Latest AC3D X-Plane plugin - download here

[xrotors]

Hello Andy, does the new plugin supports particle emitters as per 11.30 release?

[Andy]

This one doesn't. See the README that comes in the download for details of what's new.

Originally Posted by xrotors

Hello Andy, does the new plugin supports particle emitters as per 11.30 release?

[xrotors]

Gosh! How shall we add particle objects then?

[xrotors]

Originally Posted by Andy

This one doesn't. See the README that comes in the download for details of what's new.

I really hope you could fill the gap with Blender on this. With release 11.30 is really important to provide developers with up-to-date tools.

[bushhere]

I installed the 3.3b3 plugin in AC3D 8.3 along with commands & datarefs.tcl, but the X-Plane drop down menu does not appear in AC3D.

[Andy]

You need the 64 bit plugins with 8.3 (near top of first message)

Originally Posted by bushhere

I installed the 3.3b3 plugin in AC3D 8.3 along with commands & datarefs.tcl, but the X-Plane drop down menu does not appear in AC3D.

[bushhere]

OK...Did that, then opened & saved an 8.0 .ac file, then quit AC3D. When I reopened the file by clicking on it, AC3D loaded, but the X-Plane menu went missing again. Will I always have to load AC3D before opening .ac files from now on? The same thing happens with new files generated in 8.3. AC3D 8.0 has been deleted.

Still confused

[Andy]

Are you using the latest beta? There was a problem with the licensing when one would overwrite another. It would mean that one would start up unlicensed, which may explain the missing plugins. 8.3.11 is what you need - check Help->About. You may need to enter your key again.

[texasranger]

Hi Andy,
First, thank you for developing this beta! The new X-Plane plugin manipulators seem to work well, and are a real time-saver!
If you don't mind, I have a couple of bugs I've noticed that might be helpful to you for developing the next beta or the final release:

- If the X-Plane Object Object Properties panel is open, and you select more than two objects simultaneously, AC3D stalls out (with the spinning "wait" icon) and sometimes crashes. This was not an issue in 8.0.

- The Wavefront GW importer utility seems to work differently in 8.3 than in 8.0 - in 8.0, Wavefront OBJ files were imported with the vertices pre-optimized (in other words, if you select "Optimize Vertices" after the import, usually there's no further optimization required). In the new version, I've found that I must run the "Optimize Vertices" operation, and it usually removes hundreds of vertices.

- The X-Plane plugin export function (export to OBJ8 format) is writing the following header text to the OBJ8 file:

NORMAL_METALNESS
BLEND_GLASS
NORMAL_METALNESS
BLEND_GLASS

The header text lines shown above are being written regardless of whether you have the "Export TEXTURE_NORMAL lines" option turned on or off in the plugin's X-Plane export prefs dialog box.

My suggestion would be to add two new check boxes to the X-Plane export prefs dialog box:

"Normal texture defines metalness" (results in "TEXTURE_NORMAL texturefilename_normal.png" and "GLOBAL_specular 1.0" and "NORMAL_METALNESS" being written to the header)

"Normal texture defines glass" (results in "TEXTURE_NORMAL texturefilename_normal.png" and "GLOBAL_specular 1.0" and "BLEND_GLASS" being written to the header)

If the "Export TEXTURE_NORMAL lines" option is un-checked, then the 2 additional check boxes suggested above would be greyed out.

Anyway, just some constructive feedback - thanks again for the work on this!! I purchased the new license 10 days ago, and I am using it constantly!

[Andy]

texasranger: Thanks for your kind message and for the useful detail.


We may revert to the old Wavefront obj importer but I've fixed the optimization of vertices in the format provided by Assimp. The next AC3D beta will have these changes.


Please try this updated X-Plane plugin (Windows) and let me know if the texture normal problem is fixed. (not implemented your other requests yet but can do if this works OK).


www.inivis.com/external/XPlaneSupportWin34b2.zip

P.S. I'm not sure of the problem creating multiple X-Plane edit windows. It may depend on the objects you are editing. Each extra editor creates a huge number of UI widgets and takes a while, and probably a lot of memory.

Originally Posted by texasranger

Hi Andy,
First, thank you for developing this beta! The new X-Plane plugin manipulators seem to work well, and are a real time-saver!
If you don't mind, I have a couple of bugs I've noticed that might be helpful to you for developing the next beta or the final release:

- If the X-Plane Object Object Properties panel is open, and you select more than two objects simultaneously, AC3D stalls out (with the spinning "wait" icon) and sometimes crashes. This was not an issue in 8.0.

- The Wavefront GW importer utility seems to work differently in 8.3 than in 8.0 - in 8.0, Wavefront OBJ files were imported with the vertices pre-optimized (in other words, if you select "Optimize Vertices" after the import, usually there's no further optimization required). In the new version, I've found that I must run the "Optimize Vertices" operation, and it usually removes hundreds of vertices.

- The X-Plane plugin export function (export to OBJ8 format) is writing the following header text to the OBJ8 file:

NORMAL_METALNESS
BLEND_GLASS
NORMAL_METALNESS
BLEND_GLASS

The header text lines shown above are being written regardless of whether you have the "Export TEXTURE_NORMAL lines" option turned on or off in the plugin's X-Plane export prefs dialog box.

My suggestion would be to add two new check boxes to the X-Plane export prefs dialog box:

"Normal texture defines metalness" (results in "TEXTURE_NORMAL texturefilename_normal.png" and "GLOBAL_specular 1.0" and "NORMAL_METALNESS" being written to the header)

"Normal texture defines glass" (results in "TEXTURE_NORMAL texturefilename_normal.png" and "GLOBAL_specular 1.0" and "BLEND_GLASS" being written to the header)

If the "Export TEXTURE_NORMAL lines" option is un-checked, then the 2 additional check boxes suggested above would be greyed out.

Anyway, just some constructive feedback - thanks again for the work on this!! I purchased the new license 10 days ago, and I am using it constantly!