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OK.. me again on a VC dilema. I'm hoping it's just fatigue (been working on this for 8 hours straight) and I'm missing something obvious..

Just testing the whole procedure to get a feel for gauge placement and what-not..  I've come up with this...



Hopefully, this explains my question all by itself  ::)

I made a square polygon, facing the pilot, right in front of the static panel (which I was hoping would serve as the background image, and then I'd just "decal" the active gauges in front of it).

I then applied a 1024X1024 texture (pa31_vc1.bmp) to this polygon. Then, globally renamed it "$pa31_vc1" (adding the $ prefix and removing the  bmp extension),,

Here's my panel.cfg entry for the VC:

------------------------------------------

[VCockpit01]
size_mm=1024,1024
pixel_size=1024,1024
texture=$pa31_vc1
background_color=0,0,0
visible=0

gauge00=KingAir!Airspeed, 300, 600, 200, 200


-----------------------------------------------


I'm just supposed to see the gauge, right ?

That annoying polygon is supposed to be invisible.. right ?

What have I overlooked ?

Hi
You must call the $name.bmp
_panel_name in fsds3
no extention then to map it in fsds3,goto texture window,add then in the file type menu
select all files from the roll down menu,then you will be able to find the bmp without the extention.
Now in the panel.cfg the texture name will be $name
what happens is makemdl see's _panel_ and during compile will insert $ to the name and set the material to its correct format.If you still have the problem have a look here as there are some bugs in FSDS3
http://www.aerodynamika.com/cgi-bin/yab ... 1159917432
cheers
Wozza

I'm a little bewildered and intimidated here..

From the link (and links within links) that I've been reading (thanks again by the way).. Am I to understand that you cannot have a dynamic VC panel and ANY reflective textures in you model ?

That can't be right..

Alrighty, then...

To test THIS theory, I went through and cleared

Hi Brett
Sorry that last answer was a bit of a drive by :)
its always hard to determin how much detail an answer should have

Ok fsds3 has a bug which causes some issues with multiple transperent textures if your not up to hand editing the xfile then you need to stick to a couple of rules

the following is a email Ive sent some ppl that has helped with explantions

> your only allowed 1x non _t Texture for transparency all other textures
> must have a _t modifier eg: mywing.bmp should be mywing_t.bmp

*What about a clear texture for the prop and one for the glass.  How do you handle that and what does the "t" do in the bmp name?*


Combine all the transparent textures into one so the props canopy ect are all mapped to the same texture,normally 512X512 is sufficant for a normal project but if your using transparency for say for a nets and a heap of windows then it may need to be 1024X1024 the _t tells makemdl that the alpha channel in the bmp is used for reflective not transparency,unforanatly at the mo if you have more than 1 non _t texture the xfile/asm file gets mucked up at compile time

>
> you cannot have any of the checkboxs checked in FSDS3 texture editor
> (except 1 x ,L for the gauge panel texture) use the makemdl options to set reflective lightmapp ect,to get to
> these if you havnt done so already rename the  MakeMdlAircraftParms.txt in the main fsds3 folder to something like MakeMdlAircraftParms.bu

*So you don't check the "reflect" box or any of that checked for normal specular parts?*

yes thats right when you look at the texture manager in fsds you should see no,A,R ect If you rename or remove the MakeMdlAircraftParms.txt file from the
fsds3 main folder this will prevent fsds using batch mode and make the makemdl option come
up at compile time,giving you the checkboxs for reflection ect



> If you use the ,L in fsds3 for the _panel_ texture  you need to have a small texture with a _L modifier
> for every _t texture otherwise the _t textures go transparent or vanish
> at night
>

also if after doing all the above and some of trans textures and or panel go reflective do a merg list and group all the parts that are mapped to your single transparent texture together,this 9 out of 10 times sorts out the texture list  getting mixed up at compile time

see if the above clears up the confussion if not post back and Ill talk ya through it all.I know it sounds a bit daunting but its just my lousy text skills
cheers
Wozza

Thanks again for your patience with me..

