Simviation Forum - Transparent prop

Jul 4^th, 2006 at 4:22pm

gryshnak Offline
Colonel
Low flying is when you
have to dodge the trees
Hull. Yorkshire, UK

Gender:
Posts: 1053

I have an annoying problem with the propeller on my WIP Farman Biplane. When I look through it, some parts of my plane disappear on the other side - but not all of them ???

The screenshot sums it up nicely. Why do the wings disappear, but not the struts? I figured there might be some sort of heirarchy since the struts were added after the prop, but the pilot was added all at the same time and only his arms disappear. I'm confused Angry

Explanations and solutions will be much appreciated.

Gryshnak

« Last Edit: Jul 5^th, 2006 at 4:35pm by gryshnak »

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #1 - Jul 4^th, 2006 at 4:44pm

AuMaV Offline
Colonel
Old Git
The Great Southern Land

Gender:
Posts: 293

Hi
Its a draw oder problem every part thats after the prop blured part will have issues when viewed through the prop
just cut and paste the prop part(and any parent child parts) to the end of the build list
Wozza

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #2 - Jul 4^th, 2006 at 5:53pm

gryshnak Offline
Colonel
Low flying is when you
have to dodge the trees
Hull. Yorkshire, UK

Gender:
Posts: 1053

Thanks Wozza, but that didn't fix it Cry

I moved the prop_blurred part to the end of the list, and it made absolutely no difference. I even did a cut and paste to move one of the wings (the very first parts added) to the end of the list, so one would be before prop_blurred and one after it, and it didn't change anything.

Here's another thing I noticed, it's probably related. I was very happy with my wheels, the spokes are just disks painted black with the alpha channel making everything except the spokes transparent. Take a look at this next screenshot.

The wheels are transparent between the spokes, but when you look through the wheels you can see that the spokes themselves (the non-transparent areas) also vanish and make the wings disappear! You can see the struts (which don't turn transparent) through them, and even the clouds on the other side! Again, moving things up and down the draw order makes no difference at all.

If anyone has FSDSv3 and wants to take a look at the .fsc file, just send me an email. I'm stumped!

Gryshnak

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #3 - Jul 4^th, 2006 at 6:05pm

gryshnak Offline
Colonel
Low flying is when you
have to dodge the trees
Hull. Yorkshire, UK

Gender:
Posts: 1053

Aha! A new discovery - it only affects textured surfaces. None of the struts are textured, I just created a brown material and assigned it to all the woodwork. The wings are completely textured, obviously. As a test I reset one of the struts to the default material and textured it brown instead, and now it disappears when seen through the prop. All the other untextured struts remain unaffected.

I still have no idea what causes it, but hopefully this means something to someone.

Gryshnak

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #4 - Jul 5^th, 2006 at 12:13am

AuMaV Offline
Colonel
Old Git
The Great Southern Land

Gender:
Posts: 293

Hi
Umm is the prop disk a transperent material?
if not make the material slightly transperent, also what software you useing to design with?
Wozza

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #5 - Jul 5^th, 2006 at 3:03am

gryshnak Offline
Colonel
Low flying is when you
have to dodge the trees
Hull. Yorkshire, UK

Gender:
Posts: 1053

I'm using FSDSv3.

In the Part Properties box for prop_blurred there's a tick box for 'Uses Transparent Textures', but I've tried it both checked and unchecked and again it makes no difference.

For prop_blurred texture, I simply copied PROP.BMP from another plane. I figured that might be the problem so I copied another one from a different plane, and still got the same results.

Banging my head against the wall here ???

Gryshnak

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #6 - Jul 5^th, 2006 at 3:19am

AuMaV Offline
Colonel
Old Git
The Great Southern Land

Gender:
Posts: 293

Ahhhhh fsds3 hokay
it can now be a dozen things

how many textures do you have for the whole model and is the prop.bmp the only bmp without the _t modifier.
make sure in fsds3 you have none of the texture mapping boxs ticked (,r,a ect )
and finally if still no luck try compiling with the optimise check box in makemdl options unchecked
at the momment fsds3 duz some wierd things with textures when it compiles.So there are some very specific rules that need to be applied
having a close look at you screenies Id say the prop.bmp is going reflective that tells me you have check boxs ticked in the texture manager in fsds3(dont)or a number of textures without the _t modifier your only allowed 1 non_t texture for the whole project in fsds3
Wozza

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #7 - Jul 5^th, 2006 at 7:58am

gryshnak Offline
Colonel
Low flying is when you
have to dodge the trees
Hull. Yorkshire, UK

Gender:
Posts: 1053

Thanks Wozza, I'll check those things when I get home from work.

At the moment I don't have any textures with a _t modifier! I have one for the wheels, one for the prop, and one for everything else.

I thought I'd read all the documentation, I don't remember seeing anything about this _t business. Ah well, back to the virtual drawing board.

I'll let you know how it goes tonight.

Gryshnak

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #8 - Jul 5^th, 2006 at 9:51am

AuMaV Offline
Colonel
Old Git
The Great Southern Land

Gender:
Posts: 293

Hi Mate
the Makemdl.doc file,this is your mandatory reading and reference source from here on

it should be in the folder you installed makemdl.exe
Also some specific tuts are here http://www.fsplaza.com/tuto_list.html
cheers
Wozza

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #9 - Jul 5^th, 2006 at 4:37pm

gryshnak Offline
Colonel
Low flying is when you
have to dodge the trees
Hull. Yorkshire, UK

Gender:
Posts: 1053

Thanks mate, it's working now Grin

I deleted the old prop and created a new one following the tutorial on that page, and renamed the texture files with a _t on the end, and it all works fine. There's a lot of good reading on that site!

Another step on the learning curve. Thanks again.

Gryshnak

Back to top

IP Logged

Reply #10 - Jul 6^th, 2006 at 11:06am

AuMaV Offline
Colonel
Old Git
The Great Southern Land

Gender:
Posts: 293

YAY!!!!
It can get frustrating sometime,but I like fsds3 with all its little hiccups and hidden features Cheesy

not to mention its love hate relationship with makemdl
When you get to the finish line with a project you really do feel like you have accomplished something:D
Cheers
Wozza

Back to top

IP Logged

	Search the archive: