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Jennifer Kimball Developer Interview Conducted by Dominic Smith Development Jenn, when did you start developing for flight simulators and what got you interested in it? As a real-world pilot, I've always been interested flight simulation, my first simulator being Microsoft Flight Sim 98. I started developing for X-Plane 10 in 2015 after I saw all of the content available for download and got inspired to develop my own planes. So, along with my good friend Alex, I learned the art from scratch starting with Plane Maker. I soon progressed into 3D modeling, textures, and animations, and progressed from there. Could you tell us a bit about your amazing designs? Sure Dom! All of the projects I've worked on so far have been smaller aircraft, the most complex being the Mitsubishi MU-2. Alex and I have been known for our "grass roots" collections of aircraft including but not limited to a PA-18 Super Cub package, a J-3 Cub package, an Aeronca Chief and Champ, and even an amphibious flying fishing boat. Some of the projects I did entirely on my own include the MU-2, Glasair, and Rans Coyote. I did the majority of the 3D and texture work on the Cub and Super Cub as well. Haha...I remember the flying fishing boat when you first uploaded it...that was wacky! Jenn, out of all the aircraft (and flying fishing boats) you have created, what do you consider your best or most popular work? The Cub packages, hands down! Everybody loves a Cub! The runner up would have to be my MU-2 Solitaire. Although the Solitaire isn't my most eye-catching work, it's a great addition to anyone's freeware hangar, as it's perfect for those longer cross country flights; plus it has a really decent cockpit setup (and a G1000 version). It's plain old fun to fly. Having seen how complicated your desktop looks at times due to your 3D modelling work, could you tell us what you find to be the most challenging aspect of a project? Animations and cockpit click regions. Getting everything to function right in a virtual cockpit can be a lot of work and tinkering, and it can be frustrating, but it's always worth it when you can start a plane from cold and dark, switch by switch, and become immersed in the experience not only of flying the aircraft but of operating it. Even though creating aircraft is challenging, is there a particular project you have worked on which you consider to be a favorite? The MU-2, because it was a huge learning experience. I didn't put as much into the 3D work or virtual cockpit as usual, but I focused on getting the systems right. I had a lot of help from the community (including real MU-2 pilots) in getting this tricky airplane to handle and operate as much like the real one as possible. In fact, look for a future update with better 3D modeling and a more immersive virtual cockpit, because I think it deserves it! Another favorite project was the Super Cub, particularly the float version. That was just plain old fun, and I'm due to make another float plane some time soon. Jenn, in regards to your X-Plane work, who would you consider to be your mentors or inspiration? My good friend Alex helped me get into developing. He did his first plane, a Lockheed AL-60, and showed me how to do it. Then, we started working together on planes, sending stuff to each other and making mistakes together until we got fairly good at it. It was really great to have a friend to work with while learning how to develop. He's no longer developing (he's pursuing new things in life now), so I'm taking over our old projects from here and working on my own. I really owe it to him for helping me get comfortable developing! Do you develop payware/freeware or both and why? Currently, I only develop freeware, because I took developing up strictly for fun, but I'm open to the idea of releasing a nice payware model some time in the future. Even if I move into developing payware, I'll still release freeware once in a while, because I feel that the X-Plane community benefits big time from having a large pool of quality content available for free, as well as payware. When people purchase a simulator, a lot of the times the first thing they'll ask is, "how many add-ons are available, and are there free ones?" So having a nice collection of free add-ons helps draw a lot of people to the simulator. The Team Jenn, do you work alone, or are you part of a team? It used to be Alex and I, but as of this year, it's just me! Real Life Do you have any experience in real aviation? Yeah! I'm a private pilot and I'm also licensed as an avionics technician. I've owned aircraft in the past, and try to make it a point to fly whatever I can regularly. I got into flying when I was only eight years old, then accumulated some time in gliders between age 11 and 14, and when I was 19 I decided to just go ahead and go for my license. I have some brief experience with aerobatics (although I prefer to keep my feet down and head up whenever possible), and I've flown many different types including float planes, warbirds, and even ultralights. The last aircraft I owned was a Vans RV-4, a super fun (and very fast) little plane! Jenn, how did your interest in aviation begin? I've always gravitated towards airplanes, even as a really little kid. I had a lot of toy airplanes and videos about flight, and I would hang out around the local small airport almost every weekend. At that same airport, I was eventually given a ride around the patch in an Ercoupe when I was about 8. Such a fun plane to get my first non-commercial airplane ride in, with the canopy open and the wind in my hair, I was hooked then and there. Do you have any memorable flights in real life? Tons, but one that sticks out was at a time before I had my pilot's license when I went with a friend in a rented Cessna 172 from Chicago, IL to Cedar Point amusement park in OH. It was