Hi all,

 

I love MegaSceneryEarth, but there's no denying two negative aspects about it :-

 

• Default airports can appear more sparse and flat, due to lack of objects and autogen, neighbouring the airport
• The view during the initial moments of climb can look rather flat

So as I have Instant Scenery I decided to embark on a project;  I am aiming to add 3D objects close to, and surrounding some key airports in Oregon. The vast majority of the objects I'll be adding will be Trees and Vegetation but also some other objects, and some buildings.

 

I'll be sticking to default FSX objects and buildings - because then, I can share the finished item with fellow users, without it depending on them having other (payware) object libraries installed.

 

So my project is a little like Treescapes for the Horizon UK Photoscenery, but on a fraction of the scale, and for free. :smile:

 

The objective is not really about prettiness or aesthetics;  it's more about placement and positioning;  the sole effect I am looking for, is to resolve the two issues mentioned in the bullet points above.

 

I am starting with the KAST (Astoria) default airport.  I am in the process of adding a lot of trees and vegetation to the area surrounding the airport, and also some more objects to the default airport itself.

 

So soon take-offs will be occupied with the 3D trees and objects, until we're into the climb and have that amazing MSE photoscenery to drool at!

 

Here are some very early progress pics... again, nothing special about these! .... they're not aiming to look pretty, and they only contain about 25% of the trees and vegetation that will be placed at this airport.

 

Object placement, over the MegaSceneryEarth Scenery, in FSX:

 

 

 

 

Where once, the view from this airfield when using MSE was very flat, the trees are already starting to give a more three dimensional effect :

 

 

 

The output of this work, is a simple, single BGL file, that can be added to your Scenery Library, in the normal way.   So if there is interest, I could share this "MSE Oregon Airport Objects", here in the AVSIM library.

 

Thanks for watching!

 

 

--------------------------------------------

 

Hi Jim,

 

Apologies, I just read on another topic about a PhotoScenery Section.   I didn't know there was such as forum section here at AVSIM :smile: ..... so if this project topic is better placed in that section, feel free to chuck it over! :cool:

 

Thanks.

 

 

Apologies, I just read on another topic about a PhotoScenery Section. I didn't know there was such as forum section here at AVSIM ..... so if this project topic is better placed in that section, feel free to chuck it over!

 

Not a problem Dave.  Not too many visitors at the Photoscenery forum so we'll keep this here to see if there's any interest first as the FSX Forum gets the most visits. 

 

I see what you mean about the flatness around the airports in Oregon.  I just visited Medford and it looks pretty barren but the surrounding mountains come in nice and clear. I didn't see this issue around Portland International (KPDX). I'm not sure if I would want to add vegetation just for a takeoff/landing.  It's a good idea though. My excitement :Drooling: is from about 300 feet and higher. In MegaScenery SoCal the developer was able to allow Autogen objects to appear on that photoscenery.  Perhaps he can do it for MSEV2 once he completes the rest of his MSEV2 project.

 

Best regards,

Jim

Got instant scenery 2 too and know how to build 3d objects with Sketchup and zmodeler all help add trees and fences objects near airports. Idea been in back of my mind for months.

 Idea been in back of my mind for months.

 

Thats's exactly how it's been for me too! :lol:   Must get round to trying that!

 

It is probably something that is more applicable to each user;  doing it there own way, and how they like it (hence lack of interest in my sharing what I'm doing).   But that's totally cool;  sometimes the creation and making things, is as much fun as the flying, in FSX!

 

I've just been adding a lot of fences and some more buildings at KAST (Astoria)... its really coming along.   And you can already tell a big difference when taking off.

 

Instant Scenery is a fantastic utiity for us MegaSceneryEarth users.   :cool:

I added trees and buildings around Paso Robles, CA (KPRB) using Instant Scenery some months back on Blue Sky Scenery and I absolutely love the result.  Here's the thread that shows some preview pictures.  The result when flying it is far, far better than the pictures you see...when stuff is moving it looks so cool.

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/396162-instant-studio-20/

 

What I noticed, and you're onto it, is that trees add a great deal to the takeoff and landing phase.  They give hugely important signals to your mind in terms of height above the land.  What I did to help myself along was to arrange groups of trees in 'favorites'...bushes go in one favorite, short trees go in another.  Saves considerable time in finding the right tree to use.  Also, when trees were standing alone, I used their shape as a shadow for the tree which gave it a kind of natural effect. 

 

I have since started using Instant Object Studio as well, though, for the next few months my times is going to be extremely limited.  It works very well with IS. 

