How are inclines, hills, dips and such added into an airport scenery? Lets say there is a gulley next to the runway in the grass for water to run into and it is 3 feet deep, how is it added into the virtual airport in P3D?
Or what about an incline on a taxiway where there is a very visible curve upward?
Thanks for any information and help in advance,
Easton
Terrain elevations for airports like small hills, inclines, dips etc.
Re: Terrain elevations for airports like small hills, inclines, dips etc.
Hi Easton,
In P3D the default airports are surrounded by the flattening surface/polygon but it is possible to cut a hole in the flattening surface and allow the surrounding terrain to not be affected. Our default airport, KORL starting has examples of this which are sort of like the ditches or a gully.
Inclines are not supported by the default airport facilities so in order to add an incline the airport needs to be modeled in an external 3d modeling program and manipulated to fit your terrain. Platforms are special geometry added to runways and heliports for 'landable' surfaces. This would require investigating the SDK and learning how to delete an existing airport, and recreate only the facility information you need.
I hope this helps!
Max
In P3D the default airports are surrounded by the flattening surface/polygon but it is possible to cut a hole in the flattening surface and allow the surrounding terrain to not be affected. Our default airport, KORL starting has examples of this which are sort of like the ditches or a gully.
Inclines are not supported by the default airport facilities so in order to add an incline the airport needs to be modeled in an external 3d modeling program and manipulated to fit your terrain. Platforms are special geometry added to runways and heliports for 'landable' surfaces. This would require investigating the SDK and learning how to delete an existing airport, and recreate only the facility information you need.
I hope this helps!
Max
Re: Terrain elevations for airports like small hills, inclines, dips etc.
Hi Max,
OK, this is one of the things I am hung up on. I have read through the SDK and did not see some things in there, it isn't exactly the easiest, most in depth document to read and understand for beginners. What you said about the flattening surface makes sense though.
As of now I am working on models and textures, the next step for me is implementing them into the sim.
"the airport needs to be modeled in an external 3d modeling program and manipulated to fit your terrain"
Ok, this is where I have been confused lately. Do you mean that you can create your models and whatnot separately, then have your satellite imagery as a working blueprint in a modeling software like 3ds max or a different engine, manipulate the elevations, inclines etc. of taxiways, ditches and whatnot? Then in one open modeling application add all of your buildings, textures and other scenery to then complete the project?
I am thinking in terms of building a house, you need to start with the foundation and go up. With scenery I imagine it is the same, imagery, terrain variations, buildings, textures.
From what I understand, in terms of general game design, developers for say EA or Ubisoft will create their terrain in a terrain modeling software, then work on their buildings, grass, trees, and other scenery in a different application like 3ds max, then after texturing import it all into that one program to create a seamless environment. Is P3D the same or similar in this?
Sorry for all the questions and blob of text. Once I can wrap my mind around the basic scenery dev process in steps I will be able to take a methodical approach to creating my airport step by step.
Thank you for the help,
Easton
OK, this is one of the things I am hung up on. I have read through the SDK and did not see some things in there, it isn't exactly the easiest, most in depth document to read and understand for beginners. What you said about the flattening surface makes sense though.
As of now I am working on models and textures, the next step for me is implementing them into the sim.
"the airport needs to be modeled in an external 3d modeling program and manipulated to fit your terrain"
Ok, this is where I have been confused lately. Do you mean that you can create your models and whatnot separately, then have your satellite imagery as a working blueprint in a modeling software like 3ds max or a different engine, manipulate the elevations, inclines etc. of taxiways, ditches and whatnot? Then in one open modeling application add all of your buildings, textures and other scenery to then complete the project?
I am thinking in terms of building a house, you need to start with the foundation and go up. With scenery I imagine it is the same, imagery, terrain variations, buildings, textures.
From what I understand, in terms of general game design, developers for say EA or Ubisoft will create their terrain in a terrain modeling software, then work on their buildings, grass, trees, and other scenery in a different application like 3ds max, then after texturing import it all into that one program to create a seamless environment. Is P3D the same or similar in this?
Sorry for all the questions and blob of text. Once I can wrap my mind around the basic scenery dev process in steps I will be able to take a methodical approach to creating my airport step by step.
Thank you for the help,
Easton
Re: Terrain elevations for airports like small hills, inclines, dips etc.
Have you checked out Airport Design Editor, the 3rd party airport design tool? Before you model your entire airport in 3dsMax, runways, aprons with incline ditches and everything. You'll most likely want to include elements of the default airport facilities system even if you end up modeling a sloping runway/taxiways yourself in 3dsMax or do much custom elevation work.
Another application that I use to manage airport's is a Geographic Information System tool. A shapefile of points where each model can be turned into .xml for model placement. Sometimes you'll want to place a building individually instead of as a complex of buildings.
