Sorry, I disappeared for way too long. Two causes: 1) Lots of travel for work - I have flown 55K miles so far this year; 2) being envious of Gary's skills, I decided to learn about 3D modeling. And this post is the result of my attempt so far. This took longer than planned, and, well it is involved. I had a bit of a bumpy start choosing a program. I thought I had settled on HEXAGON, but after a bit, I came to realize that it is buggy and rendering is very limited. I am cheap, so I bit the bullet, and decided to climb the steep learning curve that is BLENDER. It is not that easy to use, but does some amazing things.
At any rate, I have produced graphics for fighters that you can use if you wish, perhaps in conjunction with Gary's SFT pictures. I have a generic fighter, a version for American, British, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Russian regimes; a carrier fighter, and jet fighter (I am including this as a new SFT in my mod). The snapshot is below.
They are based on actual models with actual squadrons and colorings. Can you figure out the base for the generic fighter?
I'll upload pngs next.
They have a transparent background, and fit in the game just fine, with the standard background. I am mildly disappointed with the resolution, but that is really due to the 192x144 format. Generally speaking, the camera angle and distance is the same for each plane, although, I did try to fill the frame.
To use regime specific fighters, you will have to go to the editor, and do the following:
replace the main fighter picture with the GermanFighter. Then go to the extra SFT graphics list, and add several types with the "+" button. The nation specific pictures go here, and the order for ATG is
1 = British
2 = Russian
3 = French
4 = Arab
5 = Japan
6 = China
7 = Africa
I generally then use
8 = American
9 = Italian
10 = India
You should use the generic fighter for Arab, China, Africa, and India (or use them as you like).
A tip for this. First remove the main graphics, then add the nations. Then you can add all the graphics. If you add the main graphic first, each of the extra graphics will then have the standard and overlay pictures (the same picture in both) and you will have to change two graphics for each nation. Something of a pain! More Advanced: If you want to speed up Fighter II, III, and IV, the trick is to copy Fighter I three times, rename these to Fighter II, III, IV (duplicates are OK). Then for each SFT type copy the stats from other SFT type for the one you want, the original Fighter II, III, IV. Then move them up just below their counterpart and delete the original. To finish, you will have to go to the "Item" menu, and scroll down to Fighter II, III, IV, and with the "Is SFT type#" button, set these to the appropriate Fighter II, III, and IV SFT types. You don't have to do this as you can manually set each of the other extra SFT types for the higher versions. But, it is a bit tedious. This is a way to use previous work in the editor. But, you have to remember to reset the item that is built, or things get screwed up. And be sure to put the copied SFT in the exact same slot in the list as the original. And, as usual make a backup copy BEFORE you do anything!
