Welcome!: Blog

Citation X

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:54:16 GMT

X-treme Makeover Update

Well it's been a little while and by looking at the hits coming in, it's time for an update. I've been working closely with Ed Wilson and Bill Leaming over the past several weeks as we continue moving forward with the development of the FS9 Citation X v2.0.

I must admit, working on the VC gauge polygon placement and operation for this particular aircraft has proven to be my greatest challenge to date in regard to the VC. Not so much in the scope of difficulty, but more so in the realm of endurance. In a nutshell, (and without sounding ridiculously technical), the V1.0 CitationX gauge polys, (those polygons put in place to display the aircraft's gauges), topped out at a staggering 7 polygons, with three Vcockpits entries. At last count, I believe I finished up with a brain numbing count of around 190 gauge polygons for the V2.0, but still only three Vcockpit entries. The 'eyes pressed into the monitor- with the tiniest mouse movements' that was required for the precise placement of the gauges during this process left me now as the next Lasik eye patient once we release it. Each of these additional polygons had to be made from scratch, mapped to it's gauge textures, and told what to do via the added MakeMDLparts.xml script provided by Bill Leaming. Obviously I didn't get to that brick paver walkway on the side of the house I was supposed to have finished that weekend. I've also put into place the ability for those who have their own yokes at home to be able to hide our yokes in the VC, thereby revealing the panels for easy VC operation and accessibility. Ed Wilson's determination and commitment of 2 years to create an accurate simulation of the real world aircraft not only demands his brilliant gauge programming, but also the ability to work in harmony with the gauge polygons, and it truly shows his heart in every bit. Bottom line, an incredibly realistic Citation X cockpit simulation of the real aircraft's systems and their operation. In other words, if you are not a Citation X pilot or, if you don't read the manual... you most likely won't even get the engines running. I couldn't anyway. The FMS is especially fun, my first real [simulated] experience with one. Setting it up and keeping an eye on it before, and during, a flight offers plenty to do while observing the huge amount of information being displayed. It ties in with the other gauges beautifully and I felt it truly added a whole new level to the simulator experience. The frame rates are excellent, but there will be more writing [proof] on that later.

The V2.0 is getting everything I've always felt it deserved. Sharp exterior remapped textures with a full fuselage paint kit, preflight setup gauge, completely interactive (clickable) Virtual Cockpit and Cabin with Airshow, improved flight dynamics, pulse light system, crisp Virtual cockpit textures with amazing eye popping gauges which control each of their systems as on the real aircraft.

The big picture of development right now is I'm working on the little tweaks, we have everything operational, now its time to make it all look pretty. Ed has some horrible head banging programming to do yet, but he can work quite swift when he wants to put his foot into the floor so stay tuned here and over at the Eaglesoftdg.com forums as well.

EAA 2008

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:42:15 GMT

EAA AirVenture 2008!

Well, some are yet to be on their way while some are already there. My colleagues Ron and Owen, our Microsoft friends, MVP's, aviation enthusiasts, fans and kids alike... ugh, and here I sit... stuck in Florida.

It's time again for EAA's AirVenture in OshKosh. It's big and beautiful and I'm missing out.... I was this close! Unable to locate a 'fill in' during my absence at my other job left me back at the rear holding down the fort.

The good news is there will be a lot of reporting going on from our reliable friends on the front lines. Check out Mike's article here on how you can make a 'virtual visit' to OshKosh. Hal is getting creative with a unique cell phone photo perspective on his travels here. Owen is a man on the ball and will keep you informed at his blog. How about a live ATC feed of the controllers at KOSH. There's going to be a lot of exciting things going on this year so be sure to tune in and follow the fun!

Very Close....

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:38:38 GMT

Citation X FS9 2.0... finishing touches

Work work work. Here's a few shots as we continue polishing... wax on, wax off. I smell Beta just around the bend. Here's a post over at >>Eaglesoft.

CitX panel

Thu, 08 May 2008 01:43:08 GMT

Sneak a Peek... FS9 Citation X V2.0 VC Gauges

Okay, after hour upon hour of working on the VC gauge mapping with Ed Wilson, (see my 'friends' links), at the helm of some wonderful gauge programming delight, we finally have something to present for the Citation X 2.0 VC gauges in the cockpit. I simply can't explain the amazing skill Ed is showing here with the development of these gauges, they are really really something.

Mind you, I've been slaving away at getting the gauge bezel modeling and gauge face mapping done, and Ed has been keeping pace with providing constant updates....meanwhile, at least six electricians are remodeling my kitchen and keep shutting down the power, many times without warning. Okay,that happened only once. They won't do it again, not at least without proper warning.

These pics do the gauge work no justice, all text is crisp clean and clear. The fully functional FMS is tons 0 fun too.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I'm getting an average of 35-40 FPS with all the good stuff turned on, oh babe, Ed's reporting even better on his big rig. Hey, this is a real big budget show over here we're not playing around ya know.

A few close ups for now, more later...

Vcabin Teaser

Tue, 06 May 2008 00:24:50 GMT

Citation X v. 2.0 Cabin

Here's a little vid of some of the cabin interaction I'm working on for the Citation X v.2.0, This one is a dusk shot showing off the lighting variations.

