Flashing Panels in the Sim

[wmalder]

This is mostly directed to Paul Gausden - 3DC Guru Supreme . but if anyone else can help, pitch in. It's an old problem I suppose, but I'm not finding the precise answer I'm hoping for. Perhaps it's my lack of complete command of British colloquialisms that has generated some fogginess about the explanations... to make a long story shorter, I'm getting flashing surfaces on one of my current projects. When I run this model in the sim with the headlights set to high, surfaces of the cab will light up as if the light was trained on them. Of course this only happens from certain angles and only in certain locations in the simulated terrain (i.e. lit at one location, move up the track 100 yds. and it's not.). I've searched through the forums and the closest I can find to describing this problem is one of flashing wheels. I have since then optimized the offending parts, recreased them and reexported the model yet the problem remains. Are there any other procedures that you might recommend? Is this in fact an artifact of 3DC?
I eagerly await hearing something to deal with this minor but annoying issue.

[decapod]

It depends on the type of flashing, but it could be that 2 faces share the same set of points or that a face has it's normals inverted for some reason.

Without looking at the 3DC file, I can only suggest running the crease and/or repair geometry operation and possibly the weld to range plugin

If those fail, zip it up and send it over and I'll take a look.

[wmalder]

Well, I've been playing around with the model and nothing was seeming to work so I started re-reading posts and found a redirect to Amabilis' forum. I had searched both there and here but not knowing the answer sometimes makes it hard to find it. It appears that the problem isn't with the shape file. There doesn't seem to be a problem with transparencies in the Main part of the hierarchy (at least that I've found yet). It seems that the fix is easy... When defining the cone of light for the bright headlight, the point of origin should be inside the bounding box of the shape. I promptly reduced the y value for the cone of light to 7 from 7.1xxx something (the bounding box value) and voila, the effect of lighting the back of the cab in high beam disappeared.
I do want to thank you Paul, for your prompt reply and your help. It's people like you who make this a satisfying hobby.

[decapod]

Good to hear all is well now.
I wish I had a bit more time to investigate every problem.
Over the past few months, due to computer problems, I've only just managed to keep up with the plugins for the new version of 3DC and help out several other people with models. No time for my own stuff.

All these little problems and their solutions when they are published in the community are what makes the hobby fun - all I do is keep an eye open for them and try to remember the next time they crop up.

The problem is, the memory is fading a bit after 5 years.