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FSX effects

robystar

robystar

Messages
5,214
Hi Arno,

Found ample time between two goals of the Dutch team and the boring rest of the game to further check out your attached object editor.
Besides the fact that I noticed that you can not alter the direction of an attached object (vertical by default apparently), I now find that something weird is also going on with the effects.
At first they did not show at all, but when I changed the attach point name to the same name as the effect, for one unfathomable reason or another they did show up, but only after approaching (in this case) the vessel very close.
I thought it had to do with the effects parameters, so I set the light effects parameters to night=1, day=0, dusk=1, dawn=1. And they did not show up at all anymore. I also tried to increase the visibility distance in the effect itself but also to no avail.
Perhaps you should have a look at it when you find the time to do so.
Thanks.

Rob
 
Hi Rob,

I will have to check the code to see how the orientation is written in there. I will do that soon. I never looked deeply into it, so it is quite likely you found a bug. The user interface has a field for the orientation already, but I am not sure it is actually used when exporting (I just foresaw that it might be useful one day).

About the names of the attachpoints, I would have to look into that. For me it always worked with the default names. I think most important is that they are unique, having the same name for multiple attachpoints will not work afaik.

Using all four conditions like "night=1, day=0, dusk=1, dawn=1" in one condition does not work, it is an (annoying) bug in FS. You need to have two effects, one with "night=1, day=0" and the other with "dusk=1, dawn=1".
 
Hi,

I am looking into the issue. I have found out how to control the direction now and by default the objects were indeed on their side (see attached screenshots).

Next step is to make sure you can properly set the orientation in the GUI and that it also works correct when importing the MDL files again.

So hopefully in a day or so I can have an update with this issue fixed.
 

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Hi,

In the next development release I think you will find that things have improved a lot already.

Only the optimization fails now, so I have disabled it for this build. This means that the scenegraph is slightly less efficient for attached objects. I will continue on that tomorrow.

But the orientation should now be shown in the 3D preview with a little line and you can set it from the attached object editor (the vaues you enter are heading, pitch, roll).

Let me know if this helps already (and also if you find new bugs :)).
 
Hi,

I found one little bug, so the dev release of yesterday probably will fail in writing the MDL file. That will be fixed in tomorrows one. I have also fixed the optimize problems that I still had yesterday. So it should work correctly now.
 
Hello Arno,

Regret to inform attached object editor for library objects is not working as it should yet, I believe. At least, I can not make heads or tails from it.
Take a default library object like for instance a car and try to put it horizontally in the required direction. I have tried it but never managed to get it horizontal, not with 0,0,0, not with 90, 0, 0, nor with 0, 0, 90.
And each time I reload the mdl into MCX the orientations show 0, 0, 0 although the arrow shows differently.
Correct me if I am wrong but in case I want to have my car facing backwards, I would have to give it the orientation 180 heading, 90 pitch so that it is horizontal, and 0 for no roll, right? But even if it would be different there is still something wrong in the state of Denmark!
Roby
 
Hi,

Let me try how it works with a default car object, like you show in the screenshots it worked with a tree.

On import of the MDL the orientation should not be reset to 0,0,0 again, it should try to read the position again. I'll also check that.
 
Hi Arno,

Shame on you!:mad:
You have been watching football instead of working on eliminating the bug in the attached object editor!!!!:D
Do not work yourself into sweat with over 30º C temperatures :)
Just joking.

Roby

PS: Behind my compueter is the only place still relatively cool here. Dutch are not used to airco.
 
Hi,

Actually I was shopping, it was very nice and quite in the supermarket around 17:00 :).

I just looked at your problem, but I can not reproduce them. See the attached screenshot. I have attached three cars from the default library to my object. Each with a different heading. They all show up fine.

Be aware that in MCX the line showing for the direction of the attached object is the upwards direction.

Also when I reload the MDL afterwards they are still showing the angles in the attached object editor.
 

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....which leads me to inquire, are you a football fan Arno, as I think of you each time Netherlands wins. 2-1 over Brazil!!
 
Morning,

Checked again.
Pic 1: I enter coords and export.
Pic 2: I reload mdl
Coords are back to zero for effects as well as for lib objects.
A couple of other things that either lead to confusion (at least with me) or that I wonder about:
- If arrow points up, you would think direction is vertical.
With just one arrow and a cube, you do not see the real orientation. Maybe another shape would help out.
- library objects and (light)effects added with the attached object editor only show up when you have come very close to the mdl. On the other hand, if you add a (nested) multiple effect (light, wake, etc.) in the sim.cfg, it shows at normal distance. Any explanation for that?
- textures with structure in it give strange visual effects from a distance (see pic 3). Probably ignorance from my side and nothing to do with MCX but I do not know how to avoid it.

Rob
 
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bob5568 said:
....which leads me to inquire, are you a football fan Arno, as I think of you each time Netherlands wins. 2-1 over Brazil!!
Click to expand...

I guess the answer is clear from the fact that I went shopping already :), no I am not really a football fan.
 
Morning Rob,

robystar said:
Pic 1: I enter coords and export.
Pic 2: I reload mdl
Coords are back to zero for effects as well as for lib objects.
Click to expand...

That is weird. Let me try again with another model here just to see if I can reproduce it. Else could you send me your model, so that I can see if I can get the same behaviour with it.

robystar said:
A couple of other things that either lead to confusion (at least with me) or that I wonder about:
- If arrow points up, you would think direction is vertical.
With just one arrow and a cube, you do not see the real orientation. Maybe another shape would help out.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have been thinking about this. I think I need to show all three axes (with different colours) or so.

robystar said:
- library objects and (light)effects added with the attached object editor only show up when you have come very close to the mdl. On the other hand, if you add a (nested) multiple effect (light, wake, etc.) in the sim.cfg, it shows at normal distance. Any explanation for that?
Click to expand...

When exporting there are no parameters to control this. I would have to check if using GMax to attach them gives the same effect, but I expect it is some build in limitation.

robystar said:
- textures with structure in it give strange visual effects from a distance (see pic 3). Probably ignorance from my side and nothing to do with MCX but I do not know how to avoid it.
Click to expand...

That is a moire effect and very normal for textures with small repeating patterns. Using mipmaps can reduce this.
 
Hi Rob,

I have just change how the attached objects are displayed. You now get three axes in different colours (X red, Y green, Z blue). Most objects like vehicles are facing in the Y direction. That should make it easier to align them. Will be in the next development release.
 
Hi Arno,

Tks for having helped out with the positioning of library objects but,
I now have a new problem.
I tried to add another library object but when trying to give in the coords, I get the following error message:
Eigenschapswaarde niet geldig
Vector3dConverter kan niet van System.String worden geconverteerd
Any ideas?

Rob
 
Hi Arno,

Eigenschapswaarde niet geldig
Vector3dConverter kan niet van System.String worden geconverteerd

Rob
Click to expand...

Is this Translated into:

Property value is not valid Vector3dConverter cannot be converted System.String ?
 
Doug,

Your Dutch is amazing. So, yes.
And because I still have to start on the LOD part, I guess we will soon have more questions in common.
 
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