Diane is still not animated so there's plenty of key frames to do yet.

CitX Update

Thu, 01 May 2008 17:40:47 GMT

FS9 Citation X 2.0 Update

Well I've been slaving away the past several weeks on the Citation X, in between renovating our kitchen, and I'm happy to report that I'm nearing that light at the end of the tunnel in regard to the work required by me on this project. Soon I'll be mapping gauges to the Virtual Cockpit, getting various parts to process display conditions with XML, insert animations, then general clean up. She has an updated fresh and clean look now with less polys, less texture files, yet greater overall detail and performance.

MVP Owen Hewitt

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:30:31 GMT

2008 MVP Global Summit

Microsoft MVP, and fellow Eaglesoft team member, Owen Hewitt has returned from the big house after attending the 2008 MVP Global Summit. As I expected, he's reported back at his blog page with some very interesting coverage with photos. So pop in and and check it out!

Summit

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 01:22:48 GMT

Owen's back at the big house.

Be sure to keep an eye on Owen's blog, he's just attended the 2008 MVP Global Summit in Redmond. I'm sure he'll have a fountain of information, photos, stories, and maybe even some inside scoop once he gets back!

Sun N Fun

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:52:19 GMT

Sun N Fun 08!

We have been pretty lucky over the last few years during the Sun N Fun Fly-in over in Lakeland. The weather has been just terrific. Last year was pretty dry, trails of dust behind cars out in the huge pasture parking lots.. but the temperature was good. This year the ground was still fairly moist after several days of steady rain, but the temperature was again wonderful, followed by gentle breezes.

I had gotten inside the gates about a half hour before Ron, (Eaglesoft Development Group) and Stasi, (Mindstar Aviation) spotted me over by the Liberty Aerospace display. They were walking up sporting bags, cameras, and big smiles on their faces obviously happy to be back in aviation toy land again.

All the big boys were there again this year and plenty of new guys on the block. The most prominent letters this year were VLJ and LSA, and the manufacturers brought their bright ideas with them and put them on display to show the weren't playing around. It seemed around every corner were Aspen Avionics with their oh-so-cool glass gauges. Virtually plug and play, they drop right into the existing panel holes that house the steam gauge six-pack, and are surprisingly affordable.

Ron and Stasi check out the Aspen PFD in the new Liberty. It's not a really really small plane, Stasi is just a big guy!

We had to drop by for a few pics of the FKA Columbia 400 which is now known as the Cessna 400 and 350. It was a little strange seeing the logo on the tail after spending so much time working on the FS Columbia 400 project.

Heading over to the Eclipse display you never know what they've brought with them. In case you missed it at Air Venture, Check out the 'Concept Jet' V-tail single VLJ. Aerodynamic design has been left to George Lucas.

Yes, it flies, and it looks like drag would not be an issue.

You know, we left dial phones and dial modems in pursuit of greater technology, but apparently a dial up throttle isn't necessarily a step back.

Right next door to Eclipse sat Cirrus, taking up a huge chunk of real estate alongside their trademark Cirrus semi truck. There were three nice things to enjoy there;

What? A Light sport? How did I miss that? Ron gets a shot of the panel there, and a nice panel it is.

Over the left wing of the sport I saw something perched on a pedestal that looked a lot like an Eclipse Concept Jet;

I like the placement and design around the engine area, and with a larger fuselage it gains an extra window.

Lastly lets pay our respects to the ever growing great one;

Cirrus Generation 3 turbo GTSX.... mommy.

Ron, Stasi and I stopping is to visit Russ over at Piper.

We dropped in over at Diamond which is my personal favorite, these folks make a nice airplane. We met some very interesting people in the pavilion as well as met with many of the representatives concerning our upcoming projects.

The DA-42 Twin Star. One has to simply appreciate the thought put into the use of space, ease of entry/exit, visibility and just darn good looking.

The Da-50.. be still my heart...moon lighting in the cabin ceiling.

Stasi and I got a kick out of this Superstar!

Time flies like everything else around here and it was time to head back to reality. A visit to the AOPA tent, FLYING Magazine store, and a smoking hot corn dog on the way out. Those beautiful planes continue to fly overhead as we say our goodbyes, until next year.

New 'puter

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:40:50 GMT

I love that new computer smell

I've always maintained a smaller second hard drive as a back up on my computer. When I would upgrade to a new computer, the old master drive became the slave in the new one. I had always thought it a good idea to store source data there since it's the C: drive that 'crashes'. But then there's those days you wake up and walk by the office and see lines of DOS on your computer screen and hear a strange whirring and clicking sound... oh great. It seems my secondary drive failed and somehow brought down the rest of the house with it...fine, I needed to upgrade anyway and now I have a good excuse.

