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Howto:Make an aircraft: Difference between revisions
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copy/paste forum response (hvengel): http://flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=14716&p=145697#p145697
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## 3-dimensional model and all of its visual aspects: animations (These give visual feedback from your FDM. Move the aileron of your 3D model when the aileron control is moved. Same for the other aero surfaces, the gear. Than go ahead with the instruments, animate the needles, the digital readouts. Define hot spots and pick animations, so you can click in your 3D cockpit.), [[Howto: Add aircraft lights|lighting]] and textures (images that are put in specific locations on the 3D model). | ## 3-dimensional model and all of its visual aspects: animations (These give visual feedback from your FDM. Move the aileron of your 3D model when the aileron control is moved. Same for the other aero surfaces, the gear. Than go ahead with the instruments, animate the needles, the digital readouts. Define hot spots and pick animations, so you can click in your 3D cockpit.), [[Howto: Add aircraft lights|lighting]] and textures (images that are put in specific locations on the 3D model). | ||
## auditory (sounds). | ## auditory (sounds). | ||
== Introduction == | |||
There are lots of FG aircraft that need cockpit work. This requires both artistic (create 3D models and textures...) and technical abilities (create XML, perhaps even nasal scripts and gathering information of the thing being modeled). This is also one area were your work is very visible to every day FG users and this makes this effort one that has a major impact of the apparent quality of FG. | |||
This is also a very good place to start working on things in FG. So how do you go about doing this? | |||
* Find an aircraft that is part of fgdata GIT that needs cockpit work that interests you. This is important the aircraft should be one that you have a fondness for. This work is a labor of love and that will not be the case if you just pick some random aircraft. | |||
* Ask here and perhaps also on the developers list who the current dev for that aircraft is. | |||
* Contact that person and ask them if it is OK to work on that aircraft. They will probably say OK but they will also probably say that you have to work in a certain way and they may go as far as saying OK but I want you to work on <some particular instrument or control>. Don't take this as a snub. The aircraft dev has put a lot of effort into this aircraft and in the end they have to live with whatever you do to it so you have an obligation to do things their way. | |||
* Try to start out with something very simple such as adding a switch (or a switch panel with a few switches) or a placard. This may seem trivial but you will learn a lot from doing something simple while at the same time minimizing the learning curve and your level of frustration. | |||
* Also the aircraft dev will likely have to spend time mentoring you and it may actually take him more time to do this mentoring than it would have taken him to do the work. So stick around and do enough work to that aircraft that the mentoring effort pays off for the aircraft dev. | |||
* Keep in mind that the learning curve is fairly steep and at first the work will take a lot of effort to do what would be trivial task for someone with lot of experience doing this stuff. You need to be ready to deal with the learning curve. | |||
=== Rules and guidelines === | === Rules and guidelines === | ||