 

Gregg

Like the results just trying to blend trees and buildings. Think 2-4 miles out likely be sufficient for most rural airports. Use custom buildings here and there, but balance out usage keep fps sufficient.

Excellent work Gregg!

 

 

n MegaScenery SoCal the developer was able to allow Autogen objects to appear on that photoscenery.

 

The MegaSceneryX products (SoCal, Las Vegas and so on) don't allow FSX autogen through, they include their own annotation, custom made specifically for their photoscenery.  MS Earth v1 did this as well.  You can see these custom .agn files in the folders where these are placed.  For this to happen on the scale of MSE v2 for all of the states would be a huge undertaking.

 

As I mentioned in another thread, you can get v1 autogen working in v2 areas that overlap if you have the v1 products.  Just make a new "textures" folder where you have your MSE state installed and copy in the .agn files from the overlapping v1 texture folders.  I've done this in Colorado, and so far the results look OK and I've not run into any issues yet.  Sure was nice to see trees when looking up towards the Palmer Divide from the ramp at Centennial Airport (KAPA) last night.

 

Good luck with your project, Dave,  I completely agree that its the airports where these touches are sorely needed.

 

Scott

Here's my 2c on the subject.  Since it was mentioned about Medford, Oregon, I create a few shots.  Try to uses captions for each photo:

 

1.  How many can relate to MSEv2's flatness while on the ground or on final.  This is actually MSE v1 Oregon but the example is the same as MSEv2.  I lose all immersion when it looks like this - Medford:

 

2. In MSEv1 you had the autogen included.  Really adds the immersion and the autogen gives a sense of visual relationship to the ground.  Important on approaches as noted.

 

3.  And the dusk and night flying in MSEv1... well, you get the idea.  Flying over Medford.

 

4.  I have been messing with some ideas on this subject when ever I have some free time from some P3D projects.  Here is Albuquerque, New Mexico in MSEv2.  Pretty darn flat.  Hard to imagine a city surrounding this airport (KABQ).

 

5.  Here's a shot on short final.  Again judging distance and ground proximatey can be a challenge without any 3D visual clues.

 

6.  So with my own little experiment I was able to create trees, lightpoles, objects and buildings sized and placed correctly according to real world data for about a 30 square mile area in about 2 minutes.  All automatic - no by-hand creation or hand placement.  Of course it took hours of experimenting to create that little 2 minute process but first tests are not too bad. 

 

7.   Here is a couple of shots at dusk on short final.  Now I feel like I am landing at an airport with some life! 

 

If perfected I would think I could do an entire state in a matter of days as opposed to many hours just concentrating on one airport.  But again... just messing around.  Experiment with adding night time roads now.  Oh, this is all done in P3D but the results would be the same in FSX. 

 

Just curious - do you think you photoreal simmers would pay for this type of add-on to enhance your photoreal scenery?

 

Very nice, I've always said in the past that photo scenery looks so much better with autogen layer on top. The other thing I don't like about MSE v2 is that I heard they changed it and got rid of all or most autogen. Which means that we won't be able to get any sort of 3D lighting  to show above it. Which makes flying during dawn/dusk/night awful. If there's a way to get the lights to show through, I'd be interested to know how to do it, and as for this project with getting autogen built on top of photo scenery such as MSE, I'm all for it.

 

Would love to see this happen!

 

Clutch how were you able to add lights on top of your photo scenery like that? Is there a way where we can get UTX or FTX Global's Night Lighting system to show above?

This is custom created autogen so it will show on top of photoreal scenery.  I don't know how UTX or FTX would work since I do not have their products. 

I see. How easy is it to add buildings and other types of autogen on top of photo real scenery? Are there any tutorials on how to do this. I'd love to give this a try.

No tutorials - not easy.  I would try getting that new Instant Scenery version 3 that just came out.  That looks like it would make things easier.  Or you could pull out the FSX SDK and read up on the Autogen Annotator to create custom autogen.  Just takes lot's of time to grasp all the info and turn it into reality.

Your pics look good Clutch...    I would happily pay for "3D Packs" for MSE areas; but the quality would likewise have to be beyond freeware level (which is what my own efforts currently are!), and I'd only be interested in buidlings/autogen that is next to Airports.

 

As ttocs said, that is where MSE really needs 3D objects.   Once you're up in the air, autogen just blocks the ground scenery and is counter-intuitive to having photoscenery!

 

But a pack of say "Oregon Airports" (or any MSE state to be honest), that added 3D objects around all (or the main) airports, would be of great interest to me, and yes I would buy it.

I wish the makers of MSE would incorporate and put back autogen, especially the lighting. Looks sorta bland during the night time when flying.