3DSMax for bitmaps

[badderjet 181]

Oh ok, thanks for that. I can clearly see what you mean. Would be harder to do in MAX indeed! :-smooch I totally agree there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to do things.What part of a panel would that apply to for example, though?>The limitation of working in 3D lies in the building of objects,>not in their rendering. In XaraX, you build objects as they>will appear in their final form. Rendering is not necessary.Sorry for my broken English, my bad. Was talking about gMax not being able to render, in comparison to 3DS. Sure, in 2D programs you work directly on the 'final output'. Makes sense. :)BTW: Just checked out the xara web site. Looks quite promising.

[n4gix 4,947]

Whoa! Now that Xara Xtreme is one amazing program! Thanks for bringing that to my attention... Having a ball reworking my nighttime gauge faces now... ;)

[Guest iagman]

Look through the four Gauge Graphics tutorials here at AVSim on using XaraX and you won't have to reinvent the wheel. The series starts with tutgg_p1.zip. You will soon discover more uses for this program than you have time to fiddle with. It is one incredible piece of software, graphically speaking.Glenn

[n4gix 4,947]

>Look through the four Gauge Graphics tutorials here at AVSim>on using XaraX and you won't have to reinvent the wheel. The>series starts with tutgg_p1.zip. You will soon discover more>uses for this program than you have time to fiddle with. It is>one incredible piece of software, graphically speaking.>GlennThanks, I will.Here's one of my night time 'lighted' gauge faces. This a/c has LED "rings of light" around the gauge bezels:http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9991/xl...htmaskxara9.pngHere's the 'daytime' version:http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/9263/xl2a...eterface9sy.pngAll I need now is to add some "reflections" to give the illusion of a glass face. ;)

[Guest iagman]

I like the glow effect. I can imagine a panel full of those. Reflections are pretty hard to pull off without making the gauge harder to read. I played with glass covered faces and reflections for a while but gave up. All they did was make gauges harder to see properly. Now, if I can get all essential items on the face of a gauge and keep text readable at reasonable gauge sizes, then I'm a happy camper.If you get into XaraX, you'll find the ticks around the face of your gauges (like the one you have shown here) will be a snap to do. That's covered in one of the tutorial also.Glenn

[n4gix 4,947]

Well, I do need to make the 'greenish-blue' a bit more pronounced around the circumfence of the gauge face, and reduce the light in the center a bit more, but compared to what I had managed to do in Photoshop 8, this is light-years improved as well as drop-dead easier... ;)My usual approach to 'reflections' is to take a screenshot in the VC from the gauge face's perspective, then flip the image, and apply a LOT of transparency in an overlayer.