.E File Questions

[Guest juvat2]

Hi,I've made a cabin model and thought I'd convert for Flight3 use. Am using Robs informative Model2.html. Still, I have questions about the .e format. I've already converted the textures to .gif (v87a) using PSP and converted to seattle models pallet with Robs FixMip.exe. Texture dimensions are 256x256, 128x128,etc. I still have to convert the gif's to mip.I get the following error when trying to convert cabin10.3ds to .bin. Am I susposed to replace the 153,153,102 with a 100? If so, should I do this for all the material lines? It states it's expecting a material name. Isn't logs10.gif the material name? If not, what could it be? Where did "frontcolor" in line 1 come from? Shouldn't that be the same or close to the actual gif name? In Line 5. Why does have the greater than/less than symbols while other lines do not. Should the symbols be deleted? Are these indications of a defective .E file? (Are these questions indications of a defective mind?)Here's the materials section from the .E file:MATERIALS{1,"FrontColor",Flat,TMAP "LOGS10.gif",153,153,102,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;2,"BackColor",Flat,TMAP "LOGS10.gif",128,128,200,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;3,"Blue_Glass",FLAT,TMAP "BlueG10.gif",100,149,237,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;4,"CornflowerBlue",FLAT,TMAP "Cornfl10.gif",100,149,237,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;5,"",FLAT,TMAP "LOGS10.gif",100,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;6,"GAF_Country_Man",FLAT,TMAP "ASPHAL10.gif",100,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;7,"Wood-cherry",FLAT,TMAP "WOODC10.gif",100,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;8,"Siding4",FLAT,TMAP "Siding10.gif",100,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;9,"Chalk",FLAT,TMAP "chalk10.gif",100,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;10,"Wood-floor-ligh",FLAT,TMAP "WOODLT10.gif",100,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;11,"Paper2",FLAT,TMAP "paper10.gif",100,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;12,"Stone-rough",FLAT,TMAP "STONE10.gif",100,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;}Here's also a shot of the cabin as viewed with Deep Exploration. Could you give a descrption of the specifications there in the top left corner? Which one, or is it all of them, gives the polygon count? The 3ds file weighs in at a hefty 169kb, which I suspect is to much for a static object in Flight3?I've already begun deleting some lines and other details in the model to get it less complex-get it using less textures. Going to take screen shots of the front, back and side views, delete the doors and windows, then use the screen shots for the wall textures. I already deleted the fireplace chimney.Also a shot of it in the modeler program. You all Take Care,JimBps. I uploaded that baron repaint I did(just stripes) over at flightsim.com. Don't know if they accepted it though. JimB

[Hans_Petter 1]

I was hoping that some e-file experts from Oz would pick this up but I'll try to help.The < > thing looks wrong. I think what you need is the name of the gif in brackets. Since the e-file can be edited in Notepad, just edit it and give it a try. Provided you've set up ModelView to launch the moment you create or re-create a model it should be quite easy to test this out.I don't remember using commands as "TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229". The buildings that I created for LCA had nothing but the polygon co-ordinates and a simple command to drape the the gif over it. I may check the e-files in question.Please try this:Build the model and check that it looks right. ModelView will accept it, even with missing textures. Then, add the textures and leave out the fancy commands for the time being.You may even send me the whole shebang and I'll try to sort it out.Hans Petter

[Guest effyouthree]

Whoaaa there, Jim!This efile's got too many arguments! It'll probably work but the results? The first line in materials:1,"FrontColor",Flat,TMAP "LOGS10.gif",153,153,102,TRANSP 0,SHININESS 25,SHIN2STR 5,SPECULAR 229,229,229;Should be more like:1,"FrontColor",Flat,TMAP "LOGS10.gif",100,TRANSP 0;A little bit simpler ;) SHININESS, SPECULAR etc don't work in FU3, although ILLUM does. Use PHONG shading instead of FLAT generally. The 'FrontColor' name was given to the texture when the model was created. It's not relevant to what we're doing. As to the <>, again it's not important. It means that the texture was imported whilst attached to an object. If you copy between 2 models, you often get double quotes (""TEXTURE01"").Try to reduce the textures for FU3. 2 or 3 tops but squeeze lotsa things into the available 256x256. Use some RGBs if you can, to get detail. Beware that RGBs turn into BGRs in Sanfran and your terracotta chimney turns blue ;) Shades of grey work OK in both regions.Polygon counts will vary - the only truthful solution is to open it in Modelview or Resviewer. Beware that intersecting polygons can generate others, although BSP is sometimes kinder. Sometimes, a few odd polygons REDUCES the overall count, although I found little joy with the 'cutting planes' mentioned in the white paper. Aim for ~100 polygons for a house I suppose.A tip:Most if not all 3D building models kicking around on the 'net are waaay too complex for our needs. I have a nice ranch house at home with individual roof shingles and about 30,000 polygons :-eek I usually look at them, then figure out how to do the same but with mostly textures. Another thing I might add is that using night textures is simpler than adding lots of polygons for internal detail.:-waveRegards,**************Jonathan Point**************"I'd rather be down here wishing I was up there than up there wishing I was down here"

