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  • Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.

    Post 16 Update

    Post 17 Warning

An old project brought up to date: Canso PBY-5 of SAGQ

The work on textures is not easy at all, I much prefer modeling :cool:

Under the latest advances:
- the inside of the parts receiving the rear wheels has been detailed by adding all the reinforcement ribs for these parts (for now, there is only an Ambient Occlusion to texture these places, no color base nor normal map)

- the material for the windows has been reviewed to reduce the size of scratches and fingerprints (UVScale = 30), in doing so the frost is more finely represented and if the operator does not activate the two defrost switches (prop and windshield), we will end up in an "igloo" quite quickly :p

- the comp textures were worked for two days but the result is there on the Water Bomber model, the paint is aged and the sheet metal fittings have been highlighted by playing with the different teins of the comp to make certain parts more reflective

This view (exterior part only) is taken under Blender software:
1765568702857.png
Many thanks to the paintkit of Ferondoe, which help me a lot in theses tasks.
 
Thanks, but that’s why I’m working on the exterior textures these days here. There is also the one from PBY-6A Calypso which have the same concern. In fact I have noticed at least ten or twelve points like this ...

That said, this kind of correction takes a lot of time and must be done on each livery: there are already 10 official ones, not to mention that the modifications made can modify them at Jankees and Ferondoe.
 
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Yesterday, Ferondoe send me his work on exterior NRM textures (fuse & wings) and I succeed to find the reason why some COMP weren't produced during the compilation: a node in the shaders of Blender was corrupted during the migration of materials (Blender 2.83 to Blender 3.6).

After the compilation of all heses modifications, the result is quite surprising at the level of the plane’s rendering as proven by this image from Ferondoe (I think he won’t mind me publishing it):

1765874229630.png
(In this image, I had not yet released my fix on the COMP In this image, I had not yet released my fix on the COMP as you can see on the prop spinners.)

His work focused on the BlackCat’s NRM which can also be used on the Calypso, but the other aircraft require some modifications to the lines and rivets, particularly at the front of the plane which is quite different depending on the models.
 
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Good evening to everyone,

After almost a month working on textures and paintkit, I have arrived at a result that seems convenient to me.
Everything is not perfect but overall the UVs of the fuselages and wings should no longer change. Now they are in PBR format: albd, comp and nrm.
The inner part of the fuselage where the wheels store during the flight has been revised in 3D but also in PBR textures as well as the landing gear which have been reworked for more details.

Note:
These NRM textures cause me some problems: the rivets seem a bit big and although correct under 2020, under 2024 they seem square! It’s a point that I will try to improve in the final version scheduled for the first quarter of 2026.

Download link for the v0.9.5 (english link)

Canso-PBY-5A_WIP_095.jpg

Regarding the points that will be reviewed for v1.0.0, there will be:
- the PREFLIGHT type cameras which must be able to check all the moving surfaces of the aircraft and the fuel and oil levels,
- the electrical system including interior lamps and headlights,
- the hydraulic system
- and perhaps a set of XML files to manage a more "real behavior" for the two engines (an adaptation of theses used for the Super Stearman).

PS: A fifteenth livery was added this morning, at Tom’s request. I had to rework it a bit to make it more usable with the latest modifications but it is present, it is the PBY hosted at the Amercan Heritage Museum, and which is the PBY having sunk the most U-Boats during the WWII.
 
lagaffe, I can not believe how far this addon has improved recently, I fly solely in VR & it looks absolutely amazing in full 3D, especially with the new texturing/lighting & the sound on my quest 3 is very nice, almost soothing... MSFS2020.
 
Thanks a lot :engel016:
Just a slight digression about the Quest 3: should we give in to the advertising sirens and buy the model 512 to be able to use it in 2020?
I am a glasses wearer, does that pose a problem with this Quest model?

For Jankees and Ferondoe, whom I thank immensely for their work around these planes, you can rely on this version in order to complete the adaptation of your repaints: the outdoor 3D and the UVs are frozen (y)

I posted this version last night around 6 PM and this morning at 11 AM there are already 50 downloads made: thanks !

For the PBY, in terms of residual bugs, I noticed:
- the texture of the wheel hubs should be slightly rotated by a few degrees to match the NRM/3D files
- under 2024 the rivets are slightly square (perhaps I should experiment a NRM file of 8K to obtain the good effect)
- some anti-glare paint on the front covers of the fuselage would deserve more antialiasing to avoid aliasing

In fact, I have a lot of trouble delivering my versions because they never seem to me to be finished and I always find details that could be improved but if I yield to this the versions would never be finished :banghead:

Regarding this addon, you can continue to post your screens and your remarks that I will take care to note for the future version 1.0 but I will pause on the PBYs for a few weeks in order to provide perspective and analyze the points still to be improved.

In fact, I have at least 4 projects that are more or less started and that I will take up again to clear my mind and see other forms of planes: I will make a specific post in some time :cool:
 
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The new version looks superb in MSFS2024, especially the wheel well details!
After a few short test flights I found that the cockpit glass is more like a mirror, the reflections are a bit too much:

1767097982578.jpeg

The AP heading bug issue and the retracted wheels spinning when landing on water are still present, but I know these are work in progress.
I noticed that if you extend the gear when on water, the plane will lift up and stand on it's wheels! That could be a sim issue of course, but it's a neat party trick in the meantime.
 
In fact the windshield is composed by three parts:
- a clear windshield: windshield_albd (transparency), windshield_comp (1) & windshield_nrm
- a wear windshield: it's in the comp file of this part that you find the finger marks and others dirty things
- a windshield interior which used also the windshield_comp (1), fingers mask and a frost texture for icing conditions.

