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Post by smilingthru on Nov 4, 2007 3:20:19 GMT -5
So, I went for a flight from Newton, Iowa (KTNU) to Ames, Iowa last night, and was kind of annoyed to find that there was no football stadium for Iowa State University, there.
Up to now, I was happy to fly around, doing touch and gos, but I'm kind of hankering to see some better, more accurate scenery. I'm guessing I'll need to build some myself, but I don't have the slightest idea how to start.
I've read through the threads, here, but most go straight over my head for lack of knowledge. What I need is a fundamental education, and possibly a program that is dummy-friendly for building scenery.
Any suggestions?
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Post by bhk on Nov 4, 2007 3:56:21 GMT -5
EZ-Scenery, by Abacus, will allow you to use already-made objects (default Flight Sim models as well as others) which you can place anywhere you wish and then save the AF2_xxx.bgl file in your Addon Scenery folder. You can also share these with others.
To actually create 3-D objects from scratch is a lot more involved but Abacus also have a program called FS Design Studio (often abbreviated to 'FSDS') which you can use.
Hope this helps you. Bruce
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Post by ScruffyDuck on Nov 4, 2007 4:43:31 GMT -5
Bruce is correct if you are using FS9. If by chance you are using or might use FSX then look at Instant Scenery from Flight1. It is payware and written by the developer of EZ-Scenery (which will not get developed any further I think) and works for both FS9 and FSX
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Post by denniss on Nov 4, 2007 12:05:41 GMT -5
Hello, And be aware that Gmax (already included in FS) can be used to design and build scenery. Dennis
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Post by smilingthru on Nov 4, 2007 12:18:21 GMT -5
So, if I were to find the folder that says GMax, I could just open it and start messing around?
For now, I just need really rudimentary buildings, etc..
BTW, I am using FS9.
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Post by scubakobe on Nov 4, 2007 12:42:49 GMT -5
For a beginner, GMax is pretty hard. It's sort of easy to make the object, but texturing it is different.
If it's necessary to build your own objects, try FSDS. Not sure if they have a demo or not.
For now, you'll definitely want to get EZ-Scenery and search through the default object libraries. They have stadiums, autogen buildings, and all the other stuff you see in FS that isn't an add-on (But you can also use objects from add-on sceneries, you jsut can't release the scenery if you do that).
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Post by smilingthru on Nov 4, 2007 16:03:45 GMT -5
I almost understand what you are saying. I'll google EZ-Scenery and see what I can come up with. I don't understand what you mean by this, however, at all:
(But you can also use objects from add-on sceneries, you jsut can't release the scenery if you do that).
Not a clue. I'd love to just plug pre-made stuff where it's supposed to go, and eliminated buildings that just aren't there. But one thing I really want to do is have a bright orange hanger with "Home Port Smiling Thru" emblazoned on the front.
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Post by smilingthru on Nov 4, 2007 16:06:15 GMT -5
What is a "texture"? I hear it used a lot, but context leads me to believe it has something to do with color, or shade?
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Post by Admin on Nov 4, 2007 19:11:07 GMT -5
Lots of questions and even more answers. Let me see if I can summarize. Objects are 3D frameworks for buildings etc. They can be made with FSDS from Abacus www.abacuspub.com/catalog/s719.htm or GMax which is free and included on your FS9 disks. (You will need another piece of GMax and I'm sure someone can give you the link.) Neither are easy to learn. Textures are pictures (for lack of a more techincal term) that can be applied to 3D objects to give them a detailed surface. Both FSDS and GMax have provisions for that. Those things are only important if you want to make custom objects. Placing objects in the sim requires an additional tool. EZ-Scenery from Abacus www.abacuspub.com/catalog/s600.htm has been mentioned and worked fairly well but will no longer be developed because the author moved to Flight1 and released Instant Scenery a superior program that works in FS9 and FSX. What these two programs do is take pre-made objects including those in the default libraries or from libraries that are available at avsim & flightsim and place them at locations you select in the sim. Other programs are also available that do more than place objects. The best of these is (I think) SBuilder. www.ptsim.com/forum/default.aspNow rather than try to write the entire history of scenery design here, I'm going to suggest you look up top at the sub-forum called tutorials and read a few of those threads. Also check these URLs: www.scruffyduck.co.uk/scenery/index.html (Scruffyducks main website) and www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/index.php (FS Developer, simply the best place for a scenery maker to ask questions and learn. My recommendation if simplicity is your goal and the results don't have to be photographically perfect is to use Instant Scenery and AFX from Flight1. Together they give the amateur scenery maker a lot of power and they are remarkably easy to use. www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=instscenwww.flight1.com/products.asp?product=afxv1
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2007 19:24:28 GMT -5
At the risk of confusing things slightly more, I found when I compiled one of my Kai Tak sceneries that uses objects (APIs) created with EOD which as everyone knows is much easer to use than Gmax, for FSX in SceneGenX, the EOD based models showed up perfectly in FSX. I was amazed as I didn't think FSX was supposed to be backward compatible. But it obviously is to a certain extent.
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Post by Admin on Nov 4, 2007 19:38:47 GMT -5
At the risk of confusing things slightly more, I found when I compiled one of my Kai Tak sceneries that uses objects (APIs) created with EOD which as everyone knows is much easer to use than Gmax, for FSX in SceneGenX, the EOD based models showed up perfectly in FSX. I was amazed as I didn't think FSX was supposed to be backward compatible. But it obviously is to a certain extent. Interesting news. Also, I think Arno Gerretsen is making a conversion program to convert APIs to XML objects
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Post by ScruffyDuck on Nov 5, 2007 1:40:06 GMT -5
At the risk of confusing things slightly more, I found when I compiled one of my Kai Tak sceneries that uses objects (APIs) created with EOD which as everyone knows is much easer to use than Gmax, for FSX in SceneGenX, the EOD based models showed up perfectly in FSX. I was amazed as I didn't think FSX was supposed to be backward compatible. But it obviously is to a certain extent. Interesting news. Also, I think Arno Gerretsen is making a conversion program to convert APIs to XML objects He has, it is called ModelConverterX and it is available from FSDeveloper.com. Be aware that it is still in development
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2007 3:04:41 GMT -5
This is really interesting. OK, in the ideal world it would be lovely for all of our favourite FS9 sceneries to be redone by their designers in Gmax for FSX. But we all know that ain't gonna happen. I for one am just not inclined to start on that Gmax learning curve - don't have the time or inclination I'm afraid - and I think there are a few more people like me. So wouldn't it be great if they could all be converted - maybe with a bit of tweaking with excludes and flattens which are currently a bit of a problem I've found. The FSX world would become fantastic in a very short time.
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Post by smilingthru on Nov 5, 2007 10:28:55 GMT -5
Lots of questions and even more answers. Let me see if I can summarize. Objects are 3D frameworks for buildings etc. They can be made with FSDS from Abacus www.abacuspub.com/catalog/s719.htm or GMax which is free and included on your FS9 disks. (You will need another piece of GMax and I'm sure someone can give you the link.) Neither are easy to learn. Textures are pictures (for lack of a more techincal term) that can be applied to 3D objects to give them a detailed surface. Both FSDS and GMax have provisions for that. Those things are only important if you want to make custom objects. Placing objects in the sim requires an additional tool. EZ-Scenery from Abacus www.abacuspub.com/catalog/s600.htm has been mentioned and worked fairly well but will no longer be developed because the author moved to Flight1 and released Instant Scenery a superior program that works in FS9 and FSX. What these two programs do is take pre-made objects including those in the default libraries or from libraries that are available at avsim & flightsim and place them at locations you select in the sim. Other programs are also available that do more than place objects. The best of these is (I think) SBuilder. www.ptsim.com/forum/default.aspNow rather than try to write the entire history of scenery design here, I'm going to suggest you look up top at the sub-forum called tutorials and read a few of those threads. Also check these URLs: www.scruffyduck.co.uk/scenery/index.html (Scruffyducks main website) and www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/index.php (FS Developer, simply the best place for a scenery maker to ask questions and learn. My recommendation if simplicity is your goal and the results don't have to be photographically perfect is to use Instant Scenery and AFX from Flight1. Together they give the amateur scenery maker a lot of power and they are remarkably easy to use. www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=instscenwww.flight1.com/products.asp?product=afxv1I have relatively simple "needs" for scenery. I just need to rearrange our home airport, for now, and add a hangar with a unique color, and writing on it. For that, I'm wondering if someone would want to do it for me? Otherwise, I'll look into those two flight1 products.
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Post by smilingthru on Nov 5, 2007 10:36:16 GMT -5
After reading through the advert, I noticed they said "remove" objects. Are they talking about the objects you put on with the program, or is it pre-existing objects within FS9, too?
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