one of his first "long" cross country flights, and I had a lot of experience flying already, so I was a logical choice as the right-seater for the trip. I think I was about 14 at the time. The weather got mildly exciting, but it was a great flight all around and the return trip was even better. Also, the roller coasters were great, but I'm not sure I could handle them again now a days. It was an experience I'll never forget, and I'm really glad I got to go with on that trip! When you're not busy designing your next aircraft (or flying fishing boat), what other hobbies or things do you do for enjoyment? I love to sew, I consider myself to be reasonably crafty and I love making things--little decorations, pillows, plush toys, anything fun like that. I'm also a musician, I play electric guitar, drums, bass, keyboard, and can (kind of) sing. When I'm not doing that kind of stuff, I like to relax and unwind by taking long walks outside. Nature is good! Knowing how much time you already put into the hobby, have you ever considered doing flight simulator development full-time? I really love developing and I would definitely consider it. Future Jenn, how do you go about choosing your next new design or project? Sometimes it's a request, and sometimes I'll see an interesting plane that I think people would enjoy flying, then I'll collect specs and drawings and go to work on it. Back in the day when I was working as a duo, we'd sometimes even design stuff from scratch. Currently, I'm working on a warbird request, and it's definitely a work I'm extremely proud of. What simulators do you design for now and which ones do you plan to develop for in the future? Just X-Plane 9, 10, and 11 for now, but I could see myself learning to develop for Microsoft Flight Simulator in the future. In what ways do you see development changing in the future? I think there will continue to be an increase in VR use, and the way simulators model flight physics will always improve, which gives developers something new to learn and keep up with. Your Thoughts How do you feel about the future of flight simulation in general? It's an ever evolving thing, as technology improves, so do the capabilities of simulators, and since flight simulation serves many purposes such as for flight instruction, fun/hobbies, and even engineering, it will continue to grow and evolve to be more realistic and capable. Lastly Jenn, what are some of the most important things a site or community can do to help developers such as yourself? Let us know what you want! We can't please every single flight simmer, but knowing how the community uses their simulators and what kinds of aircraft/scenery/plug-ins/etc. they would find useful really helps us know what to develop and what areas can be improved on, and helps build the community as a whole. We're all working together to make flight simulation better! Jennifer Kimball Download Jennifer Kimball Aircraft
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Jenn Kimball and Alex Stephens (A-Pilot) Interview Conducted by Dominic Smith Development When did you start developing for flight simulators and what got you interested in it? We both started developing X-Plane aircraft in early 2015. We had always wanted to learn how to model aircraft for simulators but didn't get started until we got our noses into X-Plane. With all of the tools readily available, such as Plane-Maker and AC3D, we quickly acquired the basic knowledge of how to make a very simple, animated, flying aircraft. It's a bit of an addiction, because each plane we make gets a little "better" in some way. Our first serious project was Alex's AL-60, which taught us a lot of what we now know. Could you tell us about the nature of your designs? Our primary focus is on creating general aviation and light sports aircraft. However, we have also created a few custom designed aircraft such as the GO-XP and AP-120. Put simply, our ultimate goal is creating aircraft which are fun to fly. What do you consider your best or most popular work? The Piper Cub series is easily our most popular work. Who doesn't love a Cub? This little aircraft has so much character that we just had to build one. We went all out on this project, and did everything to the best of our ability, so as to make the flight experience as true-to-life as possible. We even flew a real Cub during the project just to make sure! Fantastic! Have you received any feedback from actual Cub owners regarding your X-Plane model? Not as yet. But if you're a real Cub owner and have X-Plane installed, we would love to hear from you! What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of a project? Haha...fine tuning the 3D model, so as to be as accurate as possible! It's no exaggeration when I say this is really tedious (but has to be done)! For custom designs, the biggest challenge (and perhaps the most fun) is making sure the designs are at least somewhat plausible if they were real. What have been your favorite projects so far? You know Dom, we have quite a sense of humor, so we'd have to say the "River Rat"! This was Alex's idea for a flying fishing boat, and has to be, without doubt the most amusing and entertaining project done to date! He even installed a fish finder and a radio which, when clicked, plays a motivating tune while you fly around. If this wasn't enough, the 'soda can' in the cup holder oozes green slime during turbulence! On a more serious note, getting the floats and tundras on the Super Cub was a real blast, especially the test flying portions of development. I think it's fair to say that each project in its own way, is an adventure. Green slime? Are you sure it's drinkable? Well, er, yes... we haven't personally experienced any side effects, but a word of caution: it's mighty addictive! When creating your designs, what software packages and tools do you use to develop? For our designs, we