This upgrade has been a good experience and everything has gone surprisingly well in the setup, installation, and customization needed to bring it back as the hub of research, design, development and communication for the biz. A nice ASUS M2N-SLI carries two 'SLI'd' Nvidia 8800 GT graphics cards like saddlebags on a Harley. At the helm, AMD provides the dual core 64 5000's alongside four, 'gig-a-piece', sticks of the good ram...oh the fun to be had. Vista looks great and is appropiately named. I'm surprised how much of the fairly new hardware/software doesn't have, or won't be, providing any Vista updates and suggest you rely on Vista's drivers without new software. I.E. the photo toolbox software disc for my HP photosmart printer is not compatible with Vista so it operates on the basic driver. A visit to HP downloads page finds a notice that there are no plans for them to update the software. Thanks god 3DS Max8 loaded up and seems to work fine though. I've still got alot to do and look forward to posting some nice screens soon.

Ah, FSX has never looked so good.

Sun N Fun

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:52:20 GMT

It's that time again, we're getting ready for the Sun N Fun fly-in 2007 over here in Lakeland Florida. I'll most likely spend at least two days out there wandering about mindlessly, overwhelmed by beautiful aircraft, aviation gadgetry, and corn dogs. Ron (Eaglesoft) and Stasi (Mindstar Aviation), look to be dropping in on the 10th of April. We'll be driving in because it seems until Florida gets it's tax ax sharpened up, flying in could bring on a hefty cost, READ THIS story and get involved.

Repaint

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:25:18 GMT

Paint repaint repeat

If you haven't had a look yet, head over to Owen's blog and check out what he's been doing with the newly remapped FSX Citation X 2.0. He's done some terrific repaints on the new 2048 wide template, and they are crisp and sweet! Folks are really going to appreciate how easy it will be to paint, even the most complex schemes, on his planar mapped template. No stretching, skewing, or distortion anywhere. If you like the external model, you're are certainly going to love the new VC cockpit and cabin.

FSX CX2

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:54:19 GMT

X-Treme Makeover FSX

Wow! Take a look at the Citation X 2.0 for FSX in this shot Owen sent out last night.

Owen's done a fine job with the planar mapped fuselage and nacelles. With the panel lines, rivets and other details in place it really just keeps getting better. I'll throw in a bit of shading then we should be about ready to move on to the VC's of each version.

CX 2.0

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:45:40 GMT

X-treme makeover

This is a good day, I'm almost finished with the external model master template. I've been hitting the Citation X so hard I seem to have developed carpal/tennis elbow or something. Owen says, "Take more breaks!" I try but I'm on a roll! So now I fly my little RC helo every few hours to get away from my office but it's not helping the elbow...oh well... I'm taking tomorrow off, but I have to work the mean streets of Orlando all weekend. I keep reminding myself, two more years... two!

Here's a shot of how things are shaping up... may I present:

As my dear friend Emeril would say, "Oh yeah babe". These are temp 'testing' textures mind you, those heavy shadows are not in the final product. You already saw the naked master template before, so.. take a peek at a portion of the master template now...

Yes, that's ALL the layers involved here. Every bit of shading here is on the single 'shadow' layer, one quick slider tweak adjusts everything in loving harmony. Take it away and all you will see is lines and rivets. No white paint needed for the 'highlights' either, simply the absence of shadow does the job nicely, so repaints are as easy as wax on-wax off! There's plenty of room for improvement though, with many of the large textures I find myself asking me myself and I,...what was I thinking?!

Oh, and one other peek, dont tell...

Yeah... that's a Rolls Royce. :)

At last count: Our model is 4 megs lighter, and 6 less texture templates than the original.

Extreme Makeover

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 14:44:53 GMT

X-TREME MAKEOVER

Okay, I admit it. It's alot more work than I originally anticipated. Along with what I already knew I wanted to do to bring the Citation X 2.0 model and textures up to the ready line, human nature kicked in. Suddenly, one can find the scope of their original plan expanding. You could relate it to scrubbing a smaller, dirty mark on your car then, lookie here... now I got a clean spot! Unable to break the hypnotic fixation, you soon find yourself washing the entire car, waxing, vacuuming.....

Well I suppose it's a good thing and since I have the time I might as well dig in a bit deeper and trim more of the fat on this Citation X-treme makeover while I have a few days off from the 'other job'. Oh, and Diane's acting all silly and happy because our old washer just went 'toes up' forcing me to spend all of my Lowe's gift cards on something other than what I had hope to spend them on. So, as it goes, we're getting a new fancy schmancy one Sunday, at least that makes me golden for a while.

The Citation X, although loved by everyone and very successful, was overweight. Paying attention to what's being said in forums, having friends like Owen, and through trial and error, good things are learned. Originally, my plan was to make the transition to 2.0 quite painless with a quick conversion to the new model, change some colors here and there, and revamp the VC for the new gauges. Unable to break the trance which had me locked into the vastness of the aircraft's texture folder, I finally gave in and started stripping the thing down to the studs. Popping rivets, pulling seats, rearranging and moving everything I could to take better advantage of precious pixel space. Animations stripped, parts relocated and retextured at their new home, animations reinserted. My backs killing me but the 2048x1024 master template is looking tight babe, and I've still got room.

I rolled her out this morning and she's back to looking like her old self again but much lighter in polygons, vertices, and texture calls. There's still always some room for a slight nip-tuck here or there.. but hey, I'm on a schedule over here. Some nice additions so far include a baggage door now.

