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Interview With Pedro van Leeuwen Development When did you start developing for flight simulators and what got you interested in it? Well, personally, rather than calling it 'developing' I would call it 'rolling my own stuff'. It's not like I'm developing models for the greater public but more like I build to satisfy my own curiosity, interest or taste and afterwards share the results. My first computer experience and education was on the Apple / Mac and as such, that's still what I use today; that will also give away which simulator I use, no? I remember a loooong time ago I had a quick peek at something called Flight Simulator II on a friend's color Mac (I was still on black & white SE) which looked like great fun! You could actually pretend you were flying... that is, when you weren't crashing the simulated plane or the whole computer. Anyway, my first flying experience came a bit later with 'games' like Hellcats and Hornet, until one cloudless night, many, many moons ago, must have been in the early nineties, a friend supplied me with an old version of X-Plane. I think it was something like v3.5 Classic... Is that ancient history? Not only could you fly aircraft in this simulator, but you could also modify or even create aircraft models! Pretty soon after that I found myself running the then current version, which at the time was v4.7. That was when I started to delve into aircraft design; first adjusting, then modifying and repainting other author's models, until very soon I was building my very own. Tell us about the nature of your designs and what you do? I would say that my designs are the 'simple stuff'; though it depends on what you consider 'simple' to your taste. I mean, I can fly perfectly fine without a full 3D exterior object or a 3D cockpit; personally I'm quite happy with a decent looking 'PlaneMaker only' model, a fitting panel and maybe a set of 360 cockpit views. You see, most of my interest/curiosity is about performance and handling or the general feeling of flying that certain type of aircraft. This could explain my soft spot for STOL aircraft, a mild preference for twins and a certain liking for the older (even vintage) designs. That said, I'm not a real pilot so I'm just flying by the seat of my pants. My models are based solely on my intuition and my interpretation of the data that I was able to gather. What do you consider your best or most popular work? I think that would be the Twin Otter, Fokker F27, DC-4, BN Islander and Do228; not necessarily in that order. What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of a project? That can be quite different from one project to another. Sometimes it's the lack of available data or information on a particular model. Other times it can be the difficulty in matching/reaching the given data with the model which has been created. There are also parts or systems which are either impossible or difficult to simulate (without extensive plug-ins) so the challenge is finding a reasonable or good enough alternative. What have been your favorite projects? I'd say every project is a favorite; it's the turnout or final result that makes one project more rewarding than the other. They're all great and fun when you start them; otherwise I wouldn't do this as a hobby, right? What software packages and tools do you use to develop? The short answer? That would be PlaneMaker and Photoshop. If you want that thing to fly, drive, sail or whatever in X-Plane you'll need to build it in PlaneMaker first. Once the shape and size is there, I create the texture files in my usual paint program, which is Photoshop. The exception would be when I need to rearrange or modify an object (.obj file), that I exported earlier from PlaneMaker or was supplied by someone else. In that case I would then use AC3D or Blender. I rarely do this as I have very little experience with these applications. Who would you consider to be your mentors or inspiration in the development world if you have any? The inspiration comes from almost everyone that has made or still makes good planes. A mentor or teacher? No, I think you could say I'm an autodidact; though I did learn a thing or two by looking at and disassembling other author's models. I really encourage other people to do the same if they'd like to start building or modifying something themselves. Always remember to thank the other authors for supplying their samples and sometimes even complete tutorials. Do you develop payware/freeware or both and why? Freeware only. As I said, most of my models/designs are only fueled by my own curiosity and interest. I like the freedom that freeware offers me and prefer not to worry about filling a market niche or reaching a sales target. Anyway, it's just a hobby and as it happens, my free time has been growing shorter the past few years, so... The Team How many people work with you or your team? I am a 'one man team'. I mean, last time I checked it was only me on the team, but I'm known to collaborate with others occasionally... Sometimes I offer adjustments or repaints to other authors; whilst on other occasions I'm asked by other authors or users to assist with something. This might be with their own work or for modifying or repainting one of my models or derivatives. What other developers or teams have you worked with and what were their roles? Wait, one team comes to mind, though it wasn't a development team but a virtual airline... well, sort of; more like a 'virtual airline with an attitude' called dESPair. It wasn't about logging flight hours or earning a rank either, it was about having adventures; sometime very strange adventures at that. Oh, I'm sure you still can find some bits 'n pieces of information scattered over the net... and it wasn't only about aircraft; we also built scenery (the roots of the early members) or whatever else that was needed for our adventures in the simulator... We even did the early testing for SquawkBox in X-Plane. Quite a number of my models and repaints were fuelled by dESPair. For example, in the adventures, you could find yourselves stuck in a far-away country or spot, and be in dire need of transportation and AeroPedro would then supply whatever was at hand. This could be just about everything: a rusty old ex-RCAF S-55 helicopter, a pair of Helio Couriers with Liberian registration, a chartered Mali AF Basler Turbo, a VW hippy, a tricycle chopper (motorcycle)... either that or assorted parts to repair your own vehicle. You'd be surprised to know who some of the crew were; but then again they will only be identified as 