![]() Plane Maker will supply a default panel image based on your cockpit setting in the Viewpoint window, but you may want a different image for a number of reasons.įor our example aircraft, we modified the default general aviation panel to make it 1600 pixels wide, with both “ends” of the panel visible (instead of only having the left side in the image). Creating the Backgroundīefore beginning the layout, you will want to create a basic version of the background panel image you will use. If you’re interested in creating custom instruments, see the Generic Instruments page of the Plane Maker manual. ![]() Creating custom instruments is beyond the scope of this tutorial, so we used the closest approximations to the real instruments that we could find in the Plane Maker instrument list. To create our example panel, we found an image on the Web of a real A36 Bonanza’s panel and (loosely) based our instrument selection and layout on that. To delete an instrument, select it and hit the Backspace key. Click and drag to form a box that selects multiple instruments. Hold the Alt key to view which electrical bus each instrument is on. Right click (or hold the Control key and left click) on the panel and drag it to pan the view left and right. Use the = and – keys or your mouse wheel to zoom in and out in the panel layout pane. Here, you can see the level of zoom for the panel layout pane, the position of the currently selected object, and its size (as a ratio compared to its original size). This includes which electrical bus the instrument is on, what Tool Tip (if any) will be displayed when it is moused over in X-Plane, and what lighting is used on the instrument.įinally, in the very bottom of the window is the status bar (labeled 8 in Figure 1 above). When an instrument is selected in the layout and hierarchy panes, the Properties tab (labeled 7 in Figure 1) will display its settings. Double-click an instrument to change its name. To group instruments, select them and press the G key. To select multiple instruments, hold down either the Control or Shift keys and click as desired. Additionally, you can set its status to visible or invisible by clicking the eye next to it, and to locked or unlocked by clicking the padlock. You can select an instrument from the layout pane by clicking its name here. When an instrument has been added to the panel layout, it will appear in the Hierarchy list (labeled 6 in Figure 1 above). If there is more than one instrument in the panel, guide lines will appear to which the instrument will “snap”, allowing you to align instruments perfectly. With it selected, you can drag the instrument around to reposition it, or use the arrow keys to move it by very small amounts. Once there, click the instrument once to select it. To add an instrument to the panel layout, drag it from the instrument list into this pane. Taking up the center of the screen is the layout pane (labeled 5 in Figure 1 above). ![]() Beneath this is the Description tab (labeled 4 in Figure 1), which details what the instrument does. With an instrument selected, you can see what it will look like in the Preview tab (labeled 3 in Figure 1 above). For instance, in the image above, the general aviation altimeter (labeled 2) is selected. Find the instrument you’re looking for in the instrument list and click on it. First, make sure the Instrument List is visible by clicking its tab if needed (labeled 1 in Figure 1 above). Figure 1Ĭreation of the panel is pretty straightforward. You’ll be greeted by a very plain panel background with no objects on it. Open the Standard menu and click Panel: 2-D. To begin, get Plane Maker running (recall that the Plane Maker application is located in the X-Plane directory) and open the Bonanza. Understanding the Panel Creation Workflow For this tutorial, you will need a copy of the Beechcraft A36 Bonanza created in the tutorial “ Creating a Basic Aircraft in Plane Maker” or you can download the files here.
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