Texturing finally on track

[Zatnikitelman]

For making good Orbiter addons as a solo-developer, I've learned you have to be a good coder, a good modeler, and an artist! For the latter, I've finally figured out how to make the most out of GIMP and get a good looking texture properly mapped onto my project. The secret I learned for this repeating pattern is to copy an area of the Wings3d map into another GIMP window and build one part of the texture there filling in as close to the lines as possible. This way, I don't go about filling up my texture only to learn I screwed it all up and have to completely restart. I also learned to save not only the Wings3d .bmp texture, but also a GIMP .xcf so I can keep layers and have a back-outable version I can change around parts without messing anything up. Hopefully, I'll be able to get this dang project all textured up and I can finally concentrate on the fun part: coding.
There are multiple animations with this new project and I look forward to the challenge. Since this project will be a vessel that incorporates virtually all facets of an Orbiter vessel (thrusters, animation, docking, attachment etc.) and should allow me to test-bed experiment different things including engine gimballing, non-default auto-pilots, even a 2d panel and virtual cockpit eventually!