As promised, a short video preview of the cockpit in-flight
Hello everyone! Been some time since status update. We have progressed well with Jet-Pack (IPACS) on the project. The flight model is very good now, and also cockpit animations have progressed nicely. I will upload some video showing progress later, but attached is a picture from cockpit showing some improvements to texturing of the indicators, which is in progress.
If you need help with the TMD part I am willing to help. I'll just need the aircraft files for the sim and the TGI file to grab pivots and axes from the 3d model.
Jet-Pack (IPACS) Thanks a lot, that would be great:) I will send you the necessary files. It does take time to get used to all aspects of TMDs:)
Hello, things have been silent the past month due to another project I had to complete and work, but it is not forgotten:) We have the first draft of the cockpit done (pictures above in thread), now next would be to add interaction to cockpit and animations. It flies quite nicely already:)
And tmd is still in progress, it would be nice to integrate a gps as part of the glass cockpit.
What a pleasure to see this Cub again with these different screens.
Congratulations for all your efforts and giving a second wind to this model.
What else do you need to refine on this model so that it is 100% functional?
Will it still see the light of day before the end of the year?
Thanks for the feedback:) There is a lot of interaction with the cockpit to do yet, and associated animations. I also plan to integrate some of the standard GPS components if I am able to:) Quite a lot to learn, but a very fun project. It already flies very nicely:)
Here are some screenshots as promised from the current Carbon Cub WIP 
Hello Aenbacka,
What's new with this project? Is there still any real hope of seeing it finished one day?
Do you have any new images to share with us, thanks!
Regards
Yes it being worked on, I have another work project that I have to complete first and then get back to this one:) But it is not forgotten at all. I can try to get some more pics from the current cockpit etc
Hi - can i download this Cub?
Hello,
This is still a work in progress project, we are working on the interior parts currently, one step at a time. Will still take time to provide a downloadable version😀
Hi aenbacka,
I was just wondering if there was anything new about this Cub?
Hi,
Thanks for asking:) Has been summer vacation time so less time to spend with development but I hope to be able to continue now during Autumn with the project. Now when the Blender issue we had is sorted out it should be easier.
Next step is to try to connect up some cockpit instruments to the flight model, and hope to be able to provide new videos and screenshots soon😀
The SDK of 12/2019 exposes Aircraft.NearestAirport (0x6b0fc8827e6289ea) as a tm_msg_data_type::String8 - the icao of the airport.
The same value is sent by AFS4 as id 0xa997b8cdd488c3c7 also as a tm_msg_data_type::String8. AFS4 sends the lon/lat of the airport as id 0xfb26c904a49032df of type tm_msg_data_type::Vector2d.
Thanks a lot for that info Hopefully the header file would be updated at some point.
Hi aenbacka, Peixsoft, qwrfvbnrj5hr:
Are you still having problems using the last published external DLL interface with AFS4 (from December 2019)?
What problems are you having? Maybe I can help.
Regards,
Karl
Hello,
My issue is that some messages (e.g., NearestAirport) does not seem to be received same way in Aerofly FS4 as in FS2. I have code relying on getting this info, and it is broken in the new version.
Please tell me its either a Bell 407 or 206..?
Good alternatives, I also have a project for msfs (as332l2 superpuma), which could be a candidate😀
I am working on a fixed-wing project now (Carbon Cub) to get into Aerofly FS4 development, a heli might be the next step:)
So now the textures seem to finally be working, seems to have been a Blender version issue (exporting using a newer version not working,
3.3 working fine). A short video of cockpit and some different views
I'll be surprised if it is that simple... as you say they are usually on by default, but always worth a check. Otherwise you'll need Jan to chip in. The lighting is definitely an area that could do with some clear documentation by IPACS. I made a lot of mistakes and had to bother Jan a lot with questions when I was working on it the first time with the Buffalo. Anyway hope you have success... the Carbon Cub will be a gem.
KR Matt
Thanks for your help, it is really appreciated:) It takes time to get into Aerofly development, but I find it very interesting. Always good with some challenges😀
Display MoreIt could be a problem with IPACS blender export, but maybe check you actually have the panel lights switched on. These are the panel and instrument light switches... include a variable brightness... Left is panel, right is instrument
with panel light off and instrument on it looks like this...
with panel light fully bright looks like this...
KR Matt
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the suggestion, gonna double check that the lights were on. Just strange as by default the lights normally are turned on in the cockpit.
Little followup; we tried to export the example DR400 aircraft from the sdk using the Blender export plugin, and got the same issue with illumination (black cockpit areas). See picture below. Is this some issue with Blender?
Display MoreHave you looked at the DR400 textures supplied in the SDK? It was looking at those that helped me to work out what to do.
That does not look right for a texture with _illumination suffix.... more like a _light one. Both the illumination and the light texture are involved with how the object looks in the dark when the lights are on. It shouldn't have any effect how it looks in daylight.
To be specific about those two textures... the illumination texture is used to apply a diffuse lighting effect to the cockpit interior, and requires a point light to be set up for it in the TMD. The light textures is for lit up labels on gauges, buttons & dials etc, which are switched on by the panel light. I didn't bother with using the illumination, I just used the light textures, to light up all the dials and buttons etc for night flying... and that suited the Military style aircraft I was working on.
More critical to how the object looks in daylight are the color, ambient, normal, reflection, specular and specular alpha textures:
Color.... obvious this is your repaint texturing
ambient... Ambient shading application. I really like how this make things look. Its a lot of extra work because everything needs mapping out single space and then rendering the AO map for each object... which can take quite a while... I think my Spitfire fuselage object took about a half hour. When the grey scale AO mapping is done it can blended over a white background and you have your ambient texture.
Normal.... bump mapping of panel lines, Rivets fabric, wood and surface texture. Created from a greyscale (but RGB) texture by a photoshop plugin in my case (but other software options are available for that). I only use this for external objects. It does not work for me on internal surfaces or transparent items like canopy glass.
specular and specular alpha... greyscale textures work together to produce shine. On Spit both where very dark to give matt finish. It seems to me darker grey is less shine, lighter grey more shine. These snippets from another model so you can actually see something...
specular alpha
reflection... This texture creates reflection when sunlit. Greyscale blended over a red back ground. Lighter, More Red and saturated more reflection. Darker, less red less reflection seems to be rule. Here is a snippet from Navy Buffalo where I wanted paintwork matt and metal shiny reflective..
light... mostly a black background with details in red or whatever colour you want the labels lit up in
Anyway hope this is of some help
KR Matt
Matt,
Thanks a lot for your detailed explanation, it helped me get a much better understanding of the purpose of all the different textures. Concerning the illumination, it could that the missing light source could explain the behavior we have seen with the cockpit dashboard.
BR,
Andreas
I haven't found I got on very well using a bump map on the cockpit inside, just a reflection map and specular map with an Ambient occlusion map blended into the colour texture. Looks ok on my models I felt. You can always blend metal textures into the colour, specular and reflection textures to give it a more lived in look.
KR Matt
Thanks for the info We have been investigating the texturing issue, and it seems to be related to the illumination / emissive textures. Attached is an example of the dashboard illumination texture used, does it seem to be in correct format?
Just a wild guess, is there a normal map defined for the instrument panel and glass surface of instruments?
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That was a good guess, could indeed be the problem. Thanks gonna check😀
