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Transparency Problem in P3D_V3.1

falcon409

falcon409

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Below I have posted two images. One is the object I built using Sketchup. The other is what it looks like after placement using Instant Scenery3. Oddly enough, when I load IS3 again the building displays correctly, but if I close the program, close the sim and restart, the building is transparent.

Crow_Island_lounge.jpg


transparent.jpg


I don't believe the problem is with IS3 I think it's related to settings I don't understand in MCX. After going through the various steps in the Material Editor, the last tab is "Optimize", where I'm presented with two columns of options (left and right). I have no idea what these refer to or which options to choose and my guess is that without getting these set correctly, I'll continue to have a transparent building.
 
falcon409

falcon409

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One last note: This happens in P3D_V2.4/V2.5 and V3.1. However, in FSX it displays correctly.
(I mistakenly assumed the same was true for FSX but further testing showed that FSX did not display this problem.)
 
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=rk=

=rk=

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The appearance is that of textures applied to inside faces. Perhaps you have exposed polygons that have no material mapped. To minimize MCX material settings issues, find the material that renders adequately, it appears to be posts or window frames. Compare the material settings line by line with the settings for parts that are transparent and make the transparent ones that you intend to be opaque match. Also you could upload your model with textures or show the MCX log for importing that model.
 
falcon409

falcon409

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Thanks Rick. As it happens, a friend of mine, took the object bgl I compiled and using MCX re-compiled for both FSX and P3D_V2.4. The model displayed correctly in his sim in both versions (he doesn't have P3D_V3.1). I am using the V3.1 SDK and the program links in the options menu point to that version, however MCX doesn't show an option for P3D_V3 when I select for final compile to a bgl (or mdl) it only shows V2.

As for the suggestion you noted. . .if I had posted a close-up of the building you can see that actually nothing renders correctly. Even the posts and window frames are transparent, just not to the 100% that the rest of the building is. I will look at what you suggest though and see if I can find where it went wrong. Thanks!
 
=rk=

=rk=

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OK, the import log will show if the textures are found and loaded and their format to allow us to eliminate that possible issue. As an example, SketchUp and MCX will render .png format textures, meaning they will be visible in the view, but FSX/P3D will not render .png textures. You can start altering your procedure to eliminate other causes, maybe delete your working space for the model and replace it with a cube that has only material color, compile that to .bgl and see if it shows in sim. If it does, then take textures from your problem model and apply them to the cube and test. Or start over and create the cube, make sure you can compile and see it in the sim, then delete the cube from the working space and insert the pilot lounge model. Try compiling the pilot lodge with only material color, etc.
 
falcon409

falcon409

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This is really baffling Rick. I've made hundreds of models and never had this problem. Matter of fact I've done 3 hangars, also for this scenery and all display fine. All textures are bitmaps, that's the only format I use for my textures, all to the power of 2 in an effort to eliminate problems before getting to the MCX stage.
 
=rk=

=rk=

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Well maybe share the model then.
I had a similar issue when I was converting a Thomas Ruth A330MRTT to a static model. Everything looked fine at a distance, but as the eye point neared the model, the fuselage disappeared. All 3d apps have a kind of "bow wake," a point at which you can no longer zoom and your view extends to inside or beyond the model - and this radius or distance seems kind of arbitrary. In this particular case, my "eyeball" penetrated the model when my vehicle was still many yards from the airplane and the fuselage would give way to reveal the pilots and seats and those in turn would disappear as I moved closer, always in the shedding layers fashion that is characteristic of zooming or viewing into a model. I tried all the alpha test function twiddling I could think of, but it was obvious that the model was corrupt in a fundamental way. Finally I isolated the fuselage and rendered a model without it. I picked up the fuselage in SketchUp via 3ds export format, changed nothing and exported in Collada, used the merge objects tool to reattach in MCX and just as I'd suspected, whatever corruption existed had been removed and the model rendered as I'd intended.
So you could also try something like that.
 
=rk=

=rk=

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At this stage, it appears you model is damaged at a fundamental level. In my testing, your transparent condition affects only your model with .dds textures applied. To test the model I added another that I know works, happened to be a RHIB and I applied your textures to the surface allowing whatever mapping MCX assigned.
procedure.jpg

I compiled three versions, one version straight from the Collada, one version where I converted all textures to .bmp format and one version that had had the draw call minimizer applied and those textures in .dds format.
procedure2.jpg

The minimizer reduced the draw calls from 29 to 5 and while that model ultimately failed the test, I think it is the way your model reacts to .dds textures because the test model was unaffected. Here are the three models after inserting with Instant Scenery 3 and reloading the sim. As you wrote, the issue is not apparent during the placement session. In front of my helicopter is the model with all .bmp textures and it is the only model that passed the test at all levels. In the foreground is the model with untreated textures and as we would expect, the .jpg textures are rendered black in both sessions. The last model behind the helo is the one that provides some insight. Clearly the problem is not textures alone, or it would have affected the test model. When I copied the texture, I did not copy the material settings, but this is in light of the fact that the .bmp version worked.
procedure4.jpg

At this point I would recommend flushing the bad data. If you export to .3ds and pick that up with SketchUp, you may be able to rid the model of the corrupt data. Also you could run a similar test and then compare the material settings for the affected parts with material settings for parts that render properly.
 
falcon409

falcon409

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Amazingly, this model displays fine in a friends sim using DDS textures (both FSX and P3D_V2.4). I tried compiling using bitmaps rather than dds and it was still transparent. Finally, I went back to Sketchup and deleted all textures, then filled with a single color and exported to 3D (collada). Processed it through MCX to a P3D bgl file and went through the placement process with IS3, closed the sim, went back and it displays perfectly, albeit minus any texturing. Pretty odd. . . .why just this model, and not the other three. . .all built the same way, all textured using the same process, all exported the same.
 
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