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Step One finished!

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Well, I finished the daytime summer textures for my scenery. Now there are only several more seasons and night to contend with. Yeah right. I hope people will be happy with summer during the day for awhile. Let me know what you guys think. Criticism...suggestions for the future? I know I could get better resolution, but I was too far into the project to repair when I found this out. This is pretty accurate for the area pictured. Some detail was of course left out. But it adds a lot more realism when you are approaching the airport.

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Mate that is absolutely fantastic, well done!What did you originally base your textures on? Sat images, aerial images or just from scratch or what?Good on yaJarrad

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nice job tom, one of these days I'll get as dedicated as you and get to the same point in my work...you'll see the differences I've alluded to.by the way, have you considered maintaining a working file of the default layered under your photo stuff? Always make a copy before you flatten, and flatten the copy, keeping the working file layers intact. If you took the trouble to do that, then the seasons would be easy, just swap the default with the same textures but different season, and make a copy to flatten for that season.

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I have most of my files saved in PhotoShop format...some aren't because I didn't think of that at first. I haven't messed around with the layers, but are you saying that you can switch the file/texture that compose a certain layer with something different and keep the mask/blending/opacity the same? That WOULD be great. Then other textures wouldn't be quite so bad!See Ya.

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Thanks Jarrad,I used the Terraserver images available from Microsoft. But I used a great program called USAPhoto Maps to get all the images automatically. Look for it at www.jdmcox.com. He (JDM) did a good job!Take care

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I've been messing with the Autogen Annotator thing and I made a bunch of buildings and vegetation at the Northern end of the airport...it makes for a pretty cool short final! On a different note:Does anyone have a good method for making taxilines? I have tried the Arc command in Airport and really don't understand what it is doing. The only method I can work out for a specific arch is trial and error, and that can get long with FS loading all the time. Is there an easier/better method???

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Yes, more or less...I was working on this a bit tonight...I'm going to use a bit of a new process for me, but I bet it will work well, I've been crafting it for the past few evenings. My thought is that it's worth a few evenings of planning, cuz if it works, then all seasons will be done fairly quickly.I have a main image (call it source1) that is 3000 x 2800 pixels that I served up to resample.exe. I also have an equally sized bmp that has black for the water, I used those slices for alpha channel. I've already proven my scenery to be well positioned, by resampling and combining the alpha channel into dxt1 + alpha. I'll be backing up my source1 before I start.soo...here's what I'm going to start tonight.1. take a screen shot of my area with my scenery (currently a rectangle that stands out.2. leaving everything else the same, I'll disable my scenery and take a screen shot of the default.3. scale the step one screen shot image to match "source1", and scale the default screeny identically.4. I'll layer the three, default screeny, scenery screeny, and source15. Now I'll sculpt source1 by cutting with a selection using perhaps 2 pixels of feather. This is the arty step, and the screeny of default that will show thru will help me get the appearance I want.6. Now I'll delete the scenery screeny layer, and flatten, naming it source 2. 7. Now I'll submit source2 to resample.exe, saving the slices in the source2 directory.8. Now I'll begin the work on individual slices...take a slice from my current textures stored in source1 dir, and layer the actual msoft texture below that, like 027B2Su1.bmp, and place the source2 under that. Make the msoft texture 100% transparent and the source1 50% transparent. Now I'll trace the previous sculpting on source1 with feathering, which should expose the actual texture from msoft. 9. I'll add any other edits I want to also, and then save as a photopaint format file, which will preserve the layering. These go to General directory10. Once complete with all slices, I'll copy them all into a summer dir. 11. As the defaults I'm starting with are summer, I'll just remove all transparency and flatten...then combine with the alpha channel for that image using fstexconvert and save to texture dir.The key is the general dir. When I'm ready for fall, I'll take the fa equivalent msoft texture and paste it as a layer above the summer. Repeat steps 10 and 11 but saving in the "fall" dir.I'll post some screenys as I make progress.B

