building a panel

[Guest CaptainJ]

Hello thereI'am just about starting with making panels for the overhead here's a pic to let you see what I'am talking about! How do I make that rotory switch working into FLY II. It's located on the overheadpanel of a Fokker 100. It's for starting the APU on. The rotory switch is always in the OFF position when the APU is not running, and just click it all the way to the right side to start it up. Then it goes springloaded to the ON position! How do I have to start with it? what kind of image format do I have to make? any animation that's needed? And what do I have to edit in the World directory files? For the info; I use 3d Studio max4 Thanks :-outta

[Guest]

Hi Jarno,Yes the animation needs to be in .pbg (gauge) format. I believe you have to specify in the .pnl file what frames you want to be played for what position of the switch. I.E Frame 1=Stop, frame 2=Start and frame 3=On. Hope this helps!CoryP.S-Also check out Bart's gauge creation tutorials, loads of help!

[Guest]

Animate the switch in 3ds max. Then render each frame. Use photoshop or some other graphics program to make a new bitmap that is the size of Xsize*(Ysize*number of frames). Xsize and Ysize come from the area that the switch uses eg. (40x40 pixels). Then select and copy the same area at the same spot from every frame and paste them into the new bitmap on top of each other. Then flatten the layers and reduce the colors to 256 (8-bit). You must have the first color in the palette as pure black (RGB 0,0,0). You should also check that you do not have any pure black spots in the bitmap, they will show up as transparent. In photoshop I use Image->Mode->Indexed color and options : Palette : Local, Selective. Colors:256,Forced:Custom (set the upper left box to (0,0,0), No transparency, Dither:None.Here's an example of what it should look like:http://koti.welho.com/phedlund/saab340/s34sw2.jpgThen use bmp2raw to convert the .bmp to .raw/.act. After that, useraw2pbm to make the .pbg file. After that put the .pbg and .act file into fly2art and then define the switch in your panel file and use the new .pbg animated bitmap as your switch bitmap!Here's an example of making one switch (sw1.bmp), sized 20x20 pixels and 3 frames (bitmap is then 20x60 pixels)bmp2raw sw1raw2pbm sw1 20,20 sw1.pbg /Fcopy sw1.pbg e:fly2artcopy sw1.act e:fly2artdel sw1.rawHope this helps!Pontus

[Guest CaptainJ]

Thanks Pontus But that was the explenation of the switch! What do I have to do when I finneshed that stuff and wanted to show the panel bitmap in the simulator instead of the hawker overhead?Cheers :-outta

[Guest]

Hi Jarno,You'll probably want to use a twist switch gauge, an example of which (from the DC10) is shown below. The type of gauge is 'tswi', the thing to notice is that you'll need 3 states for OFF, ON, and START. You specify the number of states and then the values (integers) that these states have. You'll also need to set up the message to connect to the APU starter/igniter system (i.e. change the conn tag and dtag tags).

[b]////////////////////////////////////////////////////	INS Mode Panel//////////////////////////////////////////////////<gage> ==== GAUGE ENTRY ====tswi<bgno> ==== BEGIN GAUGE ENTRY ====	<unid> ---- unique id ----	INSm	<size> ---- x,y,xsize,ysize ----	451	80	28	34	<mesg> ---- data message ----	<bgno> ---- begin ----		<conn> ---- connected to ----		CINS		<dtag> ---- user data ----		Mode	<endo> ---- end ----	<stat> ---- switch states ----	5	0	1	2	3	4	<sstr> ---- switch text ----	5	OFF	STBY	ALIGN	NAV	ATT	<curs> ---- cursor ----	mpfinger.csr	<bmap> ---- bitmap ----	rhovdckb.pbg	<help> ---- help string ----	INS Mode<endo> ==== END GAUGE ENTRY ====

[/b]Hope this helps,Matthew.

[Guest]

Hi Jarno,I forgot to say before, I've made a utility to take a bitmap and turn it directly into a pbg/act file combination (for switches and annunciators). If you want to give it a try let me know and I'll mail it to you. :-)Also if you need help with the starter igniter system on the APU just ask.Matthew.

