FLIGHTSIM MATERIAL TEXTURES

This page is a reference to the different textures that specific FlightSim Materials can use. Unless otherwise specified:

  • Texture formats should be *.PNG or *.JPG (other formats may be supported, but in general you should only use these).
  • Texture slots will use the same UV set (UV1).
  • Only the name of the texture is exported, the relative path is ignored. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 models rely on texture fallback directories (defined in the texture.cfg file) to find them instead of looking relative to the *.glTF.

 

 

Standard, Decal, PortHole, Glass, FakeTerrain, Ghost, Sail, Propeller, Windflex

  • Base Color (Albedo)
    The base color texture. The first three components (RGB) are encoded with the sRGB transfer function. They specify the base color of the material. If the fourth component (A) is present, it represents the linear alpha coverage of the material. Otherwise, an alpha of 1.0 is assumed. Microsoft Flight Simulator Albedo Texture

 

  • Occlusion(R) Roughness(G) Metallic(B)
    The occlusion-metallic-roughness texture. The metalness values are sampled from the B channel. The roughness values are sampled from the G channel. The occlusion values are sampled from the R channel. These values are linear. If an alpha channel is present (A), it is ignored for occlusion-metallic-roughness calculations. Microsoft Flight Simulator Occlusion Roughness Metallic Texture

 

  • Normal
    A tangent space normal map. Microsoft Flight Simulator Normal Texture

 

  • Emissive
    The emissive map controls the color and intensity of the light being emitted by the material. Microsoft Flight Simulator Emissive Texture

 

  • Detail Color(RGB) Alpha(A)
    When no blend mask is specified, the detail base color is interpreted as a linear texture ranging between 0 and 1 of which the channels are blended with the primary base color in a linear fashion. In this case, the detail base color textures are interpreted such that a value of 0.5 will produce no changes, values below 0.5 will darken the primary base color and values above will lighten it. Painting the vertex alpha channel allows to define how the map impacts the base color.
    IMPORTANT! The simulation compresses the detail maps in a very specific way, which means these textures cannot be re-used in other texture slots. Using them for anything other than detail maps will cause them to be rendered incorrectly in the simulation.

 

  • Detail Occlusion(R) Roughness(G) Metallic(B)
    When no blend mask is specified, the detail occlusion-roughness-metallic texture is treated as a linear texture with values ranging between 0 and 1. The values will be added to the primary Occlusion(R), Roughness(G), Metallic(B) in a linear fashion: a value of 0.5 will produce no changes, values below 0.5 will decrease the primary values and values above 0.5 will increase them. Painting the vertex alpha channel allows to define how the map impacts the occlusion-roughness-metallic texture.
    IMPORTANT! The simulation compresses the detail maps in a very specific way, which means these textures cannot be re-used in other texture slots. Using them for anything other than detail maps will cause them to be rendered incorrectly in the simulation.

 

  • Detail Normal
    When no blend mask is specified, the detail normals are added to the primary normal channels. Painting the vertex alpha channel allows to define how the map impacts the normals. The Detail UV Tiling, Detail Normal Strength and Detail Threshold parameters can be used to modify the impact of this texture.
    IMPORTANT! The simulation compresses the detail maps in a very specific way, which means these textures cannot be re-used in other texture slots. Using them for anything other than detail maps will cause them to be rendered incorrectly in the simulation.

 

  • BlendMask
    When this texture is set, the detail map becomes a secondary albedo texture that is blended with the original . How the two textures are blended will depend on the Vertex Alpha: if your vertex alpha is 1 the simulation will display the first map, and if it's 0 it will show you the Blend Map. Values in between 0 and 1 will create a gradient, the sharpness of which can be controlled by the Detail Threshold parameter.

 

  • Occlusion (UV2)
    This texture lets you provide a different set of UV mappings for ambient occlusion using a greyscale (16bits / channel) texture. This is ideal for providing seperate ambient occlusion or lightmaps to a material. For example, say your aircraft panel has a lot of screws and they all share the same texture page with stacked UVs:
    Since these screws are for the interior panel, they will require unique ambient occlusion mappings on a per-screw basis. This can be applied using the UV2 texture, where every screw can have a unique UV with no stacking, eg:

 

  • Wear Albedo (RGB) Mask (A)
    Not currently used in the simulation.

 

  • Wear Occulusion(R), Roughness(G), Metallic(B), Intensity(A)
    Not currently used in the simulation.

 

 

GeoDecalFrosted

 

 

ClearCoat

 

 

Windshield

  • Base Color (Albedo)

    The albedo RGB sets the "tint" colour for the windshield glass, while the alpha channel will set it's opacity. The recommendation for most windshields is to not use this texture and instead use the Albedo parameter.

 

  • Reflection (R), Roughness (G), Metallic (B)
    The reflection-metallic-roughness texture. The red channel (R) is used to determine the visibility of the reflections on the windshield glass where 1 would be fully reflective, and 0 would be non-reflective. The green channel (G) is used to determine the global roughness of the windshield. The blue channel (B) is used to determine the global metalness of the windshield (the material does not require anything in this channel). These values are linear. If an alpha channel is present (A), it is ignored for reflection-metallic-roughness calculations.

 

  • Normal

    Is used to determine the global normal of the windshield, and is not generally required.

