Creating 3D cockpit for X-Plane 11.55r2 with AC3D?

[Drew Dale]

I haven't found any threads on this topic, so I hope I'm not re-hashing old ground.

I've recently converted from XP 10 to XP 11 and have been merrily building/ converting aircraft for the new platform. This has all been going well until, I began building 3D cockpits for my aircraft.
In XP 10, I would created a 'cockpit_INN.obj' file with polygons placed in each instrument/switch/handle relative position, and textured accordingly. (not a technical explanation of the process, but you get the drift)
My problem is, in XP 11 the 'cockpit_INN' file is not longer supported. Investigation of the default aircraft supplied with XP 11 indicates that the is only a 'aircraft-name_cockpit.obj' file with no instrument/switch/handle textures, only a texture for the object itself.
My question is, does anyone know how to create and export 3D panels for XP 11, with clickable areas, using AC3D?
I have read on the X-Plane.org forums that most people seems to be using Blender for this. I am too old to be learning a new software application, so would really appreciate any assistance at all.

Cheers,
Drew

[Sean]

You need to enable Panel Region in the AC3D X-Plane plugin menu.

Once you have the OBJ loaded in PlaneMaker, you can select that it's used for Interior and/or Exterior object visibility.