Question about points

[flynby]

Downloaded Part 2 Basic last night. Use FSDS 3.5.1.
Question:
In Top Down View, the structure (box) is the design I want. But, as you can see in the Missing Line picture, I do not have the "joining line' from the top point to the bottom point.
Would I have to create 3 separate boxes to get the design I desire, or can I do it some other way in part mode?
Thank you

[MIKE JG]

You have a couple options here. The BEST option is to remake that part out of a tube on its side that you can then just move the points around to get the shape you need. That looks like a naval ship of some sorts.

Essentially it looks like you've gotten your part into a bad situation where you don't have matching verticies (points) on the top and bottom of the part. You can add points in but if they don't line up in the same plane as their opposing verticies, you will start having all sorts of issues.

My advice is if that is indeed a section of a boat, to use a tube structure, with enough sides that you can shape it appropriately and then you will ensure that you have matching verticies on the top and bottom.

You can also take your .fsc project file, put it into a zip file and attach it here and one of us can look at it for you.

Here is an example of a part that I made using an 8 sided tube aligned along the Y axis:

To get it into this shape, I simply rotated the whole part so that flat sides were on both the front and back. Then I scaled the whole thing to an approximate size. I then selected the top front four points and just moved them backwards in the Z axis to get that sloped look that I think you are trying to make.

[flynby]

Mike, thank you so much for the suggestion. Never considered a "tube".
Yes, it is "suppose" to be a ship. First try at this. Had lots of fun making the ship hull!!
3 Days worth before being "ok".
Used a tube on that also. Used 2 separate tubes because length is 585 feet.
How would you have done the hull? Not much help available on ship design in with FSDS.
Maybe another tutorial- hint hint??
Thanks again

[MIKE JG]

A tube is definitely the way to go for a ship's hull. Key is to make sure your tube has enough points and sections so you can get the shape correct. Using the scale tool you can nicely shape the whole length of the hull out of just one tube.

Don't forget you can also work in halves as sometimes it's easier to delete one whole side of points so that you only have to shape one half section of the hull. When you are done, you can simply copy the half section of the hull and paste it against the original. Greatly reduces your workload.

[flynby]

Well, here is my test tube zip file. In Perspective view (tube) I still have missing lines from top to bottom points on the front. The bottom copy is made with 4 boxes. For the tube parameters, I used: Radius 26.5 Length 289.93 Points/Section 20 and Sections 8. Closed both ends. I even tried sliding the 2nd section to the front section of the tube hoping that would work. Nope.
Thanks for trying to help a rookie here!!

[MIKE JG]

All you need is a six sided tube to make the shape that you made out of all those box pieces. In the zip file is your original project and I've added the six sided tube that I made plus copied that part and shaped it more like a ship's hull for you to take a look at and see how I did it. There is also a series of screen captures in there showing you how I did what I did. Everything was done in point mode using either the scale or move mode. Very simple.

[MIKE JG]

Here's another couple ship examples for you. One is a very basic set of shapes to give you an idea of how to shape and make the various parts of a boat. The other is a little more detailed version of an Aegis class destroyer that you can look at for help.

[flynby]

Just to say "Thank You" so very much for the help explaining my problem with the points. The Ship Examples really made things more clear on other items.

Do have a question about placing numbers on the front bow of a ship. Tried Default Paint from Microsoft and Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 both, I have tried to make a "box" that would be transparent and place numbers on the box so I would not get the result you see. The box always shows a different texture, as you can see. Can this be accomplished somehow?
Thanks again

[BadPvtDan]

It needs to be transparent by using an alpha channel. Download DXTbmp and import a black alpha. Anything black will be transparent.

[MIKE JG]

Several different ways. Obviously texturing is a whole different animal.

You can make a specific part with a specific texture and place it on your model like you would place a decal on a plastic model. That's one way. You can also just single out a section of your bow and isolate that as a unique part, give that single part the texture you want and then rejoin it to your original model. Lot's of ways to do it but it starts to get a little tedious at this point.

PM me your .fsc file and I can show you a couple different ways to do it if you want.

[BadPvtDan]

My way is better.

[MIKE JG]

You mean the "way" that I taught you.....

[BadPvtDan]

Yes, but now it's MY way.

[Firebird]

*hehehe*

[flynby]

My Alpha Failure!! Okay, I made a 256 X 256 bmp in Paint. Used RGB of 0 0 0. Saved and went to DXTBmp. Saved as Extended bitmap 555. What am I doing wrong here?
Appreciate the help

Just now noticed. The 39 looks transparent. I need it white, and the black transparent.

[MIKE JG]

It should be saved as a "DXT1 with alpha" format .bmp file.

If you plan to use it as a decal style part, make sure you go into the FSDS part properties menu and name this part "ZBIAS_xxx". That will give it a z bias and help prevent the flickering that you get when you have one part rendered on top of another. The z bias gives this part a display bias ahead of whatever part it's sitting on top of.

[flynby]

DXTBmp version 4.00.94. All I see in the extended save as is DXT1 (No Alpha).

[MIKE JG]

Sorry, I meant save it as a "DXT1" file. That should do the trick.

DTX1 (no alpha)-use for all scenery textures that do not require transparency
DXT1-use for scenery textures that only require full transparency (alpha channel is made up of black and white only)
DXT3-use for scenery textures that have varying levels of transparency (alpha channel uses shades of gray)

Hope this helps.

[fishlips]

There is also this source file available within one of my OH Perry ship packages on Flightsim.com

[flynby]

This really looks great. I went to Flightsim.com but search came up with no file found.
I typed in OH Perry Ship Package and then I typed in Ship_61_Missile_anchor.
No luck with either.
I would like to have this, if possible.