FSXA Importing an edited .dae file back to MCX.

[Chris Hewitt]

I've imported a .dae file from Sketchup into MCX v 1.6.0.0
I've converted 135 textures to the power of 2, assigned .LM textures and converted all to .dds. It took me nearly two days. Everything works fine.

In FSX, I noticed a slight positioning error of window frames that causes z fighting. I assume that when exported, this positioning data change will be in the .dae file.

My question...once I bring that .dae back to MCX, do I have to spend two days converting the textures again if I need to edit the Sketchup model? I can't seem to find a way around this. I checked here and in the manual but no luck.

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Chris:

How did you convert textures in the original output workflow (please tell me it was not done manually via DXTBMP) ?

In case you may be unaware of the many options in MCX, the Material Editor can perform all Texture related tasks for us, even if there are initially hundreds of small texture snippets mapped to Faces before consolidated via DrawCall Minimizer.

If the 'stack' of mapped Textures are all selected in Material Editor {Textures} tab for specified processing, if we set the texture folder output path before confirming the texture processing to be performed, MCX then 'does it all for us'.

I have never seen MCX take more than a minute, but usually in a few seconds, it competes requested Texture tasks.

GaryGB

 

[Chris Hewitt]

Hi Gary, thanks for your reply. Definitely not DXTBMP in the workflow.
In Sketchup, the textures are mainly .png files with maybe a dozen jpgs.

I export the model as a .dae and bring that into MCX.
In MCX MATERIAL EDITOR, I'd say that most of the textures have to be resized down as well as making power of 2. So, yes, about 135 textures and that's what takes the hours.

I've read the MCX manual so many times trying to figure out the Batch Process feature but can't get it to work for me. I load the files to be converted, hit PROCESS, and they vanish even though the paths are correct. So yes, the batch process would be a welcome part of my work flow.

I always set the path before doing anything in MCX. When finished, the Export to .mdl goes through without errors. All good in FSX too. It's just the long hours of changing the textures in MCX.

BTW, there isn't a way to SAVE the MCX project, is there? I know that I can import the generated .mdl file which brings it all back.

 

[GaryGB]

Hi again:

The MCX Batch process can certainly be useful in some scenarios, and we owe a debt of gratitude to Arno for all his hard work on his essential FS utility.

I am curious though, as to what you mean when you refer to down-sizing textures.


If we assign a pixel resolution per Face as a texture is applied to Face, we may of course end up with parts of the larger texture image off Edges.

The Texture > Position Pins must be aligned to the farthest corners of Faces to assign UVW coordinates for each Face mapped with a texture Material.

When we finalize a project build prior to export to MCX as a Collada DAE or Google Earth KMZ (a DAE with Material map info and all textures inside a ZIP), we use the Make Unique Texture feature to "clip off" extra unused portions of the original source texture image outside a Face Edges (UVW border).

This should done on all Faces; then we "Purge Unused" to eliminate any textures that are not- or are not any longer- mapped onto Faces.

Are you down-sizing textures after they are mapped onto Faces in Sketchup, prior to export by Sketchup, and before import by MCX ?

If so, is this to purposely reduce texture resolution already mapped onto Faces because your source texture images are quite large (ex: 4K) ?


What I allude to above is that one may be able to perform all these functions in Material Editor itself, rather than via MCX Batch Conversion features.

3D models "should" all have the same mapped texture resolution an each MIPMAP level of each Face, so we set texture resolution when mapping UVs.

Thus even though we may see a mix of different source texture images sizes 'stacked' in the Material Editor {Texture} tab list, the 'effective' resolution per Face should be the same for all Faces due to how we UVW-mapped them with the Drag-and-Click / Texture Positioning Pin Placement process.

Once that is done we need not do more with the mapped textures other than "clip" off the portions of images outside UVW map borders (Edges).

That is done with "Make Unique Texture".

Otherwise this is done by MCX if we use MCX DrawCall Minimizer, which clips out mapped portions of images and inserts them onto a Texture Atlas Sheet.

GaryGB

 

[Chris Hewitt]

No, unfortunately I was so far into this project at the Sketchup stage, a program that I had to learn as I went, that my source images were a bit on the large size. Hindsight would have been valuable then. But, at the end of the day, it all works when it gets too FSX without any strain.

