Make those lines visible

Crane with linesOne of the most important features still missing in ModelConverterX is the ability to read in API macros that use lines instead of polygons. I have started working on a solution for this now. Those lines will be read in and then transformed into a 3D object. It is like you extra a certain shape along the line to get a 3D version. I will use a simple circle for the shape to extrude with, where the radius and number of vertices are an option the user can specify. By setting the number of vertices to 3 you would get a triangle to extrude, which costs the least polygons of course.

On the right you see a first picture of this feature. All the bars that form the arms of the crane are defined with lines in the API macro. But the tool has converted them into polygons that actually show up.

There is still some finetuning to do on the extrude functionality though, especially where the polygons of different line segments are supposed to line up with each other. But at least the basics are working now.

Next ModelConverterX version

After working on the Wiki for most of the last week, now it is time to spend some time on ModelConverterX again. I do have some good ideas for the next version. I want to add some features that will allow the conversion of even more objects and I think after that I can remove the alpha tag from the tool and make it a beta or even a normal version. Here are the points that are at the top of the list for the next version:

  • Ability to convert macros that use lines. These lines will be converted into simple 3D shapes of polygons, because the FSX format does not work with lines. With this option added the last category of macros not supported should be fixed, although there will always be special macros left that give trouble.
  • Conversion of objects that have effects attached. For example smoke from a chimney. These macros should get an attachpoint for the effect in the FSX object.
  • Conversion of light points. This will probably be done by using effects in the FSX models, how exactly is something I still have to look at.

So that is my roadmap for the next release. I’ll keep you informed about the progress I am making.

New Wiki frontpage

Tonight the new Wiki front page for the FSDeveloper Wiki went live. I hope this new page makes it easier for users of the Wiki to find the content they are interested in. You will find more categories, that relate to certain addon development related tasks, like terrain design or panel and gauge design. Also the articles have been categorised better into all those categories. I hope you find this new front page easier to use. And feel free to add new content to the Wiki if you feel you can add something, that makes it an even more useful place for other developers!

Welcome to the club Jon

We have another FS MVP. Jon Masterson, better know as scruffyduck on the forums, has been awarded the MVP award. Most of you will probably know him from his activity on different FS forums, including FSDeveloper, and from the ADE tool he is working on. Congratulations on the award Jon and keep up the good work!

Normal map tutorial

It is quite a while ago already that I wrote on this blog about how to use normal maps on your FSX models. Today I finally found the time to put that information into a tutorial on the Wiki. I hope it makes the process of creating a normal map more clear. Or else feel free to enhance the tutorial even more.

And of course, don’t get carried away with applying normal maps. Only use them where really needed, as using them on all your models might not do the performance much good.

Back home again

Today I got back home after a week of vacation in France. We have been camping in the Alsace and Lorraine region. Although the weather was not perfect all the time, it is always nice to be out for a while. So now I am going to catch up with the email and the forum. 

Heading for France

Tent … check, sleepingbag … check, cooking equipment … check, pans … check, ….

 As you can see everything is ready to go on vacation now. Only have to put it in the car and then we’ll head in the direction of France to go camping for a week. So no internet for the next week and thus no forum and no emails. So see you in a week and I am sure there will be enough questions waiting for me by then.

Gate IK animation video tutorial

Do you remember that [Nick] has been talking for a long time already about a new video tutorial for FSX? One that shows how to make those nice new skin and bone IK animations for your gates? Adrian Woods made a really nice tutorial about that and Nick has got it edited now. From now it is online at the [FSDeveloper] site, see all the details in Nick’s post here. Let’s hope we see more addon scenery from now on which these cool animated gates.

ModelConverterX manual

Updating the manual is usually not my favourite part of making tools, so sometimes that seems to lag a bit behind the release of new tool versions. But I just found the time to update the ModelConverterX manual on the Wiki. I have mainly updated the part about the capabilities of the different readers and writers. Still to do is more explanation about the GUI and the different tools available in there, but that will be for the next update.

ModelConverterX update avaible

Today I handed in the key of my old house, so the moving “project” is now really finished. The last days I already had some more time to do some programming on my FS tools again, so as a result of that I have also been able to release a new version of ModelConverterX.

On the forum you can read all the changes in this new version, but the biggest new feature has to be the 3DS export capability. That opens new possibilities again to bring your old objects to life again in FSX. I think the next challenge I am going to tackle is making LOD models with the tool and writing them out as well.