3D Cockpits

X-Plane 3D cockpits are just normal scenery objects except that cockpits can contain some additional features, but can't contain multiple Levels of Detail so only objects in Blender layer 1 are exported. If you want to keep objects in your Blender scene for reference but which you don't want to export - e.g. the plane fuselage - then put them in layer 4 or greater before exporting.

Choose File → Save As and save the blender file in the same folder as your plane's .acf file with the name airplane_cockpit.blend, airplane_cockpit_INN.blend or airplane_cockpit_OUT.blend (where airplane is the name of your plane's .acf file):

You will usually want to import your plane into Blender to act as a reference and/or starting point for your cockpit. Delete any plane parts that you don't need in creating your cockpit - you only need to keep the fuselage itself plus any relevant Misc Bodies. After import, your cockpit uses the same texture file as your plane, ie airplane_paint. Choose Image → Replace in a UV/Image Editor window to use a different texture file, which can be named anything you like (but no spaces) and which should live in the same folder as your plane's .acf file.

To make your 3D cockpit appear in X-Plane, on the Standard → Viewpoint → View screen in PlaneMaker, check the show cockpit object in: INSIDE views, exact forwards option. To hide the 2D cockpit altogether, also check the show cockpit object in: PANEL views, exact forwards option; hiding the 2D cockpit means that you no longer have to leave a large part of the Panel Texture transparent to represent the windscreen, which gives you more room on the Panel Texture for instruments.

Cockpit instruments

To construct moving cockpit instruments paint the …/cockpit/-PANELS-/Panel.png texture in an image editor application and place instuments in PlaneMaker as as you would for a 2D panel (but bear in mind that only the top 768 lines of the Panel Texture can be used in the 3D cockpit in X-Plane versions prior to 8.20). The Panel Texture can by 1024×any size in X-Plane v8, and any size up to 2048×2048 in X-Plane v9. Normally you can only use a single file to texture your X-Plane objects. But when constructing a 3D cockpit you can additionally use this …/cockpit/-PANELS-/Panel.png file - the instruments that X-Plane draws on the 2D panel will also appear in your 3D model.

The …/cockpit/-PANELS-/Panel.png texture doesn't contain any instruments when you load it into Blender (unless you've painted them on yourself). This makes it hard to tell in Blender where X-Plane will draw the instruments. So it's easier if you use a screenshot of the panel with the instruments drawn on it, instead of the real Panel Texture. If your display is larger than your Panel Texture, then this is simple:

If your Panel Texture is larger than your display then you cannot take a screenshot of the whole panel. In this case you'll need to take multiple screenshots of the panel in PlaneMaker and stich them together in an image editing application.

If you later want to resize your Panel Texture then use the procedure described here.

Note that X-Plane versions prior to 8.20 only display the 3D cockpit when running at the default 1024x768 resolution. You may want to mention this in the Readme with your plane if your plane is intended to work in X-Plane versions prior to 8.20.

v9: Cockpit Panel Regions

The cockpit Panel Texture uses a lot of video memory, much of which is wasted when the 3D cockpit is being displayed:

A "Panel Region" is a new texture which is cut out from your Panel Texture:

When you use Panel Regions instead of the Panel Texture to texture your 3D cockpit, X-Plane discards the Panel Texture's alpha channel and also discards all areas of the Panel Texture other than the pieces that you cut out to make the Panel Regions. This reduces video memory requirements and improves performance.

Creating a Panel Region

Any faces that you've textured using the Panel Texture which are contained inside the new Panel Region are transferred over to use the new Panel Region.

Any areas that are fully transparent in the Panel Texture are coloured sky blue in the new Panel Region. You'll get undefined (i.e. weird) results in X-Plane if you use these sky blue areas to texture your faces.

(Note: When you create a Panel Region, Blender also creates a hidden object named "PanellRegionHandler" to store accounting information. Don't mess with this object).

Deleting a Panel Region

Any faces that you've textured using this Panel Region are transferred back to using the Panel Texture.

The deleted Panel Region will remain in the UV/Image Editor window's pop-up menu for a while until Blender figures out that it can remove it. But the deleted Panel Region won't count towards your maximum of four Panel Regions.

Re-loading the Panel Regions

The Panel Regions aren't automatically updated when you edit your Panel Texture in an image editor application and then reload it in Blender, or when you reload your .blend file.