I'm sure this is a dumb question, but what design tools are required to get into airport scenery creation?

 

 

I'm sure this is a dumb question, but what design tools are required to get into airport scenery creation?

 

It's not a dumb question at all. The absolute basics I think for creating simple airports are:

 

- WED

- Sketchup (For creating 3D models if nothing is already available)

- A paint package, such as paint.net, pixelmator

- Patience :smile:

 

The tools I now use are:

 

- Blender (It's more powerful than Sketchup and quicker for me to create models and animations)

- OverlayEditor for visually placing the objects in a 3D view rather than top down.

- Photoshop for creating the artwork (and also a camera for taking pics)

 

It's not a dumb question at all. The absolute basics I think for creating simple airports are:

 

- WED

- Sketchup (For creating 3D models if nothing is already available)

- A paint package, such as paint.net, pixelmator

- Patience  :smile:

 

The tools I now use are:

 

- Blender (It's more powerful than Sketchup and quicker for me to create models and animations)

- OverlayEditor for visually placing the objects in a 3D view rather than top down.

- Photoshop for creating the artwork (and also a camera for taking pics)

 

 

Thank you!

 

Definitely something I'm looking to dive into.

 

So do you use a sat image of the airport to get the placement and size of things correct?

So do you use a sat image of the airport to get the placement and size of things correct?

 

Well, if I can, I'll go to the airfield I'm doing and take hundreds of photographs and get the lay of the land. If it's not possible, then either I'll ask someone at the airfield for pictures, or hunt down images/YouTube videos to get an idea. Of course the best ones are the ones you can visit yourself, but normally if you contact someone at the airfield, they'll be more than happy to help you out.

 

Also yes, I use sat images, and OSM data to get the correct building sizes

This looks great Tony. On the subject of photos I did ask at Liverpool but they won't let we wander around either - so I would only be able to do the GA area if that's helpful?

 

As an aside - which sky treatment are using there - one from Sky Maxx I assume, but which one - looks great.

 

cheers

Peter

While we're on the subject of grass, I am having trouble finding grass airstrips in XP because the default grass runways are often exactly the same color and nearly the same texture as surrounding terrain.  There is an HD Runway file in freeware, but I installed that and lost all my runways to dull gray, no numbers.  Grass airstrips also turned to gray, and I got a texture load error when starting 10.35b1 so I had to go back to default.  (Edit:  Never mind - wrong folder)

 

I'm pretty good with Photoshop and wondered if I could edit the texture files to include a "yellowed" grass area where there would be wear on the grass strip.  How do I turn the texture (.dsf) into something I can work with and then turn it back to .dsf ?  I don't need the super-hi-res that the freeware has (wouldn't load anyway) but I think the default grass runways could use some work.

While we're on the subject of grass, I am having trouble finding grass airstrips in XP because the default grass runways are often exactly the same color and nearly the same texture as surrounding terrain.  There is an HD Runway file in freeware, but I installed that and lost all my runways to dull gray, no numbers.  Grass airstrips also turned to gray, and I got a texture load error when starting 10.35b1 so I had to go back to default.  (Edit:  Never mind - wrong folder)

 

I'm pretty good with Photoshop and wondered if I could edit the texture files to include a "yellowed" grass area where there would be wear on the grass strip.  How do I turn the texture (.dsf) into something I can work with and then turn it back to .dsf ?  I don't need the super-hi-res that the freeware has (wouldn't load anyway) but I think the default grass runways could use some work.

 

Hi,

 

I have no idea how to do all that, but I found another solution that works pretty well - you can use the lighter pavement types in WED to create some markings for the grass runway. Use the lightest concrete or asphalt type, and create some "brackets" around the corners of the landing strip. They are visible from pretty far...

 

Another thing to keep in mind: Grass strips ARE very hard to find in real life, often you must be very familiar with the area and surrounding landmarks. If anything, I find the uniformly green area that denotes a grass runway in X-Plane too easy to spot...

 

Cheers, jan

Great work there. I am agree I have some great GA airfields from Orbx and love them.

 

 

This looks great Tony. On the subject of photos I did ask at Liverpool but they won't let we wander around either - so I would only be able to do the GA area if that's helpful?

 

I thought that might have been the case. I wonder how the author of UK2000 got permission? If you can take some photos of the GA area and then I'll happy model some of the buildings and aircraft.

 

 

 

While we're on the subject of grass, I am having trouble finding grass airstrips in XP because the default grass runways are often exactly the same color and nearly the same texture as surrounding terrain. 

 

Well, this airfield is also no exception to this, it is hard to find in real life, as are other grass strips, and you need to know in advance where to look. You can try adding a few dirt marks along the grass strip (have a look also at the grunge objects). I've used a real orphophoto for the runway and surrounding fields, and it's still difficult to find without deliberately exaggerating it.

 

 

As an aside - which sky treatment are using there - one from Sky Maxx I assume, but which one - looks great.

 

Yep, just Skymaxx Pro with the default settings. It's a great addon

Cool stuff Tony.

Beautiful Work Tony,Well Done.

Plus 100!

Hi,

 

I have no idea how to do all that, but I found another solution that works pretty well - you can use the lighter pavement types in WED to create some markings for the grass runway. Use the lightest concrete or asphalt type, and create some "brackets" around the corners of the landing strip. They are visible from pretty far...

 

Another thing to keep in mind: Grass strips ARE very hard to find in real life, often you must be very familiar with the area and surrounding landmarks. If anything, I find the uniformly green area that denotes a grass runway in X-Plane too easy to spot...

 

Cheers, jan

 

Thanks, Jan.  I think the brackets are a bit too much for me (but a good idea).

 

Yes, real grass strips are a bit difficult to see.  But usually what sets them apart is that they are mowed and the surrounding weeds are not, plus the fact that most grass strips show some signs of wear that "yellow" the center grass a bit more than the edges.  We don't have the advantage of 3D weeds in XP.  The strip that I couldn't find from the air was 0WA2 (Curtis) which is right in the middle of nearly identically colored grass, and I flew over it twice and missed it.  So I did find the HD Runways textures and installed them.  Their grass runway textures are a bit lighter (more realistic, I think) than default.  They still aren't quite what I think they should be, but I'll see if I can work on them in Photoshop and make a set that I like.  I did find some .ddf to .png or .jpg converters so I'll work on them a bit later.

Although I now use modified photo imagery for the runway textures, earlier on I used a poly for the grass and then created an additional transparent poly texture which had wear marks and the runway numbers etc, and use that over the top of the grass poly. It worked quite well and helped differentiate the runway from the surrounding area.

 

I wish I could find a way to create nice grass without killing framerates, but finding it difficult. 

Impressive stuff Tony, well done

I've started working on replacing the ugly textures from the photoscenery, I've replaced the asphalt taxiway with a new HD texture, which also has per-pixel lighting, so each crack will reflect lights more realistically:

 

 

 

I've also attached a real vs X-Plane comparison shot below. I wish I could work out what to do about the ugly appearance of the grass (Anyone got any suggestions?)

 

 

I've added another animated person (taking pictures) to accompany the bored girlfriend. You now have a small fan club admiring your amazing taxi skills :smile: