Tumansky Heavy Industries Blog

Polikarpov I-16 Coming Soon.

2010-02-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

Well after 6 months of hardware troubles and real life problems. Production has resumed. Our next aircraft, currently undergoign flight testing is the Polikarpov I-16.

The Polikarpov I-16 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it was the world's first cantilever-winged monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear. The I-16 was introduced in the mid-1930s and formed the backbone of the Soviet Air Force at the beginning of World War II. The diminutive fighter prominently featured in the Second Sino-Japanese War[1], the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, and the Spanish Civil War where it was called the Rata (Rat) by the Nationalists or Mosca (Fly) by the Republicans. The Finnish nickname for I-16 was Siipiorava ("Flying Squirrel").

This example is finished in the paint scheme for temperate climates, immediately befroe the German Invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

Design work began in early 1933, with the first flight taking place on December 31 of that year. Although somewhat difficult to fly, the I-16's speed, high roll-rate, and rate of climb earned it production status. The aircraft was produced from 1934 through 1939, and was then reinstated to production in 1941, with some 8,650 being built.

THI will be offering other Soviet schemes, and weapons paclages once flight testing is done. We are also planning to release Spanish Republican, and Chinese (KMT) Nationalist paint schemes for this little fighter.

--Karl

Reason for the long silence

2009-11-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

A great deal has changed in SL recently. Its not my place to comment on exactly how this has affected THI because quite frankly I am no longer involved in SL.

I am led to understand, of the Four Computers owned by Karl, three are nonfunctional and the survivor dates from 1993, so it barely runs SL. He is only online on Sundays when he can use better equipment located at a friends house. He should be able to use Blogger though, so I will ask him to post an update here next time we are in contact.

How to make a Sculptie in Sculpt Studio. Part I: Overview

2009-07-12T23:08:00.000-07:00

THI is working on a new plane a Polikarpov I-16. This plane was the first production military aircraft to get retractable landing gear. The designer was hedging his bets and designed a stable tripod when extended so the gear was stable when landing on Russia's unimproved airfields. However, rather than one strut and a wheel and a simple cut out, this one has three struts, three cut outs and a hinged flap. This necessitated making Two sculpties. One for the extended shape and one for the retracted shape, The extended shape was complicated as this model of a the plane shows.

The first step was the build the gear in standard prims to use as a scaffold. This has all the basic shapes necessary to create the look of the finished landing gear, The object in red are the same objects moved to represent the entire assembly as if retracted into the wing, as there will be a texture swap during the gear retraction animation so that the landing gear will be nearly flush to the wing as on the real plane.

Next one has to chose the number of slices, plates, coins, prims, or what ever you call the items used to create the sculptie. For such a complicated shape and at the suggestion of my co builder at THI, Duke Elliott, I bit the bullet and used a count of 128 slices of 8 points each.

There were four shapes used on the 129 slices, the tire profile, lathed by hand around the Axle. a simple circle, a simple sharp edges rectangle, and the "pole" slice. To make the pieces look separate, each segment was terminated by two shapes, followed by two "poles". the space between pole slices is invisible so if you have the count, you can make several "separate pieces into one object. But because of "Level of Detail" (LOD) considerations you want to make at least two or three co planar slices to give the object a sharp edge, and then two or three also coplanar "poles" so as to not lose the separation or detail when you zoom out and away from he object. Planes tend to be seen at great distances , even in SL.

The next step after arranging the slices in the way you want, is to render them out into a sculptie texture. The bounding box is arraigned so that it allows the wheels to touch the ground but still encompass the whole of the slices. Here one can see on the plane the angle nec3essary for it to touch the ground, flat to the runway on the plans here.

The rendered texture is applied to a sculpted object generated by Sculpt studio to be the same size and volume as the bounding box below. After I made the extended version I went back and moved the slices around to make the retracted version so that both occupy the same space within the bounding box so the piece wont's move or snap much when the script changes the sculpt texture during the animation. A little snapping is unavoidable, but make it as small and minor as you can.

Here are all of the Pieces arranged and mirrored to attach to the plane. both extended and retracted, bot left and right.

And finally here we see the landing gear attached to the plane, with the 'retracted version prims used to show where the "hole" in the wings and lower fuselage will have to be in the Alpha Channel. I will go into more building detail for a whole project later, but I thought I would show how this was done in a basic overview so that you wont' be that intimidated by sculpties and Sculpt Studio, should you choose to use this amazing tool.

--Karl

2009-06-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

The second set of textures, based on the famous Tiger I currently residing at the Bovington Tank Museum in the U.K has been completed, and is on display at Aeronautica (this time on the ground level hangar next to Runway 1). All that remains now it to script and test them to insure that the tanks live up to THI's high standards, Please take a look of you find yourself in Aeronautica.

--Karl

Coming Soon: PzKpfW VI Tiger I Tank

2009-06-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would share with you a Picture of the new Tiger I tank, soon to be released by THI. I can announce now that it is texture complete , so now it is handed off for scripting and testing, Please don't ask on a release date as it has to be thouroughly tested so that it will be the quality you have come to expect from THI armaments.. It will be soon though and of course, VICE equipped, More later. but enjoy the pictures
--Karl

Two Items

2009-04-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

Two Items. the Tumansky Blog has moved yet again so it's back on Blogspot. So I'll have to relink all the photos. Sorry about this but I am hoping blogsot is more stable thatn my previous arraingements. And now I can post more often hopefully as well.Sorry for the delay.

Also VICE 1.2.0 has been released, and as such the planes ae being updated as well, over the next fe days please rez your plane inworkld and sit back and wait for the update.

--Karl

2009-03-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

In searching around SL, and Xstreet SL I was unable to find a satisfactory Leather Flying Helmet. So if I cant find something I want, I make one. Announcing a new product line, "The Aviator's Collection", and the inaugural piece is the R.A.F. Type B Helmet Introduced in 1935, this was the Helmet used during the Battle of Britain, and replaced piecemeal in 1942 by the Type C. Combine this with Novum "Bomber Goggles" and The HIHILISMOST-RAF_PILOT Outfit, and you are set to Pilot yoru Hiurricane or Spitfire. and look good doing it.

15 prims with the main body and ear cups being a single sculptie. the other small bits can be adjusted after the main body is sized to the head and is a close fit for Humans, WILL NOT WORK FOR FURRIES, as most furry AV heads are spheres, not craniums.

--Karl

Type 82 Kubelwagen Released!

2009-03-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

For Sale, one Type 82 Kubelwagen. Low milage, some dents, Dirty, but clean title and paper. No tickets. 1200c.c. Engine. Seats four. Throwing in a German Helmet to sweeten the deal. It's out, and for sale at Blacktail Ridge, Aeronautica, and Xstreet SL. It will be for sale soon in other locations that have THI vendors. Enjoy!

--Karl

TYpe 82 Kubelwagen is Almost Ready

2009-02-26T06:17:00.000-08:00

We are just about ready to launch the type 82 "Kubelsitzwagen" or "Kubelwagen" This will be our first VICE enabled vehicle. IT also sports some new fetures such as a folding soft top, and a key start (so you don't ruin your sneak with a perpetually running car motor.) It also sports the same quality THI Vehicle features such as basic , and advanced driving controls and our usually methodically researched paint and markings. Initially offered in two colors a third will follow shortly.

--Karl

Interruption in Service

2009-02-22T19:48:00.001-08:00

tumansky.com is being moved to a new server. Economic reasons. Like thats not driving everything these days.

Broken links to images should self correct when the domain moves.

How to Texture Like a Pro: Complete listings.

2009-02-13T06:51:00.001-08:00

here are all of the tutorials linked in one handy post. in order. Let me know if you have any questions or clarifications. Leave a comment and I'll anser as soon as I can. thanks.

How To Texture Like a Pro in SL: Part I
The overview of the process.

How to Texture Like a Pro in SL: Part II
Regularizing the textures across the prims, and building the "Scaffolding" to indicate the panel lines to be painted.

How to Texture Like a Pro in SL: Part III
Laying out the textures, and compensating for distortion from the prims.

How to Texture Like a Pro in SL: Part IV
The Photoshop tricks and tips the Pros use in the Game Industry

Enjoy!

--KArl

How to Texture Like a Pro Part IV

2009-02-10T21:44:00.000-08:00

Well we have done the regularizing, the scaffolding and finally the Black and white phase. Now comes the fun part, really.

Since most of the hard work has been done, what with the tracing of straight prims over the surfaces of tortured or sculpted ones, This step brings you into the realm of color, layers and Photoshop Filters. It takes a little bit of observational skills, but not necessarily a lot of art skill to create acceptable and decent looking texture maps, as you just have to observe effects around you.

For this Corsair we just start with the black and white likes we had before, plus the Insignia. Here’s the Wing. (Click on Images to see full resolution, however, be warned, the images are large.)

Below the wing layer we add a layer of color that is representative of the majority of the aircraft (or Object) color.

Now we go and observe the RL reference. If you are doing a fantasy subject, you may still use reference to give it that verisimilitude that makes a piece rise above bad fan art. Here we have a few photos that I took of a Real F4U Corsair at the Last Ever Van Nuys Airport Air show, where they celebrated the U.S. Naval Aviation Heritage. Here we put out observation to use.

There are panel lines, but they are not very evident even in some of the closer shots, The lines are thin, and somewhat hard to distinguish at any distance. However you can see evidence of fingerprints, smudges, oil drips, and Exhaust stains on the underside of the plane. You will need to suggest these same sorts of things on your maps. Now back to the Wing map…

Duplicate the B/W line layer. Next blur that duplicate layer as a “Gaussian Blur” of about X in number. Name that Layer “Grime Mask”

Above the previous layer, fill it with any color and changes the Palette to Black and White with White being the foreground color. Then go to the Menu bar and select FILTER > RENDER> CLOUDS. Within that layer add FILTER>NOISE. Of a level around 4 or 5, not too much but just enough that it’s perceptible. Next, go to: FILTER > PIXELATE >CRYSTALLIZE . and select a crystal size of 4 pixels, the add a faint Gaussian blur. Name this “Grime Layer” and should look something similar to this:

Duplicate the “Grime Layer” and Hide the original layer until later. You will make supplicates of this layer for each exterior map. Hold down Control and click the “Grime Mask” layer. Then make sure the “Grime Layer Copy” is active. Go to “SELECT > INVERSE”. And then hit the back space. Now hide your “Grime Mask” layer and check your work. With the B/W Lines layer takes to about 25% opacity , you should have a result that looks a bit like this:

That’s about it. You can duplicate your “grime Layer Copy” and make one a “multiply layer so only the black shows, or a “Screen” to make only the white areas showing if the surface is dark, or you could put in both, to simulate not only fingerprints but wear as well.

Now move these new layers above the color and insignia layer. You can also add things like Exhaust stains, rust, chipped paint and the like, by adding each effect on a new layer, and then adjusting opacity or layer type until you get a look you like. Remember to check your reference so as not to over do it.

Some other tricks you can do is to adjust your brush shape in Photoshop to create streaks for weathering, as well as use of the various Effects in the layers to create more realism.

TO change you brush shape, depending on the version of Photoshop you have, Select a round soft brush, then select the brush menu and reduce the “roundness” to 3% , and the direction to the one needed to give you the effect. Then, rather than a tablet, use a mouse and tap the mouse button when you have the brush over the desired area. Use the lasso tool to mask areas.

Let say you want to create the effect of formers and stringers within the fuselage (the ribs of an airplane). On one layer, create the inside of the skin by picking a color and applying it. On a layer above create the stringers (Fore and Aft Ribs) using the same colors as the inside skin, and on a layer above that create the Formers (Vertical Ribs). On the stringers, apply Bevel and Emboss, filter to give then a 3D form, then add a Drop Shadow to place it against the inside of the skin layer. Next use the same Bevel and Emboss to the former layer, but since the formers are larger, you will give them a bit more of a drop shadow, as well as add an outer glow of a dark color, as a multiply layer to simulate ambient occlusion. Tricks like this can speed up the process greatly.

A variation of this technique might be wanting to make a smooth embossed shape.

Additional weathering can be done with Custom Brushes or using degraded images with low opacities as grime layers. Pick photos or images with a number or small high contrast elements usually black and white. A photo of gravel, dirt, or old Concrete is usually best for this, but other4 forms such as splattered paint can also be good for that. Desaturate the photos and apply them as multiply layers, and reduce the opacities to low single digits.

The following two images were used to generate the weathering.

Photo by J.C. Amberlyn

You can also turn portions of the photos into “ Grime Brushes” but turning the images to grayscale, and upping the contrast to you get a sea of white with black dots and smudges on it Select a nice area of dots and marks, withthe lasso and put them in a new document for conveineince sake, and then use "CTRL A" to select them all and go to the EDIT menu and pull down to "Define Brush" or "Define Brush Preset depending on your version of Photoshop. Now you have a grimebrush to create effects such as these.

Ground vehicles suffer more abuse and weathering and deferred maintenance than Planes do. So moderate your weathering and your effcts according to the "history" of the item you are making. Is it brand new, and polished to a high degree, or is it worn but well kept, or is it neglected except it's most basic needs, to remain functional, or is it a barely finctional wreck one can only guess is still running? Layering the damage with different grime brushes in dark colors, light colors and the browns of rust can give your creation a lot more solidity and plausibility rhan the typical featureless swatch of color typical of most SL builds.

But through careful observation of real life textures color changes and weathering,couplesd with these new skills, you can indeed soon texture likea pro inside SL. If you have any comments, questions or needed clarifications, please post a comment and I'll try to anser them there, or in subsequent articles.

Good Luck

--Karl

Updates and a NEw Product

2009-02-02T11:37:00.000-08:00

BAck again! I myself suffered a Hard Drive and a motherboard failure, but we are back and now it's time to make a few announcements!

The latest is a new Product, the THI Universal Aviation HUD.

I know a lot of you fly the work from other companies as well as our own, but sometimes don't you wish they had the flight instruments like ours? Well wish no more, because now, for 150L you can buy the new THU Universal HUD. Simply purchase, unpack and wear. It's that simple! but if you have a mod-able plane you can put an included script in the primary prim and lock the instruments to the plane in luselook. Available now at Blacktail Ridge, Aeronautica, 1944, and XStreet SL. Enjoy

Also

Group Notice From: Duke Elliott

I'm very happy to announce an update of my PZL planes. It's mostly a visual update (new propeller) but we've also included a special display version of the plane which acts as a VICE target, so you can park it at the airfield and bomb it with your THI Hurricane ;)

To get the update, simply rez the older version of the plane.

Enjoy!

And finally

The F4U 1A has been updated, with a few cosmetic upgrades, but expect alternate paint schemes to be offered very soon, now.

HAve a good day

--Karl

Seasons Greetings from THI

2008-12-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

I want to take this time here to thank you all for helping make THI a successful SL Business. It's because of you that we have not only stayed in business but expanded and word of mouth from you discerning customers have helped build THI's reputation as one fo the best aircraft makers on SL. In the new year we will try to increase out quality, and maybe our output, to serve you in the coming year. Thank you. --Karl

Aeronautica and THI at the Movies!

2008-12-21T14:36:00.000-08:00

A Nice little Machinima by Messor Frog.
Planes :THI PZL. P. 11, USMC F4U-1. Location: Aeronautica.

Enjoy!

--K

2008-12-21T03:10:00.001-08:00

Due to the fact that FlyinTails Aifield is abandoning the aviation theme and going only residential, we are closing the FTA store, and as such Vendors and associated property will be returned tomorrow. (Sunday Dec. 21.) We were there since March of 2006, and on the eve of 2009 we are closing, The business started there, but things change, We will need to be on the lookout as always for aviation themed sims we can set up vendors at, please let us know.

