transparent canopy ..... question

[Guest]

I have created a canopy with frame and glass parts. The frame has been copy/pasted and poly flipped to give an internal surface.The problem is with the glass. I have made a transparent texture and all seems fine except you cannot see any of the aircraft when looking through the canopy from one side to the other ( external view). All scenery items are there, but no aircraft parts. Well to be exact the fin shows up but I cannot see why it should, it's display conditions seem the same.FSDS2.I'm sure the answer is simple but at the moment it's got me stuck.ThanksJohn

[Guest]

Why not trying a transparent MATERIAL ? You can achieve more effects with transparent material than with transparent texture because you can specify ambient and specular colours.Dimitri

[Guest]

I only know GMAX, so I do not know how this applies to your aircraft.What I have done in the end, because of problems that I do not fully understand, is to _detach_ the window polygons from my fuselage (cabin) until I can deal with them.In GMAX, you can specify the opacity (conversely the transparency) of a material. A material is anything you apply to an object to give it color or texture. You can apply just a color instead of a texture. It will have a glossiness, lightness, hue, etc. when displayed in FS.I specified a light gray, about 90% transparent color for my windows to give a smoked plexiglass effect.The problem.The exterior model displays fine. I can see through the glass into the model as expected.When the model is displayed as a virtual cockpit sometimes one or more (or all) of the window polygons will become _opaque_ (quite a fright for the first time flying!).I think this is due to normals. The normals should face one way for the exterior view. And should face the opposite for the interior view. But I am unsure what is happening because apparently the direction of lighting in FS factors in to which polygons become opaque, apparently when the sun come through an opposite window and falls on the inside of the VC window it becomes opaque to show glare or reflection.I have not thought all this trough, and will tackle it when I am ready to put the windows back, but for now I fly the VC without any polys in the windows.I do not know if this is related to your problem, but perhaps the exterior glass polys should not be flipped? And a second set of glass polys flipped for the VC?Steve

[Guest]

I will try a material and see how that goes.I should have said the glass part of the canopy is 'part' in it's own right, not just selected poly'sthanks for the input

[Brian_Gladden 0]

All transparent parts have to be at the end of the build list. to do this, select the canopy, hit ctrl-x then ctrl-v now the canopy is the last part to be assembled. when you generate the model make sure the "auto sort parts" box is UNCHECKED then you will be able to see stuff behind the glass. This is for all parts that have transparency in FSDS 2. If you have any other questions drop me a note and I'll see if I can helpBrian

[Guest]

Brianmany thanks for your help.do you have a preferance for using a transparent texture or a material with Diffuse color alpha settingMy canopy works ok with the material but it is slowing FSDS down.

[Brian_Gladden 0]

I use a transparent material (a dark gray with the alpha set about halfway) and then I apply a reflective texture to it to make it look more like glass without the frame hit.Brian

[Guest]

Thanks Brian