Night backlight gauges

[Guest]

I figured out how to change the night lighting color of the cockpit but now how do I make my gauges emit a red color inside the instrument itself? I gather that I will need to supply a custom bitmap in the XML gauge that has the colors I want. Can someone please explain how to do this in detail?Thanks!Enrique

[badderjet 181]

Dunno bout XML, but anyways have a look [a href=http://ftp.avsim.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=1013&forum=DCForumID9]here[/a].

[spokes2112 179]

There are 2 ways,, One is to make a separate bitmap painted just the way you want it to look. Then separate the non-lit bitmap from the lit (Bright="Yes") using your own variable or the (A:Light panel). ( Better options for art )(A:Light panel, bool)------------------------------------------------------------------The second way I have not used at all so it may not be correct. ( all assumed) It uses the Luminous=" " tag.. Either luminence shows up at night automatically and will give changes to the bitmap as described in the panel.cfgDay=255,255,255Night=150,150,175Luminous=255,255,255 <--- HereOR -- Instead of automatic operation ( controlled by switch) you could use the first version and replace the BRIGHT tag with LUMINOUS but the whole bitmap will be affected by the color change.Using the Luminous tag probably is a quicker way to make many gauges light up the way you want as you have the option of not repainting anything and using the panel.cfg to make the color just the way you would like...Again the BRIGHT tag I have used... The LUMINOUS is just assumption here... Any one else on this subject ???Hope this helps Regards,Roman[link:www.packers.com]GREEN BAY PACKERS][/i :-ukliam :-beerchug

[Guest]

>There are 2 ways,, One is to make a separate bitmap painted >just the way you want it to look. Then separate the non-lit >bitmap from the lit (Bright="Yes") using your own variable >or the (A:Light panel). ( Better options for art ) >Using the Luminous tag probably is a quicker way to make >many gauges light up the way you want as you have the option >of not repainting anything and using the panel.cfg to make >the color just the way you would like... Roman, I have actually used both methods, and now have three lighting conditions on a custom "Instrument Light Switch"Off/Dim/Brightusing of course:off - luminous - brightoff uses the 'daytime' .bmpsluminous uses the 'daytime' .bmps but with the "luminous" tagbright uses the 'night gauge' .bmps with the "bright" tagIt works quite nicely! :)

[spokes2112 179]

>Roman, I have actually used both methods, and now have three >lighting conditions on a custom "Instrument Light Switch" >>Off/Dim/Bright >>using of course: >>off - luminous - bright >>off uses the 'daytime' .bmps >luminous uses the 'daytime' .bmps but with the "luminous" >tag >bright uses the 'night gauge' .bmps with the "bright" tag >>It works quite nicely! :) Bill,SWEET !!!! Ahhh man !!! Back to the gauges already done !!! :-)Regards,Roman[link:www.packers.com]GREEN BAY PACKERS][/i :-ukliam :-beerchug

[Guest]

>>bright uses the 'night gauge' .bmps with the "bright" tag >SWEET !!!! >> Ahhh man !!! Back to the gauges already done !!! :-) One thing to note though, using the "bright" tag, you don't necessarily have to have a 'night version' bitmap for *every* part of the gauge (how much could say, the needle change?)...Here is a sample of my daytime & nighttime bitmaps for a gauge background:

[Guest]

Sweet! Oh man, your graphics is just gorgeous. Anyway, here is my implementation of types of illumination. The variable (L:PanelLight_Flight,enum) is set as a multiplum (?) of two and can be 0,2,4,6 etc from a switch. The idea was to have luminous respond to the usual (crappy) cocpit illumination and will always act together with virtual cockpit illumination (effect based). The bright illumination was implemented for postlights, and any group of lights can be changed individually (main instruments, engine instruments etc). By using the bright flag, the idea was to make them self-illuminating in virtual cockpit, but we haven't got this far yet. Mixing normal vclight and bright seems to be harder than first hoped for.If you've done xml gauges before, it should be quite simple to understand. The usual xml bugs in the forum should be accounted for :)Copy&paste from my code gives:(A:Light panel,bool) (L:PanelLight_Flight,enum) +(*force a 0 if no power is available*) (A:Light panel,bool) (L:PanelLight_Flight,bool) +(*force a 0 if no power is available*) (L:Fail_Static,bool) if{ (A:Airspeed select indicated or true,knots) (A:Vertical speed,feet per minute) 0.01 * (*just a stupic factor, have no idea really*) - } els{ (A:Airspeed select indicated or true,knots) }

[Guest]

>Sweet! Oh man, your graphics is just gorgeous. Anyway, here >is my implementation of types of illumination. The variable >(L:PanelLight_Flight,enum) is set as a multiplum (?) of two >and can be 0,2,4,6 etc from a switch. The idea was to have >luminous respond to the usual (crappy) cocpit illumination >and will always act together with virtual cockpit >illumination (effect based). The bright illumination was >implemented for postlights, and any group of lights can be >changed individually (main instruments, engine instruments >etc). By using the bright flag, the idea was to make them >self-illuminating in virtual cockpit, but we haven't got >this far yet. Mixing normal vclight and bright seems to be >harder than first hoped for. I *had* backlit VC gauge illumination working for awhile, but seem to have screwed something up, 'cause it isnt' working in this picture. The 'theory' of getting it to work is simple enough, you simply use the 'self-illuminating' feature of gmax to apply a special 'map' to the the material, using the same root name as the 'virtual texture;' i.e., $dvc.bmp with a map of dvc_l.bmp applied.However, the downside is that this effect is tied to the landing lights... :(Anywho, this is the current state of the Socata TB20GT VC:

[Guest]

Looking extremely good. Can't wait to fly her.About the night-lights, we've had them working, but only one or the other, not combined bright/self-illuminating and the usual nightlights. I only wanted self-illuminating on those instruments that have internal lightning (instruments), and use the normal nightlight for radios etc. The landing light limitation is also quite horrible.Or even better; bright for frequencies within a radio, and vc_lights for the knobs and backgrounds. I think the only "possible" (although I haven't tried yet) solution is to have separate bitmaps defined in the vc, one for normal instrumentation, and one for bright instruments. I suspect there will be a problem with one texture being in front of the other though, but I'm not sure.

[Guest]

>Looking extremely good. Can't wait to fly her. Thanks. Bob (my designer) and Fabio (the FDE guy) are working hard on this, Warren (the Graphics Artiste) is managing a loaf for awhile, since he doesn't have much to do until the UVW maps are reading for painting. Final bitmaps for the cockpit and gauges will be completed also at this time.>Or even better; bright for frequencies within a radio, and >vc_lights for the knobs and backgrounds. I think the only >"possible" (although I haven't tried yet) solution is to >have separate bitmaps defined in the vc, one for normal >instrumentation, and one for bright instruments. I suspect >there will be a problem with one texture being in front of >the other though, but I'm not sure. That is one approach that should work, but might be unnecessary. When drawing up the xxx_l.bmp map file, use a properly scaled screen capture of your panel as a background, and spray the desired areas an appropriate shade of gray... trying to keep only the gauge background shaded (iow, don't apply illumination to the bezel or knobs). It's a bit tricky, since (a) the map is inverted (why?), and (:( it's a bit of hit or miss on the registration.Anyway, that's how I approached it, and as I said - it was working, but somehow I've managed to 'break it...' :(I'm going to keep 'experimenting' to see if there is a way to unbind the self-illumination from the damn landing lights!You may be sure that whatever I discover will soon be made public knowledge! No one should have to reinvent the wheel... again...I haven't see any updates on your project lately, so I expect that you've been taking it easy for awhile? :)

[Guest]

> > >(A:Light panel, bool) > > > > >ImageSizes="62,43,124,95"/> > > > >Roman, I tried using this method with much success. However, the virtual cockpit does not illuminate with the new gauges. It looks like it does load the night bitmaps but they are not illuminated in any way. What else am I doing wrong?Thanks

[Guest bartels]

Nothing. In VC gauges aren't internally lighted, only by the VC floodlight. There is however a way described by Bill Leaming, by using special textures for the VC.Arne Bartels

[Guest]

>Roman, I tried using this method with much success. >However, the virtual cockpit does not illuminate with the >new gauges. It looks like it does load the night bitmaps >but they are not illuminated in any way. What else am I >doing wrong? The backlighting in the VC is done by applying a 'self-illumination bitmap' to the panel in the actual .mdl itself, using the Material Editor in GMax (or the FSDS2 equivalent).For example, if your 'projection texture' for a VC panel is $Panel_1.bmp, then the corresponding 'self-illumination' bitmap should be named Panel_1_L.bmp. This texture uses a background of pure black (0,0,0), and the areas you want 'illuminated' are created by adding some shade of grey... pure white will - of course - be maximum brightness (totally undesireable!), so a dark grey will work best so that the 'backlighting effects' built into the gauges themselves aren't overwhelmed.In GMax, those 'self illuminating bitmaps' must be created upside down and backwards though, so be forewarned! :) I've been told that FSDS2 works just a bit differently than GMax in this regard...What I do is to take a 'snapshot' of the VC (daylight of course) in FS2k2, then load that into my paint program (Photoshop), croping and sizing the image to match the $Panel_1.bmp file. I create a new layer and 'paint' the areas where the gauges will be displayed, then add another layer of pure black, moving it below the light map in the hierarchy. I then delete or hide the template, combine the black and light map layers, invert the image, flip it horizontally, and save as Panel_1_L.bmp.I then go back into GMax, open the Material Editor, and add that new texture into the 'self illuminating' section of the material.Here is where most people have their problems! The new _L.bmp file must be placed in the aircraft's texture folder... NOT the panel folder!!! :)I create a new .mdl, load FS2k2 and check the VC's night lighting. Be aware that using this technique ties the VC gauge lighting to the Landing Lights circuit bus, so you must have the Landing Lights turned ON to see the new lighting! I've not been able to discover a way around this, as of yet.Now I can begin 'tweaking' the new Panel_1.bmp texture to 'adjust' the precise placement/intensity of the gauge backlighting until I'm satisfied.I hope that this will help! :)