MSFS20 MCX: Textures twisted after export

[Nordscape]

Hello. I have a couple of issues with the latest project using mcx 1.8.250425, where the textures get scrambled after exporting to msfs2020. Please see the attached videos. Any ideas on how to troubleshoot?

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Vetle, just a quick reply before I must hit the road.

These have not gone round-trip out of Sketchup > to MCX > to MSFS > back into MCX > back into Sketchup ?

Consider use of Make Unique Texture to clip off textures outside portions mapped to all Faces; this gives precise UVW maps.

After all Faces are mapped and finalized for a project, do a "Purge Unused" to remove unwanted texture SKP file bloat.

Otherwise, sometimes MSFS' less precise tolerance for UVW map coordinates results in such "twisted" distortion in-sim.

Also, play it safe and clear a Face's texturing before pasting "Projected" textures copied via <Alt>+PaintBrush by painting Faces the default White color (or better yet, use Remove All Materials Extension first before pasting "Projected" textures onto Faces).

Un-ZIP the attached file below, then in Sketchup, install the RBZ via 'Install Extension' feature, ...or:

Re-name the RBZ to a ZIP file extension, then un-zip further; next, put the resulting RB file into:

C:\Users\[User Profile Name]\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2017\SketchUp\Plugins

...restart Sketchup.


Gotta' hit the road now; have a good day.

GaryGB

 

[Nordscape]

Hi Vetle, just a quick reply before I must hit the road.

These have not gone round-trip out of Sketchup > to MCX > to MSFS > back into MCX > back into Sketchup ?

No, they have not. They look as they should within Sketchup and MCX, but as soon as they are exported they get all twisted

Consider use of Make Unique Texture to clip off textures outside portions mapped to all Faces; this gives precise UVW maps.

After all Faces are mapped and finalized for a project, do a "Purge Unused" to remove unwanted texture SKP file bloat.

Otherwise, sometimes MSFS' less precise tolerance for UVW map coordinates results in such "twisted" distortion in-sim.

Also, play it safe and clear a Face's texturing before pasting "Projected" textures copied via <Alt>+PaintBrush by painting Faces the default White color (or better yet, use Remove All Materials Extension first before pasting "Projected" textures onto Faces).

Un-ZIP the attached file below, then in Sketchup, install the RBZ via 'Install Extension' feature, ...or:

Re-name the RBZ to a ZIP file extension, then un-zip further; next, put the resulting RB file into:

C:\Users\[User Profile Name]\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2017\SketchUp\Plugins

...restart Sketchup.


Gotta' hit the road now; have a good day.

GaryGB

Thanks for the tip! I will try it out!

 

[arno]

Do you tile your texture? MSFS uses a special compression for the texture coordinates, but that also means that you can't tile the texture as much as we can do in FSX. MCX has a special texture distortion render mode that helps you to visualise which parts of the object are likely to be affected by this.

MSFS texture distortion | SceneryDesign.org

 

[Nordscape]

Do you tile your texture? MSFS uses a special compression for the texture coordinates, but that also means that you can't tile the texture as much as we can do in FSX. MCX has a special texture distortion render mode that helps you to visualise which parts of the object are likely to be affected by this.

MSFS texture distortion | SceneryDesign.org

Hello, and thanks for your reply, and the video. When looking at the distortion tool, everything is blue or grey, nothing red. I will try the compile-tool when exporting. I do not believe I am tiling anything intentionally, but maybe it is automatic through using Sketchup as the modelling tool?

 

[GaryGB]

Hello:

If a texture image Material mapped over a Face with a size which exceeds the original extent pixels of the texture image (based on the pixel dimensions interpreted during import- or assigned during UVW mapping-), Sketchup will automatically tile the texture image repeatedly within the area defined by the UVW vertices of the R,G,B,Y push-pins in the Texture > Position mode.

