166
edits
FlightGear history: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
→Beginnings (1996-1997): Elaboration pt.2
Parnikkapore (talk | contribs) (→Beginnings (1996-1997): Elaboration from the FGAddon article (pt1)) |
Parnikkapore (talk | contribs) (→Beginnings (1996-1997): Elaboration pt.2) |
||
| Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
[[File:FG SUNHALO.JPG|thumb|270px|March 18, 1999: one of the oldest surviving screenshots of FlightGear. Back then, FlightGear was the only PC based flight simulator rendering the [[Moon|sun, moon, and celestial]] objects at the correct position, and under the correct lighting conditions, in the sky. ]] | [[File:FG SUNHALO.JPG|thumb|270px|March 18, 1999: one of the oldest surviving screenshots of FlightGear. Back then, FlightGear was the only PC based flight simulator rendering the [[Moon|sun, moon, and celestial]] objects at the correct position, and under the correct lighting conditions, in the sky. ]] | ||
[[File:Image103.gif|thumb|Original Win95 icon]] | [[File:Image103.gif|thumb|Original Win95 icon]] | ||
The FlightGear project was conceived on April 8, 1996 by David Murr who proposed a new flight simulator to be developed by volunteers<ref>David Murr (Apr 9, 1996). FlightGear proposal 1.0: [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/rec.aviation.simulators/ny8HFBE5_T8/OdtIiGNGJc8J "A PROPOSAL FOR A NEW FLIGHT SIMULATOR - home built!@"]. Published on the rec.aviation.simulators newsgroup.</ref><ref>David Murr (1996). FlightGear proposal 2.0: [http://www.flightgear.org/proposal-2.0 FLIGHT GEAR "This truly is as real as it gets!" - a proposal for a new flight simulator - REVISION 2.0].</ref><ref>David Murr (Oct 29, 1996). FlightGear proposal 3.0: [http://www.flightgear.org/proposal-3.0 FLIGHT GEAR FLIGHT SIMULATOR, revision 3.0 - Wednesday, 10.30.96, "The future of flight simulation is here"]. Published on the [http://ftp.igh.cnrs.fr/pub/flightgear/www/old-stuff/flight-gear.9610 flight-gear@infoplane.com mailing list].</ref><ref>David Murr (Sep 11, 1998). FlightGear proposal 3.0.1: [http://www.flightgear.org/proposal-3.0.1 FLIGHT GEAR FLIGHT SIMULATOR, revision 3.0.1 - Friday, Sep.11.98, "The future of flight simulation is here"].</ref>. Part of the initial goals were to develop 2D and 3D graphics routines for the simulator. However this was a huge task that came to an unfinished halt at the start of 1997 as the main developer, Eric Korpela, was finishing his thesis. Development of an [[OpenGL]] based version was spearheaded by Curtis Olsen starting in 1997, after the initial start in 1996. A large community response lead to many contributing to the project from its start in late '90s up to the present. | The FlightGear project was conceived on April 8, 1996 by David Murr who proposed a new flight simulator to be developed by volunteers<ref>David Murr (Apr 9, 1996). FlightGear proposal 1.0: [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/rec.aviation.simulators/ny8HFBE5_T8/OdtIiGNGJc8J "A PROPOSAL FOR A NEW FLIGHT SIMULATOR - home built!@"]. Published on the rec.aviation.simulators newsgroup.</ref><ref>David Murr (1996). FlightGear proposal 2.0: [http://www.flightgear.org/proposal-2.0 FLIGHT GEAR "This truly is as real as it gets!" - a proposal for a new flight simulator - REVISION 2.0].</ref><ref>David Murr (Oct 29, 1996). FlightGear proposal 3.0: [http://www.flightgear.org/proposal-3.0 FLIGHT GEAR FLIGHT SIMULATOR, revision 3.0 - Wednesday, 10.30.96, "The future of flight simulation is here"]. Published on the [http://ftp.igh.cnrs.fr/pub/flightgear/www/old-stuff/flight-gear.9610 flight-gear@infoplane.com mailing list].</ref><ref>David Murr (Sep 11, 1998). FlightGear proposal 3.0.1: [http://www.flightgear.org/proposal-3.0.1 FLIGHT GEAR FLIGHT SIMULATOR, revision 3.0.1 - Friday, Sep.11.98, "The future of flight simulation is here"].</ref>. Part of the initial goals were to develop 2D and 3D graphics routines for the simulator. However this was a huge task that came to an unfinished halt at the start of 1997 as the main developer, Eric Korpela, was finishing his thesis. | ||
<br> | |||
Development of an [[OpenGL]] based version was spearheaded by Curtis Olsen starting in 1997, after the initial start in 1996. A large community response lead to many contributing to the project from its start in late '90s up to the present. | |||
<br> | |||
"''I was working at the University of Minnesota at the time, and had access to Sun and SGI graphical work stations which offered OpenGL for 3d graphics. OpenGl was just starting to become available on PC hardware with things like the 3dfx voodoo card. Somewhere at this point it occurred to me that a far better path would be to leverage an existing multi-platform 3d graphics system (like OpenGL) to build our flight simulator upon.'' | |||
''So I proceeded to rough together a basic scenery system, pasted on the larcsim flight model, and in a relatively short time was able to show actual flight over real 3d terrain. Good, realistic 3d terrain was something the other existing flight sims at the time were pretty far behind on ... and I think my work was enough of a breakthrough that it got a lot of people excited about the possibilities.''"~Curt Olson <ref>Curtis Olson (Sep 28, 2015). [http://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=27558&p=259048#p259021 Re: A PROPOSAL FOR A NEW FLIGHT SIMULATOR - home built!@]. Published on the FlightGear forum.</ref> | |||
<br> | |||
Rather than start entirely from scratch, FlightGear developers made use of the LaRCsim flight model from NASA, with OpenGL for 3D graphic code, and freely available elevation data. First working binaries came out in 1997, with an intense updating of newer versions for several years resulting in progressively more stable and advanced programs. | Rather than start entirely from scratch, FlightGear developers made use of the LaRCsim flight model from NASA, with OpenGL for 3D graphic code, and freely available elevation data. First working binaries came out in 1997, with an intense updating of newer versions for several years resulting in progressively more stable and advanced programs. | ||