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Size of taxisigns made by "TaxiMarkings" scasm command

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Hi to all, this is my 1st post in this forum and I have seen that it is attendend by very friendly and, most important, qualified designers.The reason of my post here is to know whether someone has got an idea on how to make the taxy signs (the FS2K2 default yellow stripes on the ground) made via scasm command "TaxiMarkings" to look larger, for I made them in my scenery , but they are really very thin. I have tried to change the scale factor in "Refpoint" but it also changes the lenght of each section and the stripes are even misplaced.I only need to increase the width of the stirpes: do You think it could be done increasing the size of the default taxisigns bitmap ?I await suggestions for which I thank in advance.Best regardsCekko

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Guest manny3

The default Taximarkings use scale of 0.3.To increase width of lines, say double them, use scale of 0.6. To keep the lines in their original position and length divide the coordinates by two.To make lines three times as wide use scale of .9 but divide coordinates by 3. And so on for other scale you like.Manny

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Dear Manny, nice to read You back over here.It seems You are the only one interested in this issue and like we say in Italy: "It is better few, but good". Just kidding of course, for nearly all the fellows attending this forum are always willing to help you, if they can.Regarding Your suggestion, I' ll give it a try and let You know the result.By the way, any suggestion about ARCS ? I have a strange behaviour from some of them, that disappear when I am getting closer to them. More, during night time, they are not showing blue lights.Hope to read You soon.Thanks and regardsCekko.

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Hi Cekko,Will experiment more with lighted arcs.My tests so far show no problem, though.One thing with arcs, just be mindful of the direction you order your coordinaes. They must be consecutive from left to right or right to left. Otherwise you will get funny arcs. Anyway I think you know this already.Looking forward to result of your tests.Regards.Manny

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Hi Manny, thank You for Your suggestion regarding ARCS, but I will face this later for I have another kind of problem now.In fact, I have tried the solution changing the scale to .60 and reducing the coordinates You suggested, in order to enlarge the size of the stripes: during day time it really looks great, but during dusk,down and night time, all the stripes, with lights, keep the original scale of .30, so their position and lenght are reduced as well as their sizes.Is there a way , by some scasm command to keep the same scale during those times ? Or should I stick to the .30 scale to have them always in the right position, even if they are not the width I wanted to have?By the way, is there a reason why You added the RotatedCall command in Your code? I do not have it in mine, but the stripes show up.I hope that You will always be so patient,meanwhile I look forward to Your reply.Thanks and regardsCekko.

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Dear Manny, further to my post above, I have tried to use the .30 scale, changing the coordinates. During day the lines are in the proper position, but at night even with .30 scale, the lines are positioned differently than during day. With .30 scale the difference is few, for I positioned the taxyway border line (SSL command) inside the taxyway, but at night it appears outside the taxyway, farther from refpoint.For Yr. reference, I am using an APT scale: 5 cm/100 meters, that should be .5. Do You think changing this value to match 3 cm/100 meters, could solve the problem ? I have tried to change it in the General menu of APT 2.6, but it seems that I cannot change it, even making a new file. I look forward to hearing from You.Best regardsCekko

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Hi Cekko,Tried the lighted arc and lines on my taximarkings and it's strange. The markings shifted about 27 meters to the west and about 5 meters to the north.I tried the scasm command TransformCall() during the night to pull the taxilines back into daylight position but to no avail.It seems the lighted arcs and lines have a different RefPoint. Maybe we could define a shifted RefPoint for the night. I will test it and report back on the results.Re APT Scale I think it is only used by the interface to determine how the layout is displayed on the screen inside APT 2.60.Will be back.Manny

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Further to my post above, I found out that changing the RefPoint Lat/Lon is not enough.What I did is I made 2 sets of taxilines: 1 for the day and another 1 for the night. The night taxiline is shifted both in Area() and RefPoint() by: N0* 0.005753333' and E0* 0.014971666'. I am not sure if the same applies to the Western Latitudes.Also you may need to change this for the 0.6 Scale.Let me know if you need more clarification on the method I used.Regards.Manny

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Dear Manny, with ref. to Your post above, I need to know how to define the set for day and the set for night, without having the day ones showing up during night and viceversa; More, how did You determine the amount of shifted coordinates, enabling me to find out the one for .60 scale.Look forward to Your feedback.Thanks and regardsCekko

