Development

James, could I begin by asking how you began developing for flight simulators and what started your interested in it?

I had been using the Gold version of FSX for awhile. Then I saw for the first time, ORBX PNW on YouTube and was impressed so much that I purchased it. So my real love for flight simming started from the PNW and the San Juan Islands. At that time there was not a lot of smaller type GA passenger aircraft around from the developers, but one did catch my eye at the time. That was the Flight1 Pilatus PC12. Although a carry-over from FS2004 the F1 PC12 had been adapted for FSX and was a fantastic simmers aircraft to fly. It had so many variations from passenger to police, I was hooked on it.

I was a member of the Orbx forum and the screen shot competition was just in its infancy. I did not like the idea of flying for a real company, so decided to have a go of painting my own livery, but a fictitious one. I had been interested in logo design for awhile and had been learning a software package from Microsoft called PhotoDraw 2000 since 1998. So my instinct was to create a livery using my own design logo. I entered the shot in the competition; did not win but was surprised at how many fellow simmers wanted to know where to get the livery. So the learning process of how to upload a paint was begun.

I was a member of OZx and my friends from Australia were a great help in getting me started and encouraged me to do more Australian liveries. Although I was a big fan of ORBX Australia, the PNW kept calling me back and Misty Moorings was dragging me further into the vast wonderful Canadian fjords. It was there, that I came up with my logo for a fictitious Canadian company that would be the main starter of my adventure into aircraft repaints. That fictitious company is called "McKinnon Air Services".

Could you tell the readers a bit about your designs and what you do?

I design all the logos that are fictitious on my paints myself. I am a vivid observer of logos in advertising or online/newspapers. That's where I may first get an idea and then play around (doodle) with the idea until it starts to look like a real logo. I use PhotoDraw2000 as it is so easy to use. Also the logo has to portray a sense of reality as it would not appeal to us users. The logo can be a combination of designs or just words or a combination of the both. If it is a passenger aircraft, then the design must be realistic for the type. If it is a cargo aircraft then I like to use more then one logo, to portray the main carrier and the holding company.

Passenger:

Cargo:

Do you have a piece of work which you consider a favorite?

Your readers may have already guessed my favorite, "McKinnon". I consider McKinnon my favorite as the logo sits great on any type of aircraft. It is the Aerosoft Twin Otter that I designed it for, but it looks good on anything. I have also taken it over to X-Plane 11 and will release it on a C172 soon. I came up with the McKinnon name from my days as a photographer and the use of SLR lenses. I was not able to afford Nikon lenses, so used a company called McKinnon for my lenses. I thought that sounded like a Canadian company with Scottish ancestry, so McKinnon Air Services was born. The name can also be transferred to other countries as a subsidiary of the Canada based company. My favorite aircraft to carry the design is the original design, Aerosoft's Twin Otter:

The amphibian version is my favorite, especially in the PNW with Larry Robinson's BC Ferries and his ORBX freebies of Nanaimo, Ganges and Pender Harbour. With Victoria+ and Vancouver+, (Jon Patch will be missed). Holger Sandmann's Tongass Fjords also ORBX PNW up to and including Alaska, I am in sim heaven. I can get lost for hours visiting the hideaway seaplane bases in the whole area.

James, what has been the most challenging project you have undertaken so far?

Anything Carenado. Carenado is the most difficult to do a complete new re-paint for. The simmers at OZx asked me to do the Royal Flying Doctor Service Carenado PC12. Now that was a challenge in its own right. Carenado do not supply a master paint kit with any of their products, they usually just supply a plain white version in the livery package. So getting your paint to line up is a time consuming project. So both Carenado PC12 RFDS and the B200 RFDS were a real challenge.

Paint file:

Finished paint:

On the Carenado B200 version of the RFDS, the words Royal Flying Doctor Service are split between three parts of the paint file and have to be lined up correctly by moving one pixel at a time. Each move must be then rendered back into the simulator to check, so you may fire up FSX 20 to 30 times until you are satisfied. Trying to make sure you are using the correct font for a real paint is important, and the Royal Flying doctor Service have their own font that is not available anywhere, so I had to make my own copy. That is why I like to do fictitious paints. I get quite a few requests for the PC12 more so since I have converted it from FSX for use in X-Plane, but I have to polity refuse a real paint, as it is so time consuming. There are not many of us re-painters who will take on a Carenado full new re-paint. Also now that I have got into XP11, their C172 is a challenge to paint, but I have started to figure it out and released a few for that platform with more to come.

The other difficult challenge I set myself, was my first re-paint in X-Plane 11. I like cargo planes, so I decided on making the XP11 737-800 into a cargo version. There was not even a plain white version, so I had to make one first. Then it was a case of cutting and pasting parts of the fuselage to cover all the windows, make a cargo door and then the graphics. The result has been accepted in the XP community with quite a few downloads and quite a few requests for more cargo 737's. I will not do the new Alaska Airline cargo 737 yet until I get a photo...

Thinking of this Global Cargo next for XP:

As somebody who has developed for both FSX and X-Plane, how would you say they differ, from a developer's prospective?

As a re-painter a layered paint kit in an aircraft file is most welcome. But failing that, then I make my own. As seen in the Flying Doctor paint file above, you select each part and make a cutout and past it to a new file and line each part up. But even then the paint may not line up correctly when re-pasted back onto the original file, so the close up realignment has to be done, a very patience straining process. FSX aircraft usually require more files than X-Plane. FSX uses not just the main paint file but also a specular file that allows for the shine on the finished paint. Thankfully the new X-Plane 11 does not require the specular file during the re-paint as it lies within the file structure of the model.

What software packages do you use during development?

