Build a model of a Flying Circus biplane! Fumes optional. · By
Just tried the demo, then purchased the full app. Very nice, great detail. One suggestion so far is it would be nice to paint the entire plane with a solid color base coat without having to spray it all. Maybe you can and I just didn't figure it out. Another is that it would sometimes be useful during construction to zoom in/out. Also when rotating during construction to rotate about the center of projection, rather than just (what I assume to be) the origin. Anyhow, looking forwards to a Sopwith Triplane and more!
Hi Scribibble1!
First off, thank you so much for the support.
Second -- thank you very much for taking the time to offer your thoughts on how to improve this. I hadn't thought of a "one shot" spray-it-all, but it's certainly doable -- I will consider it.
Zoom/ In and out is possible using plus and minus keys works in construction steps. (Or am I missing something?)
Regarding rotation -- you are correct -- the model is on a virtual turntableand it's that that rotates -- but now the you point that out... I wonder why I built it that way? Lol. I will definitely revisit this -- having the model camera rotate around the center of projection would be much more intuitive and less clumsy.
Sopwith Triplane would make an interesting subject!
Thanks again,
--Bo
Here are some additional thoughts, fwiw.
The breakdown into parts is excellent. Trying to build structures like formers from smaller parts would be too much, I suspect. I think the detail is about right. Adding three screws to each instrument left me with blisters on my hands from turning the screwdriver:) That is a nice touch, but perhaps one area with more detail than really necessary. The myriad of steps and parts adequately conveys the complexity of one of these machines. When one considers that all of those parts had to be fabricated to begin with, the thought of actually building one of these is daunting. Actually, the thought of constructing all of the 3D models, coding the construction interface, not to mention painting, is daunting! Nice job; very well done.
Assembling the model is interesting and educational, as it illustrates the primary components and how they were arranged. The pop-on attach points are very useful, and the pop-on screw icon indicating you are near, turning green when aligned, is excellent. Initially I was mildly frustrated when trying to align the parts to the assembly in progress, until I realized that the intent is to align the assembly to the parts. After that things went smoothly. I did have some difficulty with the feul tank pump handle, but that was mainly beceuas I had not yet learned to zoom in/out. (I am not sure that the help text describes zooming.)
Painting the model was, for me, too much effort to do it in much detail. The capabilities that the interface offers are impressive; various tools, tape, mixing paints, etc. If you enjoy painting models then this is for you. For me personally, drying, curing, taping off, spraying, etc was to much effort. What I really wanted was a solid black plane with some iron crosses. In the end I got one, but it was a lot of work. I cannot imagine trying to paint lozenges. For me personally this all felt like too much work. On the other hand, however, if one wanted to recreate a historic paint scheme, or design a detailed new scheme, then the tools to do so are certainly there. Just be prepared to spend some time mastering their use.
The photo studio gives you a great opportunity to agle your creation, and to show it off. That was an unexpected feature that adds a really great rough. Nicely done.
So if you are an early flight, or WW1 aviation, enthusiast then this is a very worthwhile purchase. I have not contructed all of the models, which I expect have subtle variation is construction, in addition to paint schemes. Furthermore, I have not fully explored all of the interface. So it is likely that I have not discovered all of the interesting items, and likely that there exist ways to do things I hoped to do, that I have yet to discover.
Nonetheless, here are some features I was looking for:
* Ability to copy a completed model, to have 2 of them, in order to repaint one. I.e., to not need to build a second one in its entirety.
* When painting a model the ability to just paint a solid color base coat would speed things up, for me anyhow.
* When applying decals to a model the ability to enable symmetry so that placing a decal on one wing also places the corresponding decal on the other wing. The same for the rudder and fuselage. Trying to align the decals to appear symmetric on both sides of each structure was difficult and I never felt that I had done the job adequately.
* When in the photo studio it would be nice to be able to load multiple models so as to have a squadron, etc. If multiple types of plane become available then the ability to arrange dogfighting scenes would be well worth having.
* An export feature would be nice, allowing the models to be imported into 3D modeling/animation tools and used in various other projects. I'm not suggesting exporting all of the detailed components of the assembly, just the completed model polygons and textures perhaps in .obj or .collada format.
In any case, apps/games rarely inspire me to write reviews or leave feedback. This one did. But I'm going to stop now so I can go back and finish another model:)
Thank you very much for taking the time to post your thoughts in detail. I am especially grateful for your feedback on the level of detail and difficulty -- these are aspects that I often am left guessing at as to how far to go.
As for your ideas for improvements & new features -- the symmetry feature has been suggested before, so that's something I'll have to seriously consider. I don't know if you discovered it, but a primary thought behind the 2D views in the paint studio is to offer some help in this regard (although it is still a manual process). The idea of having multiple models at once in the photo studio has occurred to me as a future feature :) In the meantime -- if you have some photoshop skills, creating multiple screen shots using the same backdrop and settings would allow you to fairly easily compost up a squadron. The cloning off the shelf idea is interesting -- I will stew a bit on that. The export idea is also an interesting one, something, that again, I'll have to give more thought to.
Cheers,
--Bo
