Model Converter X Question and Help

[expat]

Hiroshi, the very talented modeler of POSKY, SkySpirit and now TDS made a nice FS9 model of the 767-100 series, a plane that was initially ordered by an airline but was then cancelled. Not a huge tube liner fan but I like the model and think it would make a great ultra long range BBJ that could also access medium length fields. I tried using Model Converter X to change it to a native FSX model, so it can be merged with a decent VC (default 737 or JF Freemium 757 vc) however I am not sure what to do and the output I exported did not appear in the sim. I have successfully created a scenery bgl from the USS Oriskany model, but that is a different process. I see Lazarus and other members here have started converting a growing number of freeware FS9 models successfully. Any suggestions?

Model (with winglets) is here: http://ssp.cyber-ninja.jp/

[lazarus]

OK, I'll bite- bearing in mind I don't know what I'm doing on a good day...
I also don't know what you're doing, so...

I'm presuming you've Henk's mdl definitions installed? That's first off, you have to have the updated animation definitions, or your're dead in the water at the jetty. The other utility needed is RADitor to re-set the model radius.
If you've got the animation definitions updated, and a export with functioning animations showing up in MDLX but no model in sim, you've probably missed re-setting the model radius, and the model viewing distance is ten miles plus, you won't see it in the selection window.

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/raditor.120/


Radius being the external eye point distance from centroid...I suppose
X, Y and Z radius- X being span left/right from centroid, Y being length fore/aft from centroid, Z being height below/above the model center.
Typically in a converted FS9 model, you will see a radius like 1845.235, or some huge number, similar values in the X,Y,Z.
I'm bloody lazy, so I'll grab a rough eye-ball radius of 8-15 for a small-medium fighter sized model, 20+ for larger models. Check Mitre 10 Catalogue and Officeworks Catalogue. I suppose the X,Y,Z should conform to the dimensions of the aircraft, plus some fudge factor. I usually just blork in the radius number for X and Y, half the value for Z, 70% of the value on the up side, 30% below.
A Essex pointed out, the interior model radius should be the same as the external model radius.
For a 767 try a radius of 33, X= -33+33, Y= -33, +33, Z= -10, +23

That seems to work for radius, and nobody's complaining...yet.

I'm down for a C check and a TX'd fan, so I'll keep an eye on the thread, get some turn around on this.

[expat]

Lazarus, appreciate very much your taking the time to respond and explain what is involved in detail. Sadly, this is going to be way above my skill level!
Regards,
expat

[lazarus]

No, it's not. It's just poking buttons. Though I'm almost violently opposed to riding in the back of a tube - a dreadful chore, as uncomfortable and un-enjoyable as an iron maiden, sans whimsy- I'm going to load that one up and were going to go through it step by step. Like the fat kid from north korea, building a bomb is easy if somebody else has done the skull sweat first!
Attachment 36597

[Mach3DS]

Lazarus, could be so kind as to point out where to obtain the new mdl defs? I would be super interested....I'm like you just poking around, but I would love to understand a bit more how to use MCX as well. I thought I understood it well enough, but recently started getting animation linkage errors during export....so obviously I'm missing something!

[lazarus]

Let me set up a few things and top off the generator. We'll do a tutorial, provided the model doesn't have some weird ground equipment on visibility conditions- still have not been able to wrap the skullbone around that...see monkey picture.
Ed: http://simviation.com/1/download-fil...p&fileId=49696

This is native TDS 767, but a -200. I guess the difference is tube length?

[hschuit]

"We'll do a tutorial, provided the model doesn't have some weird ground equipment on visibility conditions- still have not been able to wrap the skullbone around that..."

OK, let me explain how visibility conditions work. Any part of the model (or attached object like a light effect) can have a visibility condition tag which controls the visibility of the part in the sim. The conditions under which the part is visible or hidden are xml coded in a similar way as animations. Visibility conditions types are also stored in the ModelDef.xml file, you can recognize them in the ModelDef.xml file by the tag "Visibility<visibility></visibility>" (vs. animations which are tagged "Animation"). The possibilities are endless, let me just mention a few:

- Show drop tanks, missiles or bombs only when the correct weight is entered in the FSX Payload Mgr (see 2nd screenshot example).
- Show/hide modeled vapor streaks or drag chute
- Switch an aircraft light on/off
- Hide AI aircraft crew figures when the engine is not running
- Show/hide ground equipment

This is how you assign a visibility condition - assuming you already have the MDL file opened in MCX:
1. Click the Hierarchy Editor button on the top menu, this opens up the window as in the screenshots below.
2. Find the ModelPart or AttachedEffect which you want to assign a visibility condition to and click on it. In the 1st screenshot example I chose a beacon light AttachedEffect, in the right pane you will see it's properties. If the ModelPart/AttachedEffect does not yet have a visibility condition, the condition type under the "Visibility Condition" node has value "None".
3. Click on the "Visibility Condition" value to open the list box which shows all visibility condition types which are stored in your ModelDef.xml file.
4. For the beacon light, I selected condition type "light_beacon_vis" (this links the beacon light effect to the FSX beacon light key command).
5. Close the Hierarchy Editor.
6. You now can export the MDL as FSX MDL object.
7. Set the radius/boundaries with the MCX MDL Tweaker which is under menu item "Special tools" > "MDL Tweaker" (works the same as the Raditor tool).

[lazarus]

Excellent! Thanks Henk, that made sense. I've just sorted out glass and reflections, and am making up the next set of flashcards for that, then we'll tackle lights. Give me a year or so, I'll catch up!

[lazarus]

than before....Attachment 36694Attachment 36695Attachment 36696

[expat]

Well, it all is way above my skill level - but cool stuff! Think the Vertigo Panther VC will merge nicely with that Cougar . .

[padburgess]

Hi lazarus
I have been following this and have a question for you. I have tried this on a couple of older models (Ju_Attacker, Fw200c6) and they export fine but the animations for ailerons and rudder are backwards. Both ailerons move in the same direction and the rudder moves in the opposite direction to anticipated but when in Model converter the animations appeared to be fine. Can you explain this for me and do you know how I fix it?

thanks in advance
Paul