G'day John,> The other problem I have is creating any>PBG's which consist of 360 frames (Displays, needle etc). I'd>like to know what program these are created in (Flash perhaps?>or is their a utility I'm not aware of?)Make the needle ( to size) in a 3d program.animate it 360 degrees (frames 0 - 360). Note 361 frames. !render the scene to file. ( this will give 361 individual images of the needle at 1 degree increments)now lets say each individual frame is 100 x 100 pixels. In photoshop create a new blank image 100 x 36100 pixels ( I had problems with photoshop 5.0 as it wouldn't allow any image with pixel dimension > 3000. Photoshop 7.0 doesn't have that limitation.)copy and paste the individual images into the 100 x 36100 image.All 361 of them. :-) It's not called a hobby for nothing :-lol I'm sure that there is a utility that could do this automatically but in the absence of such that's the way I did it.every 30 or so pastes flatten the image. When completed save the image as an 8 bit (256 colour) bitmap.Now use PBX maker to make the *.PBG file.PBX maker has a limit of 50 frames - IGNORE THIS just put you cursor in the window and enter 361 !!!! (it's a bit like scaling a font in windows - you don't have to accept the presented dropdown values, you can enter your own)When you select "make" PBX maker will report an error and request you re-enter a number between 1 - 50. IGNORE THIS!!! Simply click OKFor some strange programming reason the trap doesn't abort the process and the program continues to work correctly and produce the PBG file. Hope the above helps, any questions just post.Cheers,Roger

Hi Roger.Wheeeew! I know its a long process, thats whats been eating me its that whole cutting and pasting every one of the 361 frames thats a pain. I'm sure theres got to be an automated way as you've pointed out. Im going to investigate this further as soon as I get a minute. Bye the way I create every thing directly in photoshop (without the need for a 3d program). Just start off with your first image at 360 degrees (vertical) and rotate each frame by 1degree and paste it in the next image slot.I found a picture of the 767 transponder.........its located on the Aft floor panel (Radio panel) centre, directly behind the throttles.Thanks again Roger for your invaluable knowledge.Cheers Mate.speak to you soonJohn

How 'bout an Avanti panel? Great model already done; but the B200 panel doesn't quite fit and when you look to the side you see the King Air engine.Great news on the TB10!!!Best regards;Donald Traill:-wave

Hi Donald, Found some pics of the flight deck for the Avanti as a starting reference point, but we would need to get our hands on both a flight and systems manual, and find a new gauge programmer (think C++) to work on it. Would also need someone more savvy than I with a 3D program to do the graphics part (or someone with John Wimbush's skills in Photoshop!). I'm getting a little better with the AMP file stuff (for the systems).Not speaking for my fellow F2FD gents, but maybe can add this to the project list and see what happens!Cheers,Ken Wood :-sun1http://www.avsim.com/hangar/fly/dfdg/bannernewkw.jpgGateway 700X; Intel P4 2.4GHz; 512MB RAM; NVIDIA Ti4200 4X AGP 128MB; SB Audigy; Thrustmaster TopGun Fox 2 Pro Shock

Hi Earl,....hows thingsIf you give me a couple of days I'll probably be able to get some Pics for you. As for the 737 Ive managed to drag it out of the hanger and will resume work on it shortly. Having looked at the systems and displays, I think I may be able to get it operational, although I have a graphic problem to overcome yet, which may allow me to produce some LCD displays.Anyhow I'll keep you posted.Kind regardsJohn

That's great news, John. Thanks so much! I'll certainly be watching for the pics.Take care,Earl

"copy and paste the individual images into the 100 x 36100 image.All 361 of them. :-) It's not called a hobby for nothing :-lol I'm sure that there is a utility that could do this automatically but in the absence of such that's the way I did it."WHEW lotta work there Roger, using "jointga" is a lot easier, it's an old fly1 DOS utility. I'll look around and see if I can dig up the old gauge tutorial I had.I'll email you on "the project", things have gone crazy around here and haven't had any free time.l8trs

One trick I used when I had a set of frames that is larger than PSP would allow was to delete a frame here and there to get it to fit. Had to do that on th AI I made for the Aero Commader in Fly1, never even notice it in the sim tho. c ya :-waveBart [email protected]

Get a free copy of Truespace 3.0, it's on the web somewhere...it'll make your gauge creating like a whole lot easier. I have the old DOS based flytools from Fly1 days, if you send me an email to [email protected] I'll send them to you. They are utilities for creating pbg, pbm files, "stacking" tga files, which is what you need to do for gauge needles and all animations, there is one in there for "cutting" pieces out of a panel bitmap after you render it out of a 3d program for the animations. I have a tutorial lurking around somewhere, I'll see if I can find it.c ya :-waveBart [email protected]

G'day Bart,Yes please!! - that little utility is the ants pants for needle animations. Cutting and pasting 361 frames is a real pain. Most other animations are done in about 15 frames or less and don't really cause too much of a problem. I overcame the 3000 pixel limit by making a frame every 2 degrees instead of every degree. Most people wouldn't pick up on it as the jerkiness wasn't all that bad. All thats in the past however as photoshop 7.0 doesn't have that 3000 limit. It may have a higher limit but as yet I haven't reached it.Big brother is coming along nicely. All that's left is to figure out how to show fuel quantity for the 3 tanks. Then its just a case of prettying up the detail. I'm still having the problem with the aircraft shadows. I decided to use little brother cockpit views as I have the photos and my rendering/graphics skills are virtually non-existant.I'll email you.Cheers,Roger