(FSX) - Generic Building Creation and Placement

[greggerm 312]

Hi all,I am in the midst of designing some basic scenery enhancements, and need a quick hand. My primary tools are SBuilderX and the Airport Design Editor. (I am also using Instant Scenery to place more specific items, but it doesn't have a generic-enough building to fit my need) I need to create some "customized" generic-style buildings. I'd like to use the generic FSX building textures, and I only need to customize the length, width, height (and if possible, the gable height). very basic, almost autogen like buildings - just custom in size and location. I've seen in ADE there is the ability to add generic-style buildings and adjust their length and width, but you cannot adjust height. You are also limited to the library of generic buildings found, you cannot seem to make many customizations to it. Is there a simple tool out there which will help me add in these generic buildings (and allow the textures to tile properly to scale)? Preferably, this application would have some sort of FSX/FSUIPC tie in to allow me to precisely place the building. (or get the programs crosshairs set on the sim location)Thanks for the assistance,-Greg

[meshman 109]

Sounds like another project for... Whisplacer, by Lamont Clark.http://lc0277.nerim.net/wiki/It's an excellent object placement tool, with live preview in FSX and it also handles constructing generic buildings, which IIRC doesn't have the live preview in FSX. But it syncs with FSX, so placement location can be assisted.Highly recommended, but read the product notes, as the interface is a little non-standard. But it's another great tool from Lamont!BTW, once the generics are built it would be possible to take that XML code and insert it into the ADE XML code to have the generics showing within ADE.

[greggerm 312]

Thanks for the tip! Downloaded, running, and I'm playing with it now. The web-based manual has either been vandalized or it is holding only placeholder information, so it wasn't terribly useful, and the readme's do lend a hand, but not to the detailed degree I may need. Can I ask a follow up question based on your last sentence?It would appear from your statement, I can use Whisplacer to define and create a generic building (and create an XML code for it), then somehow get that XML into Airport Design Editor (for use in it's generic building manager), which I can then use as a "Generic Building Manager" item for current and future use. The question I have is how does one get the XML into ADE? I saved a test file out as a object placement XML, which seems to have the same XML coding as a ADE generic building, but I can't seem to find an import/export spot in ADE to do the trick. Thanks for the help, MeshMan - it is very much appreciated.-Greg

[meshman 109]

>... but I>can't seem to find an import/export spot in ADE to do the>trick. Not a part of ADE. But the XML can be copied into the ADE XML that is part of the compile process, if so checked within ADE. If you open an ADE XML file you'll see the area with exclusions and then placement code towards the top. Scroll down to an area just before the

[greggerm 312]

Perfect! Had to set ADE option to save the XML file upon compilation, and there is some cutting and pasting going on, but I am on my way!Now I have to figure out why the roof gable texture isn't matching up with the Whisplacer texture, and I'll be in good shape!Thanks for the assistance!-Greg

[GHD 21]

Hi Greg,The next version of ADE will be able to import generic buildings created by Whisplacer:George

[greggerm 312]

To summarize what I did, for those who might do a search on this weeks and months down the road...I used Whisplacer to create the generic buildings. I had Whisplacer compile a BGL and placed it into my scenery in a general location so I could get the texturing correct. Once the textures were correct, I deleted the BGL file and I had Whisplacer save the item as an XML Scenery Object. I opened this XML file, and copied the entry for the building I was working with to the clipboard. Then, I opened ADE and went into the Preferences/Options area, and made sure that the checkbox for "Create XML when compiling" was turned on. I did a quick compile of my airport to create the XML, then I opened the airport's XML file in notepad and inserted the from Whisplacer into it, and saved the file. Following that, in ADE, I "Opened Airport from XML" from the just edited XML, and viola! My generic building appears in the workspace. I then used ADE to precisely position the building and ta-da! Done!=---------------------------------------------------------=Good news on having ADE be able to more directly import the building code. Hopefully you'll be able to integrate the actual building creation into the program somewhere down the road! Cheers,-Greg

[scruffyduck 4]

Generic Building Design is part of the development path for ADE. However, As George shows the next version will allow the import of buildings created by other utilities such as Whisplacer.