Many [[FlightGear]] [[aircraft]] modelers prefer [[Blender]] as their 3D-modelling editor. FlightGear primarily uses the [[AC3D]] file format (<code>.ac</code>) to model aircraft, [[scenery]] models, and many other things. There is good support for the import and export of the AC3D file format from Blender. This page gives an overview of those options.

== Blender versions 2.4 and older ==
For these versions, Blender supports both the import and export of AC3D files out of the box. Just go into user preferences and enable the addon scripts.

== Blender versions 2.5 to 2.62 ==
For these versions you can use one of these scripts by Majic79:

* {{github source|proj=majic79|repo=Blender-AC3D|branch=BL2.59|text=Version for Blender 2.59 (repository)}} ({{github zip file|majic79|Blender-AC3D|branch=BL2.59|text=ZIP file download}}).
* {{github source|proj=majic79|repo=Blender-AC3D|branch=BL2.60|text=Version for Blender 2.60 (repository)}} ({{github zip file|majic79|Blender-AC3D|branch=BL2.60|text=ZIP file download}}).
* {{github source|proj=majic79|repo=Blender-AC3D|branch=BL2.62|text=Version for Blender 2.62 (repository)}} ({{github zip file|majic79|Blender-AC3D|branch=BL2.62|text=ZIP file download}}).

== Blender versions 2.63 and later ==
For version 2.63 onwards you have a choice of several scripts.

=== Majic79 addon ===

Current maintainer: [[User:Necolatis]]

Tested with Blender version 2.63 to 2.78a

You can follow the [http://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13442 Forum thread] for more information.

'''Notes:'''
* Before you export a model with this addon, make sure that you set the UV map and texture inside the material, not just inside the UV editor. See the video tutorial [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URMjoFSm5pk here].
* Before you export make sure to exit Edit Mode or some of your last changes won't be exported.
* Inside Blender when you want to see the textures, be sure to set the shader to GLSL (or for 2.7+ just set view mode to materials). Alternatively set textured solid in solid view.
* To see textured surfaces as they will be shown in Flightgear, go into the material texture and set the blend type to "Multiply" instead of the default "Mix" (the importer will also do this automatically). An example plane that will look very different if this is not done is the FGAddon aircraft ASK-13, notice the wingtips.
* If you wonder where to put the scripts you could open blender's user preferences (''CTRL ALT U'', or ''File->User Preferences'') tick e.g. Import/Export and extent the informations concerning an existing script. Usually this throws the path. For Ubuntu 14.04LTS/Blender 2.79b e.g. it's: ''/usr/share/blender/scripts/addons/''.
* Be aware that Blender only has greyscale for emission and ambient colors. If you want to export/import a color for those, import/export options gives you capability to choose to use Blenders mirror color for that.
* The importer will not fail if it does not locate a texture, instead it will issue warnings. Pull down the top bar to see if there was any, they will be orange lines.
* The exporter will not fail if it tries to save a texture without data, instead it will issue warnings. Pull down the top bar to see if there was any, they will be orange lines. Notice that since AC3D only support 1 texture per object, if multiple textures are attached to an object in Blender the last of the textures that has any data, if any, will be the one that get exported, but it will still warn about the missing data in the others, so take care.
* Orientation: The default settings in the plugin correspond to the FlightGear coordinate system (-X forward and Z up, also see: [[Howto:3D_Aircraft_Models]]). The default settings are: Forward -Z and Up Y.

You can report bugs with the addon [https://github.com/NikolaiVChr/Blender-AC3D/issues here], but please include problematic .ac/.blend files and their textures.

: {{github source|proj=NikolaiVChr|repo=Blender-AC3D|text=Repository}} ({{github zip file|NikolaiVChr|Blender-AC3D|text=ZIP file download}}).

Notice that the above link is to Necolatis (Nikolai) latest version, as the Majic79 github hasn't kept up with the updates and seems dead.

=== Mr. No addon ===
'''Notes:'''
* When exporting with this addon, make sure you set the texture inside the UV editor.
* When using this script, it is very important that everything is textured. The addon will silently fail if this is not the case.
* This script does not work reliable when nested groups are being used in the imported AC3D model (example [https://github.com/NikolaiVChr/flightgear-saab-ja-37-viggen/blob/FG-v3.4/Aircraft/JA37/Models/Instruments/Altimeter2/altimeter-metric.ac here]).
* The importer cannot handle the token 'subdiv', its just ignored.
* The exporter does not always export the rotations/location matrix of objects correctly.

: [http://www.mediafire.com/?m4f9m95qj9e5qq0 Download link (MediaFire)]

=== FG2blender (PAF Team) ===

Authors: f-jjth, run

The PAF team (Patrouille de France), a French group of FlightGear enthusiasts have also made an AC3D Blender script. Their last commit dates back to 11 December 2013 and it feels like their FG2Blender project is abandoned. The PAF team is essentially active on their [http://equipe-flightgear.forumactif.com/ own French speaking forum]. There's no trace or documentation available, so the notes below are speculative and incomplete. It would be interesting to test these scripts and check if the work of the PAF team can be merged with the work of [[User:Necolatis]] as this is actually the only AC3D script that is still maintained.

'''Notes:'''

* According to the source code, the script seems to be able to export animation.

[https://sourceforge.net/p/pafteam/fg2blender/ci/master/tree/ Repository] ([https://sourceforge.net/p/pafteam/fg2blender/ci/master/tarball Zip file download])

== Blender 2.80 ==

== Blender 2.82a (probably 2.80) ==

: [https://github.com/NikolaiVChr/Blender-AC3D/tree/2.80 Download Link (GitHub)] ''probably: [[User:Necolatis]]'' due to lack of credits unsure.

