Howto:Place 3D objects with the UFO: Difference between revisions

This article gives an overview of placing, editing and saving objects using the UFO. You can get a list of flying controls and editing commands by pressing the {{key press|?}} key while flying the UFO.

The first thing you need is a 3D model to place in the scenery. The [[FlightGear Scenery Database]] ([http://scenemodels.flightgear.org/ scenemodels.flightgear.org]) maintains a huge library of generic models, which will have been included in your FlightGear installation under the <tt>[[$FG_ROOT]]/Models/</tt> directory. You can skip to the next section when using a generic model.

If you add many complex models or models with big textures to the scenery it ''will'' increase the memory usage and slow down FlightGear.

Here are two lists with shared models and shared model textures sorted by file size:

* [[Textures of shared models sorted by file size]]

Alternatively, you can create your own models. You should save it in a subdirectory of your [[$FG_ROOT]] folder. Two options seem reasonable, although others are possible as well:

* Shared model, not unique to a single objects (for example a wind turbine): save it in a subdirectory of <tt>[[$FG_ROOT]]/Models/</tt>. That is the standard directory where the UFO will go when you press the space bar {{Key press|Space}}.

When creating your own object, make sure it is the correct size. In [[Blender]], units are meters. Note that you should be careful about using Google Earth, due to restrictions in their license that might prevent submitting your work to the FlightGear database. See {{forum link|t=3356|text=here}} and {{forum link|t=3415|text=here}}.

[[File:Placing_objects_with_UFO_html_m49fbed81.jpg|400px]]

Now start FlightGear with the UFO as your aircraft and enable the console, which is needed later on. When launching FlightGear from command line, use <code>--aircraft=ufo --console</code>. In [[FGRun]], the "Show console" option on the last page should be checked.

Once FlightGear has been started, fly with the UFO to roughly the place you want the model to be positioned.

[[File:Placing_objects_with_UFO_html_12ee70a1.jpg|400px]]

Fly closer to the ground with the UFO, so that you can see it better.

See the [[UFO from the 'White Project' of the UNESCO]] page for more information on the UFO command keys and exported file locations, or press {{key press|?}} while in FlightGear.

There are three different ways to three different situations in which which you want to delete an object:

You want to delete the last object that you placed in this session:

: Open the .stg file, delete the whole model entry (see [[#Exporting the result|Exporting the result]] below). Done.

Now that the model is correctly positioned, press the {{key press|D}} key to dump the model position data to the terminal. A few lines will be printed on the console, providing the necessary orientation data.  

You can also save these coordinates into your own scenery file so that your changes will not be lost the next time you start FlightGear.

In the terminal window, you get three sections printed out by the UFO with very detailed information about what's going on. We need the lines at the end.

{{#ev:youtube|e93OUEp0YKc|400|center}}

Alternatively, if you press the {{key press|E}} key while developing scenery with UFO, FlightGear will generate an XML file with the dump of your current work in an "ufo-model-export.xml" file under [[$FG_HOME]].

You can later reload this XML file with --config= command-line parameter:

Example for Linux: fgfs --config=$HOME/.fgfs/Export/ufo-model-export.xml

In Windows, this is done using the Advanced dialog, found on the last page of the [[FGRun]] GUI. Click Advanced and, under General, click the double-dot button, browse to the ufo-model-export.xml file and click OK.

Please, once you've improved the scenery around your place, consider sharing it with the community. This is done very easily using our [http://scenemodels.flightgear.org/submission scenery submission webforms]. More information and help on {{forum link|t=14671|text=the dedicated topic}} on the scenery forum.