• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

P3D v5 Blender2P3D/FSX

Vitus

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251.jpg


Hi folks,
I just uploaded a first test-version of the new Blender2P3D/FSX toolset. You can find it in the Resources, currently listed under Scenery/Tools - but I'd like to stress that it works for aircraft, too. :D

Here's the Link:

I started writing a wiki entry for this tool to explain some of it's part better. Many things are the same as in the original Blender2FSX tool, but there are also some major changes to how certain things are done, so please stay tuned for more information!

This is considered a test-build, so please make sure to make backups of your original scenes before starting to use this toolset - I make no guarantees for your files if you use the addon.

All elements of the addon should be functional, but I don't have the capacity to test everything. In particular, anything to do with scenery creation is outside of my scope, so please let me know if something doesn't work for you, or if some important feature is missing so we can work together to fill the gaps.

Please note that you will have to re-assign all your texture maps when changing the P3D/FSX material mode to specular or PBR! I haven't found a way to retain that information while switching the material nodes around. If you're importing an older project, make sure to switch the material mode at least once for EVERY material to ensure that the shader graph nodes are set up correctly. Afterwards, you can modify the shader to your liking - as long as you don't change the main node (either BSDF Principled or Eevee Specular), the exporter should pick up the right textures.

When switching materials, the addon will replace the shader graph and set it up in a way that represents the shader of P3D/FSX. That means you can use a FSX normal map (with red/alpha swapped, green inverted, etc) and it will show up - more or less - how it shows up in FSX. The only exception to this is that the texture shouldn't be flipped vertically!

The exporter will setup different templates in the .X-file, depending on what SDK you're using. If you want to export to PBR, make sure that you initialized the P3D v4.x SDK. The exporter currently doesn't give back any feedback on the UI of Blender. If you want to make sure that it's doing what it's suppose to be doing, open the Blender console before exporting your scene.

I think those are the main issues for now, let me know what you think and if it works for you. We have a few more items on the to-do-list that hopefully will be integrated as we move forward and I'll be listening to what you're saying and do my best to accommodate your suggestions.

Cheers,
Vitus
 
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Pyscen

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Hello Vitus...

When you said, "The only exception to this is that the texture shouldn't be inverted!", are you referring to flip vertically?
 

dave hoeffgen

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Thank you very much!
I anticipated this moment from the first minute and I can't wait to check it out :)
 

Vitus

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FYI: I added more information on the wiki about materials and how the shader graph is incorporated into the workflow. Please let me know if it's clear enough or if you'd like some clarifications. Next will be the Exporter, as I think those two topics are the most important ones to tackle.

Also thanks @mods for making the zip available on the Resources page! :wave:
 

Pyscen

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Hello Vitus...

As of right now, the wiki makes good sense to me... :)!!
 

Vitus

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Added the information on the exporter. There's some information missing on the BGL-related settings. Please feel free to add the information there, because I have no clue about any of that o_O
 

Vitus

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OK, the first draft of the wiki is done. The only part that's missing is the one on scenery properties, which I have no clue about. I'm hoping @MANOCHVARMA RAMAN will take on the task of writing a short paragraph about its use.

As mentioned before: please let me know if you find any errors or find the wording unclear or insufficient. If you find typos, feel free to correct those yourself in the wiki. Make sure to spread the word and advocate the use of Blender 2.8! ;)
 

Vitus

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There might currently be an issue exporting a model to FSX:SE, using the P3D v1.x SDK. If anyone here is working in this configuration, please let me know if it works! I personally use the FSX:A SDK and the P3Dv4.5 SDK, so I can't test the functionality in other configurations.
 
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Many thanks Vitus...!

As soon as possible, I will start testing AND working with this new Blender2P3D/FSX toolset...! A very important work from you, and very much appreciated!

Have a good flight...!
 
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Hi guys, I have modified the code somewhat in some improvements.
  1. Position the nodes more aesthetically
  2. add the possibility to flip the images that are prepard 3d
Here some preview of the changes.

Specular Workflow
Anotación 2020-03-27 183044.png



PBR Workflow
Anotación 2020-03-27 180148.png

also included the modified addon
 

Attachments

  • Blender2P3DFSX.zip
    65.5 KB · Views: 547

Pyscen

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Hello

Is there a way or procedure in preventing multiple copies of the Toolset from appearing... Please don't get me wrong, I'm glad there is a "community" effort in making the Toolset better. I feel that confusion could come about on what is the latest version, which could make troubleshooting difficult as well.
 

Vitus

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This is actually on me - I suggested to @SirCommand to post the file here. The reason is that I am not quite sure how I personally feel about his addition and I would love to get the opinions of the users whether or not we integrate his changes into the package.

The reason why I feel a bit conflicted about it is that the value of the flipped textures really depends on your personal workflow. If your workflow is something like UV-mapping -> photoshop -> Blender, it might be detrimental having to flip the texture every time you make some changes. On the other hand if your workflow is something like UV mapping->Substance Painter->Photoshop->Blender this is a brilliant time-saver.

I believe that the addon I posted is fairly stable and I will keep updating the version on the Resources page after getting all your feedback and suggestions. But it also makes sense to share smaller improvements or suggestions with the community, so posting them here in the thread makes sense - at least to me. In essence: if you just want to use the tool, get the one on the Resource page. If you want to experiment with the additions made by other, get them here.

Does that make sense to you?
 

Pyscen

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I can understand your conflict in this... I feel the same about it. It really depends on the workflow of the designer, but it is easier to work with textures unflipped. I have a question, that is the flipping vertically, are the textures when exporting the model, are they being changed at that time?
 

Vitus

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I can understand your conflict in this... I feel the same about it. It really depends on the workflow of the designer, but it is easier to work with textures unflipped.

For the export process itself it makes no difference however we decide to set up the shader graph, the only thing that matters is that the image texture nodes are present. One way to look at it is that we could incorporate all these modifications, including Bill Womacks suggestion of blending the Ambient Occlusion in the Base Color and SirComand's addition of flipping the textures. Anyone who doesn't want this can always manually remove all these extra steps from the shader.

I have a question, that is the flipping vertically, are the textures when exporting the model, are they being changed at that time?

No, the exporter is just reading the file names, that's all. The actual texture files are never touched.
 

Pyscen

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Would it be easier to have a boolean box or a toggle switch for the user to choose? Depending on he/she's wishes to have done? Maybe in the shader graph? Not sure if that is possible.

EDIT:
If the exporter is just reading the filenames of the textures... then there is really no reason for the shader graph to have the textures flipped. On the other hand, Bill's suggestion is more useful because the textures can be written with the base color/ diffuse - ambient occlusion for FSX specifically.
 
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Vitus

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I think it really depends on your workflow. If you want Blender to be the last step in the process, it might be useful to have the textures flipped, because you can work directly with the DDS files.

I'm sure it would be possible to have it user controlled, but I think it would be a lot of work to implement this. Maybe let's just find a consensus and whatever the secondary option is could be an additional download for those who want it.
 
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