--K

THI BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

2008-12-13T23:22:00.000-08:00

phtography by Grey Nolder

Creem Pye Writes:

I'm pleased to announce that I am the proud father of the latest addition to the THI family. She is a healthy 10.1m long, 5,000kg aluminum bundle of joy. Her Pratt & Whitney R-2800-W has been beating at a steady 2,250hp. The mother (Karl, of course) is in good health, and expects a full recovery after some therapeutic dogfighting.

In other words, THI's USMC F4U-1 Corsair has been released and is spreading at our in-world vendors. Have yourselves a look and maybe a purchase!

The "Baby" is complete an now available at vendors in Blacktail Ridge, Aeronautica, 1944, and FlyinTails USF. Other Vendors it will be available tomorrow. Congratulations to Creem Pye, and Happy Birthday to the USMC F4u-1A

--K

A Report from Sundays AAA Dogfight at Aeronautica

2008-12-01T08:56:00.000-08:00

Text and Photos below by Mifune Thibaud:

Wrapup of AAA's first combat event - Success!
Thank you to everyone who came and participated, moderators/instructors and visitors!

[11-30-08]
Our first event was a big success! We had a respectable turnout of pilots, many of whom stayed all the wayfrom 12:00 - 2:30 SLT! (the event was only intended to be 1hr long, but everyone got very involved in the battles)

For this event we organized team based combat, using VICE. We split the pilots up into two teams, [AAA] for the pilots that would fly out from Aeronautica, and [URI] for those that would fly from the Undinian Rebel Island. We had a best 3 out of 5 competition where our pilots engaged in 3vs3 and 4vs4 combat. Scarlet Flak's URI wound up winning the event that day, but the AAA pilots put up a hell of a fight, with the event going all the way to 5 rounds. It was a good day and everyone had a lot fun.

We will be having another event next week, and we will try something new to keep things fresh. If you missed out on the event today, try to make it to the next event and invite some people!

Our events are always free, and they are not just combat related. Come join us
-Mifune Thibaud

Team 1 took off from Aeronautica Central

Team 2 took off from Undine Island

They would take to the Skies...

...in a bid to deal death from above.

Only one Team would come out the victor...

...in a wonderful display of organized carnage.

So I would encourage my reders to participate in these events and hope t not miss the one next week.

--K

How to Texture Like a Pro Part III

2008-11-26T20:58:00.000-08:00

Well, if you thought the past tutorial might have been a tedious job, Let me introduce you to the "Black and White Phase" of the texturing process. This Step places the objects surface anatomy down on a Photoshop File, in a way so that you can use that surface to locate the placement of subsequent Insignia, an allow you to use parts of the surface as "selection masks" for certain effects like Cloth Covering, or slight variation in panel lines for unpainted aircraft, or weathering. The preparation and organization of the Photoshop file following this method, will allow you to create camouflage and marking variations of your object, without having to repaint things from scratch.

If you remember the last post, this is how we left our plane to be textured. Here we see the plane surrounded by a completed scaffolding in Red. The build Grid is in place and "regularized" So that the amount of distortion is minimized and a single Map can be used over multiple prims for a seamless coverage. Having have done this in the last tutorial the next step is to open Photoshop and prepare the file.

It is suggested you take a systematic approach, starting from the front of the object and move backwards, so that you don't miss anything. As you move from front to back, you should move from bottom to top in your Photoshop Layers. Photoshop is organized as if you are looking down on top of a stack of layers, Organizing these layers, and there will be a lot of them, is key to not driving yourself mad looking for things. Another important point is to name each layer with a name relating to the part of the object you are texturing, For instance "cowling & flaps", "forward Fuselage", and in the future use that for subsequent layers relating to those prims. This will become important later, and will be shown in Part Four.

So with Sl and Photoshop open, it's time to begin the next step. With the Build texture as your base layer, and a layer above that as pure white, with the opacity turned down so you can still read the numbers and see the grid, next. Make a new layer and name it. On this layer you will only be putting down black lines. you may, or may not anti-alias, up to you , but anti-aliasing will occur when you drop the image size from 1000 x 1000 pixels to 512 x 512 or smaller as is necessary. But on this layer you may want to put down lines of 2 pixels wide or thicker so they will still be solid black lines when reduced and uploaded to SL for checking.

Reduce the files to 512 or so when you upload them to SL to save on memory and speed the loading time without getting too much loss of detail. Upload the file and apply it to the prims, and check for errors. It might be in your interest to enter the Beta Grid and apply and test textures there as you have 25000 Lindens free to use to upload texture with, so apply them to the object and adjust as necessary. Here we have the cowling and the cowling flap textures added. The scaffolding, has it's transparency turned up to its highest to check the line and line placement.

Working front to back, the next section, consisting of more than one prim, but all regularized to use the same map. In the end it may become more than one map but the essential outside details need to be the same on both maps to present a seamless appearance.

Here we see the wings. Each wing here is two prims, The curved part, and then the outer panels. Unfortunately, this black and white stage is the most tedious process of the whole texturing step, but it's a necessary step. No other part of this project illustrate this more than the wing and its scaffolding. Just go through the process, and check your maps against the source material.

Here we see the wing map completed. The blue sections on the wing represent areas that on the real aircraft are cloth covered. The reason for the blue is that they are on a separate layer and will become what are known as "selection masks". The use of these is to select areas on other layers to work on, or to apply effects to.

Here we see the wing map opens up and how it's organized.

