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P3D v4 PBR Texture Creation

Tako_Kichi

Tako_Kichi

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ca-ontario
Does anyone know of any tutorials out there that show how to make repaints/skins for P3D v4.5 models with PBR texturing? The ones I've found so far are dealing with how to set up the materials recipe in the modelling program and all I want to do is learn how to make repaint textures for an already released model that has all the material requirements burnt into the model. It used to be a case of grab a paint kit for the aircraft and start painting but things are a lot more complicated now!
 
SOH has a P3Dv4.4+ PBR tutorial by Dave Quincey:

P3D4.4+ PBR Conversion Tutorial

This is a tutorial in .pdf format, on how to convert an FSX model into one that supports PBR textures for use in P3Dv4.4 and upwards. It shows how to alter the material properties with ModelConverterX, and how to create metallic files for...
sim-outhouse.org
 
Thanks Henk, I just happened to come across that file a few minutes ago and immediately read it. It is going to be very useful for future projects. It might even motivate me to update all the FSX aircraft I've released to P3D v4.5 standards! It doesn't seem that difficult and the process is well explained.
 
Thanks for the link. What if you are starting from scratch - well almost scratch. A PBR texture would be any file type- right? bmp, png, psd then you use imagetool to change these to dds?

Are there any tips here? Albedo, Metallic - probably straight forward, but what about Emissive and Normal?

What about VC textures? Any advise here?
 
ronh said:
Thanks for the link. What if you are starting from scratch - well almost scratch. A PBR texture would be any file type- right? bmp, png, psd then you use imagetool to change these to dds?
Click to expand...
Depends on your image tool of choice I guess. There are plugins for Photoshop that allow you to save a DDS directly. I'm not sure whats available for PSP, GIMP or MS Paint. You can convert various formats to DDS using the freeware 'DDS to Bmp' (also known as DXTBmp) utility. If you have a lot of files to convert you can use the 'ConvImX' tool by the same author. They can both be found here: https://www.mwgfx.co.uk/beta.htm
Click on the yellow dot beside each utility to download it.

ronh said:
Are there any tips here? Albedo, Metallic - probably straight forward, but what about Emissive and Normal?
Click to expand...
'Emissive' is what used to be known as the 'light map' and 'Normal' is what used to be known as the 'bump map'.

ronh said:
What about VC textures? Any advise here?
Click to expand...
VC textures are just like external textures. They are texture files used on the VC model instead of the external model.
 
Intel: native export from Photoshop - https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/tool/intel-texture-works-plugin.html
Nvidia: standalone exporter. It adds a menu item to Photoshop that allows you to call the exporter from within Photoshop - https://developer.nvidia.com/texture-tools-exporter

The best of the two is the Intel one. Although the Nvidia one appears to have a shedload more options, the GUI doesn't scale. If you have a hi-res monitor (mine's 3840 x 2160) the GUI can be very difficult to read.
 
I'm using Gimp v3.0 - so far I have had good success with it, makes psd files and I can convert them to dds via the imagetool. I'm looking at PBR because of the T:emmissivescale lua scripting to get lighting to be adjustable rather than on off. (unless there is a specular workflow to adjust lightmap strength I'm missing.) I also have the DXTBmp utility.

I've got most of the older documentation, Bill Leamings Tutorial, fs2x and their site tutorial, of coarse the P3D v5 SDK, DragonFlight Design FSX/P3D C-Language Gauge Creation. calclassic.com (Greg Peppers) tutorial

I'm also using Blender with the Blender2P3DFSX latest exporter 1.0.20 updated with some bug fixes and minor enhancements. Also MCX.

I am stuck on lightmap - emissive textures - they don'[t seem to work for me in some cases. How do you tie it to just having the panel lights being on. I can light up the panel - turning on panel lights, but I want the text decals to appear on with the panel lights switch.
 
ronh said:
I am stuck on lightmap - emissive textures - they don'[t seem to work for me in some cases. How do you tie it to just having the panel lights being on. I can light up the panel - turning on panel lights, but I want the text decals to appear on with the panel lights switch.
Click to expand...
It might be easier to explain this with a couple of images. Here is the diffuse texture (albedo in P3D) for the gauge faces (and other parts) for my Ryan Navion for FSX:
Gauges.jpg

Pay particular attention to the white text on the radio faces and audio panel and to the gauge faces themselves.

Here is the light map texture (emissive in P3D) and you can start to see where the magic takes place:
Gauges_LM.jpg

All the gauge faces are covered by the graduated reddish discs and in the sim with the panel lights on it looks like the gauges are lit from the outside edge with the light fading in intensity towards the middle of the gauge face. Anything black on the sheet gets no light addition in the sim.

Now look at the radio and audio panel areas. The panel faces themselves are black (with the exception of some red light 'spill' from the flood lights on certain parts) and therefore have no emmissive light. The text is all pure white (255, 255, 255) and therefore will have full emmissive light and will appear as backlit text in the VC at night and with the panel lights on.

Here is another example from the same aircraft. This texture is for all of the switches in the VC:
260_B_VC_buttons.jpg

The buttons are black with white lettering during the day.

Here is the light map (emmissive) texture:
260_B_VC_buttons_LM.jpg

At night the switches have a backlit effect with green illumination and the text area is 'tweaked' so that it appears to glow and spills green light from the backlighting onto the faces of the switches. The effect is subtle but looks really good in the sim in a dark cabin and with only the panel lights on.

The bank of numbers at the bottom of the sheet are on the heads of the push-button breakers which are not lit at night which is why that entire area of the light map is pure black (0, 0, 0) and it gets no additional lighting at night.

The alpha channels for the gauges are pure white (255, 255, 255) over the main parts while the switches have a white value of 245, 245, 245 to give them a small amount of shine during the day.

Hopefully the images above will give you a better understanding of how light map/emmissive textures work and how to make them.
 
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Thanks that is great, but what are the settings in Blender exporter - (or 3DS) for the material? emissive properties setting? frame buffer blend? for me I need a VC texture to interact with.

And then when you turn on the panel lights and it;s night - yours should show a red glow - right?

DA40CGDFQ_2024.12.23_15h51m18s.png


DA40CGDFQ_2024.12.23_15h52m43s.png
 
I can't help you with Blender settings as I haven't used it since v.1.0. I will have to fire up 3DS and check my material settings, unless I can get the info via MCX as I haven't started 3DS in a couple of years and as this is a new computer since then I'm not even sure if it is set-up correctly (it was installed but I've made nothing since installing).

You have to activate the textures in the materials editor and specify the various settings as required and make the textures of course. Once you have the materials setup you export (there may be an option in the exported to include emmisive textures) and then move the textures to the aircraft folder in the sim. When you turn on the panel lights the text/gauges should illuminate as required. In my case the gauges have red lights, the text on the radios is white and the rocker switches are green.
 
Thanks for your help. I'll keep plugging away - no need to restart 3DS. thanks again.
 
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