unfair question - which scenery builder to use

[Guest sinzow]

Gentlemen,i am sure, this question will always be asked: which scenery creating software is the best ?fs scenery creator airport for windowsfs-architectscenery builder...some of these are freeware, thanks to their generous creators. some are payware, but most of them are still affordable.i used fssc for years and was very satisfied with Derek Leung's masterpiece. alas - nowadays we want photorealistic ground textures derived from pictures, we want soft transitions to the standard scenery (alpha-blending), we want to place objects exactly where we have slewed our aircraft to, so we need a direct connection to the running simulator (fsuipc / fsconnect) - so: which should i use ?thxsinzov

[arno 1]

Hi Sinzow,This is a difficult question, but I think the main answer is that there is no best tool. Each tool has its advantages and disadvantages and by using a few of them you probably get the best result.If you for example want your terrain to blend nicely with the default scenery it is best to use mesh tools, like Ground2k4 or SBuilder. If you want the airports to behave like the Fs2004 default ones, you will have to create them with the XML tools (like AFCAD2 or SceneGenX). And I could go on like that, there is just not one ultimate design tool.Personally I use GMax to create all my 3D objects, then I use an object placer (ObPlacer XML in my case, but Rwy12 would also work) to place them while slewing over my airport. The high resolution photo I placed at the airport has been done with GMax as well (including a few source tweaks to get the correct behaviour). For the aprons and other airport details I am still looking around a bit, but I think I will create them in GMax as well. Besides all these tools I also use a few custom made tools to do other small tasks.And I am sure other designers will have their own favorite tools. I think you can best try a few and see which one you like best. The interface is always a bit of a personal thing.