I want to make jet fighters like Eagle Dynamics (DCS), where do you start? Can the unreal engine help me make functional targeting radars? MFD’s? I just want to know how to start doing this. I know C++ and Maya and 3D Studio MAX. But I can model the fighter. but I have no idea on how to make a functional MFD (Multi Functional Display) in a jet fighter. And of course the HUD. How do you do this?
Basically I want to know the fundamentals of jet fighter simulation. Where do I go, it’s been done for years. I cannot find any resources on how to do this. Are their frameworks in the Unreal Engine via C++?
I just want to get an idea of how Eagle Dynamics do what they do. I want to work for them. I have no idea how to learn what they do. Sure I can 3D model, but the methods on how the aircraft works, I am clueless. I just would like some kind of path to start to learn how to do what ED does.
Basically are there any resources out there that can get you into Jet Fighter simulation development? Or Military aircraft in general. No arcade stuff, real sims. Like DCS (Digital Combat Simulator) Eagle Dynamics. I mean they did not just make this stuff up, they had to learn it somewhere. C++ knowledge is a must and 3D modeling. But, I don’t know how to connect the two elements to make a functioning radar that can shoot missiles at targets. which would be just one step. I know I cannot build a fully blown fighter sim myself. But if I can make some little milestones, maybe I can get a job with Eagle Dynamics. Or some fighter sim company. Or an indie place that makes fighter planes for ED. Whatever, just to be in that world.
So for example:
I model a HUD (Heads Up Display) in Maya
I want basic radar information, and switch to AA missiles.
How do you animate all of this? If I pull my flight stick up or down how does the HUD scroll?
Then I want to lock on to a target, so my Sidewinder locks on a target, how do I make that diamond on the HUD?
I know you cannot give me the specifics on how this works. I just need a path to find out how it works? Does the UNREAL ENGINE provide these resources?
Someone out there must know something. On how to get started in this.
Should I learn C++ QT?
When I fly my F/A-18 C in DCS, the MFD and HUD knows the 3D world and I can lock on targets though the MFD. It blows my mind, it is so awesome. I want to know the technology and methods on how this works. I could model a MFD, but the functional images in it; I have no idea how you do that.
Jet Fighters are mysterious.
Plus the technology in a real jet fighter is GOD. Like engineers made radar targeting systems via an MFD and HUD. It is all TOP SECRET stuff. How the hell do you build that stuff in real life? Only a hand full of guys in the real world know how a HUD (Heads Up Display) actually works. I think a lot of it is coded in ADA and C/C++. From my understanding, the HUD is a projected image on the glass. The MFD’s well, that is insane. The digital information displayed in an MFD is unreal, no pun intended. The latest generation of US jet fighters; have computer chips in them that can process 84 billion operations a second. The F-15EX (Eagle II) and the failed F-35. I am sure the F-22 has been upgraded and possibly the F-16 Block 62.
Forgive me, I love this stuff so much I could talk about it all day long.