THE OUTHOUSE:isadizzy::isadizzy::isadizzy:!!!!
Click to expand...
I was told that it was caused by the forum counter still keeping logs on the previous thread numbers. So, in 2006, a certain Stove-Pipe31 edited a post that was in the same place in the forum ante Armageddon (before the big crash).
 
The wing panel lines are not quite done yet, (Topside hasn't even been started) but here's a view of what it looks like after about 3 hours of messing around.

BTW, It really doesn't apply to this message, but if I am confusing or unclear about a subject, just ask for more detail. We all go into a task with some basic assumptions and yours may not be the same as mine.

- Ivan.
 
Sound

~S~ All,

I am having problems with my sound files. How do I get the starter to work for three engines and have the motor run. I am missing something in the way the sound goes from point A to point B. Last night I purchased FS Sound Studio, but it is not for CFS1, so I put the Minute-Main into FS2000 and wrote the file there. But that was not any help. I have taken apart all of the multi-engine aircraft I have in CFS and still can't find a clue. I may have to use stock files instead of real PT-Boat sounds. It is almost like a RAF662_MosquitoFBV1, (FW_190) but more like a Redneck Pickup built by Big Daddy Don Garlits.

j.:banghead:
 
Texturing is finished. Now it's time to go back and straighten out some sheet metal.

It wasn't illustrated here and really isn't a part of texturing using AF99, but whenever I finish building a component (such as extending the wing), I change the component to Sharp, Untextured, and color it Light Tan. I then take it into CFS with Dusk lighting and flip it around a bit to see how the shadows fall on the polygons. In this case, there are some very slight inconsistencies in both the leading edge and the trailing edge. I believe it was resulted from the thickness change to the wing tips. It can't be seen in a Smooth, Textured part, but I know it's there, so I'll most likely fix it.

The textures here are probably a final as far as the panel lines and pretty close to final as far as paint scheme. (For the purists out there: Yes, I know this is not quite standard, but I prefer this appearance over the standard scheme.)

- Ivan.
 
Flight of the Phoenix

~S~ All,

Ivan and Hubbabubba, you two remind me of the aircraft designer in the movies "Flight of the Phoenix." Everyone was listening to him until they found out he only did model aircraft. While principals are the same, the scale is different, as they learned.

I have a lot of books, not as many as I once had, but a lot to do with military aircraft and vehicles. I checked on Ivan's Spitfire and there was only the mention of the change from fix to variable pitch props in the 1930's. It did have the fact that the wing system was very utilitarian and listed most of the gun combinations that were used.

Well, I guess I am ready to meet the day,

j:ernae:

NOTE: I had more books then the Kiln, Mississippi Library, but with less pictures, and fewer coloring books.:costumes:
 
No.

~S~ Ivan,

I was just checking to see just how technical my references were. I did not go through the books on modeling only because they mainly deal with military vehicles. I guess if you did not rule the sky and Hubbabubba, the land, I would have picked one of those directions. I did not know just how far Hubbabubba was into vehicles at the time.

Remember the guy who wanted you to build the Calvin space ship? I saw one on a website the other day. It was the wrong color, but it looked right.

Back on subject: I am not sure just what direction I should go in anymore. I bought most of the programs that I use and some that I have not used yet. I am sure Hubbabubba understands I am not in competition with him. I am not even in the same boat with him.LOL

Well I have run out of time,

j
 
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