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FlightGear Newsletter June 2014: Difference between revisions
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→Scenery corner: MSFS -> FG conversion of LIPY
(→Wiki updates: the update to the Weather page. (is this the kind of news that should go here?)) |
(→Scenery corner: MSFS -> FG conversion of LIPY) |
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== Scenery corner == | == Scenery corner == | ||
There is a project to add all the USA state capital buildings into FG. | There is a project to add all the USA state capital buildings into FG. It is discussed in [http://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22715&sid=ea847909bde2e1f8ffe5b94bcc673f4f this scenery forum thread]. There is also a wiki page: [[State Capitol Buildings in the United States]]. So far, Idaho, Louisiana & Nebraska have been completed. Hawaii and New York are currently in progress. Please feel free to join in with any other state that has not been done yet. Just let us know through the forum and we will add it to the in progress list. | ||
=== Airports === | === Airports === | ||
==== LIPY, a scenery conversion from MSFS ==== | |||
This month saw the [http://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22623 second "preview" release] of the conversion of a scenery for MS Flight Simulator, [[Falconara Airport]] (ICAO code: LIPY), a small Italian international airport halfway down the Adriatic coast. The original author granted the permission to the conversion and even allowed for it to be included in the FlightGear official [[World Scenery]], at least the GPL compatible parts. This is not a huge limitation though, because most of the material was created from scratch, included pictures taken on purpose at the real airport, with the authorities' collaboration. Copyrighted aerial imagery only include the (unsuable) photoreal ground and some roofs. | |||
[[File:LIPY structures landscape.jpg|650px|right]] | |||
The conversion was made with [[ModelConverterX]], which makes the job partially easier than by [[Howto:Convert objects from X-Plane|the Blender method]], yet it's still needing fixes because of some misunderstandings with the coordinates axes. The author of the tool, though, seems not very concerned and anyway, it's so rare to have a freeware scenery author allow conversions, that the usefulness of this tool would be greatly reduced anyhow, especially if you plan to upload the models to the [[FlightGear Scenery Database]]. | |||
The conversion itself, moreover, sure is not the matter of a button press. MSFS scenery are often packed and "compiled" in *.BGL files such that independent, far objects with the same materials and same LOD level (Level Of Detail) are bound together. This is clearly against FG's way, in which each new scenery generation could change the relative heights, and however MSFS airports are flat, while in FG they're all sloped. A similar thing happens with the texture maps. This basically means that you'll have to join all these objects and split them again based on the model they belong to (e.g. tower, terminal, hangars...) | |||
Another issue with textures is that in FG it's good practice - recommended if not mandatory - to have 2 separate texture maps for the same object, if some parts are translucent. This means that without rebuilding all the texture maps [http://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22707 you'll likely get artifacts]. Then, you'd have to add the Rembrandt lights if you want, and also the lightmaps (MSFS uses night textures, but Gimp can easily convert them). This whole experience can be summed up in the following quote: | |||
{{cquote|I really wanted to have this scenery in FG because it's my home base, and seeing it ready and so well done just made me want it. However, even if still easier than making it from scratch (even if reusing the textures), I'd have to think well if I had to do this again.|bigstones, maintainer of the conversion}} | |||
== Aircraft of the month == | == Aircraft of the month == | ||