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I'm making some progress with my digital A-10 model now, so I've got to start thinking about making my animation. In order to prevent myself from making a complete ass of myself I'd like to know if anyone knows a good place where I can read about your average A-10 combat maneouvres used for attacking, defending and ofcourse, prowling.

The reason I'm asking is that if left to my own devices, it will look like an arcade shooter due to my lack of knowledge. (approach everything head on while constantly shooting). Something tells me your Warthog will look like a SAM-riddled Hedgehog if you fly like that for real.

As for the poll, I was wondering whether to post it on cgtalk.com (digital arts forum) or here. I realized A-10 affecionades have probably seen enough A-10 material to know what the horribly overdone cliches are. I already added my own vote since I do have a rough storyboard since before I came here.

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

WarthogHogger, can you give us a little background on what you're trying to do? Are you making a CG movie staring the A-10?

What I'm doing:

I'm creating an A-10 model for use in a 3D animation made in Maya 6.5. My plan is to make an animation of an A-10 doing the following things which will be fitted into a background story:

-Properly approaching an AA threat
-Evading a heat seaking missle
-Destroy a SAM-site
-Prowl among friendly and enemy tanks looking for an attack oppertunity that will not harm friendlies (I have no idea which margins to keep in mind)
-Destroy at least one armoured target
-Destroy a garrisoned building or fortified position
-Destroy a helicopter
-Getting away from an enemy fighter or destroy it. (Hmm... is that possible?)



You may wonder why I'm creating my own A-10 model:

The 3D models I encountered that were ripped from flight sims may look nice but their geometry is flawed (A 1 hour staring session revealed countless subtleties in the edges on the A-10's hull, such as a gradual decrease of radius of curvature of the hull's bottom-side edges near the wing, 2 pinches in the nose caused by the presence of a flat surface for the in-flight refuel port... well it's a LONG list.)

Stock 3D models will set me back $150+ and I also encountered enforgivable mistakes in those (wheelwell melted into the wing, nose based on a tapered cube, shoddy plate pattern... here check this: http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/I ... /ID/200721)



I will use the poll to determine my choice of storyboard when there are 5 or more votes when I complete my model and have to choose.

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

The HOG can \"Shoot Down\" another Aircraft, Its been proven at REDFLAG and other excerises just never in combat, Helos have been proven..

I think I'd pass on the \"Fortified Garrison\" maybe a small \"Heavy armed position\"
You might want to think about just having the A-10 go up against a \"Real\" threat as far as tanks. I think alot of Heavy gamers and \"Truest\" like stuff thats actually been used like T-80's.
Strafing convoys , taking out APC's , AAA, .
But CAS for sure and maybe even a SAR mission.

Just my thoughts.

Goose

Alright then, time to get the hog going. I've begun modeling the nose of the aircraft and added coarse geometry to represent the rest of it temporarily.



WIP image series maintined here:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/50046746/



Oh, and here's a tank I've been working on some time ago, it will come in handy with some modifications:

Driving test:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmyE_CWo0nE

Firing test I (short):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tse6CTS2efM

Firing test II (longer):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9Zic2rmJXA

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

Well, time to give some rough outlines of the 4 possibilities:



Insane stunts:

A chain of A-10 stunts without storyline. If chosen, I'll try to find out what the aircraft's acrobatic abilities are by searching for vids of the A-10 demo team. Ofcourse there will be crazy stuff like flying between buildings under bridges and that sort of stuff. I promise no A-10's will crash.



Mimic current conflicts and technology:

BACKGROUND - The Afghan war.

THE BATTLE - A US supply coloum is stuck in a mountain pass near Tarin Kowt. The troops were surprised by a well hidden T-80 tank, obtained months earlier together with 8 other armoured vehicles by the warlord Baktash. The Taliban are trying to cut off the flow of relief supplies to nearby villages, forcing the locals to rely on their support and bolster their ranks. The number of enemy infantry runs in the dozens. The 2 hummvees in the coloum have both been knocked out and our troops were forced to abandon their vehicles with whatever weapons and ammunition they had to take cover. So far 2 casualties have been reported, and the soldiers are forced to withdraw toward undefendable terrain. None of them will survive if help does not arrive quickly.

SCRIPT - not written yet



Create a *fictional* conflict with current day technology:

BACKGROUND - An alliance of central african warlords called the African Republican Army (ARA) has been violently uniting central Africa under its rule. While they claim their ideology is primarily based on the christian faith, their armies are guilty of murdering and raping the civilian population. The African Union, based on democratic principles like the European Union, has so far not been able to coordinate joint military operations by the remaining unoccupied countries. Most of the heavy weaponry falls in their hands undamaged, surrendered by the poorly organized and demoralized opposing forces. The ARA is currently closing in on South Africa, which has the continent's most powerful army and military technology. However, the South African army is severely outnumbered. Without international support South Africa will fall within a matter of weeks. The USA has declined to become involved in the battle, fearing a 3 front war with the Iraq and Afghanistan war still going on. They have however, pledged support in the form of equipment, training and specialized personel. The nature of this support is as of yet a well guarded secret.

4 months earlier, the USA have supplied South Africa with a total of 17 A-10 Warthogs. The ARA's forces are composed of ground based units, light helicopters and light piston engine aircraft only. The A-10 is particularly suitable for the business at hand. Their job will be to take down tanks, artillery, supply convoys and the light air units. It will still be extremely hazourdous though because unlike Iraqi insurgents, the ARA possesses a vast amount of vehicle based heavy machine guns. Losses are expected to be extremely high over the course of the war and the USA cannot afford to sacrifice that many pilots. Instead the most battle hardened veterans of the Congolese Republican army, anxious to liberate their home territory, have been tested for flying aptitude. Those who turned out to be suitable, were then trained to use the A-10 in battle. Immune to fysical pain and fear, and prepared to fight in a battle that will probably take almost all of their lives, they were the best choice given the nature of the battle at hand.

THE BATTLE - A batallion of South African troops was surprised by 2 modified Skymasters (small civilian plane) sporting dual .5 machine guns. The little buggers are frightningly effective against infantry, and they are taking heavy losses. They were also taking light artillery fire (58 mm) from a nearby hillside for a short period of time. A single A-10 has been dispatched to destroy the aircraft and artillery position after it has been located. (yea sounds simple, I know. But trust me, this is going to get ugly because there are more units in this battle then is immediatly appearant...)

SCRIPT - Not written yet



Duel vs the Maus tank: (warning: high super hero content!)

A crazy and rich neo nazi has obtained the plans for Hitler's 250 ton tank called Maus. He decided to wreak havoc in New York in order to allow his buddies to come to power! The tank has up to 2 meters or armour plating, two heavy gun turrets, 2 racks of SAM missles and 6 AA gun turrets. It is by all rights a battleship on tracks. So far the US Army has been powerless to stop it by any means. Ofcourse, if a problem is like a nail, get a hammer! If there'a a big f*ckng tank, get a big f*ckng gun.

A single A-10 has been dispatched to New York, piloted by Gus Gunsmoke. Can *he* stop the gargantuan piece of armour?

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

I've added a large update to my list of stories. (fictional conflict and Maus tank) I've made a lot of assumptions here, so I'm open to criticism.

For instance: Maybe US pilots do fly into battle to support other nations when the outcome is almost certain death even in this modern age. (We are talking here about death destruction and mayhem on BOTH sides... \"a lot like WWII\")

And, would you send an A-10 to down a pair of light ground attack aircraft and a handful of 58 mm guns? (Maybe just send a nice Heuy hung with lil' rocket pods?). You know, I can add more if so is required...

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III

Finally, a little update to my 3D model plane. The base form of the wings and tail fins have been hammered out, (the fins used to be flat blocks) awaiting the addition of wheelwells and flaps.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/50302274/

I'm going to continue in the hog modelling section now, as this thread has transformed into a thread that belongs there. It'll be a long and painful process before I get this model done, I need to aquire 3D modeling skills as I go basically - I don't really have a lot.

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Guns don't kill people, -I- do! - Dwarven Rifleman, Warcraft III