AFAIK, in either case of how UVW coordinates end up derived, when distortion occurs, it 'should' be fixed by use of Sketchup's Make Unique Texture feature, as it clips a UVW mapped texture image to the edges of the Face as defined by the UVW area established via the R,G,B,Y push-pins as cited above.

IIUC, MCX Texture Atlas use (via the Draw Call Optimizer) feature should also clip mapped textures to the edge of Faces within the extents defined by the UVW mapping pins.

IIUC, when clipping of mapped texture images is performed, UVW coordinates are set to max precision, and distortion in texture display is not likely to occur in MSFS at run time.

GaryGB

 

[Nordscape]

Hello:

If a texture image Material mapped over a Face with a size which exceeds the original extent pixels of the texture image (based on the pixel dimensions interpreted during import- or assigned during UVW mapping-), Sketchup will automatically tile the texture image repeatedly within the area defined by the UVW vertices of the R,G,B,Y push-pins in the Texture > Position mode.

AFAIK, in either case of how UVW coordinates end up derived, when distortion occurs, it 'should' be fixed by use of Sketchup's Make Unique Texture feature, as it clips a UVW mapped texture image to the edges of the Face as defined by the UVW area established via the R,G,B,Y push-pins as cited above.

IIUC, MCX Texture Atlas use (via the Draw Call Optimizer) feature should also clip mapped textures to the edge of Faces within the extents defined by the UVW mapping pins.

IIUC, when clipping of mapped texture images is performed, UVW coordinates are set to max precision, and distortion in texture display is not likely to occur in MSFS at run time.

GaryGB

Hello again Gary, and sorry for the late reply.

Regarding the "make unique texture" tool within Sketchup, my understanding is that it creates the texture exactly as it is placed upon the model face. This means that all faces would potentially create large amounts of similar textures but eith different shapes. Seems both time consuming and not practical when employed over several objects, or?

I had an issue during the modelling stages where the textures got tilted and twisted within Sketchup, probably due to to several levels of groupings with different axes settings. When exploding the model to remove all groupings the textures got twisted and It took a while before I figured out that that might be an issue.

In the current model there are several areas where there seems to be twisted textures, and almost like a pinpoint of mesh-connections with distorted lines. Looks awful, but thankfully not present in the most available locations...

 

[GaryGB]

Hello again Gary, and sorry for the late reply.

Regarding the "make unique texture" tool within Sketchup, my understanding is that it creates the texture exactly as it is placed upon the model face. This means that all faces would potentially create large amounts of similar textures but eith different shapes. Seems both time consuming and not practical when employed over several objects, or?

IIRC, after making (1) Face mapped with a texture image or color material Unique, one can select all Faces, and make them all Unique.


But, it may be that multiple Face processing for Make Unique Texture is instead done by Aerilius' plugin Ruby script / extension:

Make Unique Texture++ (now superseded by "Texture Resizer" plugin):


IIRC, those plugins both work in Sketchup 2017.


Before I post the info pertinent to Aerilius' plugins above, some useful info merits mentioning to minimize issues with texture mapping.

A wiki here at FSDeveloper discusses some important considerations which apply to 3D modeling:

Modeling and texturing for optimal performance

"For the usage of textures the basic rule is to choose the right resolution for the object you are making and to use a similar resolution on all parts of your object. "

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=Modeling_and_texturing_for_optimal_performance



When 3D modeling in Sketchup, one normally is prompted during creation of a new Material, to declare the intended "Real World" size as an "Area" (based on height and width) at which the texture image is to be displayed,

https://help.sketchup.com/en/sketchup/adding-colors-and-textures-materials

https://designerhacks.com/import-sketchup-textures-create-custom-materials/


It is easy to overlook this consideration in Sketchup if directly importing a texture image source to be mapped onto a Face.

One 'can' just drag an image across a Face to size it 'closer' to the intended Face size of a desired 'part' within the image.

But... those wanting to be more precise with 3D modeling in Sketchup may wish to use the default Material dialogs to set the intended "Real World" size at which the mapped texture image 'Material' is to be displayed in FS.