I've actually cut the windows out on this model, (instead of having them 'painted' out while using the magic of the ole customized draw order trick), so now they look thick and happy. The model is mapped across two 1024x1024 .bmp's to insure those sharp textures everyone wants. Increased performance because of the lighter model. Everything is clickable or obtainable through the preflight gauge. Click to close the cockpit doors and the cabin vanishes to free up more performance if desired, and so on.

I'm anxious to start on the VC, there's alot of love already there but what's in store is really going kick. I've got to get started on the dreaded panel lines and rivets next and get those to Owen, so back to work we go.

PC Pilot

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:19:27 GMT

PC Pilot Magazine Interviews Eaglesoft

I finally had the opportunity to review a file Ron sent to me of an interview by PC Pilot Magazine of him regarding the Eaglesoft Development Group , it's team members, and our products. It's their 51st issue, appropriately sporting a P-51 on the cover, and should be hitting the shelves now. They also showcased our Twin Comanche aircraft, and if you've been keeping up with my recent posts, you've seen plenty of coverage of that beautiful twin along with my spotlighting of Owen Hewitt and Roy Wilbanks.

We certainly appreciate this opportunity PC Pilot has given us to say a few things about the team members, our present course, and our future goals as we move forward in providing high quality, unique aircraft for the flightsim community. Be sure to pick up your copy to check out the interview and the Twin Comanche review which received a 90 out of 100!

CitX 2.0

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:08:22 GMT

A legend reborn for FS9 and FSX

I'm very happy to say that our extremely popular Citation X for FS9 is back in the shop for a much needed makeover. An early product put together a few years ago by the original core team at Eaglesoft including myself, Ron Hamilton, Bill Leaming, Lonny Payne, and assistance of Rob Young 'Real Air Simulations'. It wasn't long after it's successful release that we soon considered it to be the flagship of ESDG.

To me, the Citation X was very special not just because I modeled my wife in the cabin, but also because of what I learned from it. Being quite green, not just in the world of modeling at the time, but also inexperienced in how to model and texture a project with respect to the techniques that would result in the most efficient use of polygons and textures. Over a year of every minute of my free time everyday I chained myself to my desktop and chiseled feverishly and banged the thing into shape based on research photos collected from several Citation X jets over at MCO's Cessna Service Center.

Near completion, I went on to incorporate imaginative ideas into the project that would make it stand out from other 3rd party aircraft, to be unique and more fun. Such as the animated passenger posed for various configurations. She became an international favorite figure and brought 'life' to the cabin for many many owners who always feature her in their reviews, screenshots, and even YouTube videos. The maintenance girl working in the avionics bay of the nose, pitot and engine cover flags swaying in the wind, a visually rich and warm cockpit and cabin with custom night lighting that would inevitably turn many 2D flyboys into VC pilots. Small touches like the cabin plaque that would display whatever livery you would be flying and, of course, the passenger's laptop computer and wine to add the final touch of Business + Money= luxury. It was released with four different model options to further insure it would please those owners with low, or high end machines.

So what is left to improve on? Plenty. The Citation X 2.0 will feature many improvements based on customer feedback and changes in technology. A fully functional FMS and full gauge rework will most likely be one of the greatest anticipated enhancements. Other improvements include a completely remapped exterior over two 1024x1024 bitmaps to insure higher resolution textures. Optimized model to improve performance and reduce the number of overall polygons and texture calls, a preflight gauge to allow the owner to display, (or not display), various extras such as the passenger, maintenance crew or even cabin. There's plenty more on the table and even a few surprises that I'm not going to mention at this date.

My friend, MS MVP, and fellow team member Owen Hewitt has taken the model under his own wing and is currently working his Max mastery of magic to bring the Citation X 2.0 to FSX! Those who have seen what he can do already know that the FSX Citation X will undoubtably be something to behold. Those who don't, take a gander at the Twin Comache he designed in my photo album. The image above is an actual render from his FSX work and you can see more here. The experience he has unselfishly passed on to me has been invaluable in my work to make a better product.

So, stay tuned over at Eaglesoft, the excitement is building!

Back in the USA

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:59:09 GMT

Back in the USA

Hi friends, I've been completely covered up the last month, and then some, so I haven't updated the blog space at all. I've just returned from an incredible trip to Italy and have been getting things organized and caught up around here but hope to continue updates over the next few days so stay tuned! Meanwhile enjoy this amazing Citation X video by Andre. Arrivederci! Here's the link should the embedded vid not work for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsULXYIW3RY

Piper Twin Comanche Goes Gold

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 16:57:24 GMT

PIPER TWIN COMANCHE GOES GOLD!

The Eaglesoft Development Group has announced the release of their Piper Twin Comanche for FS9! Check out the screen shots here if you haven't seen them, then run over to Eaglesoft to download yours today!

Congratulations to Team Eaglesoft for their hard work and commitment in the development and release of this quality FlightSim product!

TC Beta

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:25:33 GMT

Twin Comanche goes Beta!

