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15th September 2008, 08:09 AM | #1 |
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creating .acf files
Hi,
currently i am trying to convert CAD airplane models into x-plane. I have ac3d with the x-plane plugin installed, Solidedge and X-plane 8 and 9. I am modelling airplanes in Solidedge to compute to moments of inertia. It would be nice to be able to convert these models into x-plane, so i donīt have to redo them in ac3d. My status is: I converted a solid edge .asm file into an .obj8 file with ac3d. As far as i understand, xplane needs an .acf file for visualization. I tried to use the Planemaker to open the .obj8 file and convert it into an .acf one which did not work. Am i on the right road?? How do you create .acf files? Does the Planemaker only accept .acf files or can it also open .obj8 files??? Please give me some advice on how to interface ac3d and x-plane's planemaker. Thank you in advance, Marvin |
15th September 2008, 10:08 AM | #2 |
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Re: creating .acf files
Ok,
I don't want to bother you with noob questions, so i did some more research and i think i figured out how to do it, but i haven't tried it yet. So here is what i think might work: 1.Convert cad file to .obj8 file with ac3d. 2.Create textures for it using Photoshop/ac3d 3.create new aircraft folder in ...xplane\aircraft copy some already existing aircraft with all files and sub folders into this new directory. 4. open the texture files of the already existing x-plane aircraft in photoshop or something compareable and delete them and save them. 5.copy the .obj8 file of the cad model together with it's textures into the ...newaircraft\objetcs folder of the new aircraft. 6. start planemaker. Now, the old aircraft should be invisible because we deleted the textures. Under misc objects import the cad aircraft model with lat lon equal zero. This should work i hope. I will try tomorrow. The Flight dynmaics will be that of the original aircraft which was made invisible. But this is no problem for me, because i only use X-plane for visualiation. The flight dynamics are simulated by Matlab/Simulink which is interfaced to x-plane via UDP. Fell free to comment on what i suggested here! Help is welcome! Greetings, Marvin |
23rd December 2008, 06:18 PM | #3 |
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Re: creating .acf files
I'm an old timer at X-Plane, but fairly new to AC3D.
If you want the plane to fly correctly in X-Plane you don't want to start with any old existing acf file. Plane-Maker is quite similar to AC3D, but it knows about such things as fuselage, wings, etc. Use images of the three orth views of your AC3D model as successive backgrounds in Plane-Maker. Create the fuselage, wings, etc. on top of those backgrounds. When you have all the parts assembled and you like the way it flies, you can overlay your plane with AC3D objects (using Plane-Maker to place them) and make many or all of your X-Plane pieces invisible.
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13th April 2009, 06:54 AM | #4 |
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Re: creating .acf files
Correct me if I have got this around the wrong way, but what you re saying is to create the aircraft 9 paint included) in AC3D first and then do the building again in X-Plane. Only then will you find if the aircraft actually works as an aircraft???
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13th April 2009, 10:30 AM | #5 | |
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Re: creating .acf files
Quote:
Then I can use front, side, and top views for backgrounds in AC3D. The AC3D object can be more detailed than the Plane-Maker ship. In Plane-Maker version 9 you can specify that any or all of the parts of the airplane are not to be painted on the screen. This is faster than painting them "invisible". In the final product you may have a mixture of Plane-Maker parts and AC3D parts. Some of the AC3D objects (say a rudderr) may be attached to the Plane-Maker parts that move.
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14th April 2009, 12:29 AM | #6 |
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Re: creating .acf files
The idea of creating in XP9 is good. The idea of doing detail / paint schemes in AC3D is even better. The problem, as a OS 10.5 person, is being able to bring AC3D files (.obj8) back into XP9. So far it ain't skydiving...
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