https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=4718
using co-oords in wings to place model subentities:
You can use Wings to get the positions for exhausts, flashers etc by looking up vertex co-ordinates, make sure you 'flip' the X co-ordinate value (the first of the 3 co-ordinate numbers), ie make it a negative value if it's originally a positive value, or make it a positive value if it's originally a negative value
in the pic above, if i wanted a exhaust plume to originate at the highlighted vertex's position in oolite, the co-ordinates in the shipdata.plist would be 1.0 1.0 1.0 and not -1.0 1.0 1.0
exporting a texture template from Wings3d into GIMP (or any other paint program)
1. When you've got your UV's laid out as you wish, right click in the AutoUV: window and select Create Texture.
2. In the Draw options box that appears, set the resolution to something suitable eg 512x512, in the render options, make sure 0: is 'Background' and 1: is 'Draw Edges', 2&3 should both be set to 'None'.
3. Click the Options box for the Background layer, select 'Color' and then click the Color Swatch so we can specify a new background color - leave the RGB and HSV sliders as they are but make sure to slide the the A (alpha) slider all the way down to 0.0 - this will make the background colour transparent. Click OK, then Click OK on the 'Background' box, then finally click OK on the 'Draw Options' box.
4. In the Outliner window there should be a new image at the bottom of the list with a filename probably ending in _auv, click to select then right click on it's name and choose 'Export...' save out the image as a .png
5. Open GIMP and load up your saved image. Open the Layer palette - there should be only 1 layer present called Background. Rename this layer to Template then click the Lock option to stop you being able to paint in this layer.
6. Create a new layer and in the layer palette drag the new layer BELOW the Template Layer (always keep the template layer at the top of the stack, this way you will never obscure the UV outlines so you can see exactly where you need to paint).
7. Select your new layer and begin painting! Once you're ready to save out your final image map, click the Eye icon beside the Template layer to switch off it's visibility so that it doesn't appear in your final texture, then save out your image.
@ Thargoid
I think i've got the tutorial you mean saved on my pc's hard disk. It was in a thread on these boards called "Rotation's Logic" started by Draco_Caeles, but i think it got so old it got automatically deleted.
I've pasted the tutorial (by Aegidian) below
Quick and easy instructions for wings3D.
1. Make a panel on your main model where the dock entrance will be. A rectangle 192x64 is ideal, but you can go bigger - and use different shapes.
2. Assign the special material '_hole_' to the rectangle.
3. While you have it selected make a note of the coordinates of the centre of the rectangle.
4. As a separate model, make a cube then scale it to the dimensions of your rectangle and a depth of 250. So a cube scaled to 192 x 64 x 250.
5. Select the face of the cube facing the same way as your dock entrance in (1.) and assign it the '_hole_' material.
6. While it's selected choose Tools - Center - All from the menu to move that face to the origin.
7. Select the object, and from the right-click menu choose Invert to turn the cube 'inside out'. It should look something like this:
8. Texture your new dock. And convert it to an Oolite .dat model file.
9. Position the new dock as a subentity of the station, at the coordinates you noted down in (3.)
10. You should now be done. You can vary the shape of the dock entrance in stage 1. If you copy and paste the panel into a new model you can even use it to extrude the dock shape.
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It's based on a rock hermit as reference...