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ZBIAS for FS9 Models?

tgibson

tgibson

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Hi,

Does the ZBIAS value in the Material Editor work in FS9 models? It's handy when doing things like oil spots.

Is that value read and acted upon when these FS9 models are used in FSX?

Thanks,
 
Hi Tom,

The value should also be used when exporting to FS2004 models, but let me double check to be sure.
 
Hi Tom,

Just checked. It is not supported correctly for FS2004 at the moment. In FSX there is no zbias, so what I do when exporting it move these polygons a little bit along their normal to give them an offset. This is now also done for FS2004 MDL files. I'll put it on my wishlist to fix that.
 
Hi,

Thanks. A real ZBIAS effect would be nice to avoid flashing at large distances from the object.
 
Hi again,

Another question. Is the ZBIAS_ command used in the GMAX exporter or in MakeMDL? If the latter then people could just add the ZBIAS_ prefix to the material names in MCX (if that is possible).

Thanks,
 
Hi Tom,

It is used in MakeMDL. But you can't specify material names in ModelConverterX. They are determined by the exporter.
 
is there any explaination of "ZBIAS" ?

I found it several times in .SCA files, but really dont know how it works ...

I read scacmd3.doc and Wiki without success ..

:confused:
 
When FS displays objects, it uses the relative distance of each object from the viewer to decide what object should be placed in front of another. In essence, FS draws the "far" objects first, and then draws the "near" objects over the top of the far ones. When two objects are extremely close to each other, this system breaks down and they will "fight" each other, leading to flashing as you move through the scene.

When you add ZBIAS_ in front of a material name, it tells FS to treat this object as if it were closer to the viewer, so it will definitely be in front of anything else nearby. This eliminates the flashing.

Hope this helps,
 
thanks Tom,

that is exactly what I wanted to know and it helped me to avoid flashing of an object!



best regards
 
Hi Tom,

It should be working in the latest release. The X file writer does not add the zbias correctly for FS2004 MDL files.
 
Hi Arno,

Do you mean that true FS9 ZBIAS is now available using MCX? If so, this will be very good news indeed.

Thanks,
 
Hi Tom,

Yes. I have changed the FS2004 MDL exporter in ModelConverterX. It now uses the true zbias, using the material name prefix, instead of moving the polygon as in FSX.
 
Thanks! That will really help people using Sketchup to create small ground polygons like oil spots.
 
Yet another question - I apologize...

I notice that in MCX the ZBIAS setting is a number. Does it matter which non-zero number I place there? In the MakeMDL SDK there is listed both ZBIAS_ and a ZBIAS_## prefixes - In GMAX I have tried ZBIAS_## and anything from 10 or greater (i.e. a non-zero number in the tens place) seems to do much the same thing as ZBIAS_ does. The object with the higher number between two planar objects placed very close to each other does not seem to swap the view priority - should it?

Thanks,
 
Hi,

ModelConverterX puts the number in the ZBIAS command.

In GMax if you use ZBIAS_ (without a number), it is equal to a value of 1 for the ZBIAS.
 
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