HI
Hmm I think you will find that the VC textures will now be transperent try taking say the wing texture give it a pure black alpha,it will look like chrom on the external but be invisable in VC,also if or when you texture the prop disk in the external model it may go reflective then again you may have found a workaround that works.dont forget that whilst you may be able to juggle the textures to a compromise a repainter may have difficaulty with there prefered paint/method  
Wozza

Egad... *ugh*,,  You are correct.

So.. a possible cure would be to have a second texture.. no alpha, for the VC..  right ?

Hi Mate
You could do that but there will be issues.
when you switch from external to VC model the new texture will load into video memory and the old ones will be removed causing issues with blank model as textures load (this still happens but you would only be making it worse)
The best way is for me to find a way to better explain the texturing so you wont need to do that.
Can you load your project in fsds3 then goto edit tab,then manage texture give me a screen capture of the texture names as they are seen in there>Ill then be able to see if there are any naming issues and suggest a fix ....stick with me we will sort the prob
cheers
Wozza

I've noticed that the default planes seem to use something like what I'm trying. The Baron and KingAir both have reflective main models, but the view of the wings, nacelles, etc.. from VC seem dull (like mine)..

I haven't noticed anything awful.. load-time wise, going from external to VC.. but then again.. I've still got some VC texturing to do.. so, I'd like to optimize things.

Anyway.. here's the screen you requested:



_panel_pa31_vc1

Hokay
easy fix for the time being
in the manage textures, click on the textures(high lighting them) with the ,R and then edit,then UNcheck the is reflective box in fsds3 so you have no ,R on any of the texures at all

If you hanvt done so look in the main fsds3 folder for a file called MakeMdlAircraftParms.txt rename it or delete/move it

now compile
when you see the makemdl options come up have a look under the options tab and make sure hasreflectivemap is checked then click on start

the project will compile then have a look in fs9 and all should be fine

so at the moment for ease dont have any of the check boxs ticked in FSDS texture editor as you progress there will be other questions so we will deal with them one at a time so I dont confuse you to much:)

Cheers
Wozza

Oh my..  "as you progress"..

I'm hoping that all that's left to do here, is to work on the VC interior parts so they're not so clunky-looking and then finish lining up the gauges for the VC..

Since the transparent wings (from VC) issue seems to be resolved.. I'm assuming you're laying the groundwork so that when/if I want/need to apply transparent textures to windows, etc.. I can do that ?

I've found an FSDS material setting that makes windows look pretty good, without having to texture them.. and it gives an acceptable prop-disk too... so I may just leave them be.

Hi
Yeah correct if you like the effect that you get with materials
then thats fine and makes it a lot easier using the method above
BUT lol there always a but,if your aircraft is put into fsx then any material that is not textured will either turn solid black or vanish.Also blured props look much better with a texture on it,This also allows the end user to tweak it to their liking and or change the color.The next problem your going to come up against is night lighting the gauges ect but we will leave that
till later
Cheers
Wozza

If this modeling stuff was easy, I guess it wouldn't be as satisfying, when you get it all done properly (yeah right lol)..

This plane will have to be FSX ready (it might not even be done till FX is out).. So I'm gonna slow down and properly texture glass and props..

But you know what alarms me ?

I'm not all that crazy about texturing EVERYTHING..  Materials work just fine for many parts (de-icing boots, pitot-tubes, and other small parts that never get scrutinized..  Are you saying that EVERY single part is going to HAVE to be textured in FSX ?

Man that'll kill frame-rates  

Hi
Until the sdk's are out all I have is the demo to base my observations on FSX,yes its always been a good idea to texture every part it now looks more so in FSX.This wont cost you any fps what I nornaly do is use the little gaps and the boarders of the main textures,Put in small squares of colors and map small and unimportant parts to them.If you have forgotten what is textured what isnt,just make a copys of all your textures and fill the whole  texture in a very bright color,when you load your project in FSDS any untextured part should stand out
cheers
Wozza