FlightGear Newsletter August 2010: Difference between revisions

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=== Update on FlightProSim ===
=== Update on FlightProSim ===
Thanks in part to ''jackmermod'', the FlightGear community now has [http://flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8225&start=45#p90830 access] to the source code of the much-discussed [[FlightProSim]], which will allow for a better and more thorough investigation of the simulator. Browsing through the source directory structure has so far given promising results, but compiling the program itself has been problematic.
Thanks in part to ''jackmermod'', the FlightGear community now has [http://flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8225&start=45#p90830 access] to the source code of the much-discussed [[FlightProSim]], which will allow for a better and more thorough investigation of the simulator. Browsing through the source directory structure has so far given promising results, but compiling the program itself has been problematic.


=== Relaunch of TransGear Airways ===
=== Relaunch of TransGear Airways ===

Revision as of 17:17, 26 August 2010

Magagazine.png
Welcome to the FlightGear Newsletter!
Please help us write the next edition!
Enjoy reading the latest edition!


We would like to emphasize that the monthly newsletter can not live without the contributions of FlightGear users and developers. Everyone with a wiki account (free to register) can edit the newsletter and every contribution is welcome.

Development news

More realistic textures on mountains

Shader-artist Gral picked up a new project, after his forest and grassland improvements. This time he impoves the look of our mountains a lot, thanks to some "elevation and slope detecting" shaders. They replace the vegetation with rocks above a certain elevation or on steep faces. Transition between the different terraintypes are extremely smooth, especially when compared to the usual landcover-transition (eg. between land and ocean) in FlightGear.

The forum provides you with more information, screenshots and updates.

In the hangar

Several aircraft that have been around in FlightGear for many years got updates this month. There is a huge number of aircraft in the FlightGear hangar (over 300!), and while new aircraft are always welcome, there are many existing aircraft that would benefit from some spit-and-polish. Creating a completely new aircraft to a high standard represents a monumental amount of work. Those wanting to contribute, but without the time available to create a truly world-class aircraft from scratch might want to consider improving a favourite aircraft from the hangar instead. The effects are more immediate, and you can improve it one piece at a time.

Douglas A-4F Skyhawk

On a smaller scale to Hal's improvements to the Mustang, Stuart Buchanan has been making a number of changes to the venerable A4-F Skyhawk, or "Scooter". Rather than change the existing A-4F Blue Angels model, Stuart has instead modelled a normal Navy A-4F with dual drop-tanks. As well as some minor FDM tweaking, improvements include a completely new exterior and 3D cockpit, and some more accurate flight control systems including auto-deploying spoilers. The A-4F is an interesting carrier-based light attack aircraft, designed on the principle of simplicity and lightness by Edward Heinmann. In particular, by making the wings short, they didn't need to be folded for storage on carriers, which meant they didn't need complex wing folds, and hence were lighter and stronger.

Fokker 100

Another aircraft that has been updated recently is the Fokker 100. It now has a 3D cockpit and a rudimentary equipment failure control system, as well as a much-improved FDM and Autopilot. At the moment, the Equipment Failure System can only cause engine fires and flap failure. Several new liveries have been made as well. Authors who contributed to this latest phase in development include (in no particular order) Erik Hofman, Thomas Ito-Haigh, Gary Neely, and Skyop.

North American P-51D Mustang

Hal V. Engel has made some massive improvements to the P51-D. Using NACA (the pre-cursor to NASA) published data, he's produced a very impressive JSBSim FDM. He's also made a number of improvements to the 3D cockpit and the engine systems. Those who enjoy their WWII warbirds will be very interested indeed. Your correspondent has still to manage a take-off from the runway without at least one bounce, but can report that the landing characteristics, while not benign, are at least manageable. This is an aircraft that will really repay some effort on the part of the pilot to get to know, and almost certainly represents the most accurate warbird FDM we have available.

