AH-64 Pack

[bwph4273 11]

hey if u need pics of the interior of the M1A1 just let me know .I'm in a class with them right now and can take some pics for u.

[nodunit 397]

If you can get some hi-res clear images then I'd be all over it, especially the drivers compartment with hatch closed, I think in total I've found maybe 2 blurred pictures and one video of that position.

The clearer the lettering on the equipment the better for sure,as long as none of it gets you in trouble.

[bwph4273 11]

ill ask and make sure they dont mind but yeah i can get u good pics and full views of it

[Macadam Cow 1]

Damn, those pics on the previous page...

Is it normal to be attracted by helicopters ? Just asking for a friend :j:

Absolutely amazingly oustanding work, keep it up guys !

[ben_s 11]

Its perfectly normal when its this helicopter at that quality. ;)

[Macadam Cow 1]

pheeew, ok, I feel bet...erhm, I mean...my friend will be glad to know that :)

And who knows, in 9 months I might post some pictures of baby Choppers...:p

[bwph4273 11]

hey hope those pics help and just wanted to say again the chopper is amazing and cant wait to use it.

[nodunit 397]

pheeew, ok, I feel bet...erhm, I mean...my friend will be glad to know that :)

And who knows, in 9 months I might post some pictures of baby Choppers...:p

Hahhaah, hey it's alright I tend to get a warm fuzzy feeling myself when thinking about the birds future...

Imagining a rainy day with a flight of birds in training..their strobe lights flashing white from engine to engine every few seconds, rotor arms twisting as they turn with the swash plate moving up and down as they ascend and descend... the horizontal stabilizer folding up and down, adjusting with the help of the hydraulic arms protruding from the tailboom.

Windshield wipers hard at work while the sensors on the engines wiggle about, recording and sending the information to the pilots. Meanwhile the pilot checks his map and then the ADF, following waypoint to waypoint and before switching to PNVS, analyzing the information carefully as each one maneuvers through a foresty environment, each not but a few meters from the ground.

The eye at the front of the helicopter giving him the ability to fly dangerously close to nearby obstacles but safely so, a "birds eye view" he muses to himself as he thinks back to the first day.

The hangar door opens, revealing a mechanical beast which many considered ugly, but in her he saw beauty, an almost forboding beauty. In many ways it reminded him of a shark or alligator, seen as ugly by society but beautiful in that they were such efficient predators.

Their first flight however did not go so well for him, the amount of information he saw was difficult to interpret, the sheer amount of numbers and lines upon the PNVS display was daunting, changing at a moments notice, the movement difficult to keep up with.

But now what was once an overwhelming display of lines and letters, blocking his view was now an organized and understandable display of information, the horizon no longer blocking the view of terrain, having learned to map it out in his mind and look through the lines and understand what each and every number as well as line signified.

With a gentle grip on the cyclic the pilot guides her movements, reading the displays before him. The course, speed and altitude were just right and at last the landing zone was in view.

Leaning to the left and then the right he looks down, checking to see if the path is clear, one more glancing to the flight display to check the altitude, his heart thrumming in his chest, it was almost over.

Incriment by incriment..every passing second feels like a minute before finally the altimeter reads 0, as the landing gear retracts into positioning, absorbing much of the weight and impact.

As he turns off the engines the pilot opens the door, unplugging the IHADSS and hopping from his seat before walking forward, glancing back over his shoulders to see the rain pattering across the metallic surface, the sun shining across the armored canopy plexigless, thinking of the day he would fly her into combat to unleash her true potential.

hey hope those pics help

Yes they will! Just what I was looking for in fact, I had an idea or two about how the inside of the drivers hatch looked but it seems I was completely wrong.

The shots of the equipment and clear text are exactly the kind of thing I need as well, when I resume the tanks interior you can be sure those will play a major role :) Lastly if you don't mind I"d like to discuss it further in PM.

_____________________________________________________________

I got some messages with concern about the polycounts of the hand grips and other parts, so later on today I'll be posting a picture example of the low poly grips and collective+cyclic beside their way high poly counterparts

Edited January 17, 2011 by NodUnit

[bwph4273 11]

sounds good . send me a p.m.

[Pvt.mcdonald 10]

Sorry if this is late, but I found a website with a lot of specifics for military helo's.

http://www.guncopter.com/apache-longbow/

[darkxess 60]

Just want to add that this is an awesome project, cant wait to fly it...