=== Linux (kubuntu 19.10, DeBIAN 10 "buster") ===

: Use: ''download .zip'' (or really make sure to grep the right tree (see above!))
: unpack .zip
* read README.MD
* do NOT install into ''/usr/''... since you will be lacking writing rights (I installed below my ''/home/(USER)/...'')
* copy ''io_scene_ac3d'' into: ''blender-(VERSION)-(OS_ARCHITECTURE)/(VERSION)/scripts/addons'' (for me e.g. ''blender-2.82a-linux64/2.82/scripts/addons'')
* Installation via Edit->Preferences->Addons->Install select:''__init__.py''

== External links ==
[https://sites.google.com/view/ac3dfileformat/home AC3D file format]

{{3d}}

[[Category:Modeling]]

User:Texnicer/devblog

2020-04-12T19:15:13Z

Texnicer:

== Using the (Linux) console for calculation e.g. *60 or /60 of decimal/nautical minutes for parking coordinates ==

#apt install octave

$func calc() { echo $1 | octave -q; }

$calc 4*6

$func dec2min() { echo $1*60 | octave -q; }
$dec2min .5
ans=30

$func min2dec() { echo $1/60 | octave -q; }
$min2dec 45
ans=.75000

Source/Inspiration: [https://www.pro-linux.de/kurztipps/2/1367/komfortables-rechnen-in-der-shell.html https://www.pro-linux.de/kurztipps/2/1367/komfortables-rechnen-in-der-shell.html]

== Adding a existing component to an existing aircraft ==

On march 25, 2020 I was asked via mumble, if I could add the garmin196 to the Seneca II, hence the AP is not charming.
Here ist what I did, an how I did it.
=== Creating a working copy of the aircraft ===
At first I aquired the Aircraft. It's part of the sourceforge/svn-repository.

I got the plane searching throught FGADDON/AIRCRAFT (https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/fgaddon/HEAD/tree/trunk/Aircraft/) using the SVN system.

'''$ svn checkout https://svn.code.sf.net/p/flightgear/fgaddon/trunk/Aircraft/SenecaII'''

''note: sourceforge does not support the correct svn-codeline, you need to correct the path starting after trunk'''
=== Locating the system to add ===

I went into my system's Flightgear root directory $FG_ROOT - which is nice to know. On ubuntu and DeBIAN systems it is likely to be found in: <pre>/usr/share/games/flightgear</pre>

$ cd /usr/share/games/flightgear/

Hence I looked for garmin196 invoking a full recursive file-search

me@machine:/usr/share/games/flightgear/$ ls -R | grep -A1 -i garmin196

and I figured that the device's files are located in /Aircraft/Instrument-3d/garmin196

=== Understanding the components of the system ===
=== Adding the model to the aircraft, positioning ===

''note: understanding the euclidian space, the axis, the system's origin, helps alot placing the model roughly and visual in the cockpit. finetuning can be done while correcting the .xml file being in the simulator and using the "debug"-menu and "reload model" once and again.

'''in /Models/SenecaII.xml:'''

<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
<model>
<path>Aircraft/Instruments-3d/garmin196/garmin196.xml</path>
<offsets>
<heading-deg>-40</heading-deg>
<x-m>-1.945</x-m>
<y-m>0.15</y-m>
<z-m>1.65</z-m>
</offsets>
</model>
</syntaxhighlight>

[[File:Garmin196 added to SenecaII.png|thumb|garmin196 added to SenecaII]]

=== Implementing the functionality ===

'''in /SenecaII-base.xml: (im Block "nasal")'''

<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
<garmin196>
<file>Aircraft/Instruments-3d/garmin196/garmin196.nas</file>
</garmin196>
</syntaxhighlight>

=== Adapting, Adding, Extending ===

* the autopilot menu is not working yet
* hence the menu route manager is not working yet
* routes must be added manually into garmin196

== Adding an internal view to an existing aircraft ==
* I started copying a local draft of my aircraft. ''hint: adding some id to the name string helps to find your version in the aircraft list at startup''
* The directory for that draft needs to be in a directory published to the starter/launcher and needs to be added if not already done.
* I started FlightGear using my fork/draft. Using the mouse, LCTRL, RMB combination I navigated to the desired viewpoint (or is it point of view?).
* F10 menu: DEBUG -> show property browser -> /sim/current-view
* I found the view-definitions of my draft using the OS' console in the aircraft base folder:
$ grep -winr . -e 'view n='
''note: for the DR400 the views are stored in /nasal/view.xml which is not default IMHO''
* following lines were added to /nasal/view.xml

<syntaxhighlight>
<view n="105">
<name>Radio operation and GPS</name>
<internal archive="y">true</internal>
<type>lookfrom</type>
<config>
<from-model type="bool">true</from-model>
<ground-level-nearplane-m type="double">0.5f</ground-level-nearplane-m>
<x-offset-m archive="y"> 0.141 </x-offset-m> 
<y-offset-m archive="y"> 0.400 </y-offset-m> 
<z-offset-m archive="y"> -1.189 </z-offset-m> 
<pitch-offset-deg>-13.5</pitch-offset-deg>
<default-field-of-view-deg>26.569</default-field-of-view-deg>
<dynamic-view type="bool">false</dynamic-view>
</config>
</view>
</syntaxhighlight>

2020-04-12T08:53:39Z

Texnicer: Created page with "=== Radio Communication === A documentation (German/English) can be found in Germany's AIP GEN 3.4, (official; current?): [https://de.ivao.aero/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ED_G..."

User:Texnicer

2020-04-12T08:51:47Z

Texnicer: /* = Practice */

Texnicer: /* $SCENERY_ROOT/Airports */