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Hi Cekko,Here are snipets of my taxiline codes:For the Daytime set:Set( FSVers 800 )Area( 5 14:30.572570007 121:00.916583334 80 )IfVarAnd( :Night 28C 1 ) ;If Daytime, code executes otherwise it exitsLayerCall( :eya_1 40 )Jump( :exit )Jump( :eya_2 ):eya_1 RefPoint( rel :eya_2 %4 14:30.572570007 121:00.916583334 v1= 0 v2= 3234 )Call( :eya_3 ):eya_2Return:NightJump( :exit )Return:eya_3TaxiMarkings( ...Code here.... )Return:ExitEndAFor the Nighttime set:Set( FSVers 800 )Area( 5 14:30.578323337 121:00.931555 80 )IfVarAnd( :Day 28C 6 ) ;If Nighttime, code executes otherwise it exitsLayerCall( :eya_1 40 ):DayJump( :exit )Jump( :eya_2 ):eya_1 RefPoint( rel :eya_2 %4 14:30.578323337 121:00.931555 v1= 0 v2= 3234 )Call( :eya_3 );Jump( :eya_2 ):eya_2Return:eya_3TaxiMarkings( ...Code here.... )Return:ExitEndATo determine the amount of coordinate shift, first make sure you have this line in your FS2000.cfg file in hte [MAIN] Section:[MAIN]DISPLAY_FRACTIONAL_MINUTES=0 This will display your coordinates with Seconds portion in 4-decimal places when you hit Shift-Z in Slew mode. Very accurate for placing objects in Sceneries.In top-down view and Daytime I place the nose of my aircraft which is usually a Cessna with its pointed spinner, in a taxiline intersection and note down the coordinates at that point.then I change to Dawn (because it is lighter and the lines are more visible) and move the aircraft to shifted intersection location and once again note down the coordinates at that point.The amount of shift is then the difference between the first coordinates and the second coordinate, subtracting degrees from degrees, minutes from minutes, and seconds from seconds. This difference I added back (in my case, at least, it is add could be subtract in your case) to the coordinates of my taxiline code in the Area() RefPoint() sections.By the way, I wonder how you determine the coordinates for your taxilines. I use AFCAD with FS2K2 running and export the resulting taxiway points into a file which I use for coding my coordinates. The AFCAD coordinates can not be used immediately as they have to multiplied by 3 first to take care of the 0.3 scale. Further the AFCAD coordinates are offset by an everchanging amount the further you are from the taxiline RefPoint. I use Aiport 2.60 to compile my taxilines to bgl. Very circuituous process. I wish there was an easier and more accurate way.Regards.Manny

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Sorry about the smilies which hide the code. The :D is actually a colon( : ) followed by a "D".By the way, Thank you very much for your rating, Cekko. :DLike you, I'm also still learning. Manny

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Dear Manny, thank You for You exhaustive reply.I will try tonight with this new way and will let You know. Should You have any new suggestion, please, do not hesitate to post them.Meanwhile I thank You once more for Your kind help.RegardsCekko

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Dear Manny, I had not to fully read Your post and now I saw Your question.Following is the way I determine the coordinates for taximarkings.First, in APT, I draw simple straight lines, so I can immediately have a rough idea on how they will be positioned in FS; then I position the cursor on each line ending, taking note of the coordinate shown in the cursors' position window. Then add the commands for arcs or breaks to the list of coordinates. After this I do the calculations needded to adjust the coordinates relatively to the scale I set.I do not know which of our way is quicker or less annoying, I only know that the bad thing is doing calculations; by the way I use the Windows default calculator: very handy and easy if You ususally type numbers with the "padlock" ( ? not quite sure about the english name, but I mean the small rectangular set of buttons on the right side of the keyboard).Should You have any suggestion, do not hesitate to post them.RegardsCekko

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Dear Manny, it is a while since my last post here, but had many things to do except scenery design lately, in fact I got back to it just yesterday. I have not fully tested the shifted coordinates for night time, but I am going to do it once I have placed all the markings I need.I have a question for You regarding the colour of markings: do You know how "TaxiMarkings" command knows which bitmap to use ? I 'd like to know it for I would like the markings in the apron of my airport to be a double yellow line with a black line in the middle, just like it looks in the real one, otherwise I will need to make them by the old way of road with texture. Hope to read You soon.RegardsCekko

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Gentlemen:I have just read your thread regarding TaxiMarkings. I am having similar problems with night offsets and have solved it with a similar approach to yours.However, has anyone been able to understand why the taxilines seem to disappear as you approach them? I have not yet read anything on this in any of the forums. Funny, if I decompile the standard FS2002 bgl's (using BGLAnalyze) and then recompile the SCASM code the taxilines dissapear. Seems like something Manfred may not yet have figured out in SCASM regarding the TaxiMarkings command?BTW: We have been discussing this on the "Airport for Windows" forum at FlightSimNetwork.comRegards,Charlie

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