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Tandem Cockpit Instrument lighting (& Rembrandt)  Topic is solved

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Tandem Cockpit Instrument lighting (& Rembrandt)

Postby mcginnly » Wed May 16, 2012 3:26 pm

Hi,
I'm modelling a DHC1 chipmunk trainer with tandem cockpit.
Electrical system is buckaroo's nas with an xml file to handle the connections.

Currently, I've got one model definition of the altimeter, vsi, hsi etc. which are loaded into another xml called 'panel'. The panel.xml model is then loaded twice into the cockpit.xml model to provide the front and rear instruments.

The chipmunk doesn't really have instrument lights - just front and rear variable brightness cockpit lights and what look like 'glow in the dark' needles and figures on the instruments.

What I need to do is provide independent lighting of the front and rear cockpit and instruments.

At the moment each single definition of the instruments contains:
Code: Select all
  <animation>
    <type>material</type>
    <object-name>face</object-name>
    <object-name>needle</object-name>
    <emission>
      <factor-prop>/systems/electrical/outputs/instrument-lights</factor-prop>
      <red>   0.75 </red>
      <green> 0.25 </green>
      <blue>  0.25 </blue>
    </emission>
  </animation>   


I suppose I could tie the emission to time of day rather than the cockpit lights - but the cockpit lights would alter the appearance of the dials even at night.
And obviously changing /systems/electrical/outputs/instrument-lights will alter the brightness of both front and rear instruments.


Questions

1. How can I handle this so I don't end up with 2 definitions of each instrument for the front and back?
2. I'm getting the impression that I should be doing lighting with Rembrandt in mind - how should I handle that?
mcginnly
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon May 14, 2012 1:38 pm

Re: Tandem Cockpit Instrument lighting (& Rembrandt)

Postby mcginnly » Fri May 18, 2012 5:13 pm

Duplicate panels and instruments it is then, if no-one has any better ideas?
mcginnly
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon May 14, 2012 1:38 pm

Re: Tandem Cockpit Instrument lighting (& Rembrandt)  

Postby AndersG » Fri May 18, 2012 6:04 pm

mcginnly wrote in Fri May 18, 2012 5:13 pm:Duplicate panels and instruments it is then, if no-one has any better ideas?


You should be able to have one set and overlay relevant properties where you load them (works for 3d instruments and models, at least).

See e.g. the oil pressure gauge here:
http://gitorious.org/anders-hangar/short_empire/blobs/master/Instruments/OilPressure/oil_pressure.xml
and the file that loads 4 instances of it here:
http://gitorious.org/anders-hangar/short_empire/blobs/master/Models/Interior/instrument_panel.xml#line345

/Anders
Callsign: SE-AG
Aircraft (uhm...): Submarine Scout, Zeppelin NT, ZF Navy free balloon, Nordstern, Hindenburg, Short Empire flying-boat, ZNP-K, North Sea class, MTB T21 class, U.S.S. Monitor, MFI-9B, Type UB I submarine, Gokstad ship, Renault FT.
AndersG
 
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Location: Göteborg, Sweden
Callsign: SE-AG
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Re: Tandem Cockpit Instrument lighting (& Rembrandt)

Postby mcginnly » Sat May 19, 2012 1:11 am

Code: Select all
<params>
just the ticket - many thanks.
mcginnly
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon May 14, 2012 1:38 pm


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