VERY vertical switch

Help and techniques for creating Air Manager Instrument Graphics

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Roxus
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2020 7:30 pm

VERY vertical switch

#1 Post by Roxus »

Has anyone done a VERY vertical switch in skinman that might suggest how to make it look good ? (I'm no artist)
The UH-60 Blackhawk engine igniters are an off-on-momentary 3-way switch that is vertical

All the way out is off
In is "active" ?
And push-and-hold for 5s to fire them up

I have a normal button at the moment, with a depressed (and depressing) look, but its only a few pixels between up and down, it just doesnt look "tall"

The real switch looks about an inch/25mm tall when off, half an inch/12mm when on and, IDK, 1/4inch/5mm when igniting ?

I'm currently looking through WebKnobMan's gallery to see it anyone has done anything, but most of the buttons/knobs seem to have a look that is only a few pixels "deep".
Maybe that s all the "3D" you can get out of 2D ? IDK
If so, I guess I just have to stop here ....

JackZ
Posts: 2262
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:02 pm

Re: VERY vertical switch

#2 Post by JackZ »

You can always reuse the Generic vertical switch I had made a couple years ago, and which is somewhere in the Store, and resize the graphics to your liking in the img_add.

Code: Select all

switch_id = switch_add("red_ver_complete_off.png", "red_ver_complete_on.png", 0,0,70,130,switch_click_callback)
image.png
image.png (9.9 KiB) Viewed 5445 times

Code: Select all

switch_id = switch_add("red_ver_complete_off.png", "red_ver_complete_on.png", 0,0,30,130,switch_click_callback)
image.png
image.png (5.44 KiB) Viewed 5445 times
Jacques
My YouTube Chanel on the A320 (Real SOPs by an Airline Pilot IRL):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 0Q6SBASRqJ

Roxus
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2020 7:30 pm

Re: VERY vertical switch

#3 Post by Roxus »

Sorry, vertical, I mean "out of the page" vertical

https://www.g200kg.com/en/webknobman/data/gal/1312.png is something like what I'm looking at.
Since its a button/switch, I dont have to worry about the "rotating" effects, just the up and down look

JackZ
Posts: 2262
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:02 pm

Re: VERY vertical switch

#4 Post by JackZ »

Sorry, but I don't get it. Do you have a picture of the real UH60 switch?
My YouTube Chanel on the A320 (Real SOPs by an Airline Pilot IRL):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 0Q6SBASRqJ

Roxus
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2020 7:30 pm

Re: VERY vertical switch

#5 Post by Roxus »

From the Operation Manual ...
uh60_engine_igniters.png
Under opertation, it pops out when the igniter(s) are disabled/deactivated (sim/cockpit2/engine/actuators/igniter_on[8])
Press it in half way to enable the igniter
And press it all the way in (and hold for 5 secs) to activate the igniter

the aircraft dev then uses custom_slider_on[24] to manage whether its being held in for long enuff, and then pops it back out to half-way when the engines are running

Roxus
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2020 7:30 pm

Re: VERY vertical switch

#6 Post by Roxus »

Most (if not all) of the buttons I've seen dont really give you an indication of how "tall" they are.
I havent seen anyone do a switch that is in/out either.
It just may not be possible to give that "feeling" of how far out the "switch" is in 2D.

In XP11, sure, I can look at the switch side on and see, but I'm just about finished in replacing the entire usable portions of the cockpit fully in AM so I dont have to move my view around to see something implemented in the XP11 cockpit.

JackZ
Posts: 2262
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:02 pm

Re: VERY vertical switch

#7 Post by JackZ »

It can be done indeed, even in 2D. The sense of depth is strictly related to the length of the drop shadow, that tricks the brain into thinking that the button is long or not.
The longer the drop shadow, the more protruding the button is.
This is exactly the same button with a different drop shadow. The first two use the embedded shadow feature of Skinman, the fourth example one has no shadow per se, but a shape that looks like a shadow, because the shadow function of skinman merely offsets the existing shape, and there is obviously a distance limit where the shadow is no longer attached to the object like in the 3rd example.
image.png
Jacques
My YouTube Chanel on the A320 (Real SOPs by an Airline Pilot IRL):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 0Q6SBASRqJ

JackZ
Posts: 2262
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:02 pm

Re: VERY vertical switch

#8 Post by JackZ »

image.png
image.png
image.png
and here's an example of the 3D effect that can be achieved exclusively in 2D with shadows. I reckon it's quite complicated though.
My YouTube Chanel on the A320 (Real SOPs by an Airline Pilot IRL):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 0Q6SBASRqJ

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