My only problem really, Gary, is speeding up the workflow in MCX. Yes, it's a brilliant tool that Arno has made, I'd be lost without it. He's been a huge help on other issues.

So, I guess what I'm trying to figure out is how I can batch these files....and very important, if I need to make a further change on the model in Sketchup, how to export an updated .dae back to MCX and keep the converted textures created by MCX files from earlier as they don't change. Can you point MCX to the converted textures made previously even though the .dae has been updated? That would be HUGE for me.

 

[GaryGB]

If one "may" need / wish to modify textures them selves and/or their mapping, we should refrain from using Make Unique Texture in Sketchup until finished.

Also, we should not use DrawCall Minimizer in MCX, as both those processes would clip image areas that we may want when fine-tuning UVW mapping.

So we can convert all textures to PNG before they are originally mapped onto Faces in Sketchup.

Then we can export DAE or KMZ to MCX.

As needed, we can export from MCX as DAE or other format that Sketchup natively import (or can import via a non-native plugin / extension).

During export from MCX we can keep the PNG texture Materials in their existing PNG format so that Sketchup can use / display them on import.


In Sketchup, 3D model files, textures are loaded and mapped onto Faces based on their file name, as textures are not assigned a GUID internally.

So, technically, we could have more than 1 set of textures for a 3D model, and depending on what folder a 3D model is in, it loads what it finds by name.

However, they would all need to be the same pixel dimensions as specified in the Material info file of the Collada DAE file format for that 3D model.


We used to see this early versions of FS where 2 or more resolutions / bit depths of textures were provided for 3D models on less capable FS computers.

The texture name allowed it be loaded / mapped / displayed because they each had compatible UVW texture coordinates and overall file parameters.

That process could get complicated though, and one might best instead, keep multiple backups of clearly named 3D model project files in specific folders.

This would avoid the hardship of trying to convert DDS files for FSX or another FS version back into a PNG for display after re-import back into Sketchup.

GaryGB

 

[Chris Hewitt]

Thank you Gary, much clearer now. I will try to get a better understanding of how the MCX batch process works and see if it will do the conversions for me. I have been using the tabs at the top of the Materials Editor like POWER OF 2 but haven't seen one for converting to .dds. I can't see how to get those tabs to display and they're gone now.
I guess it being the weekend I'm back to the two days of texture converting with no guarantee that the result will be what I need.

 

[GaryGB]

To be clear, MCX has a separate "Batch" converter; I refer to the Material Editor 'emi-automated' functions that it does sequentially as a "batch".

Material Editor is the 7th icon from the left end of the top icon bar in this older version of MCX (a quick-and-dirty reply from a Win-7 laptop).

Basically, one clicks to display the pick-list under the existing texture file type and selects the file format that it is intended to be converted into:

NOTE: In my haste before departing for an appointment, the example shown above is a texture already mapped with a DDS.

But, from the list seen, you can just pick a texture file type you want an existing texture to be converted into ...when you click [Save Textures] Button.


I shall post some more specific info on how to use the MCX Material Editor {Textures} tab GUI for converting texture file format this evening (in Chicago).


I need to find some prior posts that I made here at FSDEV containing step-by-step guides on how to do this in MCX.

They 'may' be somewhere in these linked search results:

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:+www.fsdeveloper.com+GaryGB+FSX+MCX+Material+Editor+Texture+Path+DDS&client=firefox-b-1-e&sca_esv=df20c8600aa448fe&ei=vtBVaKTTBcju-LYPxLzz-AQ&ved=0ahUKEwikqqKD94COAxVIN94AHUTeHE8Q4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=site:+www.fsdeveloper.com+GaryGB+FSX+MCX+Material+Editor+Texture+Path+DDS&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiSXNpdGU6IHd3dy5mc2RldmVsb3Blci5jb20gR2FyeUdCIEZTWCBNQ1ggTWF0ZXJpYWwgRWRpdG9yIFRleHR1cmUgUGF0aCBERFNI3CBQsQpY9xFwAXgAkAEAmAGuAaABiwSqAQMwLjS4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgCgAgCYAwCIBgGSBwCgB_IIsgcAuAcAwgcAyAcA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

GaryGB

 

[Chris Hewitt]

Thanks very much, Gary, really appreciate your help. I will have a read of the info on your link.
Regarding the image you posted, that's exactly the way I've been converting each of the 135 textures, one by one. That and the conversion to P of 2 for each one makes a day of it. Just wondering why the inbuilt batch conversion option is not working for me.