[Guest CaptainJ]

Cheers MatthewThe APU on the Fokker100 is very simple to use we have got only one switch! just go from off to on. wait 10 sec. (to give the apu air inlet door time to open) then click it over to the start position and then let it go! Directly after you lett the switch loss it will go springloaded over to the on position! If there is an error occured during startup sequence it will be automatically shutdown by the ECU (electrical control unit) an error should be * Overspeed* High oil temperature* Bleed valve* EGT* Oil pressure* Overcurrent and loss of important functionsThere for the FAULT (Orange)legend will come onthe Blue AVAIL legend will come on if the generator is online and ready to give the load!Now what do I have to do next then?I have got these two things for the APU! any help is preciatedCheers! :-outta

[Guest]

Hi Jarno,If you want the orange fault light to come on for the things that you specified, one way to do it would be to create 'generic monitors' to monitor each of the conditions (with their specified limits). You could then use a dependent subsystem 'dpnd' to tie the conditions of the monitor systems together (with an _OR_ tag in the dpnd subsystem - so the fault light illuminates if any of the faults occur) and connect an annunciator gauge to this dependent subsystem. You could also use a rising edge proxy message in the dependent subsystem to automatically send a message to shut down the apu if the dependent subsytem indicates a fault.This may seem a bit vague if you aren't too aufait with the subsystem architecture, so if you have any more questions just ask. :-)If you haven't got the Fly!II notes, then get them from the library as these explain about the generic monitors and a few other useful things.Hope this helps,Matthew.

[Guest CaptainJ]

Hi Matthew thanks for the explenationsBut that's to complicated. Fly is not based on failures like that. But it would be great if the available light comes on after a period of time together with a light which will lightup in a switch on the electric panel can this be done and how is that file listing then? I have got the gauges there and I have got the panel in the sim now! How can I put the switch there aswell?You can contact me on captain_jd@hotmail.comCheers :-outta

[Guest]

Hi Jarno,You can add the available light by putting in an engine status monitor for the APU, and arranging it so that it monitors the RUNNING status of the APU.To add an engine status monitoring subsystem just add the following to your amp file

<subs> - Subsystem entry -ests<bgno> - Engine Status -	<unId> - unit id -	APUS	<hwId>	STATE	<eNum> -- Engine Number -- [b](Needs To be your APU number)[/b]	3	<mode> -- Engine Watch State --	RUNNING<endo>

You'll then want to add an annunciator gauge to the panel file e.g.

<gage> ==== GAUGE ENTRY ====annc<bgno> ==== Flaps Annunciator Light ====	<size> ---- x,y,xsize,ysize ----	193	229	21	14	<mesg> -- Subsystem Message --	<bgno>		<conn>		APUS		<dtag> (check this data tag - it might be wrong)				indn	<endo>	<bmap> ---- bitmap ----	pflpind.pbg	<lite> ---- light ----	ailt	<help> ---- popup help ----	APU Available<endo> ==== END GAUGE ENTRY ====

Hope this helps.Matthew.

[Guest CaptainJ]

Hi MatthewThe starter switch has got 3 frames how does the sim now which frame it needs for that specific selection?And what does this say? the size of the pixels of my switch which is 60 X 180?? ---- x,y,xsize,ysize ----193229 21 14Cheers :-outta

[Guest]

Hi Jarno,I think you'll want to add the Starter/Igniter subsystem to your amp file. It has the signature 'StIg'You probably want an entry something along these lines...

<subs>StIg<bgno>	  <unId>	  apus	  <eNum>	  3<endo>

The Starter Igniter switch has three positions OFF, STARTER, STARTER/IGNITER, with indexes 0, 1, and 2 respectively.The positions proceed as follows: 0) Off, 1) Starter, 2) Starter and Igniter. (If the APU is running it'll be in position 2)You'll want to set up your switch in the order OFF, IGNITER, STARTER, i.e. 0, 2, 1. So your gauge entry (use a turn switch - tswi) will be something like this.

<gage> ==== GAUGE ENTRY ====tswi<bgno> ==== BEGIN GAUGE ENTRY ====	<unid> ---- unique id ----	APUS	<size> ---- x,y,xsize,ysize ----	451	80	28	34	<mesg> ---- data message ----	<bgno> ---- begin ----		<conn> ---- connected to ---- (ID of starter Igniter)		apus		<dtag> ---- user data ----		indx	<endo> ---- end ----	<stat> ---- switch states ---- (Order correctly i.e. 0, 2, 1)	3	0	2	1	<sstr> ---- switch text ----	3	OFF	RUNNING	START	<curs> ---- cursor ----	mpfinger.csr	<bmap> ---- bitmap ----	rhovdckb.pbg	<help> ---- help string ----	APU Start Knob<endo> ==== END GAUGE ENTRY ====

The size tag specifies the location of the gauge on the panel, and also it's dimensions, so,

<size>3004002050

would specify that the gauge is at the location (300, 400) on the panel (300 pixles from the left and 400 pixels from the top) and it's 20 pixels wide and 50 pixels high.Hope this helps,Matthew.

[Guest andrewluck]

MatthewDo you have the filename for the notes you mention?ThanksAndrew Luck18 miles SW EGSH

[Guest]

I came to the message boards tonight thinking "I know someone gave instructions a long time ago for changing to index color mode in Photoshop..." And there was your post! Thanks for that info Pontus, I just follow your Photoshop settings step by step.Dan