An Effects/MCX Question

[falcon409]

This is one of a line of rwy lights at White Birch Airfield (4N8). when I first placed them, the light was huge, way too large for what I wanted so I loaded the effect in the editor and reduced the particles and radius and got it to where it looks much better. The problem is that after tweaking it, the light is no longer inside the bowl like it was originally. I can make the adjustments to get it centered again, but I can't find a way to get MCX to show the actual light. . .only the yellow position cube, so my adjustments will be doing it blind basically. . .I'll have to adjust then save, then load the sim. . . .but in MCX there's no way to tell which way to go based on the way it's placed in the Sim. Any suggestions?

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g84/ejwells409/rwy_lights.jpg

[Shessi]

Hi F,
Find the exact co-ordinates of the light. In MCX you can relocate items, just change the location of the bowl to match that of the light, and hopefully that will be it.....

Cheers

Shessi

[falcon409]

Hi F,
Find the exact co-ordinates of the light. In MCX you can relocate items, just change the location of the bowl to match that of the light, and hopefully that will be it.....
Cheers
Shessi
Taking a quote from "Lost in Space". . . "Will Robinson, that does not compute"

Here is what I see in MCX: Are you saying to get the coordinates from the sim? If so, that won't work. . .that would move the cone to the position of the light (I assume that's what you mean) and that isn't where I want the cone, even for the short distance it would move. I want the cone to remain in it's position and get the light matched up correctly with the cone. I've posted the question in FSDevelopers as well, maybe someone there can suggest a way to get the light centered without moving the object to meet it.

[Dimus]

Ed, last time I had this problem, I tried to estimate in meters how offset was the effect in sim from where I wanted it to be and then I moved the location of the attachment point in MCX by the opposite amount. So then in MCX the effect would show misplaced but it looked OK in the sim. This trial and error process took a couple of cycles to complete.

The modeled-in approach I'm proposing for the light will spare you this problem. As said, I will send you something later today.

[falcon409]

Ed, last time I had this problem, I tried to estimate in meters how offset was the effect in sim from where I wanted it to be and then I moved the location of the attachment point in MCX by the opposite amount. So then in MCX the effect would show misplaced but it looked OK in the sim. This trial and error process took a couple of cycles to complete.

The modeled-in approach I'm proposing for the light will spare you this problem. As said, I will send you something later today.
I tried moving the attachment point and it seemed no matter how I tried to place it, it never was quite right. . .almost like there was an invisible barrier holding it just out of reach, lol

[spokes2112]

Offsets on the .fx emitter?

[falcon409]

Offsets on the .fx emitter?
The X,Y and Z Offsets are at 0.00

NOTE: Roman, I just realized that the shadow (ground shadows turned on in FSX) isn't correct for the position of the cone. . .but the light, does match the shadow. In MCX the object is offset from the center points (red,green). Could that be the cause?

[Dimus]

Ed, sent you a PM.

[falcon409]

In this case the answer came from GaryGB at FSDevelopers:

Hi Ed:
*.Fx (and certain types of 'Shadow' objects) are offset from the MDL AttachPoint when DrawCall Batching is used; try disabling DrawCall Batching for the MDL. https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/styles/custom/smilies/idea.gif
GaryGB

[Dimus]

In this case the answer came from GaryGB at FSDevelopers:
[/FONT][/COLOR]

That's very useful info. Thanks for sharing that.