Evaluating other high quality add-on airports will help and I might approach it less like building a house from the foundation up and more like deconstructing the existing airport, replace a building here or there, or just lining up existing taxiways first.
Another application that I use to manage airport's is a Geographic Information System tool. A shapefile of points where each model can be turned into .xml for model placement. Sometimes you'll want to place a building individually instead of as a complex of buildings.
Evaluating other high quality add-on airports will help and I might approach it less like building a house from the foundation up and more like deconstructing the existing airport, replace a building here or there, or just lining up existing taxiways first.
Re: Terrain elevations for airports like small hills, inclines, dips etc.
I have used ADE, I think that is from Scruffy Duck or whatever it is. Every time I go to that website my AV warns me and once on a different PC it installed a virus of some sort. I don't particularly trust it, and I always had a problem where it would not find my installation folders.
I am planning on creating my own scenery design company and going "balls to the wall" trying to mimic closely to what other airport scenery devs do. I will have to model every possible thing and add as much detail as possible so it will probably take at least a year of learning and work.
OK, so you basically use the sat imagery as a sort of grid and set up points as to where the building goes and what direction it faces? I have Global Mapper as my GIS tool but haven't got to the point to learning it yet. I have dabbled with some tutorials from them and know the basics of how to draw outlines and whatnot on the sat imagery.
So I presume that, for example, if I wanted to add taxiway lights to my airport then I would find them on the satellite imagery with the correct points set in my GIS tool, then that would turn into an .xml file of which the computer reads, then inserts my little taxiway light models that I will have made in those spots?
I was thinking that P3D would have made a more simple way of doing this like game developers do where they make the entire environment in one chunk. I know there is a tool called Instant Scenery and I think it does the same thing but in an easier way.
Yeah, I have been looking at other devs sceneries on my PC and sort of reverse engineering, finding out what type of files they use and such. For now I am going to try to successfully create an HD building in Photoshop and use texturing tools to make my building model ultra realistic with 4k or 8k textures. When I finish I will try to put that model into the sim at my airport just to get the general idea of how it works.
Right now I feel like I'm really slow and dumb in trying to figure out the "how" to do things and waiting for that "click" moment where I finally understand how everything works. When I do figure it out though it should be smooth sailing.
I guess I will have to delete the entire airport and start from scratch if I want to start on a professional quality one.
Correct me if I am wrong, but from what I understand the steps will go something like this:
1. Delete airport
2. Create the models
3. Texture models
4.Use Satellite imagery as the blueprint as to where objects go
5. Manipulate terrain for the said purposes above (elevations)
6. Add textured models to the imagery
7.Set up all files into P3D
8. Add rest of textures like ground textures and plants
9. Make it installable
10. Install into sim
I am about to start working on a small GA airport so it isn't as complex and mind boggling as a international or regional thankfully. I want to try to create a chain of them around my area and state.
I am planning on creating my own scenery design company and going "balls to the wall" trying to mimic closely to what other airport scenery devs do. I will have to model every possible thing and add as much detail as possible so it will probably take at least a year of learning and work.
OK, so you basically use the sat imagery as a sort of grid and set up points as to where the building goes and what direction it faces? I have Global Mapper as my GIS tool but haven't got to the point to learning it yet. I have dabbled with some tutorials from them and know the basics of how to draw outlines and whatnot on the sat imagery.
So I presume that, for example, if I wanted to add taxiway lights to my airport then I would find them on the satellite imagery with the correct points set in my GIS tool, then that would turn into an .xml file of which the computer reads, then inserts my little taxiway light models that I will have made in those spots?
I was thinking that P3D would have made a more simple way of doing this like game developers do where they make the entire environment in one chunk. I know there is a tool called Instant Scenery and I think it does the same thing but in an easier way.
Yeah, I have been looking at other devs sceneries on my PC and sort of reverse engineering, finding out what type of files they use and such. For now I am going to try to successfully create an HD building in Photoshop and use texturing tools to make my building model ultra realistic with 4k or 8k textures. When I finish I will try to put that model into the sim at my airport just to get the general idea of how it works.
Right now I feel like I'm really slow and dumb in trying to figure out the "how" to do things and waiting for that "click" moment where I finally understand how everything works. When I do figure it out though it should be smooth sailing.
I guess I will have to delete the entire airport and start from scratch if I want to start on a professional quality one.
Correct me if I am wrong, but from what I understand the steps will go something like this:
1. Delete airport
2. Create the models
3. Texture models
4.Use Satellite imagery as the blueprint as to where objects go
5. Manipulate terrain for the said purposes above (elevations)
6. Add textured models to the imagery
7.Set up all files into P3D
8. Add rest of textures like ground textures and plants
9. Make it installable
10. Install into sim
I am about to start working on a small GA airport so it isn't as complex and mind boggling as a international or regional thankfully. I want to try to create a chain of them around my area and state.