The canopy too needs to be scaffolded and then painted. but since sculpties have only one "Face" or surface, you have scaffold "through" them to paint both sides.

Another step, but often done during the line phase is to apply the insignia. Because the map is so stretched when applied to a sculptie, one has to approach them the same was as the scaffolding. Building the stars and Bars out of Prims and then applying them to the wing.

However with he insignia, you start from the inside (star) out. Turn the portion you are working on Opaque and the rest transparent, putting each element on it's one layer.

Also Displayed is the map showing the insignia, and how distorted you have to paint it, just to it looks reasonably straight and true when on the plane.

Coming Soon: Part IV. Full color and Photoshop techniques the pros use to save time and enhance Realism. See you soon!

--Karl

Initial Reaction to the Linden Price Hikes for Void Sims.

2008-10-29T08:37:00.001-07:00

An expended comment left in Zoe Connolly's blog

I am a little concerned with the effect this will have on Flying, what with, Aeronautica, FlyinTails, as well as others having purchased Voidsims recently for the expressed purpose of flying. These, will most likely be returned to the Lindens before the proice hikes in January go into effect.

If you talk to Cubey, LL has not be exactly accomodatng to the flying interests, almost as soon as there were "free accounts", as of June 6th 2006. Since hen Ban Lines, and full parcels, have made cross country fling and airship exploration impossible. This now makes large open spaces for flying to be uneconomical.

I own Mainland propery, mostly commercial and admittedly ugly as sin, but it's a lot for selling cars and planes, nothing more (well yeah, and a prim bank for my unfortunately primheavy method of making textures in SL). The mainland is unsuitable for flying. and experience has taught us that flying in a single regular sim is akin to dogfighting in a fish tank. I am of the opinion that this wil impact aircraft sales and participation. This may be worse than the gambling ban for the economy, because for the aviation community, this hits us where we live.

--K

Budget Fighter Re-Issue

2008-10-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

Good day to you all.

We are re-releasing our PF series of planes, now with a versionof the "Standard" THI flight scripts, and now with VICE combat as well as TCS, and CCC*. The old models were redone slightly as well with prims exchanged, or consolidated into stingle sculpties. The planes come in seeral flavors. The PF-01A is the first model, with a flat topped nose and flat spine and birdcage canopy. The PF-01B had a more rounded and stremlines aspect to reflect an engine change and new armament, a pair of Rocket Pods beneath the wings for Ground Attack. The third offering is the PF-01C. This one has a Malcolm Canopy and bomb racks. The final is the two place trainer Version the PT-01C. Lacking the supercharger,it shares the same basic airframe as the B and C model Fighters. It also allows the pilot to transfer control of the plane to the front seat passnger, or trainee. Very useful for flight instruction (or to hand off the controls so one can chat with their passenger). There may also be a Bubble Canopy "D" model soon.

All the planes have Modifiable Geometry, so if you feel adventurous you can re-arrainge the prims but do so please on a copy. all the external textures are Grascale so you can tint the plane to what ever color you so desire. If you are feeling creative put your own textures on it.

So if you are in the market for a inexpensive, but competative dogfighter, then Might I suggest you take a look at these budget priced offerings? Available at Blacktail Ridge and Xstreet SL
Clear Skies to you all.

--Karl

*With Jillian Callahan's departure from SL CCC has ceased official development. THI may discontinue its support for this system in future releases.

We're back!

2008-10-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

Back from my trip, and ready to proceed on the F4U, and the associate d tutorial. Expect it sometime next week!

--Karl

Going to be Offline for a few weeks maybe a month

2008-09-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

Going on a business trip for 6 weeks/ 2 months to Texas and will be out of commincation for maybe three weeks, I will be back later with the next part of "How to Texture Like a Pro", the Black and White line phase. See you then.

--Karl

New Release: Hawker Hurricane Mk. II

2008-09-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

This afternoon (Saturday, September 20th. the Hurricane Mk. II went on sale. The sale was preceded by a demonstration by Duke Elliot, it's Creator, and Whitewolfie Mumfuzz. starting with a bombing of a transport ship in the lagoon of the Aeronautica Sim, it was followed by flight demonstrations and check rides. I think this lauch, once again a spur of the moment, was a bit more successful than the last one, and the aircraft itself gained a number of positive reviews as well as brisk first day sales. Thank you all for your support, and Duke thanks you as well.

Josh Noonan of the Second Life Aviation Blog has already written a review of the Hurricane Mk. II

And Zoe Conolly made a VERY nice movie of Duke Demonstrating the aircraft.

Thank you all for a positive day for THI.

--Karl

How to Texture Like a Pro Part II

2008-09-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

The last one in this series may have been a little vague. So with proper instruction in mind I decided to go into more detail. This will be documenting the texturing of a current (yet to be released) THI project, the F4U Corsair.

Here we see the geometry, completed by Creem Pye. The geometry has had the textures on each sculpted prim “regularized’ so that 1.) One map can cover several pieces to hide seams and reduce the amount of work, and 2.) the proportions are made “square” as much as possible to reduce the amount of distortion. Distortion especially on Spheres and irregular shapes is inevitable but if you can make the layout such that it’s evenly distorted it makes the compensation for the distortions easier. The wings are actually two pieces a piece, but the textures are adjusted so that one map will cover both segments. And since the wings are mirrored sculpt maps, layout for the Port Side wing segments will work for the starboard side as well. Anything to save you time texturing is good. This technique works for standard prims as well.

