• 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.

Is it possible to add a decal material to multiple meshes which have been joined?

jgarnold

jgarnold

Messages
1,886
Country
australia
I am creating a board walk consisting of 60 separate planks each 5.0 x .150 x 0.25 with a gap between each plank of 0.025.
I created a single mesh (planks) applied a suitable pbr material, used modifier array for 60 of them with a gap between each of 0.025
I applied the modifer array which seems to have resulted in a single mesh.
In edit mode I selected all the top faces and duplicated (shift d then enter key).
I then applied my decal material but it doesn't seem to 'sit' on the planks correctly so I am wondering with the gaps between each 'plank' is it possible?

1787970765065.png
 
Yes decals can be used on these kind of object. Make sure the decal mesh is not a separate mesh but instead part of the plank mesh. Furthermore, the order of materials matters, but I think this is specific to multiple decal materials on top of each other. Other than that, it should work out of the box, but it will not display correctly in Blender because it does not use the same rendering as MSFS. Once exported, the decals are rendered in a special decal render pass in MSFS to make sure they render as decals and do not cause z fighting. So if you try exporting, everything should work as expected and if not, I have a sample decal mesh project in Blender I can share!

Edit: Make sure to slightly raise the decal above the plank surface (no more than a millimeter or two), as recommended by the MSFS documentation
 
Last edited:
FoxtrotScenery said:
Yes decals can be used on these kind of object. Make sure the decal mesh is not a separate mesh but instead part of the plank mesh. Furthermore, the order of materials matters, but I think this is specific to multiple decal materials on top of each other. Other than that, it should work out of the box, but it will not display correctly in Blender because it does not use the same rendering as MSFS. Once exported, the decals are rendered in a special decal render pass in MSFS to make sure they render as decals and do not cause z fighting. So if you try exporting, everything should work as expected and if not, I have a sample decal mesh project in Blender I can share!

Edit: Make sure to slightly raise the decal above the plank surface (no more than a millimeter or two), as recommended by the MSFS documentation
Click to expand...

It would be interesting to see an example MSFS decal mesh project (on a 3D model object instead of just a terrain projected mesh).

I found a 'proposed' Blender workflow via a Google search using this query string:

Code: 
Blender drape decal material onto multiple objects

As it was not clear if the top or bottom side of the planks has a invisible Face joining the planks so that they are (1) 3D model 'mesh' object, I specified multiple objects just in case the objects are not all (1) 3D model mesh.

I assume each 0.025 Meter gap between each 'plank' has a invisible Face so that water below can be seen through the gaps.


AFAIK, Sketchup can vertically "Drape" Material onto pre-aligned glTf 3D model Faces below, even if they are not all (1) object.

If I use Sketchup to manually Paint (map) a "pre-projected" Material across a glTF 3D model surface, each Face (including sides / inset Faces at a 90 degree angle or less) must be mapped sequentially, otherwise, parts of a projected Material will end up out of alignment.


I am not sure if Blender has a similar requirement for a "projected" material, or if alignment even matters for decals with no 'image'.


If the decal Material is made and manually mapped onto top / bottom Faces of a 60-plank array as (1) object, one may use an Alpha channel to form invisible parts in a mapped decal image over 0.025 Meter gaps, as described in a Google search via this query string:

Code: 
MSFS SDK decal material with Alpha channel


IIUC, allowing water below to be seen through the gaps may still involve use of wire-frame geometry for textured plank vertical Faces, even if top and bottom Faces are otherwise each made utilizing (1) Face with Alpha transparency used over the 'gap' areas.

If one foregoes allowing MSFS water below to be seen through plank gaps, wire-frame geometry will be much less complex.

If one does that, one may wonder how best to merge rendered component objects into Materials mapped onto 3D models (aka "baking"), as Bill Womack (aka "spotlope") did for classic victorian-era type shingles and siding on his Heron Island house in iby_herons-nest_lib.bgl:

https://www.iblueyonder.com/herons-nest-2


NOTE: Bill switched his work-flow from GMAX / 3DSMAX to Blender some years ago.

iby_herons_nest_house_iby_hn_cottage_81ffda5b-4d6a-49e6-72c8-71be3ee14bfd-jpg.100791



GaryGB
 

Attachments

  • IBY_Herons_Nest_House_iby_hn_cottage_81ffda5b-4d6a-49e6-72c8-71be3ee14bfd.jpg
    IBY_Herons_Nest_House_iby_hn_cottage_81ffda5b-4d6a-49e6-72c8-71be3ee14bfd.jpg
    171.5 KB · Views: 121
Last edited:
GaryGB said:
IIUC, allowing water below to be seen through the gaps may still involve use of wire-frame geometry for textured plank vertical Faces, even if top and bottom Faces are otherwise each made utilizing (1) Face with Alpha transparency used over the 'gap' areas.
Click to expand...
Not interested in that as the planks would cover large, probably plastic, buoyancy objects anyway. I just want the helipad sign to have small gaps where the gaps of the planks are for authenticity. You know me Gary, not satisfied with the ordinary. I have tried a few things but just can't get the decal material to map to the top of the planks correctly.
 
Unfortunately with lots of planks with small gaps between each it sometimes gives a moiré pattern ie shimmering.
 
jgarnold said:
Unfortunately with lots of planks with small gaps between each it sometimes gives a moiré pattern ie shimmering.
Click to expand...

I found a surprisingly abundant number of 'proposed' workflows to address moiré patterns via a Google search using this query string:

Code: 
MSFS SDK moiré pattern

If you link a current W.I.P. of the current build, I could test it sometime Monday in both MSFS versions on AMD-based GPU installs.

GaryGB
 
someone on Discord suggested baking the textures so that there is one image and one mesh. I will have to learn about baking in Blender
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top