Just some thoughts/questions too, you are going to add wear and tair on the paintwork

right? and things like shown in this picture would add a nice touch to your project

Eyes and mouth like on the A10. Any idea on any type of release date for beta etc?

Would love to be a tester too if there is any chance.

Thanks guys.

Edit: with this chopper in mind, are you actually going to be working on more choppers

in the future, even with the British version of the Apache or something like the MH-47E/G

which isnt in game yet! Anyways, thanks again.

[Wartooth6 10]

omg eta on this is probably longer than it needs to be.

5 minutes ago would have been great.

i literally check armaholic for when this is done every 15 minutes. hahahaha, its actually my homepage on my phone.

[islesfan186 83]

Windshield wipers hard at work while the sensors on the engines wiggle about, recording and sending the information to the pilots.

those sensors are called HADS (helicopter air data sensor) probes. they replaced the ADS from the alpha model.

renders look pretty sick. but what happened to the MTADS and such? or are you making seperate renders for blocks I, II and III?

if you need any help with anything else you can PM me, im a 15R (apache mechanic)

[nodunit 397]

Sorry if this is late, but I found a website with a lot of specifics for military helo's.

http://www.guncopter.com/apache-longbow/

Nah never too late, could be something I missed in there and if nothing else something to familiarize others :)

omg eta on this is probably longer than it needs to be.

5 minutes ago would have been great.

i literally check armaholic for when this is done every 15 minutes. hahahaha, its actually my homepage on my phone.

I guess I could release the model and we could pretend to be flying around in the 3d program, saddly I've actually done that, I'm as eager to see this beast ingame as you are but not until all is ready and set. And that is good for a home page actually..I think I may change mine to that.

...

Of course :), the current 'texture' you see in the images is nothing of a sort, any change in color whatsoever such as the black paint is just another polygon with a different single colored material. Seeing it with it however keeps me more inspired and will serve as a reference when mapping comes around.

Teeth might be in, hard to say, we did that with the OFP longbows and received mixed response http://www.mechmodels.com/mas/downloads/manual/frames.htm I think the best course of action would be to upon release, release the PSD's of the exterior so that people may tailor it to their own liking..I'd be interested to see what they come up with.

As for other plans..hard to say at this moment, ultimately it depend on what Franze wants to do since he is the brains behind it all but I would like to finish up the abrams I started on before this, granted there is one already in game (I know I know) it has more detail and is planned to have an interior with detail that of Steel beasts, plus with all the help and references I've gotten such as the help from King Homer and the wonderful shots from bwph4273 it would be both a shame and rude to pass it up.

This is it btw though somewhat out of date. http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee200/NodUnit/Model%20work/M1A1%20Abrams/New/ http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee200/NodUnit/Model%20work/M1A1%20Abrams/#!cpZZ2QQtppZZ20

those sensors are called HADS (helicopter air data sensor) probes. they replaced the ADS from the alpha model.

renders look pretty sick. but what happened to the MTADS and such? or are you making seperate renders for blocks I, II and III?

if you need any help with anything else you can PM me, im a 15R (apache mechanic)

Correct, all birds will be getting seperate renders and at some point I'll probably make a batch of them all together, as per the offer watch your PM's ;)

Edited January 17, 2011 by NodUnit

[sakura_chan 9]

This is an amazing model! I will forever be a fan of the high quality, single unit addon.

[darkxess 60]

Teeth might be in, hard to say, we did that with the OFP longbows and received mixed response http://www.mechmodels.com/mas/downlo...ual/frames.htm I think the best course of action would be to upon release, release the PSD's of the exterior so that people may tailor it to their own liking..I'd be interested to see what they come up with.

I wanted to actually suggest that, .. if you release it with some PSD's whatnot then community members can make there own design/etc for it .. it would be great, but just didnt want to ask too much of you guys. Thanks

[Jester_Darrak 10]

Amazing work, NodUnit. I whis I could put as much effort only into the cockpit of my strike eagle but I guess I am a lazy guy. What is the polycount for the exterior model? And how long do you think will it take to make a "low-poly" lod out of this poly monster? Trust me, it will be a very sad moment with every vertex you will erase then. :D

Ever thought of working on F-15E? :rolleyes: :D

Btw: could you help me with some options/tools/lights on 3ds max? I must admit that I am pretty new to that program although there might be some interesting things coming out of it on my pc. :D

Edited January 20, 2011 by Jester_Darrak

[nodunit 397]

I cannot give a definite polycount at this time due to there being no 'interior' and some parts having more edgeloops and detail than when final, also pylon weapons will be their own 'system' thus not counted in polycount. The EFABS for example have four edgeloops to get that nice and crisp lit look rather than have the smoothing bleed out which will later most likely be replaced by normal mapping.

