AutoAsm available for download

[Guest cwright]

AutoAsm allows you to draw a shape and place it as water to create lakes, rivers and coastlines. It can also be used in CFS2. This is a very early version but I thought people would be interested in trying it out. The next version will have many more and improved features, such as the ability to import coastline data. You can download it here: http:www.kline.demon.co.uk/AutoAsmV02.zip Have fun.... Best regards, Chris Wright

[Guest]

Thanks ChrisAppreciate it immenselyCheersJarrad

[Guest Claviateur]

Thanks so much Chris!:)CheersMichel

[Guest]

Very clever tool. Can I give a SMALL suggestion for making the raw file.Open the image you are using for the template. Create another layer, fill it black and hide it. Create another transparent layer and draw your coast onto this, when done show the black layer and save the image as a raw file. This way you can be sure that pixels from the template image will not create any stray 255 pixels, also makes it easier to edit at a later date if you save the file with the layers.Thanks for the program David.

[Guest cwright]

David, that's an excellent suggestion. It's worth mentioning one thing. If there are any stray 255 pixels then they won't cause a problem, providing:1. They are lower than the start pixel.2. They do not touch the main line. It's a bit like laying railway track - the train will only follow the continuous track! In fact, if you want to edit a part of the line you don't have to erase it - just disconnect it from the main line and fill in the gap to complete the main line. Best regards, Chris

[Guest cwright]

....I forgot to mention. Thanks to Michel for pointing it out. Currently the maximum resolution of the image file is 1600*1200. If you exceed that the program will stop with an error. Later versions should allow higher resolutions. You should be able to use any resolution providing x is no more than 1600 and y is no more than 1200. Best regards, Chris

[Guest]

Thanks for all your work, Chris! I can't wait to look into this. I'm sure it will help me a great deal with my project.

[Guest cwright]

Michel has discovered a few more bugs, as he's using a relatively complex coastline image. 1. There may be a problem when the end of the line is only a few pixels below the start pixel. If you get an error message when trying to load the image, try trimming the end of the line so the last pixel is a few positions lower. 2. If there is a stray pixel on the line it may stop there, so you only get part of the line in the map display. Strangely enough, if there are two or more consecutive pixels running along the main line it will probably be okay (a single pixel looks like a branch off from the line that ends very abruptly, while several pixels look like a line running parallel to the main one). To be safe, make sure the line is of single pixel width with no stray pixels touching it. 3. If there are a lot of points and the FS limit of 62 points is exceeded, pressing the CULL button may not work (it seems to hang indefinitely). For now, I suggest you do not have AUTO CULL checked. If CULL doesn't work when you exceed the limit, try reducing the image resolution (increasing the geographical size will also reduce the 62 point problem). Remember that this is a *very* early version. These bugs should be fixed in the next version. This version probably isn't suitable for a large scenery project, but it should work fine for smaller sections with relatively non-convoluted shapes. My aim is to make it work for pretty well any oddball shape you can throw at it! Best regards, Chris

[Guest]

Great Work, But the interface of the program is horrible..., can you make the interface more confortable and dinamic?and other thing, when have you (aproximately) the next version?Pablo

[Guest]

Hi Chris,I think that you're writing history here. I think it's great to have the opportunity to take a crack at ms's water.Never mind the critics for they seem to forget that this is just a very preliminary version. Not even beta I might add. And that's just great!One question I can't get it started. Keeps shouting 'path not found rt err 76'. I've placed the whole shabang in d:FS2002FS2002 ScenerySDKProgram FilesAutoAsm. Should be ok I guess? Or???Help!Happy landings!Marty

[Guest]

Marty, I think I had that problem too, try placing in directory: C:Program FilesAutoAsmDavid

[Guest]

Hi David,OK! But I'm not that fond of it. I always try to keep my stuff elsewhere.Happy landings!

[Guest cwright]

Hi, yes, currently it should be in c:Program Filesautoasm, because it saves the ini files into that location. This will change in a later version. However, if you use a different working directory but also create the autoasm directory as above it should work. Although in a different directory autoasm will then be able to save the ini files there. Just be sure to enter the actual working directory you're using in the box. Best regards, Chris

[Guest cwright]

Pablo, thanks for the complement. The interface is quite basic and could be improved (though I'm not sure I would use the word 'horrible'!). In fact some of it was originally intended to help me in debugging, nothing more. But right now my top priority is to solve the BIG outstanding geometrical/topological problem (occurs when the line enters a small square more than once). With this version the problem will cause odd effects in some circumstances. I hope to have the complete solution working in a few days. I'll also need to add some more features (coastline data import and support for multiple polygons, among others) and fix a few other problems. I think the interface will be essentially the same for a few weeks, but later I will look at improving it. Best regards, Chris

[Guest Claviateur]

Hi,I think the future of this program is brilliant! I was dreaming all those past monthes about such a tool that makes life easy when it comes to compile a reshaped coastline for my scenery and here is a great one by Chris :) I will follow its evolution version by version in order to compile a finished coastline for my scenery. The first experimentations I did with Chris on my coastline revealed very promising results that can get cleaner and more precise in the future verisions hopefully. Thanks Chris ;)Cheers!Michel