Question on instruments (EFIS airspeed indicator)

[SchneiH2]

Hi everybody

 

For the plane I am working on (SSJ 100) I need to modify the EFIS airspeed indicator. The airspeed indicator of this plane just shows an airspeed strip w/o a magnifier window for the current airspeed. Therefore, I need to solve two issues:
Eliminating of the magnifier window for the current airspeed => done by editing the corresponding PNGs of the standard instrument.
Enlarging the numbers displayed on the airspeed strip

The latter turned out to be quite tricky (at least for me) since just enlarging the instrument itself in PlaneMaker does not solve the problem as the EFIS area is quite stuffed and proportions shall be considered. I was wondering if a generic instrument might be used, however, I could not identify such. Having checked the structure of the standard airspeed indicator I noticed that in respect of the airspeed strip it consists basically of a background picture, a number block including tickmarks and a txt-file with some configuration information. In the number block PNG there are 4 lines of numbers (0-9) whereat two lines are of bigger size compared to the other two. Is it possible to somehow (desirably w/o script programming) address the large numbers contained in this number block or to generally edit the number size  for the airspeed strip?

Thank you very much up-front and best regards

SHJ

[SchneiH2]

One small correction of my post - it is meant the airspeed indicator on the PFD! Sorry for possible confusion.

Best regards

SHJ

[SchneiH2]

Hi everybody
Is there nobody out there who can help me on this topic? Hope the description is clear enough, otherwise please let me know.

Best regards

SHJ

[-VETTE]

2 hours ago, SchneiH2 said:

Hi everybody
Is there nobody out there who can help me on this topic? Hope the description is clear enough, otherwise please let me know.

Best regards

SHJ

Sorry - I wish I could help, but I barely know anything about generic instruments, much less how to make something as advanced as an airspeed indicator.

[JGregory]

Using a generic instrument would be the best way to do what you want.

[SchneiH2]

Hi JIm

Thank you for your post. Indeed, I have tried to find an appropriate generic instrument for this purpose. To my understanding there are two which might be suitable for my needs - generic pointer and generic tape. However, so far I could not get a satisfying result. The generic pointer seems not to be a very elegant solution since I have to use a static picture for the whole speed tape. But the real problem is that when selecting the 'clipping' option in PlaneMaker to avoid that the (long, long) speed tape exceeds the boundaries of the instrument and resizing the instrument afterwards leads to a complete distortion of the speed tape picture.

The problem with the generic tape is that my current knowledge allows me only to animate an expanding bar. However, the control also contains a number block which I do not know how to address and/or tu use (if ever possible).

Perhaps you or somebody else could give some more advice.

Thank you very much and best regards

SHJ

[JGregory]

The generic instruments are very powerful and quite flexible.  The generic tape is what you want to use for your ASI.  The best way to learn is to find other aircraft that are using generic instruments and reverse engineer what was done.  

I have attached two (2) textures and one (1) screenshot for you to analyze. These show the setup of the generic ASI tape in the CRJ200 that I did for X-Plane mobile.  Hopefully this gives you an idea of how to create the tape that you want.

 

 

Edited February 20, 2016 by JGregory

[SchneiH2]

Hi Jim

Thank you very much for your comprehensive response. If I got it correctly you used as basic generic instrument a 'generic pointer'. This was also my idea and basically this works fine until I start to resize the window/area of the instrument and use the clipping option. This completely distorts the image for the speed tape. For better understanding I have attached two images. Perhaps you could give a hint what I am doing wrong.

Thank you and best regards

SHJ

[JGregory]

5 minutes ago, SchneiH2 said:

If I got it correctly you used as basic generic instrument a 'generic pointer'. This was also my idea and

NO, that is NOT correct.  I stated "The generic tape is what you want to use for your ASI."  Start with the generic tape and follow the pics I sent as a guide.

[SchneiH2]

Hi Jim
Sorry for a possible misunderstanding. However, if I look to your pics I see on the properties tab the option 'vertical/horizontal' and 'offset' which I cannot find when using a generic tape. To my understanding they belong to a generic pointer. However, when using a generic tape as basis and adding the your speed tape png (as shown in attached pic) itis not animated at all. On the contrary, just the normal tape function works in the background.

Best regards

SHJ

[JGregory]

My apologies, you are correct, it should be a generic pointer.  

 

[SchneiH2]

Hi Jim

Just to give a feedback and to close the topic - the point was that I did not understand correctly the functionality of the 'generic pointer', in particular that the second picture (the 'background', not the pointer itself) must be resized in a corresponding image editing tool to define the display (clipping) area. The mistake I made was to try to resize the original backgound picture which is just a small bar in PlaneMaker. This indeed leads to the distortion as described above.

Thank you again for your help which finally put me on the right track.

Best regards

SHJ