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Modelling tips for P3D

Simipanda

Simipanda

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unitedkingdom
Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and P3D development, but been in 3D Modelling industry for a while. Just looking to find some tips for kick-starting an aircraft project for P3D v4.

I've read there used to be a polycount limit per object before, but not sure if this applies to the new version of P3D. There doesn't seem to be any information anywhere for modelling/texturing when it comes to exporting to the simulator.
I've already been encountering slow/crashing exports when it comes to a model of 500,000 vertices, yet online many people agree that P3D should be able to handle this amount of detail.

So hence my question to the experts here, could you please share any tips you've learn so far when it comes to modelling, texturing and preparing your 3D model for exporting to P3D via their SDK tool?

some of my questions:
polycount/vertex limit- per object limit or per scene export limit ?
Best to keep many objects like "cockpit panels" as separate objects or merge to one mesh?
Texture limit- keep to 1 - 4k texture or have a few smaller texture maps? Any limit of how many is max sim can handle? , shared UV space allowed?

all tips, DOs and DONTs are welcome.
thank you
 
Lots of threads here to find the general information that you're looking for, but in brief:

There is no poly-count limit anymore that I'm aware of, but P3D isn't a AAA console title and as such, keeping an eye on efficient modeling and keeping poly counts low will still keep customers happy. Depending on your modeling software, you might find it easier to break up your model into several components for export ( body, cockpit, undercarriage ) and then merge using ModelConverterX - an easy way to sneak past any compiling issues.

Textures can run up to 4096 x 4096 these days, but, again, less is more. I texture at that resolution, but then reduce them to 2048 x 2048 for the final model. You can use as many as you like, but the same rules apply.

Generally, if you're modeling for flight sim, you need to always have some consideration for the user's PC strengths / weaknesses. They might not just be flying about in your hi-def airplane: they may have hi-def scenery, weather programs and other add-ons for their PC to contend with. It's always a balancing act between fidelity and a user-friendly product. Others here will be able to add far more detail than I have ( I've only been at this for 3 years ).
 
Deano1973 said:
Lots of threads here to find the general information that you're looking for, but in brief:

There is no poly-count limit anymore that I'm aware of, but P3D isn't a AAA console title and as such, keeping an eye on efficient modeling and keeping poly counts low will still keep customers happy. Depending on your modeling software, you might find it easier to break up your model into several components for export ( body, cockpit, undercarriage ) and then merge using ModelConverterX - an easy way to sneak past any compiling issues.

Textures can run up to 4096 x 4096 these days, but, again, less is more. I texture at that resolution, but then reduce them to 2048 x 2048 for the final model. You can use as many as you like, but the same rules apply.

Generally, if you're modeling for flight sim, you need to always have some consideration for the user's PC strengths / weaknesses. They might not just be flying about in your hi-def airplane: they may have hi-def scenery, weather programs and other add-ons for their PC to contend with. It's always a balancing act between fidelity and a user-friendly product. Others here will be able to add far more detail than I have ( I've only been at this for 3 years ).
Click to expand...

Thank you Deano, some really helpful tips! I was going through P3D v4 SDK documentation today and it was still referring to 1024 x 1024 texture limit as absolute max yet I was sure I've seen aircraft textures higher than that on other peoples work! Glad I can go higher up now, but will be all about testing performance on screen for sure!
Wish LM updated the SDK Docs to make our work easier!
 
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