The Eaglesoft Piper Twin Comanche is now in Beta testing over at our quality control labs. She's being given a thorough going over by the design team and many other highly qualified testers. Testing is actually going quite well as we move forward squashing bugs, tweaking textures, and buff, paint and polish. The high note of the project is the smooth performance offered by the FS9 model, much effort has gone into the entire aircraft to insure pleasing frame rates which allows more room to crank up some sliders and have some fun.

Here's a link to some amazing photos of Nick doing just that! Check them out here!

Twin Comanche Dev

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:50:46 GMT

FS9 Piper Twin Comanche, Final Developments

The Eaglesoft Piper Twin Comanche, based on Roy Wilbanks' real world aircraft, rolled out of Bob's paint and body shop today. Over the past month I gave it a good going over to refine and detail Owen's base texture sets. As promised, I have some photos below but the real beauts are in the photo album above....be sure to check 'em out full screen.

The plane was a joy to work on and who could complain with the excellent R&D material Owen provided. Roy and Owen are great friends, so Owen frequently tags along with Roy on some of his many flights. Given more time one can always find more areas of the texture work to improve upon, and by the effecient layout of texture sheets, more time became available to go back and tweak things further.

These shots have been resized so they wont look as good as the ones in the photo album, either way it's all still very much work in progress....which is why I left the gauges covered and omitted other areas as well.

It's a great looking aircraft and certainly one of a kind. I'm sure once she is made available those who own her will be more than happy with the quality of the project as well as the fun of flying it!

Twinkie Tweaks

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:57:55 GMT

Piper Twin Comanche

in Final Development

The Eaglesoft Piper Twin Comanche featuring Pilot Roy Wilbanks and the aircraft's distinguished design is now in its final stages of development before being blessed for beta.

I received it a few weeks ago to begin final texture tweaks. Owen has done a fine job on the modeling of the aircraft as well as insuring a completely efficient layout of parts and textures. Users will appreciate the fluid FPS this package will provide.

Panel and gauge work is looking top notch as Ed, Bill, and Ron continue striving for nothing less than top quality in function and appeal consumers have come to expect.

Read more about Roy Wilbanks and his 'dream come true' here.

I'll post some updated photos before I send everything back up to Owen.

Stay tuned over at the Eaglesoft forums for all the latest developments on our first twin!

Sim Pilot Magazine

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:08:08 GMT

Sim Pilot Magazine Review

Awards the Columbia 400 the Gold!

I finally got by to visit Owen's blog and found his announcement of a review on our Columbia 400 by Sim Pilot Magazine. I dropped in to check it out and it seems News Guy Larry gave it a thorough going over and found it to be worthy of their Gold Medal Award. Thanks Larry, and Sim Pilot Magazine, and congratulations to my fellow Eaglesoft collegues for their hard work on this fine aircraft!

Turning 45

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:50:20 GMT

Flying my Dream... Finally

One thing the 4th of July fireworks signaled each year for me was another birthday. It used to be cool, but I dreaded the date closing in on me this year bringing with it the big '45'. Dinner at Ruth Chris Steak House is plenty good to take my mind off of it though, but what I didn't know was more lay in store. Unwrapping a new Tommy Bahama silk shirt, I raised it out of the box.... wow, nice shirt! A plain white envelope lay in the bottom of the box. I looked around the table and everyone was sporting this evil grin, puzzled... I opened the envelope.

The first thing that caught my eye was the letter head on the paper inside, it looked like this:

Some things take a second to register... wait a minute, I know what this is... no way, is this real?!

Woohoo! I just got me an hour of flying a P51 Mustang! Stallion 51 maintains 4 P51 Mustangs over at Kissimmee's airport near the Warbird Museum. I've known of Founder/pilot Lee Lauderback who many of you may have seen flying Crazy Horse in one of the many airshow events he and his staff attend. I first learned of him from his brother, fellow Orlando Police Officer, Lane Lauderback who I worked with for years. Lane told me about him after he learned of my passion for the Mustang and my long time interest in WWII. I never thought that my life's dream of actually flying a P51 would ever become a reality. Unbelievable.

I have a year to call over and schedule the 3 hour experience. With three cameras mounted in and around the aircraft, I'm sure I'll have plenty to share when I get back! Stay tuned!

Interview, Owen Hewitt

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:54:16 GMT

Spotlight: Owen Hewitt Microsoft MVP, Flightsim Developer

'Big Red', my thirsty truck, purred like a kitten as we made our way along those long stretches of highway winding through the southern hills of Georgia and into South Carolina. Having worn out the few CD's I had remembered to bring along I flipped off the player for some silence after it began raining to think about some objectives of the trip only to be occasionally startled by 'Betty', (my Tom Tom), with a sudden, "Keep left!"

I'm on my way to Greenwood, South Carolina. There I'll be meeting up with good friend, and Eaglesoft Colleague, Owen Hewitt. Owen is widely known in the FlightSim community as a highly skilled add-on developer who is always generous and kind, greatly informative, helpful and openly available. He is a respected Microsoft MVP, (Most Valuable Professional), a honorable entitlement rarely given to those only by Microsoft who have proven themselves an invaluable asset to Microsoft and the associated community. After a brief stop in Charlotte to meet my son for dinner, I arrived in Greenwood.