'captain Hak', 'captain Troll', captains 'Skybuster', 'Lardass' 'Brick' and such. Anyway, sadly the activity-meter for dESPair has been on the zero level for quite a while... no, we didn't die or close the company, we just faded away or went underground. Real life moves on and responsibilities change. Some of the group went into retirement, others became parents or grandparents, some started a university career and others got married or changed jobs. Real Life Do you have any experience in real aviation? If you mean do I have a PPL or hold a job related to aviation in normal life, no, I'm afraid not. Apart from flying as a passenger on the typical commercial flight, the only time I get to see aircraft close up is during my visits to museums. There I get chance to sit in the cockpit of static aircraft or dig through the historical files and archives. What started your interest in aviation? My interest in aviation, started, like most, at childhood. Reading books, seeing photographs, movies and real planes all helped to stimulate my fascination with aviation. The occasional flights from Spain to Holland and back, to visit family, were always a treat for that young boy. The earliest flight I can remember was on KLM's L188 'Propjet Electra'. Oh dang! I missed the Convairs and Viscounts just a by few years! As I got older I satisfied my curiosity by building scale models of aircraft. You know the ones; the usual kits from Monogram, Revell and Airfix. That started plain and simple, following the instruction and painting guide to the letter, but most of the later samples never ended up as the boxed model; they would be modified and painted to replicate an even different version or subtype of that aircraft. Any memorable flights in real life? Yes, that would be the only time in adult life that I was on something smaller than the usual 737 you normally fly on. In fact it was waaay smaller and it was all thanks to an ex-dESPair member who had traded his X-Plane hobby for a PPL and real flying. He offered me a ride in his Kitfox and boy, was that an experience! It was great, being tossed and shaken by every wind gust while flying over the beautiful Norwegian countryside on a serene summer day! That was a few years back, so it's probably safe now (won't get him into trouble) to tell you that I held the stick and flew the course for a while...great fun! Would you like to share what you do in real life? Something completely different to designing aircraft in X-Plane and quite far from aviation: I work for a nature conservation organization, for which I do something in the way of purchasing and inventory management for the tools and assets needed for our parks, visitor centers and offices. Go and figure that out! What other hobbies or things do you do for enjoyment? To name just a few, I like to watch a good movie or TV-series every know and then, and I'm keen on cooking, which means I also love good food! Have you ever considered doing flight simulator development full-time? Considered, yes, but it wouldn't be as a commercial activity or daytime job... Maybe it's something I'd probably do when one of two situations would materialize: 'retirement' or 'lottery jackpot', whichever one comes first! Future How do you choose your next new design or project? Usually by shear interest and curiosity! This can be fuelled by something I see, read or hear. If it looks interesting, odd or strange, then it has a good chance of being built. Sometimes I might want to build a certain type of plane just to check out its performance and handling, to see if it really could take off or land on that secluded/extreme airfield, or to relive the feeling of a flight from history. Some planes just beg to be built simply because they are not already available or being modelled by someone else. There's still some many models I would like to do. What simulators do you design for now and what ones do you plan to develop for in the future? X-Plane only I'm afraid; that is, unless it disappears, in which case I would keep an old version at hand anyhow. If a simulator came along that was even easier to use than X-Plane (PlaneMaker) or better suited to my needs, then I might consider it. In what ways do you see development changing in the future? Hmmm, I suppose it would depend on what you'd expect from the simulator and what you'd like to use it for. For sure, the simulators and models involved will most certainly grow and become more detailed and complicated, and developing a model to the full spec will require more time, resources and knowledge than the average amateur builder could possibly offer. This means that full spec aircraft might only be produced by commercial developers. With any luck, we will still find users that are happy and satisfied with a 'simple model' and hopefully future simulators will still offer the simple tools to build these straightforward models/aircraft. At the end of the day, I guess it all depends on what the future flight simulator user is looking for. There are two possible directions (in some ways like we have now); ultra realism with 3D cockpits and multiple systems at a price, or simpler models which have more variety of type, design and physics and which are given to the community freely. Both directions could co-exist, it's up to the end user if they choose to use the simulator as a game or a serious research program. Your Thoughts What can sites like FlightSim.Com do to support you and the hobby better? Well, I think you (FlightSim.Com, X-Plane.org and Avsim.com) are doing pretty good already; you've given us a home, a room to chat and exchange ideas (the forums), a place to park and swap our files (the repository and download manager) and you are serving us with news and opinions (news, highlights and more forums). I'd say just keep it up and running... What are some of the most important things a site or community can do to help the developers? I think the interviews are a very nice idea; thank you. Newsflashes and reviews are quite helpful too... What would you like people to know about you and work? You mean more than what I've been spilling out to you already? Nah, can't think of anything special right now; don't have much to tell, I'm just a happy hobbyist. And everyone is welcome to ask questions whenever you catch me on a forum somewhere... Guess that concludes it, no? Then I'd like to thank you for having me here... and I would like to pass a big fat smile and a thumbs up for all flight simmers! Have fun! Pedro van Leeuwen pedrovl@xs4all.nl Download Pedro van Leeuwen's add-ons -
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