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{{Informative template|
{{Note|This is a template for future [[FlightGear Newsletter|newsletters]], please feel free to edit/improve!}}
This is a template for future [[FlightGear Newsletter|newsletters]], please feel free to edit/improve!
}}


{{newsletter}}
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{{TOC_right|limit=2}}
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{{Newsletter being written}}
{{draft|newsletter|Please feel free to add content that you think will be of interest to the FlightGear community.<br>You can read the latest newsletter at [[FlightGear Newsletter {{#time: F Y | {{{1|now}}} - 1 month | en }}]].}}
== Development news ==
Note to all contributors: Please also copy your newsletter additions to the changelog for the upcoming release: [[Next Changelog]].


=== Random Buildings ===
{{Newsletter-header|December 2015}} <!-- change month and year as required-->
<div style="border-bottom:3px double #BBB;">
{| width="100%" |
| valign="top" width="33%" |
{{Newsletter-cover-header|Development news}}<br>
{{Newsletter-cover-header|In the hangar}}<br>
| valign="top" width="33%" |
{{Newsletter-cover-header|Scenery Corner}}<br>
{{Newsletter-cover-header|Community News}}<br>
| valign="top" width="33%" |
{{Newsletter-cover-header|Contributing}}<br>
[[#Translators required|Translators required]]<br>
[[#FlightGear logos|FlightGear logos]]<br>
[[#Screenshots|Screenshots]]<br>
<small>[[#Screenshot of the Month|Screenshot of the Month]]</small>
|}</div>


=== Project Rembrandt ===
== Development news ==
A number of Mac users have been reporting issues related to running [[Project Rembrandt]] (deferred rendering/shadows) on Mac OSX with ATI/AMD GPUS, we are now looking for Mac users to provide feedback on running Rembrandt on Mac OSX, required information includes errors and warnings shown during startup/runtime, but also screen shots showing any issues. Please see: [[Project Rembrandt#Mac Issues]].
 
=== Canvas System ===
 
=== High Level Architecture ===
 
=== Usability Improvements ===
 
=== Getting involved as a programmer ===
Unfortunately, most of the active FG developers are currently very overstretched in terms of the areas that they have ownership of, which is affecting how much can actually be done.  Fundamentally we need more core devs.
 
If you are interested in contributing as a core developer, please see [[Howto:Start core development]].
 
If you interested in other developing, i.e. not C++ but [[Nasal]] scripting and/or XML, there are some articles listed at [[:Category:Popular Community Requests]] that have been suggested, but not fully or partially implemented, and are "mentored efforts". That means that the community is looking for a hand in implementing them -- help from ''you'' -- but will also have more experienced developers willing to help you, for example by having tailored tutorials or even code snippets written for you. As mentioned in each page, please get in touch if you would like to help with one of those projects. In comparison to C/C++, Nasal is simpler and easier to learn quickly. It also doesn't require recompiling, which means that you can test and develop changes with a standard FlightGear release, i.e. off of the main download page. As long as you can run FlightGear, you can also run Nasal code and contribute. Many tutorials covering a wide range of projects are listed at [[Nasal]], so if you know a programming/scripting language already, or would like to try something new, go ahead: read, write, try and get involved! When it comes to Nasal scripting, playing around with different tutorials and code snippets is more important than being an experienced coder.
 
Of course, you're also free to work on whatever you want -- FlightGear as a community-driven doesn't tell people what to do, but welcomes any contributions from anybody, as long as they have acceptable quality and are free to be licensed under the GNU GPL. So if you have something you would like to contribute back to FlightGear, please get in touch! (Preferably using Gitorious for larger merge requests, and the forums or (core-) developer's mailing list to inform the developers of what you want to contribute back.) Changes contributed 6-8 weeks before a release will usually appear in the next release, so your changes can be spread across the world.
 
== Release ChangeLog ==
This section lists changes committed this month that will be available in the next release, these will be copied to the release changelog shortly before a release (for each month), so that we hopefully get a comprehensive list of new features.
 
== Interview with a contributor (NAME) ==
''In each edition we have an interview with a contributor. Suggestions for possible questions are available on [[interview questions]], you are invited to come up with new questions and interview ideas obviously! Anyone is free to write an interview (with him-/herself or others) for next month's newsletter! If you'd like to help interview a contributor or get interviewed, please do consider adding yourself to the [[list of interview volunteers]]! To keep this going and less awkward, we are currently trying to come up with the convention that former interviewees become next month's interviewers.''
 
* How long have you been involved in FlightGear?
* What are your major interests in FlightGear?
* What project are you working on right now?
* What do you plan on doing in the future?
* Are you happy with the way the FlightGear project is going?
* What do you enjoy most about developing for FlightGear?
* Are there any "hidden features" you have worked on in FlightGear that new users may miss?
* What advice can you give to new developers who want to get started on their first aircraft/new feature/Nasal script?
 
More questions are being collected here: [[Interview questions]].


Stay tuned for next month's interview, featuring FlightGear contributor XXXXXXXX
== Help wanted ==


== Nasal for newbies ==
{{Help wanted}}


== New software tools and projects ==
== Hardware / Embedded Development ==


== FlightGear addons and mods ==
== Article of the month ==


== In the hangar ==
== In the hangar ==
=== New aircraft ===
=== Updated aircraft ===
=== Liveries ===


== Scenery corner ==
== Scenery corner ==
=== Airports ===


== Aircraft of the month ==
== Community news ==
== Airport of the month ==
== Screenshot of the month ==
 
== Suggested flights ==
== Aircraft reviews ==


== Wiki updates ==
== Contributing ==
=== Translators required ===
=== Translators required ===
{|
{|
|[[File:en.gif]]
| [[File:en.gif]]
|The FlightGear Wiki still needs help for translating it into various languages. If you are interested in making the FlightGear Wiki multi-language then start at [[Help:Translate]].
| The FlightGear Wiki still needs help for translating it into various languages. If you are interested in making the FlightGear Wiki multilingual, you can start by looking at [[Help:Translate]].
|-
| [[File:fr.gif]]
| Le wiki de FlightGear a toujours besoin d'aide pour être traduit en différentes langues. Si vous êtes intéressé par le rendre multilingue, commencez par lire [[:fr:Help:Traduire|Help:Traduire]].
|-
| [[File:de.gif]]
| Das FlightGear Wiki benötigt immer noch Hilfe bei der Übersetzung in verschiedene Sprachen. Wenn Du Interesse daran hast, das FlightGear Wiki mehrsprachig zu machen, dann fang mit dem [[:de:Help:Übersetzen|Help:Übersetzen]] an.
|-
| [[File:nl.gif]]
| De FlightGear Wiki kan nog steed hulp gebruiken bij het vertalen van artikelen. Als je interesse hebt om de wiki meertalig te maken, raden we je aan om een kijkje te nemen bij [[:nl:Help:Vertalen|Help:Vertalen]].
|-
| [[File:es.gif]]
| La wiki de FlightGear todavía necesita ayuda para traducirla a varios lenguajes. Si estás interesado en hacer la FlightGear wiki multilingüe, entonces comienza en [[:es:Help:Traducir|Help:Traducir]].
|-
|-
|[[File:de.gif]]
| [[File:cat.gif]]
|Das FlightGear Wiki benötigt immer noch Hilfe bei der Übersetzung in verschiedene Sprachen. Wenn Du Interesse daran hast, das FlightGear Wiki Mehrsprachig zu machen, dann fang doch mit [[:de:Help:Übersetzen|Help:Übersetzen]] an.
| La wiki de FlightGear encara necessita ajuda per traduir-la a diverses llengües. Si esteu interessat en fer la wiki de FlightGear multilingüe, llavors comenceu a [[:ca:Help:Traduir|Help:Traduir]].
|-
|-
|[[File:nl.gif]]
| [[File:pt.gif]]
|De FlightGear Wiki kan nog steed hulp gebruiken bij het vertalen van artikelen. Als je interesse hebt om de wiki meertalig te maken, raden we je aan om een kijkje te nemen bij [[:nl:Help:Vertalen|Help:Vertalen]].
| A wiki de FlightGear ainda necessita de ajuda para traduzi-la em vários idiomas. Se estás interessado em tornar a wiki de FlightGear multi-lingual, por favor começa em [[:pt:Help:Traduzir|Help:Traduzir]].
|-
|-
|[[File:es.gif]]
| [[File:zh.gif]]
|La FlightGear wiki todavía necesita ayuda para traducirla a varios lenguajes. Si estás interesado en hacer la FlightGear wiki multilingüe, entonces comienza en [[:es:Help:Traducir|Help:Traducir]].
| FlightGear 百科仍然需要志愿者将其翻译为各种语言。如果你有兴趣让FlightGear百科支持更多语言, 你可以查看 [[Help:Translate]].
|}
|}


== Community news ==
=== FlightGear logos ===
=== FlightGear on YouTube ===
If you want some graphic elements for your FlightGear-related site (such as a hangar or YouTube channel), please feel free to visit [[FlightGear logos]] for a repository of logos. And if you have some art skills, please don't hesitate to contribute with your own design creations.
 
=== New tutorials and screencasts ===
=== Forum news ===
=== Multiplayer ===
=== Virtual airlines ===
=== FlightGear events ===
 
== Useful links ==
== 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]].
 
To learn more about how the project works, please see [http://flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=15267#p149971 this short essay] written by Thorsten, for a more detailed article see [[How the FlightGear project works]].
 
=== YASim looking for a new maintainer ===
 
 
{{cquote|There are some pending merge requests to add some Yasim features, but we have an issue that since none of the current C++ developers own, or are experts in Yasim, we're reluctant to be the person who merges such changes, and potentially introduces subtle regressions.
 
Obviously this is chicken-and-egg, since no one can become expert enough in the  code to become a maintainer :)


So, I'm more than happy to apply patches *providing* I can be convinced they are sane+reasonable from a pure code perspective (happy to help with that, too,  
=== Screenshots ===
if people are new to C++), and providing we have some assurance that a representative sample of yasim aircraft are unchanged or improved by the patch.  
The FlightGear project always needs screenshots, which show features that were added since the last release. These should be of good quality, especially in content and technical image properties. It is therefore recommended to use the best viable filter settings ([[anti-aliasing]], texture sharpening, etc.). More info at [[Howto:Make nice screenshots]].
Suggestions for that means in practice, are most welcome!


Otherwise I worry, given the nature of the solver, we'll keep optimising the solver for some aircraft, and making other existing aircraft worse - until someone tests them, and announced that they're no longer working.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg23986.html
==== Screenshot of the Month ====
|title=YASim and documentation
Entries for this month's best screenshot can be submitted to [ this] <!-- link to SOTM topic --> forum topic. Be sure to see the [ first post] <!-- link to first post of SOTM topic --> for participation rules. For purposes of convenience and organization, after all the entries have been submitted, a new forum topic will be started containing all shots in an easy-to-view layout. The voting will then take place there. Once the voting has finished, the best screenshot will be presented on this page. --> <!-- Edit this when the SOTM topic for this month has been created -->
|author=James Turner |date= Fri, 05 Oct 2012 03:54:43 -0700}}</ref>|James Turner}}


{{cquote|I am still broadly happy to answer questions if posed (as long as I remember enough to come up with a meaningful answer).  Just cc: me if you do, because my
<!-- FlightGear's Screenshot of the Month May 2016 is ''TITLE'' by AUTHOR
latencies here are measured in weeks.
[[File:|900px|center|TITLE]] --> <!-- Uncomment/edit this when the winner is chosen -->
Bugs can always be fixed.  What YASim needs is a maintainer, not really expertise per se.  The latter comes from the former.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg23986.html
|title=YASim and documentation
|author=Andy Ross |date= Fri, 05 Oct 2012 03:54:43 -0700}}</ref>|Andy Ross}}


<references/>


<!-- If you want to participate in the screenshot contest of *NEXTMONTH*, you can submit your candidate to [ this] forum topic. Be sure to see the [ first post] for participation rules. For purposes of convenience and organization, after all the entries have been submitted, a new forum topic will be started containing all shots in an easy-to-view layout. The voting will then take place there. Once the voting has finished, the best screenshot will be presented in the Newsletter edition of *NEXTMONTH*. --> <!-- Uncomment/edit this when the SOTM topic for the following month has been created -->


=== Call for volunteers ===
<!-- [[Category:FlightGear Newsletter|2015 12]] change year and month as necessary -->
* The [[Target4Today]] team is looking for volunteers to help improving FlightGear's combat support
<!-- [[Category:Changes after 3.6]] change version as necessary -->


=== Did you know ===
<!-- [[de:FlightGear Newsletter März 2017]] change year and name for the month IN GERMAN (a list of German months can be found in [[De/FlightGear Newsletter]])-->


[[Category:FlightGear Newsletter]]
<!-- this needs to be changed after each release, so that newsletters show up in the proper category -->


[[Category:Changes after 3.00]]
== References ==
{{Appendix}}

Revision as of 13:18, 2 April 2020

Note  This is a template for future newsletters, please feel free to edit/improve!


This newsletter is a draft.

Please feel free to add content that you think will be of interest to the FlightGear community.
You can read the latest newsletter at FlightGear Newsletter March 2024.


Magagazine.png
Enjoy reading the latest edition!
Please help us write the coming edition!
December 2015

Development news
In the hangar

Scenery Corner
Community News

Contributing
Translators required
FlightGear logos
Screenshots
Screenshot of the Month

Development news

Help wanted

Post LTS work

After the 2020.2 release, some work lies ahead to improve the LTS and to help us pave the way for migrating to the OpenGL Core profile - any help would be greatly appreciated.

This may for example include:

Please get in touch via the developers mailing list to learn more. See Post FlightGear 2020.2 LTS changes and 2022.X Release Plan for more details.

World Scenery 3.0

The FlightGear project is in the process of exploring how Virtual Planet Builder can be adopted. For details, see: World Scenery 3.0 roadmap

Aerial (drone) photos for Terrain textures

Wanted: good top-down aerial photos to create textures from to use with the procedural Regional Texturing system. Drones This is a link to a Wikipedia article with cameras are ideal. People with access to drones are in a good position to take high-quality photographs.

A particular need as of 2020 is photos of agriculture (farm lands) from different parts of the world.

Good GPLv2 compatible photos suitable for textures are hard to find, and an easy way is for people to take photos of their region. Flightgear's procedural systems can do a lot with less art content, so photo contributions can strongly improve visuals.

See: How to: take photos of terrain for textures. For examples of final textures: see /data/Textures/Terrain. e.g. UK countryside.

You can get in touch via the Scenery forum or the flightgear-devel mailing list

Photos of trees for textures

Wanted: good quality photos of different trees and vegetation from various parts of the world. Flightgear's vegetation system can handle multiple layers of trees and bushes.

Strong shadows should be avoided. Each tree should be against a background of a different colour: sky (preferably) , clouds , or buildings. This allows the tree to be separated from the background in a photo-editor like GIMP.

See: How to: take photos of vegetation. For examples of final textures: see /data/Textures/Trees. e.g. Coniferous.

You can get in touch via the Scenery forum or the flightgear-devel mailing list.

Submissions of labels for craft

Wanted: Submissions of labels (tags) giving a rough description of aircraft - Metadata tags. A quick read of a craft's Wikipedia page will normally be enough to set labels. This info will be searchable from the launcher GUI. For example, filtering craft by propulsion like single-propeller or 4-engine jet craft, or by a manufacturer like Airbus or Grumman, or by speed like supersonic craft, or craft by era like WW2. A list of tags is here - more can be added if needed. To add tags to craft yourself, the tags are stored in the set-xml file.

A list of FGAddon craft needing tags is here. See this forum thread to submit tags. The flightgear-devel mailing list or the craft's maintainer can also be contacted.

Windows Package Maintainer

The core team needs help from Windows users able to maintain a good working Windows build. This process already exists to support our Nightly and Release builds, but we are seeking additional help to keep it in good working order. The ability to compile FG from source and some Windows batch scripting is a required skill. If you are willing and able to take up this role, please reach out to James Turner (mailing list), or get in touch via the forum [1]

  1. ↑ https://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=37155

Hardware / Embedded Development

Article of the month

In the hangar

Scenery corner

Community news

Contributing

Translators required

En.gif The FlightGear Wiki still needs help for translating it into various languages. If you are interested in making the FlightGear Wiki multilingual, you can start by looking at Help:Translate.
Fr.gif Le wiki de FlightGear a toujours besoin d'aide pour être traduit en différentes langues. Si vous êtes intéressé par le rendre multilingue, commencez par lire Help:Traduire.
De.gif Das FlightGear Wiki benötigt immer noch Hilfe bei der Übersetzung in verschiedene Sprachen. Wenn Du Interesse daran hast, das FlightGear Wiki mehrsprachig zu machen, dann fang mit dem Help:Übersetzen an.
Nl.gif De FlightGear Wiki kan nog steed hulp gebruiken bij het vertalen van artikelen. Als je interesse hebt om de wiki meertalig te maken, raden we je aan om een kijkje te nemen bij Help:Vertalen.
Es.gif La wiki de FlightGear todavía necesita ayuda para traducirla a varios lenguajes. Si estás interesado en hacer la FlightGear wiki multilingüe, entonces comienza en Help:Traducir.
Cat.gif La wiki de FlightGear encara necessita ajuda per traduir-la a diverses llengües. Si esteu interessat en fer la wiki de FlightGear multilingüe, llavors comenceu a Help:Traduir.
Pt.gif A wiki de FlightGear ainda necessita de ajuda para traduzi-la em vários idiomas. Se estás interessado em tornar a wiki de FlightGear multi-lingual, por favor começa em Help:Traduzir.
Zh.gif FlightGear 百科仍然需要志愿者将其翻译为各种语言。如果你有兴趣让FlightGear百科支持更多语言, 你可以查看 Help:Translate.

FlightGear logos

If you want some graphic elements for your FlightGear-related site (such as a hangar or YouTube channel), please feel free to visit FlightGear logos for a repository of logos. And if you have some art skills, please don't hesitate to contribute with your own design creations.

Screenshots

The FlightGear project always needs screenshots, which show features that were added since the last release. These should be of good quality, especially in content and technical image properties. It is therefore recommended to use the best viable filter settings (anti-aliasing, texture sharpening, etc.). More info at Howto:Make nice screenshots.

Screenshot of the Month

Entries for this month's best screenshot can be submitted to [ this] forum topic. Be sure to see the [ first post] for participation rules. For purposes of convenience and organization, after all the entries have been submitted, a new forum topic will be started containing all shots in an easy-to-view layout. The voting will then take place there. Once the voting has finished, the best screenshot will be presented on this page. -->




References

References
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