I maded several tests to determine the texture which is the reason of this reflexion without success. In the Aeronca, I have used theses three parts and their textures without any problem ! Perhaps it's the different form of the windshield that creates its parasitic reflections ...

Writing on paper the components of these three windshields, it seems that the common point would be the windshield_comp.png texture which contains too much "metallic" (40%) and not enough "roughness" (60%).
windshield_comp.png
To try to find the right values to include in these comp, I created a table by trying several values to study their influences: each line is for a ambient Occlusion value (0, 50 & 100) and roughnees is increase from left to right when metallic value decrease (sorry for the french comment but it is a personnal working document)

Tableau des COMP.png

The windshield_comp.png value used in this version is "AO100_rough60_meta40.png". I will try to use more green or yellow component for this file (values on the right of the tab) in order to find a solution to this point.

[EDIT] After several tests with this color tab, I have a better behavior using AO50_rough100_metal0.png but the reflexion type has also changed for a opaque color which is not the best in my opinion. I work on this point ...

@Tim, you can test with this new file.
It shoud be unzipped under : frenchvfr-canso-pby\SimObjects\Airplanes\frenchvfr_canso_pby5a_blisters\texture
Under 2024, remake the layout.json ;)

Reading the 2024 SDK, it seem that they advice to use a "Roughness parameters" near to 0.01 ... As I have 1.0 ... I should recompile one aircraft to test this possibility.
 

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lagaffe, I also wear glasses & in the quest 3 they fit very well, the face mask gasket part can slide backward allowing for glasses. I used to run an HP Reverb G2 but unfortunately it died, I couldn't fly in 2D after VR so within a couple of days & a tonne of homework on VR headsets I had a new Quest 3. I am highly impressed with the quest, it is superior in every way to the G2 on my low to medium spec system. I run virtual desktop & get a steady 36fps at my local airport. I get performance & clarity that I was never able to achieve in the HP. My other choice was a Pimax crystal light but I am glad I went the Quest rout due to it's availability & support here in OZ. PS: My daughter loves the Stitch on the glare shield...
 
The funniest part of this choice is that the Stitch figurine is indeed present on the aircraft in question, I’m talking about the 'Princess of the Stars' (IMMA: N9767), we have many videos that illustrate this.
 
For whose who asked for a "Fire Eaters" Cat, I have made some research and found explanations.
You can have some posts on this site: https://travelforaircraft.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/update-pby-5a-catalina-super-cat-mod-write
One of theses PBY modified sits at the Wings Over Miami Air Museum

The original R-1830 (1200 hp) were changed for Wright Cyclone R-2600-20 (1700 hp) so the engines covers were bigger, the air intake were located upper and the oil radiator no longer on the right side but just below the engines. The rudder has been modified,: its surface increased and rectangular shape quite recognizable.

R2600 Cyclone 1700 hp.png
blog-pby-5a-supercat.jpg
blog-pby_mg_2947-ed_edited-1.jpg

485112626_2879406125565262_8557788097848464386_n.jpg

Approximately Twin Wasp engines occupy 61 5/8 × 48 3/16 in. and Cyclone ones have for dimensions : 62.06 in x 55 in. or 7 in. more in diameter!
 
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You spend 60 years building an insane and mostly useless collection of knowledge about aircraft and THEN you find out about Steward-Davis and the Super Catalina. Always interesting new stuff! Apparently if we'd been faster, we could have chipped in and bought one for Sim-Outhouse.

In addition to the Super Catalina (bigger engines and tail, plus faired off nose), Steward-Davis also did the jet engine conversion for the C-82 Packet and some really interesting prototypes. (As well as odd stuff like buying the type certificate for the FH-1 Phantom's engine, and doing Tora Tora Tora conversions.)
 
Hi,

Jankees like me found that the NRM textures, notably the rivets, were not the best ever. This is one of the remarks I made above.
I have several solutions for this:
1 - trying to apply a Blurr Gaus on the NRM texture to make the rivets less sharp and therefore a less effect
2 - redo the NRM textures in 8k for more finesse
3 - use the method of decals for rivets and keep the NRM for lines related to various metal sheets

In 2023 before "my pause" I started applying the 3rd method with the wings, but it’s very long to perform on an aircraft of this size: 3 days for the wings and there are 6 fuselages to perform in addition ... :banghead:.

1767378265226.png

I had announced that the rudder UVs would be redone according to the diagram I had presented, but in all the modifications I made, I forgot to apply this to the Military model as Jankees pointed out to me this morning. I therefore reviewed these UVs and modified my 3 PSDs concerning the Military model.

I just finished the work that I will send to Jankees to see if it suits him. If yes, there will be a version v0.9.6 that will fix this and take into account the new COMP file for windshields.
 
Hi, small suggestion, add the type in the description. Now in the selection menu you can not see which is which type, they are all 4 the same.

1767434982923.png
 
With the appearance of 2024, the parameters that were used to identify the variations were reviewed and no explanation was given by Asobo despite repeated requests to clarify this. Therefore, some modifications made to facilitate the grouping of aircraft under FS2024 have modified the display behavior in the thumbnails of FS2020.
Nethertheless, I note and I will see for the next version to pay particular attention to this point.

The images included in each variation are still explicit: a PBY Calypso is easily differentiable from a BlackCat or a Liner version with an Air-France livery ;)
 
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Can't wait for Version 1.0.0. This with Version 0.9.5. For a big aircraft, she's slow but gentle, very easy to fly. Screenshot is from MSFS 2024. Wilmington and the USS North Carolina.

Cazzie

pby5_ussnorthcarolina.jpg
 
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