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Everything posted by Benny_
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Have you Found Your Street in XP10?
Benny_ replied to FIVE-BY-FIVE's topic in The X-Plane General Discussions Forum
You may want to have a look at those slides, talking about VFR landmarks in flight simulators with openStreetMap data. If you're lucky to have good osm coverage for your area, you can have something pretty close to reality imo, well enough at least to be able to fly vfr using the same landmarks as in reality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4Tij0QLWpQ -
Osm2xp is using facades for buildings, which are basically textured cubes. So fps performance is better than for a complex 3D object , but it's not very pretty, and that's the biggest problem of osm2xp in my opinion. I'm currently working on an evolution that will let osm2xp use 3D objects for buildings. It's still in progress/testing, but i think it will be a huge leap in graphic quality for those osm generated sceneries. (windsocks are used for tests to validate buildings compliance to footprint)
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I've been in contact with Ollie these last days , and as he have great ideas related to HDR lights and osm data, i worked a bit on osm2xp to make light positioning easier/more powerful. Here are a few screenshots (it's just a test, light is a bit too much white i think, but it's just to show what can be done)
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Sounds good I'm also sure that we can make huge things about graphic quality & osm generated scenery. Let's face it, osm2xp buildings are ugly when you look close (not so pretty from an altitude neither), they are just textured lego bricks. I'm just lacking time , plus working alone isn't the best thing for motivation If you have ideas to improve things fell free to contact me.
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Hello, This year's US Open Street Map conference will take place in San Francisco next month, and i will be presenting a session on open street map and flight simulation. The main objective of the talk will be to show how flight simulation can be improved thanks to osm data, differents approachs, pro/cons etc... I will of course talk of my own experience of osm/flight sim with osm2xp, and I'm thinking of a slideshow of end users screenshots at the end of the talk, during questions/answers. So if you're using osm2xp and have some nice screenshots of it, you can post them here/mail them to me at (osm2xp -at- gmail.com). I will be adding a short description on screenshots, with location/aicraft , and your forum pseudo (or your real name if you want). If you have something positive to say about osm in flight sim or osm2xp, i'll add it too . Something like that: Cessna 152 over San Francisco "Osm is so cool blablablabla" By MdMaxx If you're interested in coming to the conference, here's the link of the event : http://stateofthemap.us/ leave me a message if you're planning on coming Cheers Ben
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Hello, I'm currently working on a new project, the goal is to replace my old osm2xp files repository (http://scenery.osm2xp.com/) with a more complex osm library webapp. I'm looking for people to give me feedback , with at least some knowledge of xplane scenery system, osm2xp, and who are confortable with websites / basic computing in general. You can send me a PM if interested. Thanks a lot. Ben
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I'm also ok with your point of view. If i manage to make everything i have in mind (there's a lot more than what i described), i think it may help the community to grow. I think that if you tell a sim user something like "look at that xplane sim, you just have to download an app, and in a few clic you have some ultra realistic scenery for free, that automaticaly gets updated, no struggle to install files etc" well it should be a good point for the sim. I'm REALLY proud to know that a LOT of osm data has been added by osm2xp users. I spent hundreds of hours in various sims trying to enhance my local area, if back in the years something like osm was there , i would have spent nights on it To get back on the initial goal of the topic, there are a lot of .shp files available, but as you said the'yre not perfect , and they are hard to find. Once my repository project is done, i'll start digging the web for them, and will publish them on it.
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Well if there is a way to have a work made together, i would help. I think others may too. If there is no data available, i don't see how we could do, the only way is to make it ourselves. It may take a lot of time, but if people are willing to work together, then it would be possible. There are maybe dozen of people that want to have the same area as you , power rely on number And btw the openStreetMap community is great, maybe that if you start to map buildings, talk about it on osm mailing list , they would be happy to help . Some public institutions have data , but aren't sharing it because they don't see the point, maybe with a few mails you can get some, i think osm community can be of a valuable help on this kind of stuff. But yeah, osm isn't perfect, you're totaly right on it, it's not the perfect data source for flight simulators, far from it. But it's already a damn great thing for some part of the world , i wouldn't have hoped something like a few years back. I know this project (scenery repo ) is a bit of an utopia, but who knows, maybe this project will boost the community to work on a common goal, a realist world wide scenery.
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Yes osm data is poor for most of the world, so automatic generation from a footprint source won't be possible for most of the world... I'm currently working on a project that take the problem from another approach. We have a big community. We are spending a lot of time working on enhancing our sims. I think that if you take the time spent by people on tools like osm2xp/whatever, numbers would be frightening. So here's what i have in mind: -divide the world in 1/1° squares (as xplane does). -people make handmade sceneries for those tiles, using tools when possible. -Offer a web application to let people upload/manage those tiles, and users download them. -Make an app to easily sync your xplane files with the files available on this repository. That's what i'm working on these days, and when the webapp will be finished, i will work for my area (i'm a student pilot on LFPZ), i'll go take pictures, make 3D objects, work to enhance osm data etc, and i'll publish the scenery for this/these tiles. Even if an area is empty in osm, if you work for a goal of a single tile, you could make it in a few days/weeks. IF a lot of people contribute to a repository like this, we could have something huge for our sim. (old screens of the first proof of concept test attached)
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OSM2XP been a while......building height issue
Benny_ replied to Muskoka's topic in The X-Plane General Discussions Forum
Just made a test, and as you say, no tall building. I checked in my code and it's extracting the right values, i checked in WED and objects have the right height. So maybe it's a bug with current xp10 version, i'll check tomorrow on older xp version ( i think i still have a xp9 install somewhere). -
OSM2XP been a while......building height issue
Benny_ replied to Muskoka's topic in The X-Plane General Discussions Forum
Hi Muskoka, This option is here to exclude buildings based on the size (width) of a wall, not the height. It's goal is to exclude large buildings, wich will look ugly rendered with facades ( a custom 3D object would be the best for these buildings) What osm source are you using ? Cheers Ben -
It's the evolution of my first osm files repository http://scenery.osm2xp.com/ But it will be a lot more than that, more information soon (i hope).
