Download the Plane Maker Manual - X-Plane

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The Plane Maker Interface
Remember that definitions for any unfamiliar terms may be found in the Glossary of Terms, beginning
on page 96.
2.1 Launching Plane Maker
Plane Maker is found in the main X-Plane directory, which is located by default on the Desktop.
Simply double click Plane-Maker.exe (Plane-Maker.app in Mac OS X) to start the program.
Note that in Windows 7 and Vista, there is a known issue with both X-Plane and Plane Maker
relating to the “Aero” desktop effects. With Aero enabled, boxes and text may appear slightly
shifted from where it should be. This problem does not occur on all Windows 7 installations. To
correct it if it occurs, right click on the X-Plane.exe icon (or, alternatively, the shortcut you use
to launch X-Plane) and click Properties. In the window that appears, go to the Compatibility tab
and check the box labeled “Disable desktop composition”, shown in Figure 2.1. Repeat this for the
Plane Maker icon, or the shortcut you use to launch Plane Maker.
2.2 Opening and Saving an Aircraft
To open an aircraft in Plane Maker, click on the File menu and click Open, per Figure 2.2. There,
navigate to the folder containing the .acf file you want to modify, just like you would if you wanted
to open the aircraft to fly in X-Plane. There, double click on the ACF, or click once and click the
Open button.
To save any changes you have made to the aircraft file, open the File menu and click Save. Any
changes you made to the aircraft will be reflected the next time you load the aircraft in X-Plane.
Opening a Livery
To load a specific paint job for an aircraft (known as a livery), first open the aircraft in Plane
Maker. Then, open the File menu and click Open Livery. Click the radio button next to the livery
you would like to load, then close out of the Livery dialog box (either by clicking one of the Xs in
the corner or by hitting the Enter key). Plane Maker will then load the selected livery.
If you save the aircraft file after loading a certain livery, that livery will automatically be applied
when you open the aircraft in X-Plane in the future.
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