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like my excludes, I recommend writing this in scasm directly. Its not hard if you read the scasm documents that come with scasm ver 2.88. Here is my code for Bowerman, one of my projects still in work.I got the coordinates from fssc, after installing a calibrated bmp of the airport as a background image. The cursor in fssc reports in meters from a ref point, which is exactly what you need. Sadly, nothing is really calibrated perfectly so its some trial and error.;Bowerman TaxiLineSet( FSVers 800 )Area( 5 %1 %2 80 )LayerCall( :bob_1 40 )Jump( :exit ):bob_1 RefPoint( rel :bob_2 %4 %1 %2 v1= 0 v2= 3234 )RotatedCall( :bob_3 0 0 %5 ):bob_2Return:bob_3IfVarRange( :skiplabel 028C 0001 0001 )TaxiMarkings( 0xC7 -2110 -346.667 ;L start of inv line 0xC7 -2373.33 -403.333 ;L end of inv line 0x08 0x87 -2515.83 -349.167 ;s of Seg 1 0x87 -2535.5 -255.833 ;end of seg 1 0x00 0x87 -2535.5 -255.833 ;s of seg 2 0x87 -2364.17 19.167 ;s of seg 3 0x87 2176.67 900 ;s of seg 4 0x87 2418.333 728.333 ;s of seg 5 0x87 2441.667 613.333 ;s of seg 6 0X08 0xC7 2365 516.6667 ;s of rh inv line 0xC7 2065.833 457.5 ; end of rh inv line 0x00 0xC7 -1091.67 -150 ;s of lh ex.. 0xC7 -955 -133.333 ;end of inv line...l 0X08 0X87 -863.333 -23.333 ;visible line s 0X87 -914 266.6667 ;end of visible line 0X08 0XC7 -960 291.529 ;l top inv line s 0XC7 -1061.67 276.6667 ;l top inv line end 0X00 0XC7 -601.667 -60 ;rt inv rwy line s 0XC7 -741.667 -90 ;rt inv rwy line e 0X08 0XC7 -863.333 -23.333 ;inv main line s 0XC7 -914 266.6667 ;inv main line e 0X08 0XC7 -880 307.049 ;rt inv line s 0XC7 -751.667 333.3333 ;rt inv line e 0X00 ;r x STARTS HERE 0XC7 650 186.6667 0XC7 770 202 0X08 0X87 855.8333 301.6667 ;rt visible line 0X87 797.5 591.66667 ;rt visible line end 0X08 0XC7 735.8333 620.5207 ;end of arc connect to main line 0XC7 592.5 591.6667 0X00 0XC7 1058.333 260 0XC7 962 241.016 0X08 0XC7 855.8333 301.6667 ;rt inv line 0XC7 797.5 591.66667 ;rt inv line e 0X08 0XC7 852.5 643.154 0XC7 897.5 648.3333 0x00 0x82 -2540.07 -330 -2495 -320;l hold line 0x00 )jump( :gohere ):skiplabelTaxiMarkings( 0xC7 -2090 -346.667 ;L start of inv line 0xC7 -2353.33 -403.333 ;L end of inv line 0x0D 0x8c -2470.83 -349.167 ;s of Seg 1 0x8c -2490.5 -245.833 ;end of seg 1 0x00 0x8c -2490.5 -245.833 ;s of seg 2 0x8c -2325.17 19.167 ;s of seg 3 0x8c 2148.67 890 ;s of seg 4 0x8c 2360 728.333 ;s of seg 5 0x8c 2395 613.333 ;e of seg 5 0X0D 0xC7 2365 516.6667 ;s of rh inv line 0xC7 2065.833 457.5 ; end of rh inv line 0x00 0xC7 -1091.67 -150 ;s of lh ex.. 0xC7 -955 -133.333 ;end of inv line...l 0X0D 0X8c -848.333 -23.333 ;visible line s 0X8c -899 266.6667 ;end of visible line 0X0D 0XC7 -935 290 ;l top inv line s 0XC7 -1061.67 276.6667 ;l top inv line end 0X00 0XC7 -586.667 -60 ;rt inv rwy line s 0XC7 -760.667 -92 ;rt inv rwy line e 0X0D 0XC7 -848.333 -23.333 ;inv main line s 0XC7 -899 266.6667 ;inv main line e 0X0D 0XC7 -870.667 303.3333 ;rt inv line s 0XC7 -751.667 333.3333 ;rt inv line e 0X00 ;r x STARTS HERE 0XC7 650 186.6667 0XC7 770 205 0X0D 0X8c 840.8333 301.6667 0X8c 782.5 591.66667 0X0D 0XC7 720.8333 616.6667 0XC7 592.5 591.6667 0X00 0XC7 1043.333 260 0XC7 926.6667 232.6667 0X0D 0XC7 840.8333 301.6667 0XC7 782.5 591.66667 0X0D 0XC7 812.5 633.3333 0XC7 862.5 648.3333 0x00 0x82 -2552.07 -323.333 -2505.4 -339.167 ;l hold line 0x00):gohereReturn:exitEndA

