From: wallace@titan.trl.OZ.AU (Glenn Wallace)
Subject: AAF, ATP and other ramblings
Organization: Telecom Research Labs, Melbourne, Australia
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 01:07:09 GMT

Hi all!

Well, I bought AAF (Aircraft and Adventure Factory).

I've only been working with the Aircraft Factory...

It is quite good. You can do interesting things with it.
The structure capability (drawing a plan and side elevation and then
dropping bulheads of various predefined shapes onto these templates to
create a solid object) is very powerful, once you figure out how it
works!!! 

The doco, as with all Mallard/BAO stuff is sparse. Not as bad as SEE,
not as good as A&SD (that's MS packaging anyway...)

Other interesting special effects are parts that appear :

-when flaps are extended/retracted, so you draw two parts, a down flap
 and an up flap, and give them the attribute of visibility with flaps
 down/up respectively. Cool!

-with gear up down, e.g. gear and doors etc.

-above/below certain engine RPM. Perhaps you could show different
 shadings for props, or fake afterburners for jets!

-above below certain speeds. Perfect for the XB-70 drop wing tips!!
 Also would be good for swing wing aircraft.

Limitation: you can only nominate above OR below a certain value for
these two, not BETWEEN a range.

Therefore: I can't show the XB-70 wings in all three positions, only
two.

I'm still having some problems with structures that aren't perfectly
longitudally aligned... e.g. the Xb-70 wing hinge fairings point
inwards _very_ slightly and AAF says "hey bud, that ain't a side
template!". Might have to fudge this.

Other interesting aircraft to do would be HK-1 the Hughes Flying Boat
(Spruce Goose if you must!) and maybe the X-1 in a nice bright orange.

The Space Shuttle would look nice too, and be an interesting glide
simulation!

The UI is a bit clunky. Written in VB... not pretty, also nonintuitive.

It is written by a company called Kikiware. The Adventure factory was designed
by BAO, both published by BAO and distributed by Mallard.

============

Some ATP musings:

I *love* it! Great documentation, something you can feel you'd like to
keep as a reference.

Some bugs, I've had a couple of wild reboots.

Doing the radar-vectored flights keeps you very busy, communicating with
the tower etc. I'm really enjoying the assignments.

I've got some minor feature gripes, but nothing that would make me not
recommend it. I've debated over buying it for almost a year, so it was a
big decision, and one I don't regret.

I won't get as much outright fun out of it as Yeager, but I'm finding it
educational!

I also felt that by buying it I was supporting subLOGIC, so that 
felt nice too.

============

Crazy idea for the day:

Implement the Hughes Flying Boat in AAF. Create some scenery of Long
Beach with SEE, the geodesic dome but with the hole in the front, big 
enough for the plane to get out.

Then implement an adventure in AAF of flying the boat from Long Beach
to its new home in Oregon!!

A much more dignified way to travel than by barge, yes?


Happy flyin'

Glenn

PS watch out for Mike Van Emmerik's great "FS1/Asteroids Hack" story,
coming up soon!

Net: g.wallace@trl.oz.au | Well the escape plan is under way... Seattle
RealTime: Glenn Wallace  | is the destination. I have food, maps, clothing,
Work: --- Classified --- | and a compass. The X Committee has approved it,
      (to be announced)  | all I have to do is scale the compound wall.
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.simulators