I was greeted by Owen outside and was introduced to his wife Christy and their daughter Christy Lake. What a deserving home for such a wonderful family, a welcoming two-story high on the land and backed up to a beautiful sparkling lake. Those thick southern pine and oak nestled around the lake under a huge blue sky offers a perfect view out of Owen's office workspace window.

It didn't take long before we were planted in front of the computer and Owen was firing up 3DSMax 8, let the fun begin. We spent some time discussing some of the basics of modeling and texturing as well as understanding and implementing a more optimized folder structure in regards to texture placement and calls. Owen had to work that evening so we had to cut it short for now.

We spent most of the day Saturday cemented to the screen. I set up my video camera to record the discussions as Owen's cursor wizzed around the screen in a blur poking polys, snapping vertices, and extruding Max modeling goodness. I'll play it back in slow-mo later when I'm back at the hotel. Christy put together some sandwiches and fruit for lunch that we enjoyed on the porch above the weekend boaters. Good people they are. Genuine and completely honest, down-to-earth laid back and happy together. We have alot in common having been brought up as southern gentlemen where a handshake is your word, family comes first, and the opportunity to extend neighborly hospitality comes from a genuine heart.

After lunch we headed back to the office and moved onward with Max in the latter stages of development and finally project compilation. Owen offered a wealth of information and left me with plenty to chew on during the long drive back to Orlando. I packed up the camera to head out and get ready for dinner. I tiptoed to the front door with Owen as Christy and Christy Lake were snuggled up and knocking out an afternoon nap together on the couch. Later that evening Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt picked me up at the hotel and we drove out to Abbeville for dinner. The town square where the restaraunt is located is situated around a central park area. The amazing buildings nestled side by side with their historic 1800's architecture still in place were beautiful and one can't help but to want to explore each one of them. The Steak Diane I enjoyed for dinner was excellent and we had a great time talking and enjoying our visit together.

Owen was kind enough to respond to some questions I put together for an interview that continues below. Be sure to visit Owen's blog here on a regular basis. You'll find Owen is a very visible and available MVP, and you'll find that he's a terrific source of FlightSim information as well as Microsoft and real world aviation news and stories.

-Give us some background on how FS came into your life.

It all started with MS FS 4.0 on a computer that my grandmother purchased one summer I was staying with her. I believe it was the summer of 1990. I have always had a fascination with airplanes, especially since my grandparents live right under the approach for RWY 4 at KGSP. I thought it was really cool that MS produced an expansion pack for MS FS 4.0 that included a 747 and more scenery (well, a few more boxes). I did not own my own computer until around 1997, so I had a hiatus between FS 4.0 and FS98, where I picked up on it again.

-What do you do in your free time?

I spend time with Christy and Christy Lake when I want to get away from the computer. We live on a lake in Greenwood, SC so we enjoy boating when the weather is right. I also enjoy watching a good movie on DVD. I cannot tell you the last time I've been to a theatre to see a film. That new Transformers movie coming out this summer might just have to break that.

-What are some things you have done to expand your FS experience from the beginning?

I always enjoyed assembling plastic aircraft models when I was growing up, and I thought to myself how cool it would be to build something on the computer and then turn around and actually fly it. I stumbled upon AF99 (Aircraft Factory 99) one day at a computer store, and I bought it. I tried it for maybe a week until I gave up. There was nothing intuitive about it. I did not let that discourage me though, because I soon learned of FSDS in 2000, which supported my desire to create add-ons until I discovered gMax and Max - I haven't looked back since.

-Are you a gauge, eye candy, scenery guy, or what else drives your interest?

That's a great question. I tend to get hung up on design of the aircraft and VC - that's what I do, so I tend to pay most attention there. I also enjoy a great sound package. I don't purchase an awful lot of 3rd party wares (simply because I don't have a lot of time to enjoy them), but when I do, it is usually an aircraft that I think has been designed very well.

-What caught your attention or sucked you in most with FS?

It fell in with my love of aviation so it was a natural attraction.

-What sliders do you keep at max and which ones are an minimum?

That depends. If I'm taking screen captures, I'll run most of my sliders up to max, as then FPS really does not matter to me. If I am flying casually, I'll turn down most AI traffic to less than 25%, I've got my scenery set about middle ground and water effects down to 1.x mid or hi.

-What areas do you find yourself continually returning to fly?

I often will do test flights around Roanoke, Virginia. I attended Virginia Tech (go Hokies!) for a few years, and I really liked the landscape there in southwestern Virginia. Roanoke provides a good mix of terrain, city scenery, and it has a pretty nice airport. I also frequent the Myrtle Beach and Charleston areas of my home state, South Carolina.

-Only one answer here. What plane is your favorite to fly (no dev names mentioned)?

T-38 Talon.

-What is your preference: single engine prop, twin engine props, jets, heavies, bush ...?

I enjoy twins. I am very fond of the Seneca V that I helped produce while I was with FSD. I am pretty excited about the Twin Comanche I am working on with Eaglesoft.