use AC3D, Gimp, and Plane-maker. We also use some X-Plane specific plug-ins with AC3D. Do you develop payware/freeware or both? At present we focus solely on freeware, but in the near future we wish to try our hand at payware. We will however, continue to provide quality freeware aircraft at the same time...so don't worry! What additional challenges do you think might come with creating a payware aircraft? With the jump to payware, everything will have to be as accurate as possible; this includes flight dynamics, instrumentation and custom made sounds. By design, a payware aircraft should have more functionality over a freeware model. For example, in a freeware aircraft, you can get away with a baggage door that doesn't open, but in a really nice payware aircraft, people are going to want all those extra goodies. The Team How many members are in the A-Pilot team? We're a duo--Jenn Kimball and Alex Stephens (oh and the cat). Could you tell us a bit about your different roles? We both do a little bit of everything as it depends on the project. Sometimes one will do most of the work, while the other member concentrates on something entirely different. Some projects are of course 50/50 and combine the talents of both members. Real Life Do either of you have any experience in real aviation? Yes we do! Jenn is a private pilot, and Alex hopes to hold a light sport certificate one day soon. Do you find that your real world piloting skills help you in modeling your designs? Most definitely! Real world piloting makes it much easier to get both the physics and handling of a model to a highly realistic level. On top of that, being in and around airplanes a lot gives one a greater understanding of the systems and how everything looks and works. Not surprisingly, because of the modeling work involved, X-Plane has also helped our understanding of real aircraft. What started your interest in aviation? We both wanted to fly since we were kids, but neither of us pursued any certification until several years ago. Do either of you have any memorable flights in real life? Yes, quite a few have been memorable. A standout would have to be flying the Waco VPF-7 (Victor Paul Frank) which was pretty spectacular for both of us. We're proud to have gotten the chance to take the controls of such an amazing piece of aviation history. What other things do the two of you do for enjoyment? We're both musicians and make mostly rock and roll or techno. We play guitars, drums, keyboards and bass. We also enjoy simple arts and crafts and every once in a while, we'll fly a scale model aircraft on a quiet evening. Have you ever considered doing flight simulator development full-time? No, not really. It's a hobby and we do it mainly because it's fun! Full time would kill the enjoyment! Future How do you go about choosing your next new design or project? If we find a plane that we feel would be a good addition to the X-Plane experience, we'll do some homework on it and start on the project within about a week. Our custom designs often come out of an imaginative, lengthy conversation about what could be fun, possible, and interesting. There's a lot of tossing around of ideas. What simulators do you design for now and which ones do you plan to develop for in the future? For now we only develop for X-Plane, and don't have any plans (yet) to migrate to another simulator. What are your impressions of X-Plane 11 so far? We love the feel of the lighting and the general look of the sim. Sure, it's got its flaws, but hey, it's still a beta! The default planes look absolutely fantastic and are a great improvement over those found in X-Plane 10. What would you like to see from X-Plane 11 in the future (both from a designer and a simmers perspective)? An improvement on clouds, and the way they impact on frame rates would be nice. The team at Laminar Research seem to be working on this though. Your Thoughts What can sites like FlightSim.Com do to support you and the hobby better? We love it when sites help point us in the direction of talented developers and their content, both freeware and payware. Reading comprehensive reviews, and seeing what everyone is up to in the world of flight simulation is equally important. Yes, we're developers, but we're also flight sim enthusiasts, and so we like to keep abreast of what's going on. Luckily FlightSim.Com provides all of this to the simmer. How do you feel about the future of flight simulation in general? The future of flight simulation depends not just on the quality of the simulator as it stands, but on the support of the community. It's fair to say that great add-ons, freeware and payware, are crucial to the continuing success and growth of the simulation community, but so too is community participation. So far, we're all doing a great job, and we should keep encouraging newcomers to learn how to develop their own quality add-ons to share. It's fun, rewarding, and benefits the entire community. Half the fun of a simulator, to us at least, is getting add-ons to enhance and customize our simulation experience. We're sure we're not the only ones who feel that way! What are some of the most important things a site or community can do to help developers? Few things rival the power of articles and reviews. Showcasing a developer's work is a great help to developer and really puts them in the limelight. Lastly, what would you like people to know about you and your work? The most important thing which we'd like people to know about us, is we do all this because it's incredibly fun! Not only do we enjoy making and flying our aircraft, but we also get great satisfaction knowing that other people will be having a blast flying them too! Jenn Kimball Alex Stephens (A-Pilot) Download A-Pilot Files
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- jenn kimball
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