Say I have a certain gauge or instrument I want to put on a VC panel, but I need to mask part of it. I.e., the instrument I want to use is square but I need it to look round. How would I do that? I pretty much no how to do it with the 2D panels but not sure on the VC, which is what I use 99.999% of the time.
If you are using the "only holes for gauges" technique to make your gauge surfaces in the VC then just make a round hole and that's all that will show up.
If instead you are using the "all the gauges on one polygon" technique, then it should be the same as the 2D panel, I assume.
Hope this helps,
Well, like I said I am somewhat familiar with making a new "window" with a mask that would go over the panel and gauge that I want to mask. But that's the 2D panel. In working with a VC and using the $xxxxx virtual panels, I'm not sure how one would apply a mask to that. Can a mask with the appropriate cutout be set up as a separate gauge file and then just be applied like any other gauge on the VC?Originally Posted by tgibson
The gauges will be displayed on the $xxxx planar. Of course, you can place a "Mask" in front of it all or just build a 3D bezel to cover (mask) that gauge's display area.
Alternatively, you could just change gauge's bmp to make it round.
Okay the mask in front of it is what I am after. That is exactly the part I'm trying to figure out. How would I do that? I've got the gauge on the $xxxx planar where I want it, I just need a mask over it and I'm there. Would it go in the panel.cfg file as a gauge entry or is there some other way to do it?
Hello Brett :-)
No problem.
FS uses the $xxxxx to display your gauges, and your panel bmp if you use a full planar to display the whole panel like the attached.
But let's be more specific. If your $xxxxx planar was mapped like the attached, you could copy that planar, rename it to "mask" or anything, then simply boolean out the holes where I show my gauge placements. Then move it in front of your $xxxxx planar. Then map the mask for your panel texture.
That would give your vc panel a little bit of a 3D look in itself as the gauges would now be set a little behind the panel mask.
To enhance the effect, you could extrude the panel mask to give the gauge holes some depth.
So, now the $xxx is behind the panel mask and you will have your gauges displaying through those panel holes.
If you are still not clear on this, I will do a gmax example for you.
If you don't want to edit the VC source code, you can add the extra masking gauge in the VCockpit section of the panel.cfg file, exactly as you do in the 2D panel.
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