The next step is to place the plans (hopefully the same ones used to create the object in the first place) on a board The plans I obtained had to be modified, in Photoshop to make them cleaner, and more useful for layout. The nest phase was to place it on the board.

One on the board, it was sized and lined up to conform to the size and orientation of the geometry.

Once lined up it was just a simple matter of tracing the panel lines in prims.

Here you can see the opposite side being laid out on the fuselage, since they are single pieces (and therefore single maps) you have to take into account differences between left and right, as well as top and bottom on the wings.

Speaking of the wings, here are the layouts for the panel lines of the wings. As you can see the drawing has more detail than is being used. No prims will be used to denote rivet lines or spot welds because in reality, these details aren’t easily seen on the original aircraft unless you are close enough to touch. However, the panels will pick up oil and fingerprints and can be seen at a distance.

The prims are placed in each direction, front, side, back, top and bottom. With the lines all completed for each area, the piece are then stretched or moved alone a single axis, until they intersect the geometry. The prims are linked together into a “Scaffolding” The scaffolding can now have opacity adjusted or color changed, as is needed to make the next steps easier.

Here is the completed Scaffolding around the Corsair Geometry.

..and from the Underside.

Next step will be the Black and White Stage, stay tuned for Part 3.

--Karl

to allow the importation of 3D mesh or imrpove the Prim tools?

2008-09-14T01:29:00.001-07:00

..that is the question?

http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MISC-1494

4. Second Life Misc Issues - MISC

SURVEY: vote here if you'd prefer for LL to work on mesh import over improving existing prim modeling tools
Created: 23/Aug/08 10:00 AM Updated: Today 01:19 AM

Description « Hide
hey all - i'm trying to gather resident feedback for an internal LL debate. the question is - do residents want LL to spend more resources on A) allowing mesh import or B) improving existing modeling tools. sorry for the vagueness here - mainly i'm trying for a general feel for resident sentiment.

Description hey all - i'm trying to gather resident feedback for an internal LL debate. the question is - do residents want LL to spend more resources on A) allowing mesh import or B) improving existing modeling tools. sorry for the vagueness here - mainly i'm trying for a general feel for resident sentiment. Show »

All Comments Change History Sort Order:
[ Permlink | « Hide ] Qarl Linden - 23/Aug/08 10:02 AM
see MISC-1495 to vote for the opposite.
[ Show » ] Qarl Linden - 23/Aug/08 10:02 AM see MISC-1495 to vote for the opposite.

Thoughts? I voted to include mesh, so I can put my 18 years of experience in the PC game and Console industry to work.

--Karl

2008-09-13T11:41:00.000-07:00

And now.. a little video from our Rivals (and friends) at E.B Aeronautica. You may recognize the scenery, as that is where we take our photos. Mifune Thibaud of E.B. Aeronautica showcases the excellent aircraft made by them, celebrating the golden age of Aviation 1920 - 1939. You can tell, Mifune's Machine is better than mine. Look at that gorgeous frame rate, with all th graphic bells and whistles turned on. :-)

Take some time and visit this welcrafted sim, and maybe take a plane up and enjoy the clear skies and low lag of this Sim. Enjoy!

--Karl

New Updates for the Budget line of planes

2008-09-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

FOr those that have thought that I have not given the budget line any love lately, well you maybe right. However, we are announcing that the PF-01 Series (A,B,C, and the Two Place Trainer) as well as the PT-01 Petrel Torpedo Bomber will be getting flight script upgrades as well as now being equipped with VICE as well as CCC and TCS. The flight model is a but more realistic than previous modes, but still retains a lot of its speed and maneuverability from previous versions. It now has a HUD in SL units, so it will show true speed in meters per second as well as the altitude in meters.

If you have purchased one of these in the past 6 months or so, you will get a free update by just rezzing it. For those that purchased earlier, send me a note, with how your plane appears in your inventory, and approximate date of purchase and we will send you a new one. The new versions will also begin to propagate though our Vendor network shortly.

Clear Skies.

--Karl

Speaking of the THI Hurricane, here is Josh Noonan's Review

2008-09-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

From Josh Noonan's Second Life Aviation Blog. coems this:

This is the latest in a line of virtual aircraft from THI and I have to say, this group of builders just keeps getting better and better!

This exquisitely detailed Second Life aircraft includes the following features:

Very realistic textures including the cockpit, state of art flight model including 2 flight modes - "Basic" flight mode is comparable to the flight models of the other THI fighters and most SL airplanes
and "Advanced" flight mode features advanced lift, glide, and drag: drop into a dive at breakneck speeds, gently (or otherwise) stall the plane when moving too slowly, and perform a perfect dead-stick landing.

Thank you Josh.

--Karl

Spur of the Moment.

2008-09-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

The last of the Fist Team takes off in a BF-109E to battle the Prize of having the first THI Hawker Hurricane on the Grid.

The Hawker Hurricane was nearly done. Duke Elliot had put the final touches on the plane and Creem Pye was making sure the scripts worked properly. Since it was a Holiday Weekend, and I in the past had noted company sales were high on Holiday week ends in the U.S. I urged Duke to put the Hurricane out for sale. He had wanted to have a launch party, similar to the one for the P-40, but I explained that such took time to organize… but I knew where people would be dogfighting every weekend.

At 9am, Introductions were made and rules explained.

