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Where is global environment map?

X

X_eidos2

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us-ohio
Hello,

I've been making 3d rice paddies in gmax and placing them in FSX for a flight sim movie project that I'm working on. When making the material for the water I clicked on the property button that says, "use global environment map as reflection."

Where do I find this global environment map so that I can change it to better match the surrounding scenery?

attachment.php


Thanks

X_eidos2
 

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arno

arno

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You'll find it in the main texture folder. But if you want to change it anyway, it might be easier to use a custom one directly in your model.
 
X

X_eidos2

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An update:
Every attempt at editing the "GlobalEnvTest" file using DXTBmp resulted in the reflection property no longer working.

I tried applying a custom reflection map to the gmax model and it didn't show up at all. My image was 512 x 512 and saved as a DDS file and put in the Reflection slot of the gmax material editor. The map was placed in the same texture folder as the scenery model that was placed in the Addon scenery folder in FSX.
 
D

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Er ... you know that this isn't an ordinary type of map, don't you? You'll have to look up the editing procedure in the SDK doc in section Texturing Aircraft Models where it says:

Opening and Editing Cubic Environment Maps

Cube maps exist as a specific set of six separate textures embedded within a single file along with information about where each of the six textures should be arranged in order for it to be displayed properly. These cube map files are not ordinarily editable as a standard, single texture file would be. They need to be opened and edited using tools designed specifically for the purpose of editing cube maps. Below are two links where examples of these tools may be found.
....
Click to expand...
 
X

X_eidos2

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The version of the SDK that I have installed doesn't have the section on texturing a model that you are referring to.
 
D

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You haven't got the help file?

Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\fsxsdk.chm
 
T

Tejal Bernardo

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Yes, it's not an ordinary map, it's a "cube map" (if you want a custom environment map), the process is a Little confusing but there ire many tutorials in the net. and look for "Fsx material" in the SDK help.
 
X

X_eidos2

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The help file is not located in the SDK folder that I have installed on this laptop. But I have located it on another computer that I have, but that computer is not linked to the internet, so I'll probably try copying the help file to a computer that does link to the internet so I can get the tools to edit the global environment map.

Thank you all for pointing me in the right direction.

John
aka X_eidos2
 
X

X_eidos2

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Well I got the FSX SDK help file to run on a computer that had an internet connection. I found the section that mentioned editing cube files using the program DxTex. But when I clicked on the link it took me to a Microsoft site that only had SDK tools for working in Windows 8. ( I only have Windows 7 and Windows XP) When I searched for another way to download a copy of DxTex I found a lot of articles about using DxTex that left me with the impression that I really don't want to mess with all this stuff.

So I tried looking on the major flight sim file sharing sites to see if anyone else had made their own Global Environment map and I couldn't find any examples. All I want to do is get rid of that hand drawn pine tree that shows up in the middle of the reflection in my 3d rice paddies.

My next attempt will be to scale back the reflection properties on the gmax model so that the image on the Global Environment map doesn't show up so much.
 
X

X_eidos2

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Another update:

Seems my efforts to find an alternate Global Environment map were hindered by my use of the wrong keywords. When I used GlobalEnv instead of Global Environment I found a file by Bananna Bob in the Avsim library that solved my problems.
 
T

Tejal Bernardo

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Congrats. Usually the image editor have a plugin for the creation of cubempas like PS, don't know if Gimp could make cube maps. If I remember well, they are six images in a particular order. and export as cubemap. Usually are very usefull for airport which parking is side by side with a great glasss terminal, for exemple.it's a cool effect, it's used by the airplanes too.
 
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