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You can't run it, it's just to show that there's just a few lines of codes to support a simulator, so if someone is interested to help he will see that there's not a lot of work to do
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Hello, The fsx mode is not working right now, i have to fix it and i'm lacking time to do it, as i'm working on another xplane project that i want to finish asap. Now please note that osm2xp is openSource, and if someone wants to work with me on fsx mode, it's greatly welcomed! I've tried to make the code as layered as possible, so the code needed to support a simulator is minimal. here's the current fsx "translator" http://code.google.com/p/osm2xp/source/browse/trunk/osm2xp/src/com/osm2xp/translators/impl/FsxBgTranslatorImpl.java cheers Ben
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I've been in contact with AWG Simulations, who wanted me to sell them a osm2xp commercial version. As osm2xp is now openSource and under a gpl licence, i told them that they have the right to do what they want with it, but that they have to specify the source on the product description. We'll see if the final product has mention of osm2xp and openStreetMap data. edit: Awg sent me an email, assuring me that osm2xp and osm data will be mentionned.
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Open Streetmap and X-Plane 10
Benny_ replied to JonRD463's topic in The X-Plane General Discussions Forum
No they are xplane objects, using a texture along a extruded polygon. http://wiki.x-plane.com/Facade_Overview -
Open Streetmap and X-Plane 10
Benny_ replied to JonRD463's topic in The X-Plane General Discussions Forum
did you try a facade exclusion? -
Open Streetmap and X-Plane 10
Benny_ replied to JonRD463's topic in The X-Plane General Discussions Forum
Hello, Ben here, osm2xp developper. I'm 100% ok with you about the look of osm2xp generated scenery. I'm using xplane facades, wich are basic polygons that you extrude from a footprint, it's great because it allows you to respect the original shape of the building, but it's very poor in terms of graphic quality overall. For small rectangular buildings it's not so bad because i can use a sloped roof on them, but for complex shapes it's far from beautifull. So i'm currently working on an evolution that will let osm2xp use 3D objects , with good placement using the osm polygon angle and shape. The issue ticket is here if you want to comment/star/suscribe http://code.google.c...y Owner Summary work in progress screenshots : First a shoot of osm data and what osm2xp generated, open in wed http://osm2xp.google...801084&inline=1 You can see that it fits , angle, dimension, location etc... Then a shot took in xplane 10 , you'll see 3D objects along facades (even the simple rectangular sloped roof house is a 3D object : http://www.openscene...en/3/index.html) http://osm2xp.google...801084&inline=1 Now remember that osm2xp is now openSource, i did my best to make this software, but it's far from perfect, so if you have suggestions / feature request, you can create a issue ticket to help me improve it. Now whatever the work i'm doing on osm2xp i think that you won't be able to generate a perfect xplane scenery with just a clic on osm2xp. If you want something very realistic and beautifull you will need to work more than that, tunning osm data, creating a few 3D models for local landmarks etc... When i'll have a bit of free time i'll make a tutorial to show what can be done if you take some time to modify the osm input data and tune osm2xp. That's also the goal of another project i'm working on, that will let you download complex generated osm scenery. I'll work tile after tile (starting on France), cleaning/tuning osm data, creating 3D objects for local buildings etc... and some web/desktop app will let you download/automaticaly update scenery files. And if some people help for their area, in a few months we'll have the best vfr experience we could have for all the places where osm data is good. Cheers Ben -
Air navigation pro is really nice, it's a tool made for real aviation that you can use with xplane.
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Hello, You may know the tool i'm working on, osm2xp, which let you generate flight simulator scenery using openStreetMap data. I started this project more than a year ago, a simple command line xplane scenery generator proof of concept, with the help of people on x-plane.fr forum. During last year i added a user interface, more complex scenery generation, and did all i could to "open" the tool to users, with customizable textures, scenery generation "rules". I also layered the code to make the support of other simulators/modes as easy as possible, permitting the support of Fly!Legacy, and a little (buggy) fsx mode. My opinion on the current state of osm2xp is that it's not very good. The code is not so clean, the generated scenery is not so beautifull, the user interface could be better, there's no documentation... I know it could be a LOT better, and know overall what to do to reach that goal, but the sad thing is that given the time i can spend on osm2xp, it would take months if not years. So i finally released the source code , and i'm asking the community to help me. You don't need to be a developper to help, maybe you could help on texturing, translating the tool, giving ideas, explaining what the tool should do to create scenery for a new simulator, finding bugs, propose new features... Every help is needed and gratefully accepted :) There is currently a osm2xp forum on my website, http://forum.osm2xp.com This forum will be soon removed, instead i created a google group for discussions : osm2xp google group Google group is not the prettiest discussions board, but it's better for me for multiple reasons. The google code website for osm2xp can be found here : osm2xp google code You can browse the code, there's a (empty) wiki, and the most important thing, there's an issue management page : osm2xp issues page It will be the place to tell me about a bug, make a request for a new feature, and also vote for the issues , to help me know what is the community priority. Note that you'll need a google/gmail account to use those websites. I already made a few issues so you can see what i'm working on, and you can see if you can help on those. Also feel free to make new issues/ comments/ votes etc... Cheers Ben