Overhead panel backlighting query...

[Guest abent]

I'm having a blast here working on my new overhead panel project for my crj. Thanks for the help of members of this AVSIM forum.What I have done is make an overhead panel from a bitmap and added gauges. I think the panel looks reasonably good for a first effort and has about 8-10 functions now and more hopefully as I find more appropriate gauges.I would like to know if there is a way to set up night lighting as seen in some payware panels where the white lines surrounding the buttons glow. Right now the panel looks good in the day but it's too dark at night.I was thinking if I could make the whole overhead panel a gauge?, I could make bitmap that would overlay the overhead bitmap at night giving the illusion of a lit panel and use gauge.bmp to incorporate the bitmap into the gauge. I have no idea if this would even work. I don't know how to make gauges at this point. I will be buying FsPanel Studio soon.Am I barking up the wrong tree? Is there another/easier way to achieve this effect?Also, Can anyone recommend to me some button gauges that have lights on them that when activated, they light up at night. I just want to create a little more night 'atmosphere' for my overhead. Or is there a way for me to edit the default Lear45 push buttons so the on off words glow at night? This would be easier for me as the coding is already in the gauge to make it perform its specific function.Also, what program could I use to alter the perspective of a gauge/button. My overhead bitmap narrows to the front of the panel naturally due to perspective so some of the buttons I installed do not fit properly. I would like to taper them away to give them the proper perspective.Sorry for the long post.Thanks in advance for any advice.Adam

[Guest Milton]

Bill Leaming's post at the top of this forum explains it rather well.For night lighthing of the top panel, use the same procedure for the main panel.You can also simply take the bitmap for the overhead panel, darken it so only the lightest highlites and lines show. Flip it vertically, add a black alpha, name it the same as the overhead bmp except append _L.bmp and put it in your texture folder. This will then light up the overhead at night with appropriate lights turned oon.Add any guage highlites to that bmp as necessary.

[Guest abent]

Hi Milton, I love your AeroCommanders! Butter you up first...then ask for help! ;-) :-hah Bet you're sorry you responded to my question now, eh?1) "You can also simply take the bitmap for the overhead panel, darken it so only the lightest highlites and lines show".Should I darken it with really dark color, but not pure black, by painting everything out except the white lines I want to appear at night? I learned the hard way that pure black appears as transparent when applied to a panel. 2) "...flip it vertically..." Not sure what you mean here. 3) "...add a black alpha..." Sorry for my ignorance, but what is a black alpha? Or is it what I was referring to in 1), ie using pure black?4) "...name it the same as the overhead bmp except append _L.bmp and put it in your texture folder. This will then light up the overhead at night with appropriate lights turned on..."So, by appending it Overhead_L, the sim will automatically display my modified bitmap instead of the unaltered one? No need to make any changes in the panel .cfg to tell it to use the modified panel? I keep the overhead bitmap right inside the panel folder and refer to it as window06 in the panel.cfg.Will turning on the dome lights have an adverse effect on this? Sorry for all the questions. I'll understand completely if you're not interested in taking the time to answer them. Also, I will read Bill Leaming's post.Thanks, AdamP.S. I would like to send you a pic of what I've done so you could take a look. I don't want to put it here in the forum as it's based on a copyright pic that I cannot upload. Would you be at all interested in seeing it? If so, remember, please, that this IS a first effort an no doubt extremely rough by comparison to what you create LOL.