 

[GaryGB]

OK, must run; more to come later.

Not yet later:

Thanks very much, Gary, really appreciate your help. I will have a read of the info on your link.
Regarding the image you posted, that's exactly the way I've been converting each of the 135 textures, one by one. That and the conversion to P of 2 for each one makes a day of it. Just wondering why the inbuilt batch conversion option is not working for me.

Pre-select ("highlight") the group of texture names in the Material Editor {Textures} Tab dialog left pane, that require conversion.

If all are PNG which need to be converted to DDS, that can be done in 1 commit of the [SaveTextures] button.

No worries if some are JPG
and some are PNG, as they can all still be selected as groups, and set as groups, so that they convert to DDS in 1 commit of the
[SaveTextures] button.

At the same time, one can set the check marks under the [SaveTextures] button to make the textures Powers of 2, and to over-write the original textures (if any) in the target output \Texture folder path assigned in the {Textures} tab dialog tool bar field, with the converted texture, and also to internally update the mapping info in the FSX 3D MDL file so that it looks for- and uses- the
new texture file format just converted, instead of the original.


Does that explain the process more clearly ?

GaryGB

 

[Chris Hewitt]

Yes, I think so. I'll work on this first thing tomorrow and get back. Thanks again, Gary.

 

[GaryGB]

Google AI has once again quoted me (apparently as a renowned authority here at FSDEV ) ...and today, cites a tutorial I was looking for last night:

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:+www.fsdeveloper.com+GaryGB+MCX+Material+Editor+Textures+select+shift&sca_esv=964f0d0c22db4210&source=hp&ei=-7xWaOaUCqf00PEP2sHxqAU&iflsig=AOw8s4IAAAAAaFbLC4Ov2BNbfzccAzmGEf-Spl2lRKXs&ved=0ahUKEwim_v2o2IKOAxUnOjQIHdpgHFUQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=site:+www.fsdeveloper.com+GaryGB+MCX+Material+Editor+Textures+select+shift&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6GgIYAiJKc2l0ZTogd3d3LmZzZGV2ZWxvcGVyLmNvbSBHYXJ5R0IgTUNYIE1hdGVyaWFsIEVkaXRvciBUZXh0dXJlcyBzZWxlY3Qgc2hpZnRI_6ADUNsKWOKdA3ABeACQAQCYAasBoAHvKqoBBDIuNDK4AQPIAQD4AQH4AQKYAiqgArEtqAIKwgIKEAAYAxjqAhiPAcICChAuGAMY6gIYjwHCAggQLhiABBixA8ICDhAuGIAEGLEDGNEDGMcBwgIOEAAYgAQYsQMYgwEYigXCAgsQABiABBixAxiDAcICERAuGIAEGLEDGNEDGIMBGMcBwgIIEAAYgAQYsQPCAhQQLhiABBixAxiDARjHARiOBRivAcICDhAuGIAEGLEDGIMBGIoFwgIOEC4YgAQYsQMYgwEY1ALCAhQQLhiABBimAxjHARioAxiLAxivAcICCxAAGIAEGLEDGIsDwgIOEAAYgAQYsQMYgwEYiwPCAgsQLhiABBixAxiDAcICBRAAGIAEwgILEC4YgAQY0QMYxwHCAgQQABgDwgIKEC4YgAQY1AIYCsICCxAuGIAEGMcBGK8BwgIOEC4YgAQYxwEYjgUYrwHCAgUQABjvBcICCBAAGIAEGKIEwgIFECEYoAHCAgUQIRirAsICBxAhGKABGAqYAyXxBXghxrsZXqKNkgcGMS40MC4xoAfL_gGyBwYwLjQwLjG4B4wtwgcJMi0xNS4xOS44yAeDBA&sclient=gws-wiz

Hope this helps (...or was that instead, "glad my 'Replicant' was able to help ?" )

GaryGB

 

[Chris Hewitt]

Gary, that worked perfectly. Just highlighting all the textures and being able to do several conversions one after the other saved me hours. Of course, I still had to assign multiple LM textures but that was never the issue.
Just a huge thanks, Gary!!

 

[GaryGB]

Glad that helped.

GaryGB