A few how to questions regarding custom textures

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

I have been working on my first project that has begun to get out of control. First I learned with the help of the two Luis'es and Lance how to use SBuilderX, thanks guys. I originally wanted to just make a background of KFLL that the ADE would overlay. Now that that is done, I have been modifing the ADE to match up with the photo base that I am using. I am pretty much finished with that and have begun to place static objects and such to decorate that place the way it appears in real life. The airport is coming along nicely, however I am still not satisfied. The more I get into this , the more I want to achieve. The questions I now have involve actually modifiing the ADE textures that are available for aprons, taxiways, and runways. After aligning the ADE to match up with the underlying photo texture, it seems that the default concrete and asphalt textures stand out a little too much when compared with the photo textures they are on top of.How can I add textures to ADE or modify the existing ones. For example, when I make aprons out of either concrete or asphalt they apprear either to bright, to clean, or just don't match up with what I am looking for. I also wanted to create some parking lots to overlay the parking lots in the photo but cant seem to find a good texture that looks like the photo. How do designers like FlyTampa create whole airports with custom taxiways and runways? I know I am in for a lot more work doing this, but at this point I don't think I will be satisfied with just the default look.Another option I have been thinking about, but don't know how to execute, is doing like the fellow over at Bluesky Scenery http://www.blueskyscenery.com/ does and use the photo for the actual airport texture. I am not sure how he makes the afcad/ade seem to be invisible. The only thing I don't like about this is that you then have the photos of all the planes that were there when the arial/satelite photo was taken, thus requiring a lot of Photoshop to get rid of. Plus, if the underlying afcad/ade doesn't line up then planes will be taxing over grass and dirt.I really appreciate the help and guidance you all have offered sop far and I look forward to your help with this.Regards,Sean

[scott967 62]

In FS9 it was common to use a "groundpoly" bglc command to place textures as objects, not terrain. This has fallen out of favor in FSX due to round earth/texture flashing issues. I think the more common approach in FSX now is to use GMAX to place ground texture objects. There is an excellent tutorial available by Bill Womack: http://www.simpilotnet.com/index.php?optio...6&Itemid=32scott s..

[meshman 109]

Any and all of the airport editing tools utilize default textures. It's possible to change or alter these, but that change would be global in nature. There are some payware products that include texture replacement files for airports, such as XGraphics and REX. There may be others and ISTR there are a couple of freeware addons.We are unable to addon any additional textures that are used with airport design, at least for SDK type airport objects. Would have been (may still be?) one great feature for FSNext to be able to have the ability to add new entries to an Airport.Cfg file, just as we can to the Terrain.Cfg file.You can always blendmask the photo areas to remove runways, aprons, etc. so that the ADE file won't stand out as much.

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Thanks Scott and Lance for the info. That is a great tutorial to follow. I can't believe that you need something off of the FS2002 disk. I gave fs2002 away a few months after I got FS9. I never would have thought I would need something from it. I was hoping that you could make a ground poly, photoshop it, and compile it, then place the bgl in the scenery folder, but then the round earth issue would come into play.Is there any way I could take the photo backgound, do all the photoshop edits I need, recompile it and have it display over the ADE like the Blueskyscenery does? How do they make the ADE markings invisble?I guess I need to buy another copy of FS2002.SeanPS - Is there a place where I can find some thumbs of the different textures from ADE, like bitmus, cement, oil treated, etc? In the meantime maybe I could use some of these textures until I get a new copy of FS2002. It's a pain to select one of these other textures other than concrete or asphalt, recompile, run FSX just to see what they look like.

[scott967 62]

You can get all older sdks here:http://files.fsnordic.net/Flight_Simulator...cellaneous/SDK/I use the freeware viewer XnView to look at the texture files. It doesn't load the .R8 (raw 8 bit) format but I doubt you will find any scenery using those r8 textures any more. Mostly the dds.scott s..

[meshman 109]

Is there any way I could take the photo backgound, do all the photoshop edits I need, recompile it and have it display over the ADE like the Blueskyscenery does? How do they make the ADE markings invisble?PS - Is there a place where I can find some thumbs of the different textures from ADE, like bitmus, cement, oil treated, etc? In the meantime maybe I could use some of these textures until I get a new copy of FS2002. It's a pain to select one of these other textures other than concrete or asphalt, recompile, run FSX just to see what they look like.

At a certain width a runway will not be drawn, but I can't recall exactly what it is, <2 feet? Instead of taxiway links, use apron links. Need markings? Somewhere around here is a package of scenery objects for runway numbers, stripes, etc., aka The Fruits of my (limited) 3D modeling skills.As for default textures, lay out an apron and just draw some rectangles for them. Press V in FSX and you have a good sampling. Some of the default textures look very, very close to others. Not that they'd duplicate them or anything

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

At a certain width a runway will not be drawn, but I can't recall exactly what it is, <2 feet? Instead of taxiway links, use apron links. Need markings? Somewhere around here is a package of scenery objects for runway numbers, stripes, etc., aka The Fruits of my (limited) 3D modeling skills.As for default textures, lay out an apron and just draw some rectangles for them. Press V in FSX and you have a good sampling. Some of the default textures look very, very close to others. Not that they'd duplicate them or anything

Thanks for the help Lance I found your stuff in the library. I am coming along nicely.