I use two pieces of software. Microsoft PhotoDraw2000 and PhotoShop CS2. PhotoDraw was Microsoft's answer to the new CoralDraw and PhotoShop packages that were just coming onto the mass market. I use PhotoDraw2000 mostly to design the logos, as it is quite an easy program to use and since I have been using it since 1998, it has become second nature to me. It will do most things that PhotoShop can do, that's why I still use it. It will make layers and save as .png files so it is easy to carry over to PhotoShop. Although it's quite an old piece of software, it still manages to be faster than PhotoShop in some processes and is quite a powerful program. I use PhotoShop for the main paint structure of the files. I was told a long time ago to learn the pen tool in PS if I wanted to make good results. That was one of the best pieces of advise as a learner and that really help me to start making better paints. So I would say to your readers to take that advice if you are new into painting your own. I like the way the layered structure works in PhotoShop and when a structured paint kit is used it becomes a painter's dream. But you can create a layered paint file of your own from a simple white paint file in any aircraft product. Although PhotoShop CS2 is now an old product in this day and age, it still does the work required of it and the cost of the latest version is prohibitive for a hobbyist like me.

Inspiration from fellow designers has been key to many of the developers we have interviewed in the past, so with that said, do you have anybody whom you feel has aided you in your development work?

I have followed and admired many of the flight sim painters over the years and have drooled over some of their paints, and hope to reach their standard in time. No names being mentioned as there would be a pile of paint pots aimed for my head if I left some of the greats out. But yes I have admired, and still do, some of the work created by the great painters, but I also like to see new painters coming onto the forums and showing off their work. I would like to see more new painters coming onboard as it will result in all of us enjoying the liveries that aircraft companies are now using in this modern age. I like the bold new bright mix of color that airlines are adapting in their new launch makeovers. WOW, Baltic and Air Europe Airlines, are bringing some fantastic color to the skies of our world that can be transferred into our sims. So there is plenty of paint still to be made; although I personally will stay with my fictitious liveries, as I love to make the logos.

Real Life

Do you have any memorable flights you'd like to share with us?

Back in the 60's I was a young soldier and I flew to many countries around the world, but my first trip from the UK to Hong Kong was a 27 hour journey, stopping off at different countries to re-fuel. A stop at Bombay (Mumbai) India was a bit of a highlight, as the aircraft after takeoff had been hijacked by some stick insects on the ground and were flying at 27,000 feet around the cabin. Brave soldiers ducking for cover was hilarious. The plane was then fumigated at Bangkok Thailand before we could continue, but quite a few of the insects made it to Hong Kong as a freebee, the longest flight of a stick insect in history...

When you're not hard at work creating for the flight sim world, what do you do like to do for relaxation?

Photography is still a passion for me and combined with mountain trekking, make for some good images. I live not far from the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales UK. So I am lucky to have such wonderful scenery on my doorstep. I also love to travel to southern Germany for some great walks and scenery around Garmish-Partenkirchen and the Spitze. Then into Austria and the Alps. One of the best ways to see it, is to travel by train, as it's convenient and trouble free.

Future

What simulators do you develop for at present, and do you see this changing in the future?

I have been an avid fan of FSX and have been very reluctant to progress to P3D. I have FSX running like a dream on my computer, and with the added programs of the likes of PMDG, REX, Flight1 and Aerosoft, I'm lucky to run a stable and trouble free system. I have in the past few weeks also started using X-Plane 11. So the two sims I cater for at the moment are FSX and now XP11. But as the 64 bit sims start to appear, then I may try one or two out.

Your Thoughts

As an aircraft painter what can sites like FlightSim.Com do to support you and the community better?

The freedom to upload paints is one of the most important things sim sites such as FlightSim.Com can do to help the community. I will not upload to some sites, as they are too political in their attitude as to the questionnaire that is required to fill in before you are allowed to upload. I give my paints away for free without any political consideration, and I also download for free, paints from other authors. That freedom must be maintained if we are to see more new painters arriving at the gate.

James, how do you feel about the future of flight simming?

I think flight simming still has a good future within the games industry, and 2017 seems to be the year of a new takeoff, especially with a new generation of flight simulators at the door. 64 bit is the way ahead, and Laminar Research was the first on the runway with this, with X-Plane 10; now superseded by X-Plane 11. Dovetail Games have a new one on the horizon and soon Lockheed Martin will be bringing P3D 64 bit out. X-Plane 11 is the market leader at the moment and so the others will have to attain to the same level or better so as to keep abreast. XP11 is so easy to use and the new GUI is childproof. I am not yet convinced of the VR route as I like to see the desk and my peripherals in front of me. It's the next ten or twenty years ahead that intrigues me the most. Will I still be sitting at a desk or will I be surrounded by a holographic flight deck. The hologram (I'm sure) will become the standard one day, so I just hope I live long enough to both see and use it.

What are some of the most important things the community can do to help/aid developers?

Users of the add-on market; it is very important from a developer's point of view that you keep using our work, especially if the progress of our hobby is to survive. Be it free or payware the old saying is "If you don't use it you will lose it".

Lastly James, what would you like people to know most about you and your work?

I am the same as any other user of the flight sim community, a hobbyist. I love the way people interact in the forums so as to help each other get a better enjoyment from their flight simming. I give my paints away to the community to help pay back for the vast amount of free stuff that I myself have downloaded over the years. I also love to see my work in the screen shots that people upload to the different forums. To see a different angle of a screen shot that I did not create is highly rewarding. I hope to continue creating liveries in the many future sim applications that will be flying our way in the future. Lastly, I wish to thank all the simmers who have downloaded and used my creations, and hope they get as much enjoyment from using my paints as I did in creating them.

James (jaydor)
President and CEO
McKinnon Air Services