Yesterday marked 10 years since I released my first FS design - the FS5 / FS98 Iroquois.

This got me thinking about just how limited things used to be. Although it was easier, there is no comparison with what we can do now - it is just a lot harder and takes a lot more time.
Back then a modeller only had 256 polygons with which to build a model !! My fletchers have about 6600 polygons on the exterior model and 5800 for the VC !!
Back then we could only use 256 x 256 textures with a fixed 256 colour pallette !! Now you can use up to 2048 x 2048 pixel, with any range of colours, MIP maps, Shine etc etc.
Back then I could build a model within a week or so, now it takes months.
A repaint could be done in one night, now it can take days if not weeks.
I'm glad I've gained the experience behind as I have learned a lot of tricks on the way, especially how to be economical with polygons, the only drawback is that I can't ever make all the planes or scenery I once wanted to - there just is not enough time.
Deane

This got me thinking about just how limited things used to be. Although it was easier, there is no comparison with what we can do now - it is just a lot harder and takes a lot more time.
Back then a modeller only had 256 polygons with which to build a model !! My fletchers have about 6600 polygons on the exterior model and 5800 for the VC !!
Back then we could only use 256 x 256 textures with a fixed 256 colour pallette !! Now you can use up to 2048 x 2048 pixel, with any range of colours, MIP maps, Shine etc etc.
Back then I could build a model within a week or so, now it takes months.
A repaint could be done in one night, now it can take days if not weeks.
I'm glad I've gained the experience behind as I have learned a lot of tricks on the way, especially how to be economical with polygons, the only drawback is that I can't ever make all the planes or scenery I once wanted to - there just is not enough time.
Deane

Thanks so much for your excellent freeware planes!!!