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Best way to isolate and remove jetways

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149
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ca-britishcolumbia
Evening,

Is there a way to remove a static jetway so I can replace it with one that is animated? I have a 3D model of a static jetway. I imported it into MCX and then checked the material hierarchy (I think that’s what it is called). Unfortunately, both the jetway and the bridge are highlighted in red. It’s just the jetway part I’d like to remove.

Is this something that MCX can do, or do I need something like SketchUp? I don’t think there is a freeware version of SU any longer. Well, it is free, but only saves files to the cloud. I don’t think you can import what you do back into MCX.

Thanks,

Colin
 
Messages
149
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ca-britishcolumbia
Thanks for this link. I think that’s what I was looking for. What is the best way to convert the models/objects into a format that SketchUp can read?
 

=rk=

Resource contributor
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4,450
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us-washington
Sketchup cannot produce animations the sim will render. That requires SDK compliant 3D software, like 3ds Max, Gmax or FSDS.
 
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149
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ca-britishcolumbia
Hey Rick,

Thank you for your suggestion. You give me way too much credit. I'm slowly trying to figure out how to model 3D objects, I think animations are way too advanced for my current skill set. I'd like to remove part of this jetway:

BM49Fhu.jpg


In the Object Hierarchy there are 2 model parts. One for the stairs on the outside of the jetway, and another for the complete jetway. I'd like to keep the bridge, but somehow remove the part inside the red box. I was then planning to use GSX to add an animated jetway. I realize that I am making two big assumptions here. 1 - that it is even possible to edit someone else's work, and 2 - that the GSX jetway would successfully line up with the bridge to make it look natural.

Cheers,

colin
 
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7,450
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us-illinois
Hi Colin:

Do you plan to do this modification of a 3rd party scenery object for use only on your own computer ? :scratchch

If so, you may wish to continue exploring options for learning with existing 3rd party freeware or payware 3D models.


But, IIUC. your initial goal is to create a static- rather than animated- 3D model made in a free version of Sketchup.

IMHO, you could easily make a static "bridge" object as good- or better than- the above GSX example ...in Sketchup.


Google Sketchup 32-Bit version 8 (free) requires no license fees, and may be downloaded direct from Trimble at:

http://dl.trimble.com/sketchup/gsu8/FW-3-0-16846-EN.exe


There are confirmed reports that Sketchup 2017 broke the "Combine Textures" feature, and it was never fixed.

Although Sketchup 2017 (64-Bit) is slightly enhanced, some may prefer using Sketchup 2016 (64-Bit):

http://dl.trimble.com/sketchup/2016/en/SketchUpMake-2016-1-1449-80430-en-x64.exe


A forum thread and a web site with download links for Sketchup versions is here:

https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-get-the-sketchup-make-2016-version/37264

https://designerhacks.com/get-the-google-sketchup-free-download/


Feel free to ask further questions about how to create a static "bridge" object from scratch ...in the Sketchup forum. :)

GaryGB
 
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149
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ca-britishcolumbia
Hey Gary,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, this is for my own enjoyment. None of the alterations I do will end up on Avsim or Flightsim. Not without asking permission from the original author first anyway.

Funny, I was too fixated with removed the jetway that I didn’t even think about making my own static bridge. Can a 32 bit program like SketchUp 8 run on Windows 10? Given that FSX runs without any issues, I’m going to assume I just answered my own question. I followed the previous link for SU Make 2017, but haven’t done much with it yet. I will check the other links as well as the forum for hints on creating bridges from scratch.

Thanks for helping me to think outside of the box.

Cheers,

Colin
 

=rk=

Resource contributor
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4,450
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us-washington
Hey Rick,

Thank you for your suggestion. You give me way too much credit. I'm slowly trying to figure out how to model 3D objects, I think animations are way too advanced for my current skill set. I'd like to remove part of this jetway
It's more a reflection of your ambition, then me being generous with credit, there is a natural order of flow. This is indeed a developers website and modelling is considered an integral aspect of development.
The GSX jetways are intended for people who do not model and this intention would extend to people who do model, but do not animate. So, you plan to model a bridge, so you can attempt to merge an already animated jetway to it. Now this, to me, is more an adaptation of the GSX software, than it is a modification of an existing airport, because it seems unique that only you were left in a position of needing a jetway bridge combination broken, before being able to add a replacement jetway and it seems like this apparent uniqueness could be addressed in the GSX forums.


Did you look there? Because I saw a few threads with GSX jetways as part of the title. I bet posting your question there would give you a flood of ideas from people with very similar experience, while probably not requesting you to download Sketchup and post in other forums.
Additionally, there are these videos, which I did not review, because I already know how to animate, but the cursory glance gave much more information than was already available here. The second addresses your specific condition.