AC-130

Scenery corner

Las Vegas McCarran International Airport

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 parked at Concourse B; Concourse C is visible in the background.

Skyop has modeled Concourse A, Concourse B, Concourse C, and the Charter International Terminal at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (KLAS). Unfortunately, the new Concourse D could not be modeled as there was no GPL-compatible satellite imagery available. You can obtain the new terminals via TerraSync.

Animated jetways finalized

An exciting new feature comes to FlightGear with the completion of Skyop's animated jetway system. The first airport to implement it is none other than KLAS. A slight fix is required to see the jetways.

To use the system, taxi to an animated jetway and park your aircraft with your nosegear on the "T" at the end of the marking line. Click the jetway, and if your aircraft has the appropriate values in its -set.xml file, the jetway will extend and raise/lower itself to your door! Updated -set.xml files for the Boeing 737-300, Boeing 747-400, and Boeing 777-200ER can be downloaded from this post of the development thread.

Unfortunately, there are still a few unresolved issues with the jetways. The biggest being that they currently cannot operate independently.

Community news

FlightGear on YouTube

  • A wonderful example of the possibilities and power of FlightGear, in which FlightGear is connected to some avionics equipment (including flight displays and EICAS).
  • Chances are big that you never saw anything like what is done in this video, before. These people connected a radio controller vehicle to their computer and visualized its movements with FlightGear's jeep.
  • Our home-director, Oscar, uploaded a nice video summarising the KLM fleet in FlightGear.
  • In case you have missed it, a video showing photorealistic scenery in Brest.
  • Despite the bad graphics (clouds and smoke), this Red Bull Air Race video shows once again what an enormous range of different things one can do in FlightGear. A second video was uploaded as well.

Watch the FlightGear PlayList for a collection of all (somewhat) quality FlightGear videos ever uploaded to YouTube.

Wiki updates

Nasal articles

In the aftermath of a forum topic, work has been started on expanding the number of Nasal related articles at the wiki. These articles should help (new) developers to understand the scripting language and eventually write their own scripts.

All Nasal articles are collected in a special category. More articles are welcome, as always, so feel free to share your Nasal knowledge!

How to commit changes to Git on Windows?

Three months after our big move to Git, there finally is a tutorial on how to commit changes to Git, on a Windows based computer! This allows every FlightGear-user/developer to get their edits up in the official FlightGear repository. Let's hope that this will stimulate more people to start developing and sharing their work with the rest of the world.

Read the article at FlightGear Git on Windows#Commiting changes.

Update on FlightProSim

Thanks in part to jackmermod, the FlightGear community now has access to the source code of the much-discussed FlightProSim, which will allow for a better and more thorough investigation of the simulator. Browsing through the source directory structure has so far given promising results, but compiling the program itself has been problematic.

Relaunch of TransGear Airways

This month saw the first event of the resurrected TransGear Airways. The event was planned by Lukosius and Redneck. Redneck and Jomo provided Air Traffic Control services. The event was well received and attended by registered TGA pilots and other unregistered pilots as well. Details are available on the official site. The September event will be the first event scheduled using Yourgod's scheduling software which will allow pilots to plan their own routes within the event.

And finally

Contributing

One of the regular thoughts expressed on the FlightGear forums is "I'd like to contribute but I don't know how to program, and I don't have the time". Unfortunately, there is a common mis-conception that contributing requires programming and lots of free time. In fact, there are a huge range of ways to contribute to the project without needing to write code or spending days working on something.

For ideas on starting to contribute to FlightGear, you may want to check out: Volunteer.

Reminder: Google's Summer of Code 2011

We would like to remind all readers that the FlightGear project is planning to participate in GSoC 2011. However, doing that really requires a fair amount of work, planning and organizing. This is not something that can be done by a single person. It really needs a coordinated team effort, or otherwise FlightGear won't be able to apply/participate at all.

So all users are invited to help us progress further with our preparations for GSoC 2011. If you have any questions or other feedback, please use the forum to get in touch.