We're Working on Four Projects!

We've been a bit quiet lately, but that's only because there's just so much going on! There are currently 6 people working on four X-Crafts projects at the same time, which has never happened before! So it's time for a Development Update!

Please note that this update is a shortened version of our full Update that was shared through our Not-A-Newsletter.

E-Jets v1.1.0

First, let’s talk about the next version of the E-Jets Family. I talked about how significant this version will be because it will bring many new features. Most notably, the one that everyone’s been waiting for - FMS Speed! I can share that last week I already completed a few flights with the FMS Speed enabled, and it’s really great seeing the FMS Speeds change based on the phase of the flight automatically, without my input!

Some other notable features coming in v1.1.0. are the Steep Approach system for the E170 and E190. This will allow you to accurately fly into London City Airport, where the approach is 5.5°, almost double the usual 3°! ILS Autotune will automatically select the correct NAV frequency into the radios as you approach the airport and switch from FMS to ILS at the right time - automagically.

One of my new favorite features is the new pop-up screens for the PFD, MFD, and EICAS! You will be able to pop them up on the screen, just like the FMS or EFB, pop them out into a separate window, and put them on another monitor. You will be able to lock them into place and resize them, plus they will be interactive, so you will be able to directly change the autopilot settings like speed or altitude or others by scrolling over the numbers on the screen!

Other than receiving many new features, the E-Jets are also undergoing a major flight model revision (X-Plane 12 only), to get even closer to real performance, and fine-tune the autopilot and autothrottle. So the next version will be a big step forward for our Flagship E-Jets.

ERJ Family for X-Plane 12

A few weeks ago, I reached out to our Not-A-Newsletter community because we needed real-world ERJ pilots to help us develop the flight model of the ERJ Family v2 for X-Plane 12. I am happy to report that we now have 10 pilots, already giving us detailed feedback on what we need to do to get as close as we can to the real thing.

Cameron, our aerodynamics expert is currently fine-tuning new flight models for the ERJs in X-Plane 12. And at the same time, one of our new software developers Todor is busy at work improving and updating some of the systems. Right now he is working on the startup sequence and bleed air system. 

Lineage 1000

Some very exciting news here! I’ve finally made some great progress on the cabin model, and I’m pretty much done with “v1.0” of the interior model. I’m calling it v1.0 because I know there are still many things in the model that are wrong, but I will discover those once I start texturing it, and I will be looking at all parts of the models really up close.

This milestone means that all parts of the model are now created, and I also just concluded the next step, which is UV Mapping. You can read what UV Unwrapping is in my blog post: “Debunking the "This Add-on uses 4K textures" statement”. In short, UV mapping (or UV unwrapping) is a process where I define how textures (images that are 2D) will wrap around models (that are 3D). Once that is fully completed, I can then go on to start texturing the amazing cabin, which I am really excited about! The cool thing will also be that you will be able to change the cabin textures and materials with different liveries!

Here are some screenshots of the current state of the model. See all of them attached to this post!

The screenshots above show you just the models with arbitrary colors I’m using to define different zones of the cabin, as I said, no textures yet, that's the next step! Btw the folding stairs were one of the most complicated things I've ever had to model and animate!

I really like the bedroom section of the cabin which has a double bed, with bed sheets, and pillows on it. Wonder how I made the soft pillows and bed covers look realistic? I simulated it!

Our Surprise Project

We are celebrating 10 years since the release of our first add-on for X-Plane! Believe it or not (I can’t), our first E195 v1.0 came out for X-Plane 9, in 2014. And there are many ways in which I want to celebrate this milestone. For one, I decided to gift the community something great, so I've been working on a side project that will be free for the whole community! I just announced the project in our Not-A-Newlsetter, but I won't announce it here just yet. So stay tuned for an announcement from us in the coming weeks!

Please reply below and let me know which one of the projects above you’re most excited by!