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I recently started making this 'Ascendant' sailplane model which, if all goes to plan, will feature in the final image of the 'Rainmaker' sequence.

A 3 view plan was obtained from sailplane manufacturer DG Flugzeugbau GmbH ( http://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/index-e.html ). The plan was divided into three seperate images, each of which were applied, via a Cinema material, to plane primitive. The plans are very basic and will be complimented by photographic reference.

Software being used:
Cinema4D 9.6 http://www.maxon.net/pages/dyn_files/dy ... ome_e.html
Maxwell Render 1.5.1 http://www.maxwellrender.com/
Paint Shop Pro http://www.corel.com/index.html?reset=1

The rough fuselage and wing shape was made from a shaped cube, placed in a HyperNurbs. The tailplane and rudder are seperate components, also made from a cube.

Previewed here the 'Ascendant' makes use of a default two layered Maxwell plastic.

Underside view.

Before making the HyperNurbs editable I imported a low resolution figure from Poser - this serves the purpose of making sure a humanoid figure will correctly fit inside the cockpit. The figure will remain until the cockpit is completed in the near future.

This preview is with the Hyper Nurbs made editable, the cockpit canopy split from the main mesh and all the control surfaces also split from the main mesh. Although not seen here I've also split some 'airbrake' parts from the wings' uperside surface. Although not really an airbrake they are used on real sailplanes to cause a disturbance to airflow which has the effect of reducing lift.

I'm now using a custom made Maxwell material applied to the models fibreglass parts- similar to a plastic but with the addition of a 'coating'. As the model progresses this material will probably be further adjusted.

The 'Ascendant' has a front undercarriage. Just a few basic shapes make up this assembly. The wheel 'fins' were made from a single object, placed into an array which was then placed into a mirror object - I chose this method to keep the polygon count as low as possible instead of working from a higher segmented wheel.

Most of the undercarriage is hidden from normal view so that's all the parts I'm making for this element of the model.

With some materials applied - just trying some basic colours here that will get used when I get started with the textures.

The fuselage had a wheel bay opening split from the main fuselage/wing mesh and that split part was used as a basis for the working undercarriage doors.

This a mix and match mess about. The background image was cropped from a photo' I took today. the reflection and refraction are being taken care of by a hdr image and the lighting is being provided by Maxwells' physical sky. Looks like the physical sky lighting needs some adjustment!

It looks nice and promising. Keep going, Becco!!

sandykoufax Thank you.

For the 'Ascendant' paint work I decided to go with a traditional white sailplane and also a colour scheme based on the old Mustang 'Miss America' race plane.

All UV mapping done with Maxons' Bodypaint with Paint Shop Pro used for vector lines, stars and lettering.

With a few bits added to the cockpit. Textures added where needed - instrument dials carpet seat.and a carbon fibre panel.

This resized image is of a completed render. The sky is a photo' I took the other day and was converted to an mxi image for use by Maxwell as a background.

Lighting and reflection comes from a sun/physical sky and refraction uses a hdr image similar to my sky photo. All this mixing of different light sources has obvious flaws but a little postwork of the completed render tidied things up a little.

Good work Becco! this is looking real nice and you model, texture and render so fast to.

All these airplanes, the controltower and everything.. are you building up an entire small airport now ?

/ Max