AI Monthly
February 2013
TALKING TO MR. EREZ WERBER Erez is very proud to announce his next project – the Airbus A32X family! When will the model and paintkit be entering beta testing? Hopefully within 2-3 weeks How long does a model usually take from first stages of development to its release? I usually finish with the actual modelling rather quickly within say a week or two. This model will usually be the biggest variant in the family, if I am modelling a family of aircraft such as the 737 or A32X. After the initial modelling is done, the much longer and harder stage begins - creating the paintkit. This usually takes between 3 to 5 weeks depending on my mood and the availability of reference material. After the paintkit for the largest variant is ready, I start modelling the rest of the family and its paintkit’s which takes another week. Then I finish the LOD's of all of the models for optimum performance in FS. The last stage is converting the models from FSX to FS9 which takes about 2 days. It’s then off to beta testing, which can take between a month and 3 months. Overall it takes about half a year to deliver a model. Will the neo variations be modelled now or when they enter service? Like most repainters I don’t like to work with CGI pictures of future aircraft or paint schemes. This is the reason why the Neo's will be released at a later date, once there is enough real reference material most likely sometime after they enter service
There are currently only sharklets on the A320 and A321, will you be including them on the A318 and A319 too? I think you can guess this one. Look at the 737-600 or 737-400 and you will see that I like to plan ahead for any eventuality. Why did you choose the A32X as your next project? From the start FAIB has always been about performance in FSX. Flying into any major hub in Europe, I could clearly see which aircraft predominantly featured on all aprons – A32X . Once I established this, choosing the next project became easy. The next project after the A32X might not be so easy to decide…. Can you describe the feeling when you see one of your paints on one of your models inside your simulator? It’s a great sense of satisfaction, which is what drives me forward! From my experience on the 737 NG beta team, I know myself and some other of the painters spent an awful lot of time painting and not so much time testing the models performance in the sim. Will you be encouraging us to more in-sim testing this time around? That is really up to the Beta tester. I have a goal of 5000 polygons and less than 60 draw calls for every model I make. With these numbers in mind and the fact I don’t have an influence on the internal workings of FSX (through code), I’d say testing the performance of the models is of less importance. During beta I would rather have input regarding the visual appearance of the model, correct contact 8