NZFF

Hi all, can someone recommend a program that converts .skp models (SKetchup Models) into a .mdl format?

Youll want ModelConvertorX

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?...ModelConverterX

Sketchup is a great tool.....but you still need to be careful of what you create. The easiest mistake to make with that program is to use too much geometry to define detail (as it's so easy to add). Good textures negate the need for too many polys.

Will this work with FS2004 aswell?
EDIT: This tool is great! you can convert any sort of file formats!

This tutorial helped me alot.

For FS9 and FSX: http://www.calclassic.com/sketchup_tutorial.htm

Cool tool and tutorial guys.... I'm tempted to have a go at some scenery myself now that I have no training for the next few months. A question - how important is it to know the dimensions of the building(s) you want to model?? Do you just take your best guess at what it might be??

You can measure top down dimensions from Google maps etc, as for walls if you have photos, I just 'guesstimate' and say a door is about 2m. and work from there....maybe rounding to a nice value.

NZ255 wrote:

QUOTE (NZ255 @ Aug 5 2010, 11:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You can measure top down dimensions from Google maps etc, as for walls if you have photos, I just 'guesstimate' and say a door is about 2m. and work from there....maybe rounding to a nice value.

Cool, I thought as much - thanks Nick...

90% of the buildings I have done for scenery are based on guesstimates. I work on roughly 10ft or 3.5 meters per story for most buildings. Hangars etc are difficult, but as already stated you can get pretty accurate figures for the plan view from Google earth in a lot of cases and most standard doors are known heights, so if you have good square on pictures to work from you can work out more dimensions from that. The main thing is to try to get the proportions right, often I did this by tweaking my models after I textured them, so the textures looked right.
You also need to consider where your model is placed. If it is a building located in a town or city, then it's doubtful users will notice if a building is too high or low as we don't tend to land and drag out a tape measure (I hope!!). However if you model a building such as a terminal or a hangar then sizing is far more important as the viewer will be so much closer.

mfraser wrote:

QUOTE (mfraser @ Aug 5 2010, 09:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Cool tool and tutorial guys.... I'm tempted to have a go at some scenery myself now that I have no training for the next few months. A question - how important is it to know the dimensions of the building(s) you want to model?? Do you just take your best guess at what it might be??

If you know XY dimensions from an aerial photo, and you know that the Z dimension must fit within a side image, then all you need to do is scale the side image until it fits the known XY dimension and you'll have your Z dimension too

Of course, good textures are critical as any distortion will make your measurements incorrect.

Thanks lads..... I'm a bit of a perfectionist and want to make sure I hit the mark with the models. I have taken half the photo's I need and am photoshoping them as and when time allows. I'll be waiting until the weather fines up and going back to retake a few that I'm not happy with and snap the rest.... nice idea Timmo with the dimensions..... from what I've seen it looks like scaling a model in Sketchup is an easy process....

If you want to place your scenery objects in FSX I would recommend Flight1 Instant Scenery 2 (payware). It's easy as one, two, three and bam!, your scenery object(s) is in FSX within minutes. Even payware developers use this tool!

100% easier than the default Object Placement Tool!

Free demo btw!
http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=instscen2