-How much time on average during a week is invested in FS, whether it be flying or development work?

20-22 hours a week.

-Are you now or will you be a real pilot?

No, I am not a real pilot. I have often thought about getting my PPL, but the expense of it is just too out of reach for me, especially when we have a young child.

-Describe your home flightsim setup.

I'm running a Dell XPS Gen 4 with a Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor w/ HT, Windows XP Pro, 2 GIG RAM, ATI X1900 XT video card with 512 Meg RAM, Viewsonic 21" CRT monitor, Klipsch ProMedia 2.1, Saitek Av8R joystick. It is over 2 years old and is starting to show its age. I'm hoping to upgrade my hardware to at least a dual core system by the end of the year.

-In designing aircraft projects, what are your pet peeves?

Unsnapped vertices on adjacent parts that should match up.

-2D or 3D?

I'm assuming you are asking this regarding panels, and which I prefer to use while flying. 3-D, should you have even asked? :)

-Describe how you would envision Flightsim 8 years from now.

Well, if I were to have to have guessed where it would be now in 2001, I would have been so far off the mark, it would have been embarrassing. At the rate of how it has evolved in the 25 years it has been in existence, I don't know. Perhaps in 8 years we'll have hologram projectors that will present a live 3-D representation of the aircraft. How cool would that be?

-What are your thoughts on the FS community (consumers)?

Overall impression of the FS community right now is better than it was 6 months or a year ago. I believe that the 3 year cycle that began with FSX was a stretch for the consumers and caused a lot of users to stall in their desire to use FS. When FSX did finally arrive and was such a performance hungry application, the community really began to become unstable. You began to see users swearing to never give up FS9, some just quit FS altogether. I think that now SP1 for FSX has been out for a while, the community has calmed down significantly.

-What are your thoughts on Microsoft ACES Studios team?

They are a great bunch! My fortune of being an FS MVP has allowed me to interact with them very often, and they are a very passionate group of people. Also, their outreach to the community via forum participation and personal blogs really sends the message that they care about what is being said regarding their products.

-What do you dislike most about flightsimming?

That I cannot dream up a project, and complete it in a week. It takes an awful lot of time to produce a quality FS project from beginning to end, and that can be a drag sometimes.

-What do you like most about flightsimming?

Seeing reaction from users who are enjoying something that I created. That is very gratifying.

-If you were on the FS ACES team what would you change or do?

Very interesting question. I don't think I would change much, as I think they are moving in the right direction overall. I don't think I would want all of that pressure, so I'm sure I would respectfully decline.

-What is your opinion of MS FS and real world aviation? Should MS strive for real world training certification?

Well, if you read Bruce Williams comment on this blog post of mine, you'll read that the FAA does not certify software. I think that with rising fuel prices, many real world aviators are turning to something like MS FS as a platform to keep "in practice." In fact, a gentleman contacted me recently stating that he flies angel flights frequently, and uses MS FS to practice the entire flight before leaving the ground. That's pretty cool.

-If you could have the system for FS of your dreams, what would it be?

Probably one of those water-cooled Mach V from Falcon Northwest. Those are the best of the best when it comes to hardware.

-What advice would you have for the fellow 3rd party developers?

If you do not succeed, try, try again.

-What aircraft do you want to develop most?

I'm pretty sure I'm working on that, and I can't mention it (yet).

-What is the most important point you'd like to make to add-on purchasers?

That quality of our product is driven by our love of aviation and FS.

-What makes a good add-on developer?

A good add-on developer is someone who is thorough and precise in what he/she creates. Cutting corners will always be detected by the consumer so just don't do it.

-If you could do it all over again, what would you change?

I wouldn't change a thing. I've met and continue to meet many wonderful people through my association with FS, and that's made the whole adventure well worth it!!

Tileproxy

Thu, 31 May 2007 22:03:05 GMT

TileProxy- A New FlightSim Addiction

Tileproxy. A strange name some of you may have heard of... some not. The topic has been a hot item now for quite awhile. Although I've seen screenshots of what it does, and have seen mention in many forums, I've never really took the time to dig into it to understand exactly what it is...too many irons in the fire already.

One thing I can count on when I read my buddy Owen Hewitt's blog, is he will undoubtedly have something interesting, useful, and sometimes funny to share. When Owen recently posted a video of using the Tileproxy tool, and talked about it a bit, I knew it was something worth checking into. So I did.

After spending much of the day reading the AVsim forum and manual 'learning myself', it all started coming together and I finally got it going.

Here are a few shots of what I got, I've added larger photos in a new photo album above.

What's basically going on here is earth imagery is being downloaded from your favorite satellite/arial imagery provider and laid before you over the FS mesh. In a nutshell, you are basically a cursor with flight dynamics moving over 3D photoreal images downloaded, as you fly, from a .cfg file designated provider. The result....way kewl.

Download and install from here. Read the manual, then read it again. Then go to AVsim and read the forum they have setup with all your questions already answered.