 

  • Secondary Details (RGBA)
    A texture used to add a layer of details on top of the windshield. The RGB channels are used to give colour to these details, while the Alpha channel is used to determine the mask/opacity of the detail. This mask is masked by the Green channel vertex color in the modelling program. The UV's used for this detail map are not affected by the UV Options.
    Example Of The RGB and A Channels Of The Secondary Details Texture

 

  • Details 1 (R), Icing Mask (G), Details 2 (B)

    This texture fulfills multiple purposes for adding detail, like fingerprints, smudges or scratches. The red channel (R) is used like a mask to set custom roughness and custom opacity, determined with the and parameters. This is masked by the Red in the Vertex Color. The green channel (G) is the Icing Mask which is used like a mask for the icing propagation on the windshield. This is masked by the Vertex Alpha. Finally the blue channel (B) is used as a mask to set custom roughness and custom opacity, determined with the and parameters. This mask is masked by the Blue in Vertex Painting.
    Example Of The Channels In The Details/Icing Texture

 

  • Detail Reflection (R), Detail Roughness (G), Detail Metallic (B)
    This textures uses the red channel (R) is used to add detail to the reflection, the green channel (G) to add details to the roughness, and the blue channel (B) to add detail to the metallic. Note that this texture will be modified by the Detail UV Tiling parameter. For more information please see here: Scratches and Fingerprints, Icing.

 

  • Icing Normal (Use Detail UV Tiling)
    This texture is is used to determine the normals of the icing/frost on the windshield. Note that this texture will be modified by the Detail UV Tiling parameter. For more information please see here: Icing.

 

  • Reflection Mask (UV2)
    This texture is used to add detail to the reflection using UV2.

 

  • Wiper Mask (RGBA)
    This texture is used for the wipers render on windshield (to remove rain and water effects). This texture should be generated using the Wiper Mask Generator. For this texture the red channel (R) is for animation-in, the green channel is for animation-out, the blue channel is for the wiper length, and alpha channel is wiper mask. For more information on creating this texture, please see the following section: Wipers
    Example Of The RGB Channels In The Wiper Mask Texture (Alpha is rendered as black for clarity)

 

  • Detail Normal (Use DetailMap UV)

    This texture will also be used to calculate background refraction, which is controlled using the parameter on this material.
    The Detail Normal Texture And An Example Of How It Affects Light In The Simulation

 

  • Scratches Normal
    This texture is used to add micro-scratches to the windshield. This texture is sampled multiple times with different rotations so you need to ensure that the scratches are all aligned following the U (horizontal) coordinates of the UV. The scratches normal can be fine tuned with and parameters.
    The Scratches Normal Texture And An Example Of How It Affects Light In The Simulation

 

  • Iridescent Thickness (R)
    With this texture you can simulate "thin film interference" on the surface of the windshield - the "rainbow" effect that the protective covering on the windshield can cause in bright sunlight. The texture only requires a red channel (R), which is used to determine the thickness of this film, where a value of 0 is thinnest and and a value of 1 is thickest. The actual look of this effect can be controlled using the and you must check the option for it to be enabled in the simulation. The image below illustrates this texture and its effect in the simulation (mouse over the image to see an outline of the window texture positions to help visualise how the effect works).
    Card Back Card Front

 

  • Insects Albedo (RGBA)
    This texture will be used to define the "insect splatter" effect on any windows that have the windshield material. You should not create this texture yourself, but use the texture shown below (click on the image to download, see Insect Splatter for more information):
     
    The Insect Albedo Texture

 

  • Insects Mask (A)
    This texture is used to create the mask which will be used by a shader within the simulation to gradually show the "insect splatter" effect on windows with the windshield material over time. You should not create this texture yourself, but use the texture shown below (click on the image to download, see Insect Splatter for more information):
     
    The Insect Mask Texture

 

 

ParallaxWindow

  • Base Color (Albedo) (Front Glass Color)
  • Occlusion(R) Roughness(G) Metallic(B)
  • Normal (Front Glass Normal)
  • Emissive Ins Window (RGB) offset Time (A)
    Microsoft Flight Simulator Anisotropic Direction Texture

    This texture (and the one given for Behind Glass Color (RGB) Alpha (A)) must be subdivided in a grid matching the number of columns/rows specified in the parameters, where each cell contains an image of a room with a size relative to the cell's UV that respect the following rules

    • Vertically:
      • floor 1/4
      • roof 1/2
      • walls 1/4
    • Horizontally:
      • left wall 1/4
      • back wall 1/2
      • right wall 1/4

    Essentially, "Behind Glass Color (RGB), Alpha (A)" and "Emissive Ins Window (RGB), offset Time (A)" are respectively an albedo and an emissive map that respect the previous constraints.

 

  • Behind Glass Color (RGB) Alpha (A)
    Microsoft Flight Simulator Anisotropic Direction Texture

 

 

 

Anisotropic

 

The aim of this material is to give a "brushed metal" effect, similar to that shown in the examples below:

Example Of Anisotropic Materials Being Used

 

 

Hair

 

 

SSS

SSS stands for sub-surface scattering. This material type mimics the effect of light bouncing through a surface and coming back out, for example with skin.

 

 

Invisible

No textures are required by this material.

 

 

Environment Occluder

No textures are required by this material.

 

 

Ghost

See Standard, Decal, PortHole, Glass, FakeTerrain, Ghost, Sail, Propeller, Windflex for the textures required by this material.

 

 

FresnelFade

 

 

GeoDecal Blended Mask

 

 

Sails

See Standard, Decal, PortHole, Glass, FakeTerrain, Ghost, Sail, Propeller, Windflex for the textures required by this material.

 

 

Propeller

See Standard, Decal, PortHole, Glass, FakeTerrain, Ghost, Sail, Propeller, Windflex for the textures required by this material.

 

 

Windflex

Not currently used in the simulation.

 

 

Tree, Vegetation

 

 

Tire

NOTE: This material is not currently used in the simulation.

 

Related Topics

  1. Textures_And_Materials
  2. FlightSim Materials
  3. FlightSim_Material_Parameters