Circular fields

[JonRD463 146]

Hi all! I just took a real world flight from Seattle to Atlanta, and as is usually the case when I fly, a desire to recreate the flight in FS has kicked in. One thing I noticed on this flight that is lacking in any scenery, are the circular fields that dot the countryside. These are interspersed with the regular rectangular fields, with some looking like segments are cut out (kind of a "Pac Man" shape).I was wondering if there were any texture replacements out there that recreate these fields. Thanks!Jon

[Guest MatthiasS]

I'm pretty sure I saw a lot of those on a recent FlightSim flight in Northern California, in the valley east of the San Franciso bay (south of Modesto) with default textures and landclass.

[Holger 0]

Hi Jon,interesting question; I wondered about this before too! Actually, the FS default textures contain at least two sets that include center-pivot irrigation. Here's a screenshot of one of the tiles:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/72372.jpgThe ones I found are landclasses #37 (hot irrigated cropland) and #76 (crop and water mixtures). The latter is a regional landclass and can only be used/seen in the SW US. However, #37 should be visible anywhere in the world but doesn't seem to be used in the default landclass for that part of the US (checked with TMFViewer). In fact, the only place I've seen the tile in use is in Hawaii!?!Well, perhaps someone, some day will make a replacement landclass file for that area and then we get to see at least some of those neat-looking circles.Cheers, HolgerEdit: Matthias is correct, there's quite a bit of class 37 used in southern California and western Mexico.

[JonRD463 146]

Well, son of a gun! I guess I haven't been looking hard enough. ;). My flight was on American West, via KPHX, and it was while we were over northern Texas that I saw the circles. My trip up to Seattle last August, when I moved here, had us flying over the northern midwest, where I saw a lot of them as well. It's a pretty prominent feature nowadays, but I can't remember having seen those tiles in flights before. As soon as the FSGenesis Western and Rockies meshes finish download, I should have all I need to recreate the flight, and I'll have to keep an eye out, weather permitting.Regards,Jon

[Guest MatthiasS]

I don't know if you use the FSGenesis landclass also, but I just wanted to mention that I don't think with it the circles show up in Northern CA. As cool as the landclass is in the blander US areas, in CA I'm still happiest with the default landclass.Matthias

[Holger 0]

Hi all,as coincidences go, I'm just pre-processing one of those Landsat 7 image sets requested by a Ground2K4 designer and it contains loads of those circular fields. Just wanted to share this amazing contrast of human-made geometry and the natural dendritic patterns. This is in southeastern Washington, in the "big elbow" of the Columbia River.Cheers, Holgerhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/72551.jpg

[Holger 0]

Me again,here are a couple more, this time false-colour composites of different areas in the same region.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/72552.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/72553.jpgNow there's a Ground2K4 project were the designer can work with VTP2 polys without worrying about the lack of edge-blending ;-)Ciao, Holger

[Guest webin]

Being from a farming area of the world (southern Delaware), I thought I'd spout a little info I know about center pivot irrigation.The consist of an elevated tube frame with nozzles spaced every 50 feet or so.They come in a myriad of sizes, but many are around 750 feet long. They can easily irrigated fields that are more than 100 acres, and some can cover 400 acres.They (obviously) pivot around a central point in the field, where a pump moves water from a store tank up into the irrigation system.They also design lateral irrigation systems, where the entire structure moves across the field. These are supplied water throught fire engine-style hoses or an open irrigation ditch.Central pivot irrigation is economically feasible with fields that are larger than 40-60 acres (depending on the crop). The most often irrigated crop is corn, which needs roughly 2 inches of water per week.I would estimate (not knowing actual numbers) that cetral pivot (or lateral motion) irrigation systems are used on roughly a third of all cropland in the United States.Also, in case your wondering, wandering around a 100 acre field with corn 8 feet high is always a fun way to spend a summer afternoon. Just make sure you take your GPS with you :)

[Guest]

Hello Jon,There is a cluster of these centerpoint irrigation patterns in the Paradise Valley north of Yellowstone National Park. I'm working on some modifications of the scenery and decided to try and add these features since they stand out clearly in the satellite image provided by Holger. I've drawing these circles as VTP polygons and using two or three different textures. One is irrigated grass and I think I've used grass and one of the arid textures. I'll look them up and post again here. Attached is a snapshot of the circles and fields I've done so far. They need some adjusting, etc.Wil

[Guest webin]

If I could make a suggestion Wil... I don't know what they look like in the sat image your using... but it you draw an "arid" sqaure underneath the green circles with the same radius as the circle, it might add a little extra bit of realism, since ceter pivots are usually built in squarish fields and therefore can't cover the corners.

[Holger 0]

Hi Ryan,very clever idea! Here's another one (actually not really an idea but rather G2K4/FS related):If at all possible, try to avoid crossing LOD13 boundaries when drawing VTP2 landclass-textured polygons. As people have probably seen with my glaciers, they show annoying visible seams at the LOD13 boundaries when the aircraft is more than a few miles away. In my newer projects, I now often move or edit those types of polygons so that they stay within the LOD13 grid (doesn't work with big glaciers but smaller polys like clearcuts). I'd suggest you do the same with those center-pivot fields. Obviously, you don't want them to move too far so it's a bit of trial and error. For that reason, Ryan's idea is particularly helpful since drawing a square field first (and then checking its position in the landscape) is much easier than moving around those circular fields.Cheers, Holger

[Guest]

Howdy Ryan,Good idea. I'll give it a try. some of the circles in the satellite image do show, at least partially, the corners of a field. Others show no evidence of an underlying field. The area is more or less wide open with rectangular fields scattered amongst the irrigation circles. The default textures are not correct so I'll have to see which looks best, the circles simply drawn on the landscape or within a square field. I'm not going to get into landclass on this go-around.Wil

[Guest]

Hi Holger,I haven't noticed any "seams" in the circles I've drawn so far but will take another look to be certain.I've drawn most of the various fields that show among and around the circles which helps eliminate some of the default texture. There isn't much beyond grass in the area except cottonwoods along the river but the default has a brushy landscape for the most part.Thanks to you and Ryan for these ideas and suggestions.Wil

[Guest]

Hi Holger,I just took a look at my irrigation circles and only one of 10 or 12 fall within a LOD13 square. They do show the seams until nearly overhead. Since the circles are actually within a fairly restricted area, it would be just about impossible to "move" them about without doing violence to the actual situation. I think I'll try just a few along with some square and rectangular fields and let it go at that. It's pretty far out of Yellowstone National Park which is my main area of concern. The circles look so neat on the satellite image I thought that I'd inlcude them, but we live and learn.I've noticed that flying around the Beartooths, particularly in winter, those seams appear just about everywhere until close to them. They are present year-round but are very visible in snowy areas. I have the FSGenesis 38.2m Rocky Mountain scenery installed.Wil

[Guest]

Howdy Holger,Well, I tried drawing a VTP2 square field first and putting a VTP2 circle in it of a different texture. After putting the resulting BGLs in my scenery I flew the area. Nice square fields but no cirles in 'em. Ah hah, maybe I had a layering problem. So I repeated the process giving the circles a higher layer number. No dice. Got nice square fields but still no circles in them. What in thunder am I doing wrong besides wasting too much time way out of the park?Wil