8. Completing the Exterior

Note: You may want to Texture parts of the Fuselage & Wings before this step.

In this Section:
Using Mirror
Add Last-minute Detail
Joining the Fuselage
Mirror Everything Else
Break Aircraft into Groups

Using Mirror

Yes, I've already said this earlier in the Tutorial, but it will cost you a lot of time and effort if you "Mirror" incorrectly: NOTE: Do NOT use "Mirror Selected Objects" to mirror objects for your final model!!! There's a bug in the system, and any parts mirrored this way will look fine in gMax but will be "inside-out" in the sim. To Mirror final objects go to Edit/Clone to make a copy, then in the Modifier Stack choose Mirror (under Parametric Modifiers). You can then add an edit mesh modifier on top of that or you can Collapse the object back to editable ploy/mesh. You have been Warned (again)!!!

Let's say you look at your aircraft in the sim and find that a bunch of objects are inside-out anyway. Don't Panic! It's an easy fix. Back in gMax, select the offending objects. Use the Mirror Selected Objects button and mirror it. Now go to Edit/Clone then the Modifier Stack and choose Mirror. It'll now be "right-side-out" again.

Add Last-minute Detail

Now is the time to take a really good look at your fuselage and decide if you have any Last-minute detail you need to add. For me, I wanted to add a cut-out for the engine exhaust ports. I used Edge/Cut to cut it out, the Poly/Extrude to "push" it in. Later I'll add the actual detailing.

Joining the Fuselage

Note: You may want to Texture Fuselage before this step.

If you still have an Instance (from Shaping the Fuselage) then go ahead and delete it. Now, using Edit/Clone and a Mirror Modifier mirror the fuselage and attach it to the other half. Now Select all the Vertices (make sure Ignore Backfacing is Unchecked) and scroll down to Weld/Selected. In the window to the right type in 0.005m. This is the minimum distance between two vertices that the sim will recognize, therefore it's a good distance to use for Weld.

Look the fuselage over carefully. You may find that there are placed where the Vertices did not weld. In that case join them using one of the techniques from Collapsing/Welding Vertices in Chapter 5. Also, I still have a little "flange" in front where the radiator is. Go ahead and Delete these polygons and generally "clean up" the fuselage.

Now Detach the Nose Gear Doors and Make the Wheelwell and Gear Doors as we did in Chapter 7.

Mirror Everything Else

Now it's time to Mirror everything else that will need its own texture using the techniques above. This includes (but is not limited to) the wing, flaps, and ailerons (or "elevons" in this case). The most important thing is to make sure you adjust the Pivot Point on the control surfaces so they'll animate correctly (see Animating the Control Surfaces).

You can note here that you don't have to Mirror everything. Things that will have the same texture (only reversed) such as the wheelwells can be Cloned and Mirrored after they are textured.

Break Aircraft into Groups

It is now time to look back to Chapter 3 at Some Notes on Part Hierarchy. We need to start breaking the aircraft down into Groups. These groups and objects will appear/disappear as the aircraft is damaged. Examples from the stock CFS3 aircraft (see the damage boxes) are:

• Fuselage

  • Nose

  • Canopy

  • L_Wing

    • L_Wing_Tip

  • R_Wing

    • R_Wing_Tip

  • Fuselage_Aft

    • Tail

      • Vertical_stab

      • L_horizontal

      • R_horizontal

Some of this can wait until after the parts of are textured, but some you'll need to do now. It really depends on how you want to do it.

If you need to break a part (such as the fuselage or the wing) then it's best to use the same techniques we used for Detaching the Wing after we had extruded it from the fuselage in Chapter 5.

This is also where we will break the Spinner off of the fuselage and soon we'll be making the propellers.

Add Finishing Touches

To be Completed...

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