Scenery experts,in my travels of using Airport Design Editor (ADE) to tweak airfields to better align with photoscenery underneith, I've noticed a good number of airports which have seemingly autogenerated objects which corraspond to terminals or hangars.These items appear as squared off blocks (*not related to the actual shape of the building), and they are tagged as being..

Library Object

Name: Autogenerated (

unique identifer here

)

Category: Stock...

etc. etc.

Does anyone know of any tools which can help in editing/creating these types of objects?I'd like to improve upon some of the terminals and hangars found at various airports, but short of going through the full-on process of recreating an airport from models on up, I'm hoping someone has developed something to help with those specific types of structures.(*Note that I already have Instant Scenery and can easily place stock library models - I'm looking for something which simplifies the creation of procedurally created buildings like terminals at airports)Something tells me I'd have seen a tool if one existed, but there's no harm in asking.-Greg

Either SBuilderX or whisplacer (an object placement tool) can deal with making generic buildings with a visual interface. IIRC, whisplacer has the GBs live in-sim. But it's been a good while since I had it open.Strangely enough, earlier today I was reminding myself about reinstalling whisplacer and how there needs to be a good tutorial for it. It's a little geeky, but once you learn it's quirks it is fun to work with. Not bad considering it's been a long time since it was developed and supported.

Interesting - I use SBuilderX all the time and haven't seen the generic building tool. I'll need to take another look.I'll do a little more research into that - and I haven't used Whisplacer at all.Thanks,-Greg

Hello Greg,In SBuilderX, select the Object Tool and choose the Generic Buildings tab. The Help file contains detailed instructions and multiple tips, plus an annexe of coordinated textures.Best regards.Luis

Creating objects by mashup of generic buildings works up to a point, but it is a chore, especially accurately aligning individual GBs. You might find that creating instead in Google Sketchup is better method. You could use the same construction technique of using ground layer, window layer, top layer, gable end to make it easier to map the existing textures onto your object. You could do a mashup by creating simple BG forms in sketchup, accurately positioning copies as needed and then explode and interesect the results to create a single object from many simple GBs. I did something like this to model the main terminal at KDAY and while I wouldn't call it a work of art, it was dimensionally accurate to the RW terminal and I think the default terminal textures I used looked "reasonable".. Certainly better IMO than a GB mashup. Plus you can do some simple extensions to the method, such as creating roof overhangs, which really make your object more visually appealing.What I find particularily in Asia is that the modern terminals at large airports have very advanced architecture with many "swooping" curved shapes that are difficult for an inexperienced modeler to dublicate.Something else to consider is there is a problem with GBs at certain airports where they float a foot or two above the ground. I don't think that is an issue with proper objects (in the worst case you can place them relative to MSL. GBs are always set at 0 AGL.)scott s..

Edited January 26, 201214 yr by scott967

Thanks Luis and Scott!-Greg