Lines done, but what about effects?

I have made some more progress on ModelConverterX by now. The extrusion of the 2D lines into 3D shapes is working fine and in the options the user can specify the shape he wants to extrude with. That can range from a flat plane (2 vertex circle) to a circle with more vertices so it looks round. Although the last will not always be advised performance wise.

So with that new feature solved, the next one to work on was not hard to find. I now started working on attached objects, for example lights or effects. I have already done the code to read them in from SCASM macros and the next thing to work on is writing the attachpoints to the X file for FSX objects as well. For the lights my plan is to have them being created as effect files, so the tool will have to generate a FX file for the light with the colour the light should have.

Video on the Wiki?

With the increasing amount of video tutotials becoming availalble on the FSDeveloper site and because they are just very useful to explain things, I have been looking at a way to integrate them in the Wiki. So let’s say to be able to play them inside the Wiki as an embedded video. The extensions for MediaWiki that I found for that until now did not really work for me, also due to the forum – Wiki integration we have on the site I guess. If anybody has some good tips or suggestions on implementing such a feature that would be very welcomed.

Make those lines visible

Crane with linesOne of the most important features still missing in ModelConverterX is the ability to read in API macros that use lines instead of polygons. I have started working on a solution for this now. Those lines will be read in and then transformed into a 3D object. It is like you extra a certain shape along the line to get a 3D version. I will use a simple circle for the shape to extrude with, where the radius and number of vertices are an option the user can specify. By setting the number of vertices to 3 you would get a triangle to extrude, which costs the least polygons of course.

On the right you see a first picture of this feature. All the bars that form the arms of the crane are defined with lines in the API macro. But the tool has converted them into polygons that actually show up.

There is still some finetuning to do on the extrude functionality though, especially where the polygons of different line segments are supposed to line up with each other. But at least the basics are working now.

Next ModelConverterX version

After working on the Wiki for most of the last week, now it is time to spend some time on ModelConverterX again. I do have some good ideas for the next version. I want to add some features that will allow the conversion of even more objects and I think after that I can remove the alpha tag from the tool and make it a beta or even a normal version. Here are the points that are at the top of the list for the next version:

  • Ability to convert macros that use lines. These lines will be converted into simple 3D shapes of polygons, because the FSX format does not work with lines. With this option added the last category of macros not supported should be fixed, although there will always be special macros left that give trouble.
  • Conversion of objects that have effects attached. For example smoke from a chimney. These macros should get an attachpoint for the effect in the FSX object.
  • Conversion of light points. This will probably be done by using effects in the FSX models, how exactly is something I still have to look at.

So that is my roadmap for the next release. I’ll keep you informed about the progress I am making.

New Wiki frontpage

Tonight the new Wiki front page for the FSDeveloper Wiki went live. I hope this new page makes it easier for users of the Wiki to find the content they are interested in. You will find more categories, that relate to certain addon development related tasks, like terrain design or panel and gauge design. Also the articles have been categorised better into all those categories. I hope you find this new front page easier to use. And feel free to add new content to the Wiki if you feel you can add something, that makes it an even more useful place for other developers!

Welcome to the club Jon

We have another FS MVP. Jon Masterson, better know as scruffyduck on the forums, has been awarded the MVP award. Most of you will probably know him from his activity on different FS forums, including FSDeveloper, and from the ADE tool he is working on. Congratulations on the award Jon and keep up the good work!

Normal map tutorial

It is quite a while ago already that I wrote on this blog about how to use normal maps on your FSX models. Today I finally found the time to put that information into a tutorial on the Wiki. I hope it makes the process of creating a normal map more clear. Or else feel free to enhance the tutorial even more.

And of course, don’t get carried away with applying normal maps. Only use them where really needed, as using them on all your models might not do the performance much good.

Back home again

Today I got back home after a week of vacation in France. We have been camping in the Alsace and Lorraine region. Although the weather was not perfect all the time, it is always nice to be out for a while. So now I am going to catch up with the email and the forum. 

Heading for France

Tent … check, sleepingbag … check, cooking equipment … check, pans … check, ….

 As you can see everything is ready to go on vacation now. Only have to put it in the car and then we’ll head in the direction of France to go camping for a week. So no internet for the next week and thus no forum and no emails. So see you in a week and I am sure there will be enough questions waiting for me by then.

Gate IK animation video tutorial

Do you remember that [Nick] has been talking for a long time already about a new video tutorial for FSX? One that shows how to make those nice new skin and bone IK animations for your gates? Adrian Woods made a really nice tutorial about that and Nick has got it edited now. From now it is online at the [FSDeveloper] site, see all the details in Nick’s post here. Let’s hope we see more addon scenery from now on which these cool animated gates.