Hot Diggity Dog! I finally cracked the VC gauge backlig

[Guest]

At long last I have finally cracked the individual backlighted gauge illumination in the virtual cockpit!Man, does it ever look nice!I think I deserve to say, "Hot Diggity Dog Damn!" :)

[Guest]

...so we can switch off the unrealistic fx_vclight during flight? Great news. :)Claudius

[Guest]

>At long last I have finally cracked the individual >backlighted gauge illumination in the virtual cockpit! >>Man, does it ever look nice! >>I think I deserve to say, "Hot Diggity Dog Damn!" :) Now, the details!1) First, I created a square planar surface in GMax named P12) I applied a 512x512 pure black bitmap $P1.bmp3) I then created a 512x512 background image of the panel and named it panel_P1_background.bmp, leaving the unneeded part pure black (0,0,0). This file is saved in the panel folder.4) I then placed the gauges with FS Panel Studio, and tested it in FS2k2.5) I took a 'snapshot' of the panel in FS Panel Studio, and loaded it into Photoshop. I resized it to fit a black, 512x512 image, and scaled it to fit. I had to flip the image on horizontal and vertical axes. Don't ask why, it's an FS2k2 thing! :}6) Using that inverted and backwards image, I 'painted' light grey where I wanted illumination, then saved the file for later re-editing.7) I then merged the layers (discarding the image), and saved it as P1_l.bmp in the texture folder of the a/c.8) I applied the P1_l.bmp file as a 'self-illumination map' in GMax and re-exported everything to the .mdl file.9) I edited the panel.cfg file entry as follows:{Vcockpit01} <==these are square brackets!file=panel_P1_background.bmpsize_mm=512,512visible=0pixel_size=512,512background_color=0,0,0texture=$P1gauge00=TB20GT!Airspeed Indicator, 44,66,100,100gauge01=TB20GT!Attitude Indicator, 149,62,120,114gauge02=TB20GT!Annunciator Lights, 40,24,296,35gauge03=TB20GT!Horizontal Situation Indicator, 149,174,120,114gauge04=TB20GT!Turn Coordinator, 44,181,100,100gauge05=TB20GT!Altimeter, 277,66,100,100gauge06=TB20GT!Vertical Speed Indicator, 278,181,99,99gauge07=TB20GT!VOR2_GS, 386,66,100,100gauge08=TB20GT!RMI, 386,181,100,100gauge09=TB20GT!DME, 378,7,120,54gauge10=TB20GT!Tail_Number, 234,2,84,18By doing it this way, when the Landing lights are off (day or night), the normal background bitmap is displayed (panel_P1_background.bmp)When the landing lights are turned on, the self-illumination mask will apply 'back lighting' only to the designated area, and the normal background image remains unchanged!No more ugly black square showing! Yippee!'scuse me, I'm gonna go suck down a beer now! :)

[Guest]

>...so we can switch off the unrealistic fx_vclight during >flight? >>Great news. :) Yes, although there is a downside... the darn self-illumination is tied to the landing lights... but, who the hell is gonna notice that at night up in the air! :)I know that a lot of folks already know about how to do the 'self-illumination' trick, but no one was admitting to know how to (a) eliminate the ugly black box and (:( illuminate only the interior of the gauge, without the stupid bezel and background glowing also...So, now the whole FS world will know how... :) Well, at least the ones who read this forum! :)

[Guest Milton]

If your landing light is gear mounted, use c_gearlight and it will be off during retracted state. (45 degrees or more)Milton

[Guest]

Seems interesting but i don't understand anything... :-lolI'm still strugling to make the cabin of my plane...it will be a long time before i get to the VC...then i'll dig up this message and try to understand.Take careMike

[Guest]

Hey Bill!And congratulations for your discovery. Well done!!I have one question though. With this method of yours, are you able to apply also flood lights on your 3D panel? I made the gauge backlights for the DreamFleet Cardinal different way and I also have flood lights on the panel itself. This all is without the outside of the gauges going black. See the attached shot:http://www.dreamfleet2000.com/Previews/C17...es/VC/VC_17.jpg

[Guest]

>Hey Bill! >>And congratulations for your discovery. Well done!! >>I have one question though. With this method of yours, are >you able to apply also flood lights on your 3D panel? I made >the gauge backlights for the DreamFleet Cardinal different >way and I also have flood lights on the panel itself. This >all is without the outside of the gauges going black. See >the attached shot: I sent a detailed reply via email, but I haven't gotten to that point yet... I see no reason why not though. It should be fairly easy to switch the background bitmaps at the same time.