FlightGear Newsletter May 2010

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Revision as of 10:01, 29 May 2010 by Gijs (talk | contribs) (Removed FlameWar section; this is no news | Added facetracker paragraph)
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Welcome to the FlightGear Newsletter!
Please help us write the next edition!
Enjoy reading the latest edition!


First, 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.

In the hangar

Sukhoi-Gulfstream S21

The Sukhoi-Gulfstream S21 is being developed by xsaint and should be out by late May. More information here.

747-400 updates

Gijs has been updating "The Queen of the Skies" with overhead panel backlighting, an (this time -thanks to Torsten- stable) autopilot making one of the best airliners in FlightGear even better. In the meantime, effort has been put into the cockpit shell and a 3D model of the upper deck. You can soon walk through the cabin, open the animated lavatory doors and nock on the 747's flightdeck door.

Zeppelin LZ 121 "Nordstern"

Anders is currently working on the Zeppelin LZ 121 and it has the basic parts of the propulsion, ballast and gas systems in place but much work remains on the instrumentation, systems and the 3D model.

VMX22 Osprey

The VMX22 was already mentioned in earlier newsletters, but its development progressed and it should be out soon, however unmapped. More information in the forum.

Macchi M.33 and Savoia S.21

Zexe and helijah worked at the Macchi M.33 and Savoia S.21 models. See the forum for more information and the download links.

Russian Helicopter Mil Mi-6

The Mi-6 was updated by Blender3D. It was launched in June 2009, but an update was launched in March. Download link: [1].

Romanian WW2 warbird I.A.R.-80A

IAR-80

A beta version has been finally released. For downloads and other info see the thread on the forums.

Development News

Due to a hard drive crash, the FlightGear CVS server is offline. We have full backups so there is no lost information, however, we determined that our efforts would be better spent migrating our repository over to git instead of bringing the old CVS server back online. Onwards and upwards! Please be patient as we migrate our data over to gitorious.org. Git experts will probably be able to find the simgear and flightgear projects at gitorious and get started right away. We will update this page with specific check out instructions as soon as possible.

Migration to git

Since the beginning of the month, the FlightGear project has been in the process of migrating its source code repositories (flightgear, base package, simgear) over to using git instead of CVS [2] [3][4][5], please see FlightGear and Git for details on how to access these new repositories at gitorious.org

Local weather system update

The local weather system has been updated to version 0.61 by Thorsten. This is mainly a bugfix release and includes speedups in many areas and changes in cloud rendering. More details in the forum.

XML Autopilot Enhancements

Several developers have been collaborating to make the autopilot system more flexible, allowing it express the kind of logic found in modern flight control systems without relying on Nasal helpers or custom C++ code. To this end, the expression syntax (used in XML animations) is now also supported in conditions, and in the autopilot inputs (including references). This enables mathematical and trigonometric functions, and operations like min, max and average, to be used in autopilot logic. Another addition is support for 1-bit storage elements, known as flip-flops in digital electronics, which allows many standard autopilot behaviours to be modelled with simpler, clearer XML and fewer helper properties. RS and JK flip-flop are available, as well as the less common D and T types - the RS type in particular is a good model of the 'arm/disarm' logic found in many automatic flight systems or modes.

As an test-case for the new features, James is replacing the C++ autobrake logic with and XML version - once this is working reliably it will be installed in more aircraft, and should serve as an example for similar systems, for example auto-spoilers.

In addition to adding these new features, there's been a concerted effort to document the existing components, and the new ones, and explain how to build a stable, working autopilot. A comprehensive reference page can be found here, and the how-to is here. Both are works-in-progress, and feedback is appreciated!

Face tracking in FlightGear

The FaceTrackNoIR interface.

1rightarrow.png See FaceTrackNoIR for the main article about this subject.

Thanks to Wim Vriend, Ron Hendriks and our own FlightGear developer Melchior, Windows users are now able to look around by nothing more than rotating their head. This so called "face tracking" tracks the movements and orientation of a face that is captured by a webcam. Through an UDP connection, the tracker data is transmitted to FlightGear and used to move the current view.

Altough the very first release was this month, the results are already amazing. I can tell you that looking around instead of panning around adds a whole new experience to your flights.

Scenery Corner

Europe very active

The scenery development for Europe (like LIME in Italy; EGKK in Britain; EDDF in Germany and others) has been very active. Europe is currently one of the most detailed scenery areas in FlightGear. Further on in this newsletter you can read about the latest addition: London Gatwick.

EGKK: Probably the best detailed airport in FlightGear1

EGKK 2.png
EGKK 3.png

London Gatwick has been completely modeled at a high level of detail for FlightGear. The airport was modeled by Don Lavelle (karla) in Blender and consists of well over 70 detailed buildings, features and facilities. The main terminals - north and south - have been accurately detailed with their different style piers and stock jetways. The airport is based on UK CAA 2009 charts and includes the novel passenger air bridge which was re-engineered to clear 747-height tail fins. Many peripheral facilities are also included in this highly detailed airport such as the cargo and maintenance areas and open air car parks which were given a semi-3D effect. Small details such as railings, columns, antennae and rotating radar add to the realistic atmosphere of the scenery. Frame rates will obviously be affected by the wealth of detail but it is expected that pilots will utilize this airport for arrivals, taxiing and departure of commercial aircraft and not for low passes in jet fighters...

TaxiDraw was employed to update the existing AI taxiways in the current parking.xml file and should give a reasonably realistic feature for AI traffic. It is intended to improve the various aspects of taxiways in the near future.

A useful readme file has been included and also three .stg files to help the user load Gatwick to the level of detail required.

So, the UK now has a fully modeled major airport and it is now open to international FG flights - welcome to the UK via London Gatwick!

Latest images are hosted on http://www.donlavelle.net/flightgear/flightgear18.html

Available as a direct download on http://www.donlavelle.net/flightgear/airports/EGKK.zip

1 after an iconic advertising slogan of the 1970s

Aircraft Review: DC-6B

DC-6B over the Golden Gate
View of the cockpit

The DC-6B was one of the world's first long-range commercial aircraft. It served under a variety of operators, and served as Air Force One during the 1950's. Its reliability and toughness has kept examples of it in service today.

Now, about the FlightGear model.

Aesthetically speaking, this model is great! The model is highly detailed in various places, and it has an accurate, well made 3D cockpit All the (old-fashioned) gauges work perfectly, and they look good as well. The control column and rudder pedals are animated too. My only gripe about the model is the lack of a throttle quadrant.

The DC-6 flies nicely, too. It isn't too responsive, and isn't too sluggish either. I cannot comment too much about the flying characteristics, however, as (sadly) I've never flown a DC-6 in my life.

The DC-6 sounds nice as well. From starting to cruising, the engines on this bird are music to any piston engine fan's ears.

My only complaints about this model are minor, such as the lack of flap and landing gear sounds. Or the lack of seats and/or cargo in the cabin of the DC-6.

Review by Armchair Ace

From the community

FlightGear on YouTube

  • A very, very nice video showcasing some of FlightGear's features has been uploaded by "TheMasterofmod". It covers lots of features, including a carrier takeoff, Los Angeles International Airport some formation flights and lots more!
  • New in the "FlightGear HowTo" serie by Oscar, is a crosswind landing tutorial. Altough his flying skills are not yet top of the notch, his tutorials are! Do not forget to take a look at his channel, with all the howtos in one place.

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