Decaff's Video Tutorials

[decaff_42]

EDIT: For a complete list of videos, visit my website: YSDecaff

Hey Modders! Here's some videos I've been working on to ease people into modding to create stuff for YSFlight.

Scenery Editor Videos
Scenery Editor View Controls
Inserting Polygons
Inserting Rectanges NOTE: This video is important because it is a building block for future tools.
Moving Map Items
Keyboard Shortcuts
Elevation Grids Part 1
Elevation Grids Part 2
Elevation Grids Part 3
Rotating Objects
Rectangular Regions
Multi-Element Map Items
Scaling Map Items
Inserting Text
Thick Lines
Overlapped Taxiway Lines
Background Reference Images in Scenery Editor

Introduction to Blender
Intro Part 1
Intro Part 2
Intro Part 3

Painting Airplanes
Painting Airplane Models
Cutting Meshes for Painting
Using YSFlight Scripts to Paint
Inserting text into Blender
Some More text features
Making Custom Decals
Complex Curves in Decals
Filling In Decals NOTE: This method is not the best for making low-lag models, but it is quick and easy.
Wrapping Decals
Shrinkwrapping
The difference between shrinkwrapping and Decaff's Method
Wrapping Decals
Fixing the model and re-using animations

Blender tool Tutorials:
How To use Curves

Scratch Modeling Tutorials:
Introduction and info about Reference images
Background Image Method
Shutter's Method (Tweaked)
Making a Propeller
Recyling Animations (VERY USEFUL!!)
Making a 5-Point Star
Making a Hushkit for an engine
Subsurf Modifier Fuselage
Flat Faced FIghter Canopy
Making Shark-tooth chevrons on engine nacelles

Tips and Tricks
Jumping Meshes - an intoduction to dealing with animations
Fixing Shading Issues
Creating Transparent Meshes in Blender
Mirroring
Working With Your User Interface
Comprehensive Shrinkwrapping tutorial
Making Cockpit Instrument Panels
Wrapping Decals around moving parts
Rectangulating meshes
Using Layers in Blender
Perfect Screenshots

Animations
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Afterburner
Extracting an Afterburner from a model

Google Sketchup to YSFlight
Part 1 - Get the Sketchup Model into Blender
Part 2 - Remove the Materials and First Clean up
Part 3 - Smoothing the Mesh

Scenery Editor Map Reviews
This is where I go in and open up maps and highlight features that make make the maps stand out and how you can emulate the map makers.
YSMajor's Vietnam Map Review - Part 1
YSMajor's Vietnam Map Review - Part 2
Styk's Arizona Map
Taiwan's Hong Kong Map
Taiwan's St Maarten Map
TF58's Edwards AFB Map
El Centro Map
Canary Islands

YS Paint Scripts:
Replace A Color Tool

Installing YSFlight:
Installing on a PC
Installing on Mac OSX


YSFlight DAT Files:
Dat Files - Part 1

Excel Tool Videos:

REQUESTS?
I'll take them!

[Gunny]

This is great decaff with these I may yet get a handle on blender.

[lorDuckFeet]

Decaff thank you for these tutorials. I will apply this learning to my current and future works

[VNAF ONE]

Decaff, you're like, the king of WIN right now.

[Honey Badger]

I see I'm not the only one with a blocked up nose right now...XD I love you so much right now...no homo. One thing...dat mic. I'm an audiophile so it bugs me but that's just me. Subbed anyway. Keep it up!

[decaff_42]

Yeah, audio conditions get better. I fiddled around with the audio settings for the next few videos. They should be appearing next week or Sunday.

[Welnio]

Well done Decaff, everyone got time to make projects but we dont go time to make tutorials, great work! (sure I will use them too )

[decaff_42]

Got another video up, let me know if you have any requests.


EDIT
5th video up.

[Shiny Rice]

I have seen too many tuts about cutting and painting and not so many about modeling. Can you make some tutorials about that?

[decaff_42]

Sure. Once the current series about painting and getting a blank up to snuff, I'd be glad to work on some of that.

Any particular questions you have in mind that I could attempt to answer?

[Shiny Rice]

Yes. How to smooth, how to remove sharp edges that resist to be smoothed, and how to solve the issue of an object staying in a place after you save instead of the usual. If you answer these three, you'd be the true win for me. Oh, and I tried all of what you said, but didn't work.

[decaff_42]

You tried the set smooth button? yeah sometimes that doesnt work out. Select the verticies in the area you want smoothed and then press w-> remove doubles. that should help a little.

Objects staying in place will be talked about later (2 or so videos down the road)

[Shiny Rice]

Oh, so you have plans. What are they going to be about?

[decaff_42]

Wait and see my friend!

[decaff_42]

More videos uploaded, total content is now nearly 2.5 hours!

[decaff_42]

Well, my old pair of headphones broke and I needed some new ones. Went to the campus store and picked up a new set. Got back and realized that they were slightly different...They had a MICROPHONE!!!!

Tested it out and it seems to work well! No background computer fan noise anymore!!! WOOOOOO!!!
you will hear it in my scenery editor videos and in some blender videos in the future!

[decaff_42]

Okay. I have a few Scenery Editor Videos in the making. They should be going up in the next couple weeks.
I will be uploading the remaining Lufthansa 737 blender videos after finals.

I am working on making some scratch building blender tutorials which should be fun. I am 'developing' a new method that is slightly easier than Shutter's reference method. It is not quite as easy to use, but much easier to set up initially.

I already got a plane to work with for these tutorials and have worked thru my method for references in blender. It is a new plane that YSF doesn't have...

I should probably make a video tutorial about shutter's method...

[decaff_42]

Updates!!! Updates all around!

1 more lufthansa video and then I'm onwards into the merky waters of scratch modeling wish me luck!

For Blender I think i'll do a new series of really short 2-3 minute videos highlighing key tools and features that you will want to use. There will be overlap, but meh, it will be useful if you don't want to wade thru the longer videos.

For Scenery Editor, there's a lot that I will be posting. mostly in the style of really short videos, but as the elevation grid videos show, those will deviate into longer videos for the more important things.

I'm also thinking about doing map reviews via video to highlight the pros and cons of the maps from a technical standpoint. Very much like what I did in my text Scenery Editor tutorial. It's hard to say "this is the way to do things" because there are dozens of ways to get to the same, or similar result and they all have their own qualities. Rather, it would be easier to just say, "here are some examples of really good map makers. Let's see how they did it."

Thoughts, questions, requests? Let me know! I want to help.

[NightRaven]

They are very good, Decaff! . I have watched most of your blender videos and I am starting to grasp at the murkiness that is repainting. Keep up the good work!

The only problem is the stammering, but that is unavoidable.

I look forward to the scratch modelling tutorial.

[decaff_42]

I just started filming the scratch modeling videos. Got the introduction out of the way and talked about finding reference images.

I think I will start by showing my method as it is easier to set up, let people practice, and then show how to set up Shutter's method for the first real project. The only difference between the two is how the reference images are placed into blender, so the practice will carry over between the two.

Any thoughts for other topics to cover for scratch modeling?