The first LOD will likely be over the 20K limit, rationality being that only those very close such as the crew will be able to see it, and why deny them that? The 2nd will be lower or meet 20K then degress from there.

As per your help request I would be glad to, do you have any messengers by chance?

And finally on the update side of things..you'll be pleased to know the 'teasing' will stop for awhile, the pilots dash has long been a thorn in my side and holding up progress, however it finally looking proper..the next update will be of finished pilot cockpits so it will be some time.

Edited January 21, 2011 by NodUnit

[ray243 11]

So since you are doing the hardware, is anyone doing the software? Like FLIR, and all kinds of shit. And I heard you can't use FLIR in realtime, due to some render to texture shit thing.

[franze 196]

So since you are doing the hardware, is anyone doing the software? Like FLIR, and all kinds of shit. And I heard you can't use FLIR in realtime, due to some render to texture shit thing.

FLIR has been possible since OA. What you're talking about is the inability to display a picture from TADS on the MFD.

[ray243 11]

FLIR has been possible since OA. What you're talking about is the inability to display a picture from TADS on the MFD.

Well yeah, I do know it works in OA. What I meant is that the apache in OA isn't as realistic as the one in real life.

[nodunit 397]

I'm afraid you will need to explain better what you mean, your question could be pointed at so many thing's it's hard to answer without assumption.

Edited January 22, 2011 by NodUnit

[ray243 11]

Well, then I'm sorry. What I meant is the apache doesn't have all the functions the real one has, like MFD and etc. Since you are making the apache as realistic as possible, I assume you want all of its software to be as realistic as possible as well right? Then wouldn't it be hard to do?

[nodunit 397]

Oh the MFD's outside of projected video image have nothing to do with render to texture, everything I've shown in the previous pages in displays will be present and contribute something important to the delta.

A recap of current mockups hopefully planned to be represented ingame

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee200/NodUnit/Model%20work/AH-64D/Work%20In%20Progress/MFDscur.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee200/NodUnit/Model%20work/AH-64D/Work%20In%20Progress/mfdp.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee200/NodUnit/Model%20work/AH-64D/Work%20In%20Progress/Apache%20Renders/v1.jpg

mind you the Menu page is only there for should the clickable idea work, something for quick movement but otherwise 2 buttons will be assigned to keep gameplay intuitive rather than frustrating.

RTE is just an experiment and the ENG while admittedly I would love to see it especially since damage systems will involve more engine depth, might not make it.

Each MFD will have important use and something to contribute to the player especially when distance is more suggested for this bird and it's all about the information. Doubly so considering there will be more damage systems IE everything you see in SYS will effect the helicopter if damaged and OK will become MARG or FAIL.

The D would have the advantage over the A for noticeability, readability and full status monitoring of damaged systems on the SYS page, whereas the AH-64A the warning labels would pop up in one of the many small boxes located on the small rectangular box beside the door aka caution warning panel.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee200/NodUnit/Model%20work/AH-64D/Work%20In%20Progress/pilpit3.jpg

The Forward Display Unit (The box with the yellow text above both stations) is also another indicator, pointing out other system warnings not included on the system page such as if you have a fire on one engine, the text would flash up and so on and so forth.

Also I forgot there will be an Air Survivability Equipment page which will act as the air and ground threat detection.

Software as you put it is definately a big part of this unit and honestly the only reason I am building it from the ground up, as per difficulty it's all on Franze shoulders but between the OFP AH-64D http://www.mechmodels.com/mas/downloads/manual/frames.htm

OH-58D http://www.mechmodels.com/mas/projects/oh58d/58_frame.htm

OFP/Arma1 F-18 http://www.mechmodels.com/mas/downloads/superhornet/manual/fa18ef_manual.htm

He is well seasoned in this.

Edited January 22, 2011 by NodUnit

[[frl]myke 14]

Regarding the first pic (the one with the 8 different MFD's), i would be very interested about the coded backend. Especially the projected map. Is it static and just shows the loaded island on full scale or is it dynamic, zoomable maybe?

I would be very interested how you manage those displays, what technique you use (hiddenselections, animations) to make them work.