[Guest juvat2]

Hi Fellas,Thank you very much for the help. The modeling program I'm using is Sketchup. It has a built in 3ds exporter. As an experiment, I'd made a model of my tool shed. Am in the process of converting it to Flight3 use to see how a much lesser complex model will look. Here's a shot of my tool shed. Sits on a concrete slab. I decided to let it have an interior view to see if conversion to Flight3 would work. The reason I'm persistent on rendering things with an interior view is, I desire to model a hanger(really a converted barn), then see if a flight can begun from with-in the barn/hanger. A model needed for a fantasy private airport package I thought to create. And the house and tool shed would be there. No, not the cabin I'd posted above. One modeled after my own real house(like the shed). Am checking the limits as I should go on the designs so the models will be ok in Flight3. Also to see if using Sketchup is feasible. It could be its .3ds converter is creating .3ds files that aren't useable with our Flight3 modeling tools.The 3ds version of the shed is 4kb. Also a shot of the e2bin tool error. I'll edit the .e files and see how the conversion to .bin goes. Not right away though as I gotta be heading to work shortly."Try to reduce the textures for FU3. 2 or 3 tops but squeeze lotsa things into the available 256x256. Use some RGBs if you can, to get detail. Beware that RGBs turn into BGRs in Sanfran and your terracotta chimney turns blue ;) Shades of grey work OK in both regions."-I've always wondered how you guys do that kind of texture mapping. Squeeze all the textures in one 256x256 gif would be easy enough(maybe). But how to get the model to use just the area of the gif that has the roof textures and not a door area of the gif. Here's a shot of the TShed10's textures. Converted to gif and Seattle pallet 256x256. But how to tell the tshed model to use this instead of looking for the individual texture files(ie, CRust10.gif)?You all take care,JimB

[Guest effyouthree]

Jim,Yes, inside views can be useful ;) This is one reason I created my hangars - I commence flights from them at a few places now. The largest will happily take the Dash-8/DC3/Beechjet/DHC-6 (and anything smaller). This is also why I put lights in them! Chris has placed a few around the place too ;)The errors? Look to be texture related. Bear in mind that 'e2bin' was designed for another program (!) and that I've had zero joy with it. I use 'bintoe.exe' which works much better and even identifies 'vhots', which are necessary to preserve lights and axles. You can then use 'bsp.exe' to create the binfile or use 'eto3ds.exe' to get an editable 3DS file.As to multi-texturing, I'll explain that tomorrow, with some shots. Basically, ungroup everything and select one group of polygons (e.g. a roof). Don't select the object, just the polygon faces. Now, select a texture and apply it. Map as usual. Then, select other polygons (door, floor etc) and apply that part of the texture. Simple? No, it never is. I explained this a while ago to QVDG - I'll try to dig out those shots ;)Unless Quentin has them handy and can post them... :-waveRegards,**************Jonathan Point**************"I'd rather be down here wishing I was up there than up there wishing I was down here"

[Guest juvat2]

Many-many thankyou's for the much needed help. Here's the list of tools I used for the shed and cabin:-Sketchup to create the 3d models.-Sketchup to convert to .3ds-N3ds2E to covert to .e-bsp.exe to make .bin-fixmip and makemip to convert textures to graphics.I'll try and upload the zip file here. I really needto learn how to correct these things and hope myerrors can be pointed out to me.JimBhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/78419.zip