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Create Great Aircraft & Impressive 3D Scenery

FS Design Studio version 3.5 is at the same time flight sim friendly and powerful. This software is the first choice for tens of thousands of Flight Simulation modelers worldwide and provides an easy way to make professional quality aircraft and quality 3D scenery that you'll be proud of.

Of the tens of thousands of aircraft available for Flight Simulator, the overwhelming number of them were made with FS Design Studio. This newest version adds the latest visual techniques and graphic effects to an already large repertoire of commands, time-saving shortcuts, and comfortable user interface. Together they'll let you create any kind of accurate, detailed textured models at record speed.

FS Design Studio puts an aircraft factory at your fingertips. Now modelers are able to create even more accurate and great looking aircraft and "knock-your-socks off" 3D scenery.

New and Improved Features

The man behind FS Design Studio is Louis Sinclair and he has added new and improved features to the most widely used design tool for Flight Simulator. Here's some of the features in this new release:

• New FSX compatiblity. Use XToMDL and BGLComp tools to provide robust FSX feature set
• New FSDS V3 compatiblity. Use MakeMDL to maximize backward modeling capabilities
• New Scenery compatible with FSX Libraries
• New Enhanced boolean operations provide powerful way to cut and split parts
• New Animation capabilities per FSX SDKs
• New Support for using specialized textures: nighttime, lightmaps, more.
• New Export to .x file fomat. For advanced users who want to "tweak" the .x file for XToMdl and MakeMDL.
• New Aircraft Specification Sheet simplifies setup of new aircraft for Flight Simulator
• Updated FSDS V2 & V3 compatibility. New version recognizes and handles earlier file versions.
• Updated Unlimited Undo / Redo. Protects your model from inadvertent design errors. Roll back each design operation, step-by-step.
• Updated User selectable Autosave interval. Safeguards your model from computer failure.
• Updated HELP files with tutorials for making animated scenery.

Users around the world rely on FSDS to build some very complex aircraft for Flight Simulator.

What may be one its hidden secrets is that many thousands of users are also making very detailed 3D scenery objects using FSDS.

As you can see by Steve Chase's oil rig below, no scenery project is too big for FSDS to handle. Whether you want to make standalone BGLs or MDLs for adding to FSX and FS2004-compatible libraries, FSDS can produce them easily and quickly.

• Design using 4-view interface. Simultaneously, you'll see the top, back, side and a fully movable 3D perspective of your project.
• Zoom in or out on any of the views when you need to perform extremely detailed work.
• Change the screen and background colors to suit your preference
• Overlay "background" images, for example an outline view of a building or aircraft to help shape your parts.
• Use any of the predefined "primitive" objects and drop them into your project to your exacting numerical specifications.
• Change the size and shape of the objects using one or more of the built-in tools.
• Move, rotate or resize any individual part or set of parts in your projects easily. As you make changes, they are instantly reflected in the other 3 on screen views.
• Powerful Copy, Paste and Delete commands for manipulating parts and assemblies (group of parts).
• Switch from part mode to polygon mode for super detailed designs when it's critical to have the part edges meet perfectly.
• Set display characteristic of the project components using the extensive "Properties" page.
• "Paint" your projects using extensive methods for applying textures including reflective and night time variations.
• Add stock animation such as ailerons, rudder and elevator movement using standard "tags"
• Use key frame animation for advanced motion such as landing gear or multi-axis parts.
• Use conditional processing tags for projects for which you want to change the appearance of the model depending on a given state of the simulator.
• Create your own reusable parts library. FSDS supports saving and loading of individual parts.
• Create several types of output. For example, you can convert a flyable aircraft into a static scenery so you can have "extras" sitting on the tarmac for added effect.
• Create 3D scenery objects compatible with FSX and FS2004 libraries
• Create projects with multiple models: main external view, virtual cockpit view, one or more level of detail views, more.
• Powerful boolean operations for 'cutting' windows or doors.
• Autosave protects your projects from computer failure.
• Unlimited undo / redo capability. Protects you from inadvertent design errors - you can back out changes step by step.
• Sample projects for FSX and FS2004 that you can use as starting point for your own designs:
  - A7M2-3
  - Cessna 152
  - Curtis Jenny
  - Douglas DC-3
  - Dornier DO-335
  - F-14 Tomcat
  - F/A 18 Hornet
  - Short 360
  - Ooil rig scenery
  - Animated ferris wheel scenery
• Support for materials diffuse color with alpha transparency, ambient color, specular color, emissive color, specular power
• Advanced texture properties
  - Normal mapping with Alpha channel support
  - Night version of texture supported
  - Reflection Mapped vesion of texture supported. Alpha channel is used as reflection map rather than transparency.
  - Light Mapped version of texture supported
• Large, convenient window for applying texture maps to your projects.
• Texture tiling - for applying multiple copies of a texture to a part.
• Includes extensive online HELP with step-by-step tutorials
  4 simultaneous views - essential for detailed design
  
  Myriad of tools let you shape, resize, rotate, ...
  
  
  Instantly change part characteristics
  
  
  
  Use the latest texture technologies

  
  Powerful boolean operations simplfies "cutting"