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MSFS Windsheild material - Detail scratch(R),Icing Mask(G),Fingerprints(B) Not implemented in the blender exporter?

M

Marwan Gharib

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87
Country
egypt
Hello,
Working on windshield effects for simobject, I can't find the windshield details texture slot in the blender material window for MSFS windshield material,
below is a comparison between 3dsmax's windshield material texture slots vs blender's material texture slots. the detail scratches, icing and fingerprint slots are missing.

Any one had any luck implementing the windshield effects using the blender exporter?

3dsmax windshielf materials.png
1608891698242.png
 
Blender2MSFS does not rename the texture slots. Therefore:
  • your Detail scratch(R),Icing Mask(G),Fingerprints(B) texture goes into the detail albedo map
  • icing normal map goes in "detail normal"
Beware of an issue when setting the detail UV scale. After setting this to your liking:
  1. navigate to the "shading" tab
  2. disconnect "detail albedo" , "detail_metallic" and "detail_normal" (orange blocks at the bottom) from "detail UV scale"
  3. reconnect them back to "UV" directly (red block toi the top left)
If you do not do this, MSFS will not accept the GlTf model. Annoying, I know. If you leave the scaling at "1", you do not need to do this. However, my small plane uses a factor of "7" to look realistic.
 
mariopilot said:
Blender2MSFS does not rename the texture slots. Therefore:
  • your Detail scratch(R),Icing Mask(G),Fingerprints(B) texture goes into the detail albedo map
  • icing normal map goes in "detail normal"
Beware of an issue when setting the detail UV scale. After setting this to your liking:
  1. navigate to the "shading" tab
  2. disconnect "detail albedo" , "detail_metallic" and "detail_normal" (orange blocks at the bottom) from "detail UV scale"
  3. reconnect them back to "UV" directly (red block toi the top left)
If you do not do this, MSFS will not accept the GlTf model. Annoying, I know. If you leave the scaling at "1", you do not need to do this. However, my small plane uses a factor of "7" to look realistic.
Click to expand...
Great info on a topic i was scratching my head about. Thanks!
 
Countless hours of frustration led me to this knowledge!
I forgot to add:
Remove your albedo map, otherwise your alpha multiplier will just not work!

If stuff still does not work (glass loos opaque or wrong), attempt re-selecting your textures and re-entering albedo and emissive colors and alpha multiplier.
Also make sure that the "gltf settings" block in the shading tab is NOT "gltf settings.001" or other number. if this is the case, point it back to "gltf settings".

I am sure we will continue to find these sorts things as we work with the plugin figuring out how the new sim works!
 
Thanks alot for your feedback, and the hints on what might have gone wrong.
I've been battling with alot of CTDs doing the windsheild textures that I was really fuming given the slow process of relaunching the sim and re-exporting the model from blender and rebuilding the packages! , re-inserting the textures did help out to avoid CTDs so finally I can test.

This is what I reached, Still opaque with the detail texture applied, But at least a start.
1608991260359.png
1608991285638.png

1608991100537.png
 
Thanks for these posts. I would never have got it working on my own.

In the example above, the albedo map presumably needs to be removed to get rid of the opaqueness.
 
Hi,

For my Menestrel HN433, I have made a cockpit and a windshield (a simple albedo with an Alpha channel) which is perfect.
Trying to apply theses advices, I want to add some details on this texture so :
  • details texture [ compose whith scratch(R),Icing Mask(G),Fingerprints(B) ] is add into the "Detail Albedo" slot,
  • frost normal texture in "Detail Normal" slot.
I don't modify UV Scale for the moment and I keep it equal to 1 so I think I am going to have the scale of details map disproportionated on the global texture. OK.

Then :
  1. I click on menu "Shading" tab
  2. I disconnect "Detail Albedo" , "Detail Metallic" and "Detail Normal" (input on the left side of theses box) from "Detail UV scale"
  3. I reconnect them back to "UV" directly (red block on the top left)
But the results is a windshield BLACK in MSFS so I think that either I didn't understand a step or I made the reconnection of the "Details ..." boxes incorrectly...

According the Mario's remarks, "Remove your albedo map, otherwise your alpha multiplier will just not work !", must I remove the Albedo texture from the first slot in any case ? even if the "Detail UV scale" has not been modified (always set to 1)
Or should I disconnect the Color connection of the Almedo map box (in the shading tab) from the bubble albedo_tint_mix/albedo_details_mix and put instead the Color outputs of the "Detail xxx" boxes in theses bubble ?

A simple schematic or a copy of a modification made on a "working shading tab" would be more appreciated ;)
 
Hello,
This is the final setup I ended up with , The images shows how it looks.
Let me know if you need any clarification.

1624467815417.png


Texture "Glass_Comp" R1;G0;B0:

1624469207440.png


Texture "Glass_Albedo" , used it to get slight tint on the exterior.
1624469259562.png



Texture "Glass_Norm" , plain normal map.

Texture "Glass detailed mask" ,took it from the DA-62 sample, blacked out the blue channel of fingerprints.
Texture "Frost details normal" ,took it from the DA-62 sample.


This is the shading tab:
1624467873292.png


These are the results (Different material between external and internal to keep tint only on the external)
OUT.png
INSIDE.png
 
Perfect, it was exactly that I was waiting for.

You have answer to my two questions:
- you keep Aldebo map in the first slot (first picture)
- you modify the links between Details box and albedo_details_mix

I will try tomorow, Thanks a lot.
 
I tried this in Blender 3.0. I finally got the interior to show the scratches and rain, but when I tried adjusting the UV scale, it went black. Disconnecting them and putting them directly into the red node made no change. Also, I couldnt get the Albedo to show and keep the transparency.
Also, I cannot read that screenshot of the Nodes schematic. Is there a way to get a bigger version, or maybe a zoomed in version in 2 shots, like top half and bottom half?
 
Hello Bill,
I had the albedo layer for the tint at 1% transparency in the PNG , I found that it turns opaque very quickly (at 4% opacity IRC), you can try a empty PNG with layers at 0% opacity to see if you'll regain visibility.

tip for fine tuning the UV scale without exporting from belnder every time you change the value==> open the gltf file via a text editor, search for the material name and adjust the uv scale , Save and resync and
it would load in a couple of seconds. you can use that exact value in blender once you are settled on a number you liked.
1629175560375.png




Here are some closer images:
1629175696387.png

1629175734511.png

1629175752640.png
 
Marwan Gharib said:
Hello Bill,
I had the albedo layer for the tint at 1% transparency in the PNG , I found that it turns opaque very quickly (at 4% opacity IRC), you can try a empty PNG with layers at 0% opacity to see if you'll regain visibility.

tip for fine tuning the UV scale without exporting from belnder every time you change the value==> open the gltf file via a text editor, search for the material name and adjust the uv scale , Save and resync and
it would load in a couple of seconds. you can use that exact value in blender once you are settled on a number you liked.
View attachment 76127



Here are some closer images:
View attachment 76128
View attachment 76129
View attachment 76130
Click to expand...


Genius...! I havent edited model files since FS2004 days. Love that idea. Bypassing complications. :)

A thousand thanks for this. Thanks Marwan.


Bill
LHC
 
lionheart said:
Genius...! I havent edited model files since FS2004 days. Love that idea. Bypassing complications. :)

A thousand thanks for this. Thanks Marwan.


Bill
LHC
Click to expand...
Thanks, I use it extensively as I have horrendous export times from blender and then load times in MSFS, I use this technique for adjusting alpha value on the fly , also adding in some features not supported by the blender exporter, like pearlescence for example:
1629302041123.png
 
Dang.... Nice....! I use 'noise' in Photoshop for metallic sheen. Yours is photo real. Incredible.

My Nephew loves these jets. He presently flies right seat in a new KingAir, but his eyes are on Honda's.
 
Thanks Bill,
Yeah, They are gaining popularity, They are so unique I really love them.

Give pearlescense a try , as it is variable with the camera viewpoint and mesh curvature relative to it so gives a pretty nice effect ,
downside is that whatever edit is done will disappear when you export from blender as the exporter does not export this parameter, so it is kind of a last step before publishing.

To use it , add the highlighted part in the GLTF under "extensions used" this is usually in the very beginning of the GLTF.
1629577648746.png



Then add the following highlighted under the material you want , just search the name of the material and you'll find it's entry block which usually starts with "emissive factor".. don't forget the commas (I highlighted them to stress on their importance) .
you can tweak the factors "Pearl shift", "pearl range" , and "pearl brightness" , save and resync and you'll get instant feedback. requires the material to have none zero metallic value, ie. non black blue channel in the comp texture .. The more metallic the material is, the more the effect shows.
1629577685004.png



Code: 
,
"ASOBO_material_pearlescent"   // add this to "extensionsUsed



,
"extensions":{"ASOBO_material_pearlescent":{"pearlShift":0.5,"pearlRange":0.7,"pearlBrightness":0.1}}  // add this to the material block
 
Marwan Gharib said:
Thanks Bill,

Then add the following highlighted under the material you want , just search the name of the material and you'll find it's entry block which usually starts with "emissive factor".. don't forget the commas (I highlighted them to stress on their importance) .
you can tweak the factors "Pearl shift", "pearl range" , and "pearl brightness" , save and resync and you'll get instant feedback. requires the material to have none zero metallic value, ie. non black blue channel in the comp texture .. The more metallic the material is, the more the effect shows.
Click to expand...

Is there an example of the texture you used for the pearlescent? or are they just regular textures? nothing special to get the effect?
 
ronh said:
Is there an example of the texture you used for the pearlescent? or are they just regular textures? nothing special to get the effect?
Click to expand...
normal textures, Pearlescence is calculated from albedo and metallic colours, Nothing special to be done other than modifying the shader in the gltf
 
Marwan Gharib said:
normal textures, Pearlescence is calculated from albedo and metallic colours, Nothing special to be done other than modifying the shader in the gltf
Click to expand...
Would this mean that plain metallic effects would not be possible if the model had pearlescence enabled? Since its using the metallic PBR channel to calculate it? substituting bare metal for pearlescence?
 
kcgb said:
Would this mean that plain metallic effects would not be possible if the model had pearlescence enabled? Since its using the metallic PBR channel to calculate it? substituting bare metal for pearlescence?
Click to expand...
from my testing, the material will still show metallic properties , pearlescence only seems to affect albedo colour from a hue and brightness prespective .. the effect propagates more in the albedo if the material is more metallic. atleast this is how I understand it from my experimentation.
 
Hello!
Has anyone been able to put the icing effect on the Windshield using MSFSToolkit (0.41.4)?
 
Last edited:
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