1,360
edits
FlightGear Newsletter March 2011: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
→Development news
(Livery database reaches 400) |
|||
| Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
== Development news == | == Development news == | ||
=== Local Weather v1.0 === | |||
After more than a year of development work, the Local Weather package has reached its full design functionality as described in [[A local weather system]] and is available for download as [http://www.phy.duke.edu/~trenk/files/local_weather_fgfsGITv1.0.tgz version 1.0]. The package works with Flightgear 2.0.0 and higher, though some extensions (marked with [GIT]) require a more recent binary. | |||
Version 1.0 offers the following features: | |||
* numerous types of clouds from Cirrus to Cumulonimbus, arranged in realistic patterns and size distributions, visible up to 80 km distance | |||
* weather phenomena tied to location: rain only underneath clouds, dense clouds obscure sunlight [GIT], convective clouds develop according to terrain | |||
* spatial interpolation of weather parameters like pressure, temperature, visibility, wind | |||
* effect volumes controlling short-range turbulence, rain, snow, visibility and shadow [GIT] | |||
* terrain-dependent modelling of boundary layer winds, gusts and turbulence | |||
* complete offline weather system involving different airmass types and weather fronts | |||
* integration of online METAR data [GIT] | |||
* full support for soaring [GIT], thermals are automatically generated by the convective system | |||
* optional dynamics: clouds drift in the wind, convective clouds are generated and decay, properties of thermals evolve in time | |||
* backward compatibility to Flightgear 2.0.0 | |||
A feature gallery: | |||
<gallery> | |||
Image:local_weather_1.00_05.jpg| Realistic skies with multiple cloud types | |||
Image:local_weather_1.00_06.jpg| Various different types of weather and clouds | |||
Image:local_weather_1.00_11.jpg| Soaring beneath Cumulus clouds | |||
Image:local_weather_1.00_12.jpg| Use both thermal and ridge lift | |||
Image:local_weather_1.00_01.jpg| Stratocumulus layers | |||
Image:local_weather_1.00_03.jpg| Cirrocumulus sheets | |||
Image:local_weather_1.00_02.jpg| Altostratus layers | |||
Image:local_weather_1.00_04.jpg| Dense Stratus obscuring the sunlight | |||
Image:local_weather_1.00_07.jpg| Evening light... | |||
Image:local_weather_1.00_09.jpg| ... and morning light | |||
Image:local_weather_1.00_10.jpg| Multiple 3d cloud layers | |||
Image:local_weather_1.00_08.jpg| Heavy rain | |||
</gallery> | |||
Fun facts: | |||
* lines of Nasal code: 10135 | |||
* estimated coffee consumption during coding: 120 l | |||
* estimated time spent watching and photographing the sky: 50 h | |||
== Nasal for newbies == | == Nasal for newbies == | ||
== New software tools and projects == | == New software tools and projects == | ||