In Zoe Connally’s Blog she often announces a group dogfight every weekend, usually Sunday mornings. I suggested that we approach the dogfighters, and offer a competition, with the prize being the first official THI Hurricane on the Grid.

Duke Elliott and I arrived at Extropia: Second Skies before 9AM Sunday. The group was small but enthusiastic and it looked like we would have two teams of two fight, and then the top team would fight each other one on one to determine who was the winner and the second member would get a THI Car of their choice. Sounded reasonable and we set out chairs, and picked teams. I rezzed pairs of BF-109E’s, each pair in matching colors and sent them on their way.

Then the troubles began. The Extropia territories are 6 Sims with mostly open sky with a Mid Century Science fiction theme (There is an actual Jetsons apartment tower), and while the sims that border “Second Skies” are clear, the other three sims are densely build up, and would slow a computer down. Also a lot of the builds being residences, while allowing aircraft, do not permit the rezzing of objects by non residents. VICE being a system that is dependant on users ability to generate physical bullets. If you fly over the residences, you then are essentially shooting blanks. Since I rezzed the planes I would occasionally get a “not allowed “message, but he participants wouldn’t.

A furball developes around the Jetson's Apartment Tower.

The first fight lasted about a half hour. And the winners were Whitewolfie Mumfuzz and Indra Vlodovic. We waited to see if we could rustle up a second team, but after 45 minutes of asking, no one was interested, So Whitewolfie and Indra fought each other. And the dogfight lasted for many minutes, possibly closed to an hour, mostly because they participants chose to fight in amongst the apartment towers, spamming me with “not Allowed” messages. Pretty soon, Duke had to log off to attend to family responsibilities, and I climbed aboard my Airship to observe the fight, and occasionally haul one of the participants’ planes out of the apartment towers and send it flying again. When the participants would engage in endless Luffberry circles around the afore mentioned Jetson’s Tower, and spamming me with “not allowed” messages, I told them what the problem was and that to win they had to stay away from the residences.

Sin Trenton goes down in flames

Whitewolfie Mumfuzz

Indra Vlodovic

As soon as they got over clear space closer to the airfield the fight was over in 5 minutes. Conversation and discussion commenced. We waited to grant the prize for when Duke got back online, and so we talked and I rezzed copies of the new Hurricane and “guested” them for people to fly. Josh Noonan arrived and I gave a bit of an impromptu lesson on how to build. Finally Duke returned and the prize was awarded and We congratulated them and closed the proceedings. Zoe was right, the event should have taken more planning. Also the venue is good for recreational flying, but the presence of high prim residences was hell on less than optimal Machines. We learned a lot and will be prepared next time.

Whitewolfie hanging close to the Jetsons Tower until chased ut into the open area.

Indra goes down fighting...

...and ends up taking a hot bath. He won a car tho...

Incidentally the Hurricane was then offered up for sale and a good chunk of the party moved to the new Aeronautica Sim. The Hurricane is now available for sale at Aeronautica, Blacktail Ridge, FlyinTails and soon 1944.

--Karl
First Prize, awarded to Whitewolfie

Dogfighting Using VICE in SL

2008-08-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

As one of the original users and beta testers for VICE, its often now a lot harder to place a bullet on target that it was with the sensor based (CCC and TCS) based air to air combat scripts in a hot and heavy dogfight. Stolen from Zoe Connolly 's blog :-) I present the following. and IN Character look at how one can improve their dog fighting scores in SL:

This was done by the Battlestar Pacifica Group in SL Kudos to a very well done video

--Karl

How to Texture in SL Like a Pro: Part 1

2008-08-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well in truth you can't, because professional 3D tools allow you to edit UV maps, and assign texture coordinates to individual frames.. However that issue aside, you can come to a professional level if you approach your link sets as a single object, and the maps in a consistent layers based method. First build the object as you see fit.

This is an example of a 3 view plan. This one was found on the web, not only is it useful for building, but it's also useful for placing details on the textures after you build the object in prims.

I would suggest highly that you build to a plan, Even if it's a fictional draw the front side and top views of the item to keep control of the project. There are plenty of sites that have quality blueprints of cars, tanks, aircraft, and buildings that you could use for your project. But sometimes it's fun to roll your own. Just make sure the design is solid and consistent between the front side and top views, or you will go crazy. once the prims are arraigned.

Collecting reference is necessary for a successful historical replica. (This is "Blue Peter" , from the battle of Britain Memorial Flight and the "model for this project.) For a fictional or fantasy project, making or collecting a lot of concept art serves the same function.

If you are building a historical object its very important to find as much reference as you can and duplicate the look from the reference without copying it exactly. Exact copying is considered plagiarism, and is frowned on, as well as being a reason for having the item deleted and your SL account locked. The quality Aircraft makers on SL make their own textures.

Here is the Spit, in it's raw pine wood state in SL

Link then all together by picking them all, and typing "CTRL-L" to link them. The last prim you pick will become the "parent prim" of your item, and that is important for scripting purposes. I won't go into detail on construction, or scripting limitations (32 prims minus each avatar driver or passenger for a Havok 4 vehicle), but I would suggest you look for advice from builders at the sand boxes or other tutorials. This article is covering texturing specifically because so many possibly good projects are ruined by lazy or unskilled texturing.

