First Time Out - Adding Objects and Stuff

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Dragonfighter
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First Time Out - Adding Objects and Stuff

Post by Dragonfighter » Sat Jan 22, 2011 8:16 pm

Hi all,

Thanks for such a God send. My first project was born in pangs of labor but I have a handle on the photo scenery now. But I have some questions. Here are some screenies, I am trying to create visual cues to simulate real world course rules for use in a virtual UPT program.

Departing Jim Dhaenens' KNPA:
Image

Flying East past Fort Pickens:
Image

Langdon Battery:
Image

Pensacola Beach:
Image

Land Mark I'd Like to Have...Water Tower:
Image

My first questions are about adding objects from the library:
When I add default objects via SBuilder, I cannot seem to get them to position correctly when displayed in FSX. When I see the thumbnail I see the green reticule and red arrow, how does this relate to the object? I.E. Does the red arrow indicate the direction that it faces? If so does the bounding box have any reference to correlate? Does expanding the box change the dimensions of the object?

Making MDLs for FSX:
I cannot find a water tower nearly close enough to act in place of the Pensacola Beach Tower. I would also like to model Langdon Battery and Fort Pickens. Is there a suggested software with a low learning curve that an old brain can learn?

File Size:
When I am finished I am making this available to those who want to fly the course. The image alone is 248 MB! I've downloaded bigger files but is this normal for the Hi-Res (Zoom 17) stuff? Any compression techniques that don't rob quality?

Elevation:
Maybe I a missing something, but I can't find it. Is there a tool within SBuilder to alter portions of the elevation? I.E. Langdon battery sits half buried in a dune faced with scrub. It is about 10' higher than the surrounding terrain.

Thanks again for this wonderful piece of equipment. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, not bad for a first time, huh?

Kyle

Added in Edit: Sorry, the terrain in question is Santa Rosa Island from about Pensacola Beach to Fort Pickens.

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luisfeliztirado
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Re: First Time Out - Adding Objects and Stuff

Post by luisfeliztirado » Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:52 pm

Hello Kyle,

Looks good, congratulations.

1. object images - sorry, I wanted to make pictures of all the objects, but there are just too many - about 1500 I think - and I never got around to it. My images are supposed to give you better clues for placement, so:
{4ccf0e1d-ed8e-4eff-a1ed-411e975418ee}.jpg
The green cross-hairs are the reference point, that is the location where the object is placed. So, you should pay attention because it is not always the center of the object. The red arrow points to due North if you have not changed the heading so that you can see which way the object faces.

Another example:
{65c36320-b40d-4080-9b0b-65482105a5af}.jpg
The box represents the limits of the animated object, in this case the birds. There is also an indication that they are animated, and a zoomed close-up of the bird itself. The reference point is clearly indicated in the center of the bounding box.

2. There should be a water tower like that one in the default objects, although obviously without the custom paint job.
{567c15bf-e002-4de9-a38c-b68c55135a8a}.jpg
It should be in the Hazards object library.

3. Custom ground textures do take up a lot of space - it really depends a lot on the area covered and on compression ratio. Have you tried a different compression ratio?

4. You can change elevation using a flatten polygon. Have you read the following tutorial that covers this topic and much more?
Terrain Design for Flight Simulator X
available in the Avsim library
http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?&DLID=141643

Best regards.
Luis

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Dragonfighter
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Re: First Time Out - Adding Objects and Stuff

Post by Dragonfighter » Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:28 pm

Wow, fast response. Thank You. That is helpful. I am reading the tutorial now.

I somehow don't believe I am showing all of the defaults in the pull down, is that a paths issue or a setting?

Do you have any opinions on a semi-idiot proofed software (read simple) for scenery object design? FSDS perhaps?

I did try different resolutions but since most of the flying will be between 1000' and 6000' AGL I needed it to look good. Right now, if I get anywhere close to 1000' AGL it looks good, albeit flat. The screens are at around 800-900' AGL. So big files I guess it is. I was just wondering if I had a mistake in configuration.

Thanks again, I'll keep you updated.

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luisfeliztirado
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Re: First Time Out - Adding Objects and Stuff

Post by luisfeliztirado » Sun Jan 23, 2011 12:15 pm

Hello Kyle,

I have always used gMax and find it extremely simple, flexible, and very powerful. For some strange reason, many people do not agree about the simplicity, but it is simply a matter of understanding basic concepts in modeling. However, at the moment, a certain number of people seem to be using Google Sketchup, which I tried some years ago and found highly underpowered. But, it may have changed since then. You will need Arno Gerretsen's ModelConverterX in order to make it into an FS-compatible object.

If you installed SBuilderX correctly, then you are seeing all the default object libraries. In fact, if you see any of them, then all are being displayed in the list, since the list is one single document - objects.txt - that you will find in the SBuilderX 313\LibObjects folder. You can open and read this short document for more information.

By the way, you previously wrote:
When I see the thumbnail I see the green reticule and red arrow, how does this relate to the object? I.E. Does the red arrow indicate the direction that it faces? If so does the bounding box have any reference to correlate? Does expanding the box change the dimensions of the object?
The bounding box to which you refer is SBuilderX' way of displaying the size of the object - length x width - on the workspace. To change the size of the object, use the Scale value, and if you do, you will probably want to change the width and length values of its bounding box where indicated. Do not try to manually expand the box from the workspace as that will just confuse everything; you will not be changing the scale of the object, just its representation in the workspace.

And here is another tutorial at Avsim covering custom ground textures:
Make photo-real ground textures in Flight Simulator X
http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?Ca ... LID=140539

Best regards.
Luis
Last edited by luisfeliztirado on Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Dragonfighter
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Re: First Time Out - Adding Objects and Stuff [RESOLVED]

Post by Dragonfighter » Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:27 am

Ah, I think I understand. Is this what an epiphany feels like? LOL.

The tutorials are very helpful and you have clarified a great deal. Thank you so much.

I will keep you posted but I think besides the continuing learning, it is resolved. Thanks again.

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