Atomic Systems

I know it may seem odd for somebody that has produced their own decals, but it was a long time ago AND I'm trying to tweak the methodology to remove using extra programs.

I want to make a decal as a plane mesh in Blender (got 2.49 and Python etc all working fine) but I'm unsure whether the object is unwrapping properly, or if I'm making an error on the materials side of things. I have saved PMs from RMills on setting up the textures and texture painting, but originally built the object as an .OBJ in Sketchup. I've gone and exported my object from Blender and got Blueprint Editor to successfully produce and export the item (or so it says) but I couldn't see the decal in the Blueprint preview to check first, and it doesn't appear anywhere in my scenic items list.

I know pretty much most of the steps but basically I need help making sure my flat rectangle is setup correctly prior to exporting as IGS for the Blueprint Editor, as this is most likely the stage at which it is going awry.

Thanks in advance for any help, I'm willing to get screenshots/videos together of what I am/have been doing if that helps, and I'm certainly considering making a tutorial upon completion so that it can help others to give a little more back.

I think I may not understand what you are doing. If you are referring to terrain decals, these don't require Blender nor an .igs file. From the Blueprint Editor you create a decal blueprint and provide the texture name and dimensions. F7 Export and you are done.

You were correct in so far as not understanding . I am talking about a train decal that can achieve either or both of the following:

a) help display independently sided livery elements on a mirrored texture mesh.
b) provide a small area of high detail which is covered only by a small, eg 15x15 pixel area, of the whole train mesh.

I am making a flat plane to then place a texture image of the train number on with transparency alphad out. I wasn't sure if I had made the plane/rectangle correctly as the IGS and Blueprint Editor said it had exported correctly but I see nothing in preview or in the object editor of the simulator itself.

I hope that explains a bit better.

To appear in the Object Filter in editor mode you need to - in the scenery blueprint Browse Information section a) select the correct Category you want it to appear in, b) Tick the "Valid in scenarios" box if you want it to appear when editing a scenario. Then you need to c) select the relevant developer name/product in the editor filter.

However if it's not appearing in the preview window, then you need to sort that before you start trying it in the actual sim. From memory, the decal shader inherits the specular, reflection, light, etc. from the item it's placed in front of.. it's quite possible that placing one on it's own in the middle of nowhere (i.e. in the asset previewer) means it's invisible. Try creating another empty plane just behind it in blender, give it a basic shader (TexDiff, just a single plain texture in slot 2) and export it all.
If that makes it show up in the previewer, then you know that it's there and it works. Then fiddle with your positioning (presumably trial and error hacking a child into the main object's bin file?) until you get it where you want it. Then export the decal with no backing plane, and Bob's ya route builder.. or maybe even your Uncle

Cheers Karma, from memory (and from screenshots in my PMs with Mr Mills) I can see that with just the decal on its own for the BOMBARDIER on 221115 I was able to see that in the preview of the Blueprint Editor. I have a feeling it will regard my unwrapping of the mesh onto the texture, or even the mesh itself, that I am having trouble with. I have all of the naming conventions for textures, and for the text file to rename the texture when using the IGS exporter, in the PMs (except for a default material, is there something specific that the IGS exporter or the Blueprint Editor would want the material to be called?). I'm not far off, but as ever with these things, for an amateur at least, the devil is in the final 5-10%. I'm in no rush for the trial and error placement of the decals I assure you, particularly not with 3 cast plates (as yet unmade) on each side and at least one decal front and rear too. Damn me for being a perfectionist I suppose.