A Grid Texture is the basis of your future textures on your project, it is literally a map. If your prim is a sphere, the texture becomes a “Mercator’s Projection” of the sphere, showing where the numbers appear on the sphere,. A detail placed on the number 16 square on the grid, will appear anywhere that number 16 square falls on a prim that the grid is applied to.

This is an example grid. It shows a square form and a regular number series and color changes to keep locations within the grid distinct. This grid is available for free from many sources on SL, though it is in My opinion, not the most optimal grid.

The example grid is a free one, that is 16 x 16 squares, but a better suggestion is to make a 10 x 10 square. Make your Grid Texture. 1000 pixel by 1000 pixel. I know that for the sake of Graphic cards you want to keep the texture a power of two, such as on the example grid, but for the purpose of an accurate grid you can work at this size for now. Make the grid any style you want, but it must have three elements: It must have a grid. of 10X10. it must have subtle color differences so that you can tell where the texture begins and ends. It should have a shape or color pattern on it, so that you can tell if things are distorted, either squares or cubes to see if things are wide or tall .The reason a 10 x 10 grid is used, is because unlike most graphics tools, the tools to move and adjust the textures on the Sl prims are base 10, and move in decimal increments, if you have a base 10 grid, you can see the adjustments made on the texture very precisely. There is a point where the grid can be too dense to be useful but put lines in multiples of ten as you se fit. Make the grid yourself to it how you work.

Once you have made your grid, apply it to your project (linkset) so that all the surfaces are covered. in some cases a few prims or the faces of a few prims will remain plywood. Drag the grid texture onto at least all the exposed faces that didn't take the texture the first time.

When you apply it, the textures will be scaled to the size of the prim. To reduce the amount of painting work you will have to do, you should make it so that one texture can be used on more than one prim. Use the texture tool in the edit panel in Sl to increase or reduce the number of texture repeats, the orientation and the position of the texture, so that the grid shows a minimum of distortion (and distortion is inevitable for prims with curves surfaces), and that the entire texture spans several prims in a logical manner. In the example Spitfire, the texture from the nose to halfway through the fuselage roundel is a single texture. that covers 7 prims. A ;lot easier than painting a texture per prim. Also the fewer textures you have on the object, the faster it will recover from being solid grey upon rezzing it from your inventory. Continue to regularize the grid so that all the major sub sections of your project are covered.

Now that you have the object gridded, and the grid regularized and as much distortion removed as possible, the next step is to go to your control drawings, (blueprint) and begin to lay out the surface details in the plans, upon the project, using prims. Push the prims through the project shapes and it helps to give those prims a single solid color. Placing these prims on the project are what we term scaffolding, once the scaffolding is in place, it's time for tracing.

Open the grid texture again in your image manipulation program of choice. That program should have a layer function, so this leaves MS paint and others right out. I use Photoshop, but this should work for Paint Shop Pro , or Fractal Painter. Save the file with a new name, and make a layer No where ever a prim edge crosses your numbered grid lines, place a line on the new layer in the corresponding position. This can be quite tedious, as SL does not have proper UV tools, but this is how you can have straight lines on a curved surface.

I tend to break the job up, by doing all the seams, flaps and panel lines, first, then the national insignia, signage, and markings as a separate layers, and finally the camouflage, and weathering. For me I put these all in the same file in a large stack, so that I can make different color schemes and countries for the same plane. It makes the file size huge, but it saves time after the first paint job to make variations.

this is what the single texture applied to the prims conprising the left (port) wing of the Spitfire..

When you are done, the effect should closely resemble your reference, as your time talent and tools will allow. Photoshop technique and tricks in detail in the next tutorial to save your time, and give the maps that extra little punch that separates it from the usual SL creations.

--Karl

A Hat Reborn...

2008-08-08T22:48:00.000-07:00

One of the first items I made for sale was a German officer's Hat. It was made out of prims. Now a couple of years later, a new sculpted version is available. with a more accurate shape, and also available on 5 branch colors: White for Infantry, Gold for Cavalry, Red for Artillery, Pink for Panzer, and apple green for Panzergrenediers, They now cost 300l and are available on SLexchange, and soon on inworld vendors. Enjoy!

Announcing a reissue of our Popular 1941 1/2 Ton Pick up.

2008-08-03T21:52:00.000-07:00

Our popular 1941 1/2 Ton Pick up is now available again. Reissued with Sculptie fenders to more accurately portray the look , a new Hud, and vastly imroved scripting the new truck now seats four (two in the cab and two in the bed, lounging), and is avaiable in four colors, Red,

Baby Blue,

Black,

and Forest Green.

A fifth color, Beige is offered for fleet purchase for organizations wanting their own vehicle and we are offering to produce graphics for the door or other parts of the truck to brand it to the purchaser's organization. The trucks are sold as Mod okay, and I encourage you to modify and hot rod them to your hearts content. Enjoy!

2008-07-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

Josh Noonan, who writes the SL Aviation Blog reviews the Messerschmitt BF-109E

What can I say, This new addition to Karl's line up of aircraft follows in it's predecessor's fine quality.

The textures are well done and the scripting is excellent. You can fly this aircraft with or without the included hud but I recommend using it. The sounds are great and the engine smoke is a nice touch.

Also, a Review Site from Japan posts the following YOUtube of the 109E I made for SL in action.

It seems a little sped up but he enjoyed the plane apparently.

Karl

Type 82 Kubelwagon Photos and THI methodology

2008-07-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

Karl