Also, a Ruby plugin script "Goldilocks" by Adam Billyard may prove useful in analyzing the texture pixel (aka "Texel") density and relative complexity of a 3D model:

https://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?listtype=1&author=0&category=0&search=Goldilocks&submit=?

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/t...lurry-from-a-near-distance.443581/post-805817

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/combined-texture-quality.441701/post-787742


IMHO, it is better to set Sketchup to use a maximum available 24 or 32 Bit TIFF LZW-compressed texture size in the work-space.

https://forums.sketchup.com/t/is-th...ials-and-importing-images-into-sketchup/26233


One can then make them 'unique' for the mapped Face, 'combine them for adjacent coplanar Faces, and resize the combined mapped texture image to the desired resolution / Texel density for the finished 3D model at an 'assigned' resolution using a Ruby plugin script "Make Unique Texture++" by Aerilius:

https://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?listtype=1&author=0&category=0&search=Make+Unique+Texture+++&submit=?

...or:

"Texture Resizer" by Aerilius:

https://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?listtype=1&author=0&category=0&search=Texture+Resizer&submit=?

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/problem-with-color-or-texture-blending.441296/post-783693


NOTE: Aerilius' plugins substitute a 'better-than-default' graphics module within Sketchup's sub-system: "Image Magick";

this is best installed as "Convert.exe" into Sketchup's plugins sub-folder from Aerilius' "Make Unique Texture++" plugin.

https://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=41441

I had an issue during the modelling stages where the textures got tilted and twisted within Sketchup, probably due to to several levels of groupings with different axes settings. When exploding the model to remove all groupings the textures got twisted and It took a while before I figured out that that might be an issue.

In the current model there are several areas where there seems to be twisted textures, and almost like a pinpoint of mesh-connections with distorted lines. Looks awful, but thankfully not present in the most available locations...

I did notice that in intermediate builds on some of the walls at ENKH and previously at ENSX; I assumed you fixed those before release.

Is this texture mapping distortion still an issue in the recent ENKH public release version ?


FYI: I have not read of any Sketchup 3D modeling scenario where such distortion occurred after exploding Groups / Components, except where the end user manual UVW mapping with the Texture > Position Pins was less precise, and the UVW coordinates were not accommodated by the 3D model compiler and/or FS run time rendering engine.

Sketchup default Make Unique Texture / Aerilius' plugins related to same, or MCX DrawCall Minimizer all generate precise UVW results.

Thus, their use can avoid distorted texture maps.


However, there is another type of distortion which can occur that impact geometry, and then texture mapping follows afterwards.

If we accidentally incur 'skewing' of the wire-frame geometry by dragging an object (like a building) "out of square", 'micro-Faces' occur.


This may also occur if we are not careful to tr-assign where Axes are positioned when we use the Push-Pull Tool, and we pull "off-axis".


If we view Hidden content and then zoom in (if needed, with the Sketchup Camera Focal Length set to 2,500mm), we may see tiny blue lines as edges of 'micro-Faces'.

In some cases we can correct (sur-)Face correction of Material mapping by deleting these 'micro-Face' lines; but it does not always work.


We sometimes must 'un-skew' the 3D model so that all Right-Angle geometry is restored, and Faces are not warped out of a flat plane.

A 'mix of fixes' is sometime required to fix 'skewed' geometry, and to allow proper Material mapping / display.


BTW: This why we always draw primitives via Faces extruded from the ground up using the Push-Pull tool... for 'un-skewed' geometry.

It may also help to "Lock" parts of a 3D model not actively being edited.


IIRC, TIG has a plugin to reveal such 'micro-Faces', coloring them Magenta so they can be seen better upon inspection at normal zoom.

TIG: Color Thin Faces

https://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=colorthinfaces

https://community.sketchucation.com/topic/129514/plugin-colorthinfaces-v1-2-20110804/3

GaryGB