 
Messages
149
Country
ca-britishcolumbia
Hey Rick,

Yes, the idea of using MCX’s object hierarchy to remove parts of a jetway came from the GSX forum. I’ve used it in the past, so that’s the first thing I tried before posting here. I’ve had success removing the default animated jetways using GSX (as shown in the above YouTube videos) in other add on sceneries. It doesn’t work in this case as my jetways are not animated, so GSX doesn’t recognize them.

I think I now have three options. (1) leave it as it is and be happy with it, (2) follow Gary’s suggestion and make my own bridge that then connects to GSX, or (3) start from scratch and build my own animated jetway.
 

=rk=

Resource contributor
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4,450
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us-washington
Ok, I understand it is difficult to provide proper reference, given your position. You are actually very close to a solution.
You are going to need to export this combined jetway bridge from MCX into DAE format. Before you do so, make sure you export the textures into a Sketchup format. This only helps modeling, because when complete, you will revert to the original textures.
Now you have a static version of the bridge and you simply have to erase the unnecessary jetway. This is the easiest 3D modeling operation to learn to perform, it is how I started, although with different goals.

Go ahead and follow Gary’s lead about Sketchup and don’t consume yourself with precision, all you need to do is destroy the illusion of the old jetway, such that its remains don’t interfere with the view of the GSX replacement, if you missed a few polygons, don’t sweat it. Once you have the static bridge, simply substitute it for the previously combined one, using MCX. You can do this by spoofing the GUID and replacing the original bridge in the scenery library .bgl. That should get you back on track.
 
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149
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ca-britishcolumbia
That's perfect, Rick. Thanks. I managed to convert the model into dae format and figured out how to delete the parts I wanted to. However, I didn't export the textures into a sketchup format. Can I do this using DXTbmp or something Photoshop?
 

=rk=

Resource contributor
Messages
4,450
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us-washington
You will need some version of the texture to retain the mapping of the original part. If you export this bridge without textures, Sketchup will determine there are none and it will not preserve the texture mapping from the original model. From MCX. you can pick a Sketchup compliant format, I use .jpg and save those textures. There is no concern about quality loss from .jpg compression, this texture holds the mapping that will be carried into the new export and isn't really used for anything else. Once you have saved a texture, then you can export the .dae, put them in the same folder so Sketchup finds everything easily. OK, make your changes, export the .DAE from SU. My procedure is to then copy the GUID from the original part and delete it from the library .bgl, saving an original version, of course. Import the edited model, edit the GUID, reassign the .jpg texture from Sketchup to the same texture the original model used, then export the new version of the model. Import the library .bgl, add the model you just exported and export that. Now you can continue on to the GSX procedure.
 
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149
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ca-britishcolumbia
Thanks, Rick. I’ll let you know how it all turns out.

I understand that I’ll need GMAX to figure out the animations, but would I be able to use the static models I already have and convert it an animated jetway? Or do I need to build a new model from the ground up first?
 

=rk=

Resource contributor
Messages
4,450
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us-washington
Key frame animations are recorded like stop motion video. The required elements are a suitable 3d work space that can mark and record position, a renderable model and integration with the tools in the SDK, so that these values can be recorded into the model. I use Sketchup for modeling and FS Design Studio for animating and MCX performs the file format matching and final adjustments. Photoshop .psd files integrate with both MCX and Sketchup and that is what I edit textures with.

There is a difference with jetway animations, they are rendered like skin and bones animations. Those are handled differently by the simulator, in that the range of available motion is defined and the simulator moves it appropriately. You can see that the simple extend/retract motion of the jetway is linear and relates well to stop motion; start point, end point and duration. However the wrist articulation makes the range of motion almost infinite and would be impossible to model sequentially.
Jetway animation is well documented in the SDK and it may be enough to simply supply the model elements, define them with the proper animation tag and the sim takes it from there. In that case, you wouldn't need animation software, as MCX can edit animation tags.
 
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149
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ca-britishcolumbia
It's taking a little longer than I thought it would, but I'm definitely making progress.

I've noticed that objects that should have open spaces showing - like railings and wires - are now solid.

vZaPpx8.jpg


Q71F5Yo.jpg


I've changed the settings in the material editor to mirror how the original jetways were models, but I keep getting the black squares where there should be empty space. I first noticed this when I initially converted into a .dae file and imported into Sketchup. I wasn't sure if that was a quirk of SU, so I figured it would revert back to normal when I imported it back into MCX.
 

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The alpha channel is not showing in MCX, if you place the original jetway texture from the original scenery into the folder where MCX is reading the model, it should show up ok.
 
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93
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us-maryland
I was be able using MCX to remove static jetways but buildings disappeared as well. This result happens in FSX. Can I try a different way? I want the buildings with the removed jetways.
Patricio
 
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Messages
93
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us-maryland
I used MCX and removed the jetways but still the stairs. How to remove them? What Hierarchy name is for Stairs?
 

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tgibson

Resource contributor
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11,327
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us-california
Hi,

You will have to go through each part in the Hierarchy Editor (with Highlight Selected checked) to find them. It's likely that they will be attached to other objects though. BTW, the glass is also still there.
 
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