VC gauge lighting again...

[Varmint007 2]

Well I'm finally getting around to doing some VC work, and unfortunately I haven't been able to find the right answer to this. I'm sure it's there someplace, but nothing seems to apply.My MFDs work great using Bill's emissive backlighting technique (at night with the light switch on), but once it's off, they no longer illuminate. What needs to be done so that a VC gauge will retain it's luminance regardless of the time of day or position of the light switch?I'm looking to retain a similar look to XML's Bright="Yes" property in the VC.Thanks,--Jon

[n4gix 4,947]

There's no "easy way" to accomplish this. Think of the "emissive lighting" as the backlight in a laptop computer's LCD screen. If the lightsource fails, the screen will be dark... Or from another perspective, how bright would a film be if the projector's lamp burnt out? ;)My current technique involves assigning all VC lighting to the Landing Lights electrical bus, and then "locking" the LLs ON all the time. This will provide a constant lightsource for the VC's gauges. I chose the LL electrical bus because it's the only one that is a unique electrical source. Remember, the choices are "only LL switch" or "any light switch except LL"I then use XML model code to swap out "lighted gauge polys" with "non-lighted gauge polys," as well as the landing lights themselves... which really isn't a bad choice, since it makes it simple to have "left landing light and right landing light, etc. ;)

[Varmint007 2]

Thanks Bill, I guess I should have known there'd be some hoops in there:) Whenever I've had lighting problems it's usually because I've messed up a texture format or something. I wish it was the same case here:( Sometimes I just don't know that MS was thinking.Again, your experience (and willingness to share) is always appreciated,--Jon

[Varmint007 2]

Ug! 6 hours later and I'm still not "grapsing" what needs to be done to eliminate those black rectangles.More specifically I'm trying to model (amoung other things) a HUD in the VC. If a *_L is applied to the texture for emissive lighting that damned black rectangle is always there at night. If it's not emissive the HUD is obviously not lit.I'm not sure I understand what swapping out the gauge polys via .mdl code accomplishes. I assume they are the same except for the self-illumination material? But if you remove the self-illumination (regardless of the light switch), then they shade, and I don't want to happen under any circumstances. Something went way over my head here:)So if the LL is always forced ON, then under what circumstances would you want a non-emissive gauge texture?Thanks--Jon

[n4gix 4,947]

>Ug! 6 hours later and I'm still not "grapsing" what needs to>be done to eliminate those black rectangles.>>More specifically I'm trying to model (amoung other things) a>HUD in the VC. If a *_L is applied to the texture for emissive>lighting that damned black rectangle is always there at night.>If it's not emissive the HUD is obviously not lit.Ah... You are trying to illuminate a HUD... Sorry, but unfortunately that simply isn't (currently) possible because the illuminated gauge poly is non-transparent... ;( That has been covered a number of times already over the past year or so here in the forum...>I'm not sure I understand what swapping out the gauge polys>via .mdl code accomplishes. I assume they are the same except>for the self-illumination material? But if you remove the>self-illumination (regardless of the light switch), then they>shade, and I don't want to happen under any circumstances.>Something went way over my head here:)>>So if the LL is always forced ON, then under what>circumstances would you want a non-emissive gauge texture?In "modern aircraft," glass gauges are constantly illuminated regardless of the panel or instrument light switch condition. In order for a glass gauge (or LCD screen) to remain lighted, the landing lights bus must be 'hot' at all times.Avionics gear (GPS, COM/NAV radios), and indicator lights must be illuminated on the VC independent of panel or instrument light.Traditional, analog instrument backlighting therefore has to be controlled by swapping in/out "lighted polys" with "non-lighted polys..." Similarly, since the LL circuit is 'hot' at all times, the actual landing light polys must be made "visible/invisible" via custom variable(s), which, as I mentioned before is a bonus, since that will allow one to control every single light individually...

[Varmint007 2]

>Ah... You are trying to illuminate a HUD... Sorry, but>unfortunately that simply isn't (currently) possible because>the illuminated gauge poly is non-transparent... ;( That has>been covered a number of times already over the past year or>so here in the forum...Yes, I've been all over the forums and found many things related to that, but quite old. I brought it up again, because I've seen several A/C that are able to overcome the problem. For instance Nick Pike (Nick, are you listening?:) has a lit, transparent, non-shading HUD in the VC for his F-117 (great job, btw Nick). Any chance of sharing your method for that Nick? Email perhaps?>In "modern aircraft," glass gauges are constantly illuminated>regardless of the panel or instrument light switch condition.>In order for a glass gauge (or LCD screen) to remain lighted,>the landing lights bus must be 'hot' at all times.Right, the effect I was looking for on my MFDs.>Avionics gear (GPS, COM/NAV radios), and indicator lights must>be illuminated on the VC independent of panel or instrument>light.>>Traditional, analog instrument backlighting therefore has to>be controlled by swapping in/out "lighted polys" with>"non-lighted polys..." OK now I understand. I couldn't see why you would WANT to prevent the lighting in the case of an MFD, but of course you were not aware that's what it was for.>Similarly, since the LL circuit is 'hot' at all times, the>actual landing light polys must be made "visible/invisible">via custom variable(s), which, as I mentioned before is a>bonus, since that will allow one to control every single light>individually...Gotcha! Thanks again, and hopefully for the last time:)--Jon