FS Panel Studio and VCs??

[barryward12345 0]

Can FS Panel Studio be used in any way to modify VC panels/gauges. I can't find any reference to VCs in any posts about FS Panel Studio.Thanks Barry

[Guest darrenecm]

Although FS Panel Studio does not a provide an editing mode to view and edit VC panels using a 3D view, you can edit the actual VC panel 'layout' that defines the positions of gauges and bitmaps that are 'mapped' onto the interior 3D surfaces of a VC cockpit model of an aircraft.- Darren

[Illegitimi non carborundum 4]

Hi DarrenThe next question is HOW? I have tried to use FSPS to insert a GNS530 into the VC of a default C182 and failed abysmally. I have found FSPS quite easy to use in 2d mode but very difficult in VC mode. There is veryl little room to insert anything on the VC panel as opened in FSPS and there doesn't seem to be anyway of enlarging the panel. Should a new gauge always be inserted into the original VC panel or can you create a new area to place a gauge? It would be great if you could give us a point by point account on how to insert say a GNS530 or 500 into the VC of say the default C182. There was a post on SIMFORUMS but it stpped short af actually showing a newbie how to insert the gauge. Any help would be appreciated. Peter Hayes

[Guest darrenecm]

I think you've reached the limit of my knowledge of Panel Studio if you're trying to add additional instruments when there is no actual space on the VC panel textures. I've only ever used Panel Studio to replace/rearrange existing instruments, such as replacing the default radio stack with those in the RealityXP package.The problem of enlarging the panel is that the texture bitmap of the instrument area is designed to actually fit the dimensions of the 3D interior surface of the aircraft cockpit model itself. I've only ever managed to place something as large as a GNS530 GPS unit into a VC panel buy having it positioned on the passenger/co-pilot side of the instrument panel. So I think all you can ever do is re-arrange things or maybe even re-size existing instruments slightly to try and create a bit more space.I suspect that to get a greater degree of control over what you are attempting will require that you also become proficient in the use of gMax and editing of the 3D aircraft model itself. Using this you may be able to better see the way the bckground bitmap of the VC panel is mapped to the 3D surface and can then tweak it a little. I think the VC panel bitmaps shown in Panel Studio are basically textures with UVW coordinates (the X,Y,Z position system for textures) that describe the orientation and position of the texture on to the 3D surface. You're pretty much at the mercy of what panel space and layout the aircraft VC cockpit designer has given you otherwise :(Hopefully someone with greater experience of Panel Studio can shed some light on this.- Darren

[n4gix 4,947]

There are two issues here...First of all, unless you have the original .gmax or .fsc (FSDS2) source code, you cannot examine or modify the interior (virtual cockpit) of the model.Secondly, and of more immediate interest, is that - unlike the 2d panel - the virtual cockpit's gauge displays are fixed and limited by the model itself are cannot be altered at all per #1 above.The easiest way to visualize the VC gauge system is to think of a set of "projection screens" on which the gauge image is "projected" by the sim. Obviously, if there is no "projection screen," you cannot place a gauge...Now to directly answer your question, you must manually create the [VCockpitXX] entry in the panel.cfg, then you can load the file into Panel Studio to create the new VC entries.

[Illegitimi non carborundum 4]

Hi Bill & DarrenMany thanks to both of you. It is still a difficult concept to grasp and I'll keep plugging away until I find a solution. I was trying to put the GNS530 on the right side of the VC panel ie in front of the co-pilot(which appears as a grey painted surface in the C182 VC model in FS2004) and although I placed it (in FSPS)next to the instruments already on the VC panel it just didn't show in the aircraft in FS2004 (Bill has now explained why thet occurred). When I just plonked it down (using FSPS) anwhere on top of all the other instruments, when I opened FS2004 and the VC panel it was there alright but it was broken up and interspersed with the other gauges in the panel. I even thought of creating a new image ie a "3rd" VC panel, and seeing if that worked - it didn't. I then tried putting a "toggle" button on the existing VC panel, but that didn't work either. I suspect that Bill's method, ie edit the cfg file first is the only logical way to go.I thank you for your time and effort.Your comments were invaluable.Peter Hayes