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Trevor Guest X-Plane Developer Interview Conducted by Dominic Smith Trevor, could I begin by asking you how you started developing for flight simulators and what got you interested in it? At first I used to dabble a bit in FSX, but due to the simulator consistently crashing, I left it behind and moved to X-Plane 10. Unfortunately, unlike FSX, X-Plane at that time, was devoid of many airports, and so I went about modelling my own. Yes, I remember those days (it's amazing to see how far X-Plane has come). Can you recall what your first ever scenery was, and why you chose it? The very first airport I modelled in X-Plane was Leeds/Bradford as it is our local airport (it's only 20 minutes away). How does creating scenery in X-Plane differ from that of FSX? I would say that both are similar in some respects, but I feel that X-Plane is a bit more advanced. Tell us about the nature of your designs and what you do? When creating sceneries, I like my designs to be as close as possible to the real thing (with the tools available at hand). I can't make my own custom objects, so I try and get the closest match from X-Plane's numerous object libraries. What do you consider your best or most popular work? At the time of writing, my most popular airport is LEPA with 12,500 downloads! Trevor, what do you find to be the most challenging aspect of scenery design? For me personally, the most challenging aspect of creating a scenery, is getting the terminal buildings looking like their real life counterparts. I can imagine that would be difficult, so how do you go about getting a match? Most of the time I use Google Earth at ground level, which gives me an idea of what the terminal looks like. I also search online for up to date images. From there, I then try and find a library terminal object which resembles it. Trevor, out of all the airports you have created, do you have a particular favorite? As mentioned above, LEPA is not only the most popular airport I have created, it's also my favorite. It was a real challenge to build, and the end result was something I am very pleased with. When creating your sceneries, what software packages and tools do you like to use? To start the building process, I use WED to get as much ground detail as possible, for example, parking ramps, ATC, taxi routes etc. Then once I am happy with that, I move to Overlay Editor which allows me to get a far better perspective of the 3D buildings. For reference I use Google Earth quite a lot during the process. Do you develop payware/freeware or both and why? Freeware only, as I get a lot of enjoyment with sharing my work with the community. Trevor, do you work alone, or do you have other members who help you? The team is just myself in a small box room, a computer, plus a loving wife (affectionately known as the 'Tea Lady'). What started your interest in aviation? I have always been interested in aviation, ever since I was a small boy building Airfix kits. A few years later as a teen, I joined the Air Cadets, and was with them for about five years. Then when the computer era started, my first foray in the world of flight simulation was with a program called Solo Flight for the Commodore 64. Do you have any experience in real aviation? I've been in open cockpit gliders (very wet and windy), as well as Chipmunks with the Air Cadets. As a gift, I had a flying lesson in a Cessna, and will always remember it, because the instructor asked me where I learnt to fly. I told him Flight Simulator! I've also been in a Dakota that was used in the Berlin Airlift, and that was during a flight experience from Leeds/Bradford Airport around Yorkshire. Trevor, what other hobbies or things do you do for enjoyment? When I'm not creating sceneries, my other hobbies include gaming and model making. Could you tell us a bit about your other models? My main interest is building tanks, as I have found that aircraft take up too much shelf room. Have you ever considered doing flight simulator development full-time? No, because I enjoy flight simulation purely as a hobby. As I am now retired, it is something I can pick up, or put down as I want. How do you choose your next new design or project? I choose my airports by the places I think people would be interesting in flying to and then exploring; a good example being, Norway, Greece and Iceland. What simulators do you design for now and which ones do you plan to develop for in the future? I only develop for X-Plane 11 now, so as long as it's updated by the developers, I will stick with it. How do you feel about the future of flight simulation in general? There will always be a market for flight simulation, as it is the closest thing to real life flying and instrument knowledge. In the future, I can only see it becoming more realistic as computer graphics will continue to improve. Lastly Trevor, what would you like people to know about you and your work? That I am just a retired engineer who enjoys a couple of hours a day building airports and flying. I try my best to get the airports as exact as possible, and enjoy the feedback I get when I get it right! Trevor Guest Download Trevor Guest TDG Files