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Old 14th February 2014, 07:13 PM   #11
ElMuttso
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Default Re: Glass Erases Texture Behind the Glass

Ok, hmmm, now you have got me wondering. How do you export an obj into XP without a texture? I alway thought that even glass object would need a texture applied to it. The transparency of the texture dictated how translucent the object would appear in XP. Sounds like maybe I misunderstood something along the way on the learning curve. How exactly do you create a pane of glass?
I use PS, AC3D and WED to make all this come together.
Thanks
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Old 14th February 2014, 07:26 PM   #12
Stiglr
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Default Re: Glass Erases Texture Behind the Glass

For a building, it's a simple square or rectangular surface, with the 2S "two-sided" attribute applied to it. I use a separate material number for transparent materials, usually a grey, with 85 - 90% transparency applied to it. You *could* make it a (very) thin box if it's a thick glass, but I can't really see the point in doing so for most purposes. There's no need to apply any texture to it, unless, say you need it to be a pebbled glass, like for a shower enclosure door or other privacy glass. Of course, then, you likely wouldn't want it to be see-through anyway...

For my cockpit canopies, navigation lights and other irregularly shaped objects, I select the vertices from the object framing the glass, in counterclockwise order (such that normals will face outward), then Vertex/Create Ordered Surface. Then, use the same steps as above to assign it a glass material.
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Old 14th February 2014, 07:41 PM   #13
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Default Re: Glass Erases Texture Behind the Glass

I got that part. But without assigning a texture to the obj, it show up grey in XP. How to get past that?
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Old 14th February 2014, 08:03 PM   #14
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Default Re: Glass Erases Texture Behind the Glass

You got me there. I don't even know what XP refers to, outside of an old Windows operating system.

That would fall under the realm of interfacing with an export software. For every outside application, there's a new set of hurdles. In my case, for some flight sims I must have triangulated surfaces, or an object won't display at all; for others, that's not an issue. And how they receive and display both materials and textures varies widely (some have a very limited selection of graphic formats that textures can be, and some have strictly defined graphic dimensions, such as "only square graphics, power-of-two dimensions, such as 128 x 128, 256 x 256, 1024 x 1024". Perhaps scour the documentation for your end destination for a solution. It may be that you might need to pass your model through some other 3D tool (like, say, Blender) and then the materials problem will be fixed during the transformation. Worth a try.

Or, try exporting FROM AC3D as some other file type than .ac. That might accomplish the same thing.
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Old 14th February 2014, 08:46 PM   #15
ElMuttso
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Default Re: Glass Erases Texture Behind the Glass

That's what I get for assuming. Sorry. XP=X-Plane
I tried making just a rectangular sheet and giving it a tint from the materials selection, #8, at 89% and then mad a small piece next to it. Without a texture it is solid grey. With a texture applied but only mapped to the small piece, it is tinted, but still cuts out the live aircraft when it is between the two.
I really appreciate your input and will take what I have learned to an XP forum. Thanks again.
Bob
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Old 15th February 2014, 12:17 AM   #16
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Default Re: Glass Erases Texture Behind the Glass

If you do find a solution on the X-Plane site, do post it back here... I'm right curious, now!
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Old 15th February 2014, 01:54 AM   #17
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Default Re: Glass Erases Texture Behind the Glass

Absolutely, and thanks for your time.
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Old 27th February 2014, 09:58 PM   #18
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Default Re: Glass Erases Texture Behind the Glass

Got this followup message from El Muttso via PM and he said it was OK to publicly post:

============== snip ===================
Hi, about a week ago I was looking for a solution as to why my glass doors on my fire station were cutting out obj’s behind them, remember that?

Anyway, I figured out why and wanted to share that with you.

First of all, this is pertaining to X-Plane.

Now, for the meat and potatoes.
All glass objects must be separate from anything else, objects unto themselves.
All glass objects must be constructed as 1 sided.
All glass objects must be constructed of TWO identical panes placed very close together.
Normals need to be facing INWARD, towards the other pane.

In the hierarchy of the object, AC3D f8, I ungrouped everything so all I had to deal with were the four panes of glass. The inward looking panes listed at the head and outward looking at the tail.

Now, X-Plane it seems has a brain of its own and it decides, based on needs, what to paint. So to take control, open the .obj file in a text editor and place this bit of code in it.

ATTR_layer_group objects +1

The range is from +5 to -5 and it overrides X-Plane’s artificial intelligence as to what is drawn and when.
******************************************
This is what the tail of the file looks like:
IDX10 52 53 52 54 53 54 55 53 55 56
IDX10 53 56 57 53 57 58 53 58 59 53
IDX10 60 61 62 63 60 62 64 65 66 67
IDX 64
IDX 66
ATTR_layer_group objects +1
TRIS 0 132
******************************************
In WED, I grouped my fire station together, ie: glass, building and fire trucks, with the glass at the tail.

So, if you run across the problem somewhere, you now have the solution.
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