Summer is practically here in the upper hemisphere, and it’s time to cool down.  Our team has been extremely busy, and it’s not an exaggeration when we say it.

These past 5 months have been concentrated on finishing the Japanese assets, correcting the Essex carrier model, and the creation of the Corsair airframe for damaging.  Along with that, finalizing the Crusader pilot model and venturing out for some photogrammetry sessions for our beloved MiG-21bis.

We wish you a warm and pleasant summer and without further ado, lets have a look what we have prepared for you!

The final touches on the airframe included, animation of the hydraulic hoses, flap control rods, and the fabric covering the large hole where the landing gear struts rest into.  Several techniques were used to accomplished such features, and proved time consuming to get the correct movements as best as possible.  Below are sample videos showcasing the works.

Modeling of the internal frame work is coming along nicely too.  When the tail section falls off or takes critical damage, this structure will be seen in all it’s glory.

In the cockpit, we have developed a better approach of how the ultra-violet lighting reacts with the gauges and texts.  Using a complex system of layered textures and volumetric lighting, we came up with a visually appealing setting; lights that reflect off of near by surfaces, light bloom from fatigued eyes, and faint glows from distant objects.  A video below showcases the work.

Today, we are happy to report that our Japanese assets are nearing completion!  Animations and damage models are finished as well.  Barring, some texture adjustments, our next step will be integrating them into the DCS environment.  We’ll be working closely with Eagle Dynamics to ensure everything works as it should.  Below are a few examples of what we have.  Please keep in mind all screenshots are a work in progress.

Moving on, our programmers have been working on the AI taxi routes, parking spots, weapons and sensors.  While we don’t have many screenshots that can be shown to showcase their work, we did manage to capture two, when they finally fixed the bug causing the aircraft not to follow the elevators going down to the hangar deck.  Apalogies for not turning the lights on; just trying to conserve energy.

Our artists have also been fixing a few areas on the Essex model, adding the missing deck lights, correcting a few 40mm mounting positions and adding missing Mk.51 directors.

As the Corsair gets closer to the finish line, we have been able to allocate some time on an important aspect of the cockpit.  The pilot!  Our detailed pilot includes the following items that would have been found on any U.S. Navy and Marine aviator during the late 1960s era:

• APH-6D Helmet
• A-13A Oxygen Mask
• MA-2 Torso Harness
• SV-2 Survival Vest
• MK-3C Life Preserver
• U.S. Navy Flight Boots
• Type B3 Summer Flight Gloves
• Type Mk-2A Anti-G Cutaway Coveralls
• Tiger Stripe Flight Suit

With the pilot model now finished, we will begin on texturing and animations.

While the Crusader itself is on the back-burner, a few acquaintances of ours managed to grab some excellent photos of a parted Crusader out at the “Planes of Fame” backyard.  These photos will be an excellent source for damage modeling!

Wishing to fulfill our promise to overhaul the MiG-21bis, we have began preparations for this massive undertaking.  Once the Corsair is released and completed, we will be able to give it all the needed attention.

In recent months we have expanded our library, which now comprises twice as many manuals and technical documents as it originally did.  This will allow us to simulate some of the systems in a manner not possible at a time the module was released.

Furthermore, our head of the research department has taken a few trips to the museums in Poland and Germany to gather a large collection of pictures of the MiG-21s, with an intention to use them for recreation of the 3d model and textures through photogrammetry.  There is no question, that in order to provide the best visual quality, we need to take advantage of all newest technologies.  This technologies in turn give us an opportunity to turn things that were previously impossible, into a reality.

The attached pictures show closely the process at various stages: creation of the points cloud, mesh model reconstruction and finally texturing. This model will be a fine template to create the new cockpit for the MiG-21bis.

We at Magnitude 3 want to thank everybody for the continued support and patience!  We wish everyone to have a fun and safe Summer!