My findings are split. The final result after downloading, reading, understanding then actually getting it to work...is gorgeous. My machine struggles to keep up with the download usually because it's a bit older now, it seems dual core systems will benefit greatly as the chore is split much more friendly. The best way to enjoy it is to fly around in the area you love most, let all the tiles load into a cache folder that gets setup in your FSX folder where they stay until you fly the area again. Then, the next time you fly the area they load much quicker and off you go to enjoy it without Tileproxy running at all. You have the option of deleting them and starting fresh elsewhere if you'd like. You can set up multiple cache folders if you'd like for different imagery providers, or for the different locales you like to fly in.

My vote, I'm keeping it. I can use it when I want or leave it off when I'm testing our new products, etc. Should the rare occasions arise where I can putz around low and slow just for VFR fun of it, then it's there. It's currently in Beta 4- and with the brilliance of it's designer, Mr. C. Buchner, who is a software engineer and AVsim moderator..., Tileproxy has a bright future which I'm looking forward to.

Fighter Pilot

Thu, 17 May 2007 18:59:44 GMT

"Fighter Pilot", A Must See...

Here is a film that I missed earlier on because I thought it would be another 'teenage boy got the chance to fly a fighter back to Baghdad and totally kick some tail while listening to rock'n music on his Ipod' thingy. Well, today after testing SP1 and our Columbia, and before Diane gets home and I start grill'n and chill'n, I started looking over the movies in Pay-per-View. I saw this one and thought, what the heck, I'll surf the net and play the movie for some background noise.

It was available in HD so I purchased it and fired it up on the big plasma and kick started the Bose system and cranked it to my favorite volume level of 45. When the movie kicked on and ran about 5 minutes, I closed my laptop with my eyes still fixed to the screen, I cranked the volume to 50. This aint no Top Gun RC model, CGI, teenie bopper "we won we won!" cheese bread...no way. This is the HD real deal.

Amazing cinematographycombined with beautiful angles of in-the-pilots-face painful G-pull'n love, and excellent narration. It's a 2005 winner of Best in Festival at the LFCA, 48 minute docu-drama primarily focused on Pilot John 'Otter' Stratton, a young american fighter pilot who flies the F-15 Eagle.

He was eight years old when he decided to become a pilot. It wasn't a tough decision -- his grandfather was awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses and 11 air medals as a fighter pilot in the Second World War. As far as John was concerned, his grandfather had won the war all by himself in his beautiful blue Corsair. His grandfather was a hero and he intended to follow in his footsteps. We follow our young pilot as he makes his way through Operation Red Flag, an extraordinary event held in the desert of Nevada. He is amazed at how complex, confusing and dangerous the exercises are, and experiences eye opening tests, trials, failures and successes. I wish I would have caught this jewel when it was still in Imax theaters.

If you've got a need for speed and have always been a fan of modern combat jets and dogfighting, topped off with a good dose of B2's, F117, and allied support...then check out this link here and watch this masterpiece while you cuddle with your stuffed A-10.

C400

Thu, 17 May 2007 12:10:34 GMT

Eaglesoft Columbia 400 For FSX

Coming Soon!

The Eaglesoft Columbia 400 for FSX could possibly be released before I finish typing this... it's that close. Right on the heels of the release of SP1, the Columbia should be a nice treat to add to the celebration. I turned over my original FS9 source files to Owen Hewitt several months ago and he has been hard at work to get it up to full featured speed for FSX. That means fun stuff like environmental mapping and self shadowing, etc., are all functional...cool.

Our other team members have equally been busting their behinds to resolve new avionics issues and what not. This plane has been very successful and has received nothing but positive feedback from our customers. We hope to be able to eventually release an Experience Aviation version sometime after Barrington's return.

SP1

Thu, 17 May 2007 11:55:43 GMT

SP1 For FSX Now Released!

The Service Pack for Microsoft Flight Simulator X is now officially released and is available for download. After four Beta versions ACES has successfully produced what seems to be the update everyone has been waiting for addressing a vast range of issues. I'm sure the FS Community will be nothing less than delighted at the results they will see on their local systems. The RTM version has even cleared up some other lingering FX issues on some of our own aircraft. Developers will appreciate some major bugs being squashed such as the original compiler doubling up the file size, and the FS9 gauge lighting system has been restored (thank you!).

Hats off to ACES for their determination and hard work on SP1 and their continued loyalty and commitment to the FS community and other 3rd party developers!

Barrington Progress

Fri, 11 May 2007 01:20:38 GMT

Barrington Covers 2000 Nautical Miles in Two Days

Pressured by a demanding schedule, event coordination, (locale specific), but mostly weather, Barrington was able to slip out of Dubai and make it to Calcutta, traveling through Iran and Pakistan airspace, with surgical planning. He posted an admirable reflection of his experiences not only from what he saw on the ground...but much of it from the air. He notes the distinct geographical line drawn between the rich and the poor, the prosperous land and desolation. I see Barrington experiencing what I learned back when I traveled the globe for six years while in the military. One, very quickly, develops a sincere appreciation for the freedoms we have here in our country, and the gift of being able to take advantage of our dreams and actually make them reality. Barrington was also fortunate enough to catch an A380 flight demonstration which he promises to posts photos of once he reaches Hong Kong.

Don't forget to check in with his progress here.