[Guest Milton]

>I love your AeroCommanders! Butter you up first...then ask for>help! ;-) :-hah Bet you're sorry you responded to my question>now, eh? Not at all ... happy to help. We are talking about VC's here? Right?>>1) "You can also simply take the bitmap for the overhead>panel, darken it so only the lightest highlites and lines>show".>>Should I darken it with really dark color, but not pure black,>by painting everything out except the white lines I want to>appear at night? I learned the hard way that pure black>appears as transparent when applied to a panel. I meant to simply use the brightness/darkness feature of any graphics program to darken the original colors to near black, leaving only the lighter colors showing through.>>2) "...flip it vertically..." Not sure what you mean here.>In Paint or any graphics program, flip the texture vertically, or rotate it 180 degrees at the X axis. The top is now at the bottom ...>>>3) "...add a black alpha..." >>Sorry for my ignorance, but what is a black alpha? Or is it>what I was referring to in 1), ie using pure black?No, the alpha channel is a separate part of the extended texture that is used in this case to tell the sim what lights should operate (turn on) this light map. >>4) "...name it the same as the overhead bmp except append>_L.bmp and put it in your texture folder. This will then light>up the overhead at night with appropriate lights turned>on...">>So, by appending it Overhead_L, the sim will automatically>display my modified bitmap instead of the unaltered one? No>need to make any changes in the panel .cfg to tell it to use>the modified panel? I keep the overhead bitmap right inside>the panel folder and refer to it as window06 in the>panel.cfg.The _L is simply a light map. The "lightness" values are added to the primary bmp to lighten it at night. It must reside in the texture folder. (Requires HasLightMap to be turned on during export)>>Will turning on the dome lights have an adverse effect on>this? Are you talking VC or 2D here(if so, scrap everything I said:-)? If you are talking 2D panels at night, then read the SDK on the panel cfg and the following:Day=255,255,255Night=30,15,5Luminous=147,130,94>>Sorry for all the questions. I'll understand completely if>you're not interested in taking the time to answer them.> >Also, I will read Bill Leaming's post.>>Thanks, >>Adam>>P.S. I would like to send you a pic of what I've done so you>could take a look. I don't want to put it here in the forum as>it's based on a copyright pic that I cannot upload. Would you>be at all interested in seeing it? If so, remember, please,>that this IS a first effort an no doubt extremely rough by>comparison to what you create LOL.>>Maybe I should show you how rough mine start out ... :-) After 3-4 weeks, it starts to look okay. lol>>>>

[Guest abent]

Hi Milton, OMG your VC pic looks nice. Bet that's a pile of work! I just finished editing a pedestal bmp, installed it and added a few gauges NAV, COM, ADF, rudder/aileron trim etc - just stock gauges. Some of my gauge repaints aren't coming out as nicely as I'd like - very finikity/time consuming stuff."I meant to simply use the brightness/darkness feature of any graphics program to darken the original colors to near black, leaving only the lighter colors showing through."I'm going to get PhotoShop soon. This Paint program is very limited or my knowledge of it is. My software is nothing if not antiquated!Everything I'm doing is just 2D. I'm just adding gauges to bitmaps but having a lot of fun. I wouldn't have a clue how to do anything 3D LOL.I will read the SDK on the panel cfg. I'd like your suggestions on what I've done. Editing gauges for perspective interests me - if such a thing is possible. I would have to email you a couple FSscreen.jpgs as I can't post them here. You would see what I mean about how the gauges/buttons look skewed as they are flat laying on top of a bitmap that narrows to the horizon.Anyway, thanks very much for the help. I'm getting a great deal of pleasure out of my efforts. And if you would like to see a couple pics, just send an email and I'll reply.Adam

[Guest Milton]

Adam,Scott Thomas does all the panel work, 2D and 3D VC panel and gauge textures. I simply do the modeling and mapping. We too are having lots of fun with this one. :-)Keep after it; it's very rewarding.

[Guest aerostar610P]

Hi Milton. Just wanted to also give my kudos for your commanders. I love them. Anxiously awaiting the Shrike As you can see from my callsign; the Aerostar is my favorite besides the Boeing I fly. Keep up the great work to you and your team. Happy Holidays as well.Best,Dave

[Guest Milton]

Hi Dave,Thanks for the kind words. Scott Thomas and Andr

[Guest abent]

Milton, I hope you get this message. I received your email but cannot reply to it...getting fatal errors.What you sent me from Scott looks great, but a bit over my head at this stage. Maybe he could help me out a bit when he gets back.Thanks a lot Milton, Adam