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first, the source imagethen step 1 screen shotthen step 2 screen shotthen step 5 carving up source1

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Bob,My experience with SCASM is limited at best, but this does seem to be the best approach. What I understand is that you find one reference point and base your taxiways off of that. Is that correct? If so, do you know how that is done in Airport? I haven't messed with FSSC. I guess if it is possible then, I would just use the above commands (I heard you can write the ASCII instead of the hex) with distances from the reference point that define the lines.Any clarification to this would help greatly,Thanks!

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I read much about the debugging over using Airport gui for doing these lines. I'm not sure what the latest is. There was a thread that discussed some problems with it. My situation may be unique, but once you get familier with the basics of scasm (and that's all I have, I'm not fluent in complexity of programming in scasm), then you can cut out the middleman with no loss of efficiency. That way, fewer errors, and no confusion over the cause when there is a problem. The way my code works regarding reference point is the same as any macro. A macro can be used anywhere so the reference point is left to be an unspecified variable, and all the details are based on differential measurements from the unspecified variable. The reference point gets tied down when the macro is used in a main file, either called into airport or fssc gui (or groundmaker, asd, etc) or the scasm for the main file is appended to include a macro call command and the appropriate pass down details.if you are interested, you can find this command and see what I mean:<>local variables are designated in scasm by the % sign, and you see %1 and %2?...that's latitude and longitude. When you "add" a macro to an airport or fssc file, the scasm produced by that program tells this macro what %1 and %2 are based on where you clicked.Airport may do this too, but fssc gives you an x,y report in meters from a macro symbol, which I used in the code that you see.It is true that you can use ASCII replacements for the hex, thou I haven't done it yet. The idea you have to understand is that you are going to draw a line from one direction. You start at the beginning of the line and continue thinking about the line in that direction till ur done. You don't switch around midstream and start going the other way...wont work.Arcs are designated in hex or ascii, but no points are provided. the ARC statement connects the previous point with the next point. That's why you MUST have a previous point if you want an arc to display. The code above starts in an arc drawn from the runway to the first straight segment, so my code starts with an invisible line on the runway centerline, first point is the start of that invisible line, second point is the end of the invisible line, then arc, then third point is the start of the first visible line......etc.And, I did need to employ some trial and error...and it appears the gui writers are fighting the same problem with the gui versions. Its been documented, but not explained to my knowledge, that the night lights (the second half of my code) apparently use a different scaling! LOL while absurd to imagine, its true. I had to adjust much of the night light lines, as you can see if you inspect my code.Best,Bob B

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Hi tlassiter.It looks great! I know the work for the seasons will be a chore, but go for it! ( At least the autogen is good for year-round ) I thought this would work, and I'm really happy you and Bob Bernstein got together on this. Between the two of you, you're redefining the process of airport design.The best part of this process is that anyone with time and patience can use readily available tools to create incredible scenery that blends in with the default FS2002... just like the Oshgosh example from Microsoft. I accused them of releasing that scenery on purpose to torment us as we looked for scenery creation clues, without an SDK. I still think they did it on purpose! :-wink2

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Bob,I like that process a lot! It seems to be less time consuming as the way I did it. I'm going to mess around with PhotoShop to see what I can do. I am not familiar with it at all. In fact, I was lucky to find the way I did my textures. It was more of a guessing process than "I know what I am doing". Thanks for the taxilines answers too. I guess there is no "easy" way to do this. I wish there was a gui interface that lined everything up perfectly and let you interact, in real-time, with arcs...like bezier curves with control points! Wouldn't that be nice?Take care,Tom

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Thanks alot for the feedback rhumba! I am going to mess around with PhotoShop some and see if there is an easier way of producing textures based in those that I already have. There must be some way!Take care,Tom

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Thought I would post a pic of a "closer-up" view of the scenery. This is with some autogen added. As you can see the frame rates aren't getting hit hard, and this is about as low as I have seen it on my meager AMD 950, VooDoo3 3000. I need a new video card!

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