Hello,

 

AMS Cancun for FSX was released a couple weeks ago and while I like what they have done with the airport, they didn't do the island of Isla Mujeres any justice. After waiting for a decent Cancun for so long and that they documented Isla Mujeres coverage, I am pretty disappointed with their effort. Since the airport looks good, I doubt another developer is going to take on the area in the future. I have decided I need to fix the area myself. I've been using ADE, AFX, AFCAD... for a long time and I use Esri products on a regular basis so I think I can make it happen.

 

I just purchased Instant Scenery 2 and that seems like it will do the trick for object placement. I played with it for a little while and it seems pretty straight forward. Instant Object Studio also looks pretty interesting and I may pick it up.

 

Q: Anyone have any suggestions for some tropical building or object libraries? I didn't see anything in the AVSIM library that would work.

 

I know I am going to have to modify the Island, coastlines, beaches and landclass. I downloaded this tutorial from the AVSIM Library - terrain_design_for_flight_simulator_x.zip. Is is based on the program SBuilderX. Since it is from 2007, I am wondering is there is a utility that is more current but still easy to use. Also, when I went to the SBuilder website, NOD32 went apes**t.

 

Q: What is the best utility(s) for modifying a small island - beaches, coastlines, road traffic. landclass, waterclass and elevation?

 

Q: Any other advice

 

With Instant Scenery 2 I can just add objects and be done with it but I might was well do it right if I am going to do it at all.

I think SBuilderX is still the best. There is another app that uses Google Earth kml data but I didn't find it that useful for me, so haven't looked at it in years. In many cases you can get good advice on SBuilder here, but also on fsdeveloper.com. One thing on that other site, one of the mods (user "Rhumbaflappy") posts updates to the dll for downloading Google Map data which conforms to the latest Google map api.

 

If you have access to GIS vector data you can put it into shapefile format which SBuilder can import. For raster data, also GeoTiff is straightforward to use with the Ms sdk scenery tools. In some cases you can use SBuilderX to create raster data and import inlto your GIS for further work if you find SBuilderX limiting.

 

SBuilderX has an extrusion bridge tool that is good if you want this type of scenery. It does object placement (using simconnect to get airplane location from FSX so you can slew in FSX to get locations if you don't want to use a background photo for placement).

 

It also has a generic building creation tool for some quick buildings. Or try Sketchup and ModelConverterX also from fsdeveloper.com to custom create objects. (Arno keeps adding stuff into MCX - it's very useful even just to look at existing models.)

 

scott s.

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Good to know that SBuilderX is the way to go. The tutorial I mentioned is a perfect roadmap for my project.

Duckbilled- You have the tools I have. Scott is right- SbuilderX is very good. i would like to offer help if you wish to take me up on it.

I've been a designer for many years. I've made some good stuff and I've made some real stinkers! hahaha! Point is- we're all having fun in this hobby.

 

At Avsim and Flightsim.com you can see some of my older stuff and newer stuff. author name- Robert Lacy

 

I use FSDS 3.5.1 for FSX. and FSDS 3 for FS9. I usually dabble in FSX these days.

 

I can make some huts etc for you if you wish. No charge. I do this for fun, not money. BTW- I was on the beta team for Instant Object Studio.

 

In SbuilderX I can show you in minutes.... how to make your own photo-real bgl.

 

The trouble on line here is most people have good hearts to help but they do not know how to teach. I am a retired school teacher.

 

I tried for months trying to understand the help I was given. I finally figured all this out. I then wrote my procedure down in SbuilderX forum. I got a reply from Tirado (I believe) that my procedure was absolutely perfect.

 

I wrote a step by step procedure.... easy to follow. Usually what you get is some highly technical discussion using terms you never heard of and are never defined. These are greeat giants who want to help but can't teach. They are the brain surgeon trynig to teach me.... the regular guy how to do bran surgery! <G> Oh well.

 

after I learned I taught two other guys how to do this in a matter of minutes.

 

My e-mail (and therefore able to find me on Skype) is (I shouldn't do tis but.... ) [email protected] Bob

Bob's methods are highly recommended. He knows the way to go! B)

 

Best regards.

Luis