*.AAI files..............????????

[Roger Mazengarb 0]

G'day all,I need help ...please.I'm in the midst of making the interior views of a cockpit and find each angle view has 3 files.*.act*.pbm*.aaiThe act and pbm files are no problem but where does the *.aai fit into the scheme of things and how is it produced.at present I'm just using the TRI flyhawk files but that leaves a nasty outline of the Cessna windows on the Jabiru.See the attached picture. What am I doing wrong?Cheers,Roger.

[Roger Mazengarb 0]

G'day all,Please ignore the above post. I stumbled across the answer.If I declare the view in the *pit file (world folder) and declare the *.pbm in the *.768 file (data folder) then leave the *.pbm and *.act files in the Art folder, Fly! II seems to work OK.I hope I've got it right.I'll post again if I run into difficulties.Nearly finishedCheers,Roger

[Guest tonyc]

you got it right, Roger. I am now interested in finishing the 727 panel. Boy, the nice thing about being a freeware developer is the freedom to play anyway you want.tony

[Roger Mazengarb 0]

G'day Tony,Thanks, and yes we can work at whatever pace we like. After all it is a hobby. You wouln't happen to know what the *.aai file is for would you. Fly! II doesn't object to not having them for the Jabiru.Gee the Jabiru is small --- dwafted by the Cessna shadow :-)Cheers,Roger

[Guest Chris Wallace]

AAI files are used to anti-alias (remove the graphics "jaggies") around the edges of windows in the interior panel views. There is a bit of information about them on the Wiki:http://flylegacy.dyndns.org/twiki/bin/view...TroubleshootingThe AARAW tool is used to automatically generate AAI files from your panel .RAW/ACT files. They are optional, but the window edges will not be quite as smooth without them.Chris WallaceOttawa, Canada

[Roger Mazengarb 0]

G'day Chris,Wow great explanation Chris. That explains the outline of the Cessna windows in my previous attached picture. I hate to say it but I'm not very "wikiwise" :-) . I can see that I'll have to make the effort and learn. Is this a throwback to the lower resolution days (640 x 480 or 800 x 600) as to my failing old eyes I thought that at 1024 x 768 the edges don't look that jaggie, or does anti alias settings on the card affect this. I do remember Rich posting about the jaggies around the windows on some of the repaints (probably some of mine :-lol ). Now I know what he was on about. Thanks for the info. I've learned something. :-)From now on the Wiki will be my first port of call for help.Cheers,Roger

[Guest Chris Wallace]

You're right, the jaggies would be a lot more noticeable at lower resolutions, and this was a (pretty good, I think) solution to help make the interior views more lifelike. It is not directly related to the antialias setting on your video card, which performs full-scene antialiasing in hardware. Fly's AAI applied antialiasing only to the edge of the windows and predated all this fancy hardware!In any case, these days you can probably do without the AAI and nobody'd notice.There is still a long, long way to go before the Wiki is really useful as a place to go for general-purpose help. In this case, the page could have been found if you did a site search on "aai" but the topic name itself, AarawTroubleshooting, wouldn't have seemed too helpful at first glance.Chris WallaceOttawa, Canada

[Guest Chris Wallace]

Roger...I hadn't actually looked at the pic you posted, but WOW, very nice job on that interior view. Can't wait to see the rest of the panels in action!!Chris WallaceOttawa, Canada

[Guest tonyc]

Roger, as to the outlines issue, I remember something along the lines of an add on that fixed all the posts for default aircrafts. If you have it, it's in pod format, I believe, remove it. Then see what happens. I don't remember its name, but it's an add on to add centerposts on different aircrafts.tony

[Roger Mazengarb 0]

G'day Chris,Can't take too much credit for that. It's 100% digital photograph. All I had to do was paint the screen pure black. BUT I did take the photo :-lolAs for the main panel; remember it IS a homebuilt - and it shows :-)I have a scale problem that I think I'm just going to have to learn to live with. I think the main panel is only about 3/4 scale to the rest of the views. The reason is that if the main panel was enlarged then the instruments would very large and new pointers would have to be made. I can remember toying around with this about a year ago and I ran into difficulties with the *.pbg files for the needles exceeding the 3000 pixel limit imposed by photoshop 5.0 I overcame the problem by halving the number of needles (every 2 degrees instead of every degree) which gave me a lot more pixels to play with and thus I could increase the length of the needles. This also meant a slightly jerky action.I think photoshop 7.0 allows larger dimensional graphics files and thus maybe bigger needles can be made.Do you know if FLY! II has any inbuilt limitation on graphic sizes . namely *.pbg files???I've attached the main panel.Cheers,Roger

[Roger Mazengarb 0]

G'day Tony,Yeah I removed that mod a while back. I think it was in a aircraft mod or update pod. The whole pod was causing me grief with some of the new fixes Alex was releasing. The AAI files are the cause of the outlines on the windows. If you haven't read Chris's reply then do so as it explains all.Cheers.,Roger