PANMAKE

by Louis J. Betti (4 November 1998)

The panel window display, where your windows and bitmaps are identified, sized, etc.

n more than one occasion I have read posts at the FS98 forum asking panel related questions. Recently there was the problem with Co-Pilot 2.0, and their GPS unit filling the entire screen. "Just change the window ident to 1 instead of 0, and you'll be fine", I responded, "just go into note pad, or do it in Panmake".

I can't believe I went some five months with FS98 before downloading this most helpful program. While I have yet to use it in the design of a panel from scratch (I'm working on it), I have used it to modify every panel that I have installed, every one.

While this review is of version 2.4, Panmake is now in version 2.53. (there were no other released versions in between). As the two versions are almost identical, my comments here apply to both.

Panmake is the creation of Michel Polski, from Strasbourg, France, and is, what I would call, "very benevolent shareware". Michel allows 100 sessions with Panmake before you must send him the exorbitant amount of $10. Once you have used Panmake, you will most certainly know that my use of "exorbitant" is in jest. One hundred free sessions, and then only $10. Well, Michel, I leave my computer up 24 hours a day, and in seven months I'm only up to session number 63, but I promise when session 90 rolls around, you'll get a lot more than $10 from this satisfied user!

The panel template display. F-27 panel, with a gauge dialogue box opened.
Installation of Panmake is a snap. Just download the file, create a Panmake folder anywhere on your drive, and unzip to that folder. You will find the Panmake.exe in that folder, and I put a shortcut to it on my desktop (you can handle that last part as you wish). Start Panmake, set it once to your FS98 directories, and off you go.

There's little written documentation with Panmake, so what you'll use is the on-line help, which is available off the menu bar. If you are attempting a panel from scratch, I would also suggest the Panel SDK from Microsoft, but don't let this intimidate, Panmake is easy to use, and I always suggest that you start with modifications of existing panels before moving on to bigger things.

Your work in Panmake is divided between two windows, the panel window display, and the panel template display. The former is where you specify panel window names, the bitmap names, positions, sizes, idents, etc. The latter is where you will see your panel similar to how it will appear in FS98, or perhaps you may wish to call this the "fun window". Here, you can move and resize gauges, add and remove gauges and zoom in and out on the panel for precise positioning. Gauges can be moved as little as one pixel, and a right click on any gauge opens a dialogue box that enables you to control these gauge parameters. The panel template window can display the contents of any window contained within your panel, not just the main panel.

Displaying a gauge prior to insertion in a panel. Here, the needle-less Cessna Altimeter.
Once you are acquainted with Panmake, you can move very quickly between it and your paint program. Although Michel suggests having only the Panmake window open at any given time, I simply will save and close the panel I'm working on, minimize Panmake, and maximize PhotoShop (where I do my bitmap work), and go back-and-forth in this manner. If it is not clear at this point, Panmake is not a paint program; it is simply where all the parts of a panel are put together in order for Panmake to create or modify the panel configuration file. Also, you can not modify gauges in Panmake, except for size and position.

Speaking of paint and bitmaps, Panmake contains a color optimizer for use in tailoring those creatures to the rather restricted 256-color format FS98 likes. It is also important to note that the first time you "look" at a gauge in your gauge folder, while working on the panel, Panmake "processes" the gauge, and creates a bitmap to display. A little more explanation is in order here.

While I am far from a gauge programmer, I do know that gauges contain bitmaps, and most contain more than one. Panmake will show you what I describe as the gauge's "main" bitmap, which means you will often see a gauge with missing parts. You'll never see any needles on gauges in Panmake, unless that needle is non-moving (window dressing). In addition, and especially if you're working on an Eric Ernst, or similar glass cockpit panel, you'll be shocked to see many of your gauges appearing as nothing more than black shapes, often larger than the gauge that will actually appear in FS. These "transparent" gauges will be more difficult to work with, but with trial and error, and checking the panel in FS, you'll get it squared away.

Eric Ernst's wonderful 767 panel, as it appears in the operating room. Note the transparent gauges. Can you tell what gauges I've added?
For those starting a panel from scratch, there is also an "outside view sizing tool", helpful in getting the size of the outside view window to cover your windshield properly.

Again, take my advice, and start by modifying existing panels, you will learn a lot about panel structure quickly, and will have some fun while you're at it. Go ahead, put a MFD from a 777 into a DC-3, it's easy with Panmake! If you are like me, you already have hundreds, if not thousands of gauges to choose from in your gauge folder.

Ultimately, Panmake is a fun, and easy program to work with, and I consider it a must have for any serious simmer. No panel is perfect, and many must be a compromise of design in order to work well in FS98. With a 21" monitor, I often re-build panels, incorporating gauges in other windows (radios, etc.) in to the main panel. In addition, new and improved gauges appear from time-to-time, and Panmake is ideal for incorporating them in to your existing panels. From cabin sign switches, to mini GPS units, to a simple auto coordination switch, all install quickly and easily with Panmake.

Now, off to getting that FMC in to my Piper Arrow!

Louis Betti
loubetti@earthlink.net

Download Panmake.

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