VC gauge editing problems

[TheGrunt]

I've been last couple of weeks working with Piglet's A-1J Skyrider, modifying it for more precise performance and adding RealEngine addon features to it. After that I decided to edit gauge graphics to give them a bit glass-like reflection and loved every moment with the whole project. I even asked and have Piglet's permission to upload edited files to SOH, when I'm done and satidfied with the results.

So, most of the gauges were easy, just some photoshopping and you are good to go. But with rotating gauges, I've ran in to trouble. Of course, if I add static reflections to .bmps used rotating gauges, like I did with static gauges, they look quite silly when turning as reflections turn also. I've tried to create another .bmp to rotating gauges that are static and do not rotate with rest of the gauge giving the desired effect. However, I seem to get either fully opaque texture over gauge or something that is completely invisible. What am I doing wrong?

Here is the screenshot and you can see some of the non-rotating gauges I've edited and fully opaque HSI second from the right down:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9718107/Prepar3d/Opaque_HSI.jpg

I've tried to fiddle with different alphas to get it done, but it seems to be opaque or nothing at all. I created a special texture for reflection (HSI_Card_reflection.bmp) and added this to as element to the HSI gauge .xml:

</Element>
<Element id="Element">
<FloatPosition>11.000,0.000</FloatPosition>
<Image id="HSI_Card_reflection.bmp" Alpha="True" Name="HSI_Card_reflection.bmp">
<Transparent>True</Transparent>
</Image>
</Element>

Any ideas?

[Brett_Henderson]

I'm not completely familiar with this mode's VC.. but from what you describe, it looks like these are gauge files, not modeled gauges.

The gauges you've added "glare" to, are edits to the "background" bitmaps ? Meaning, the needle is actually still in "front" of of the bitmap ?

I don't think you can "layer" static bitmaps in XML gauges, regardless any transparency. So, the "front-most" "background", is all that you see.

I think the only solution here, requires access to the VC source-file.. where you could model the gauge glass itself, indedpendent the gauge.. and control its transparency via material settings/texture properties (alpha, spec, etc)..

[TheGrunt]

I'm not completely familiar with this mode's VC.. but from what you describe, it looks like these are gauge files, not modeled gauges.

The gauges you've added "glare" to, are edits to the "background" bitmaps ? Meaning, the needle is actually still in "front" of of the bitmap ?

I don't think you can "layer" static bitmaps in XML gauges, regardless any transparency. So, the "front-most" "background", is all that you see.

I think the only solution here, requires access to the VC source-file.. where you could model the gauge glass itself, indedpendent the gauge.. and control its transparency via material settings/texture properties (alpha, spec, etc)..
Thanks, Brett. Yes I did the reflections for other gauges just editing the backgounds and needles are indeed in front of the reflection, but it looks quite good as needles are light colored and don't jump out of the glare and seem to be over them. And yes, gauges are 2D, not 3D and modeled in the cockpit.

I was afraid that it might be like you described. I was hopeful to achieve the effect by using another .bmp over the gauge and thus do it "properly" as Piglet had actually done pretty much the same with compass: it had a semi-transparent reflection layer as a own .bmp which I removed after I added my static reflection as together they looked a bit messy. During last week I haven't had any time for to dig in to this, but I try to test more possibly the next weekend to see, if I can do something about it. But you may be right.

[Brett_Henderson]

Yeah.. glare and even night-lighting work pretty well on 2D, needle gauge backgrounds..

My first modeled gauge was for my Bonanza P35.. Actual compasses (floating ball) don't look good in 2D.

It was a learning experience, animating, and texturing the "ball" in Gmax, to match default animation tags.. lotta trial and error.. But it still looked bad, until I modeled the little "window", and its reference line. Same material/texture as the cockpit glass..