How to - runway textures

[badderjet 181]

Hello designers,I am quite a :-newbie but I just got interested in runway textures... Could somebody maybe give some hints how to draw good looking, realistic runway textures in either PSP or PhotoShop, with skidmarks etc.Hopefully this question makes any sense...!Thanks in advance,Etienne

[badderjet 181]

This really needs some BUMP...

[arno 1]

Good question, I don't have a real answer. Do you want to replace some of the default runway textures with a new one? Or do you want to make a texture for use on a normal polygon (to represent the runway in that way)?

[Shaka 2]

Well, I don't really have any "good" advice, but here's what I do. This techinique is useful if you are texturing the entire ground of an airport, but the general idea could work if you are only doing the runway.First, in Paint Shop Pro, I create a bitmap of the entire runway. I use a resolution of 1 meter/pixel. You can see already that this will create a very large file. I hope you have lots of memory. I use several layers to make the final bitmap.The first layer will be the base runway texture. I load a texture that will be the base texture of the runway. So, if it's concrete, I find a texture that I have already made, (or borrowed - try using default FS textures for this) and I fill in the runway area. The next layer might be runway lines and numbers. You can skip this if you want to uses FS default runway lines and numbers. Next I use a layer for dirt/exhaust, rubber, etc. For this layer, I just use the black colour, and I adjust the shade by using the sliders in the layer toolbox. The same thing works for the runway lines - if they are too bright, just turn them down to 75% or so. For tire marks, I make thin straight lines where I think the planes would touchdown at the runway ends. Both ends don't have to be the same - one runway can be used more then the reciprocal. For exhause/rubber marks, I use the "spray" tool. I do all this with the layer slider between 25-50%, and the effect can be quite subtle.So, this technique wroks if you are trying to use the runway textures as ground polygons. In my example, I made the whole airport this way, rather than using default taxiways. As you get better at using PSP, you can make some real subtle shading between textures that a regular polygon would give you. I don't like the sharp lines that a regular polygon has, so that's why I prefer to do it this way. I use Architect to place the ground polygons, but you can place these however you prefer, it doesn't really matter. I actually use two ground poolys. One is the ground texture (which is mipmapped) and the other is the runway lines and numbers, which is not mipmapped, because I found the detail to be too difficult to see until you were very close.Also, you can just make only the runway this way if you like - you don't have to make the whole airport like I did. If you only want to use a custom texture for a default ruunway, then you can still use this layer-method to make the bitmap.In my picture, there are no default scenery objects visible - just ground polygons. For night lighting, I still create a runway object, and select all the lighting that I would like, and I choose the "custom texture" runway, but I leave the texture blank, so that all that shows up is the night lighting. If you don't want to make the runway lines like I have, then you can select these on your runway object that you use for the night lighting. I came up with this on my own, through trial and error with my limited knowledge of PSP. It might not create the effect you are trying to achieve, so feel free to experiment with your graphics program.- Martinhttp://forums.avsim.com/user_files/26480.jpg

[badderjet 181]

Thanks man for the detailed explanation. :-hahWill try that! :-coolThanks again,Etienne :-wave