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Arn't beacons important?

H

huntercottage

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15
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sweden
I've been looking at and evaluating software for scenery- and airport design. The three freeware I have tried all lack the ability to add attachpoints. Which means I have to edit the XML file anyway. Is there software available that allows for the creation of beacons within the program so that it becomes a "one shot" deal?

Sweden is a very dark place 7 to 8 months a year. Beacons are needed here...
 
Attach Points as such are defined in the 3D model produced by GMax or FSDS for example. I think however, you are referring to the use of attach points in the XML code when placing an object. perhaps you could also tell us what utilities you have considered so far in this respect?
 
I guess if attach points are referred to in the 3D modeling aspects of FSX, then I could understand that they are not available in airport design software.

But yes you are correct in assuming I am meaning attach points in respect to placing scenery objects. Seeing as you can tuck them nicely in, I thought it would be a no-brainer to have the functionality available direct at scenery placement in airport development.

I've tried some of the freeware available here at FSDeveloper, ie. ADE, FSX Planner, SBuilderX and Whisplacer. But I guess SBuilderX and Whisplacer are more for scenery development than airport design. I've also tried the object placing program in FSX.

All in all, I haven't done enough to have an opinion. But I am all for programming on the cheap, so I would rather support an effort than buy a program outright...
 
OK well I haven't checked the other programs recently but you are talking about object placement here rather than pure airport design. Therefore object placement tools are worth looking at rather than pure airport design tools.

I can tell you that attachment is included in the development path for ADE. Also SDE Test App can access the attachpoint properties if I recall but, of course, that is not a GUI tools so not at all end user friendly.

Also there is the slight complication of being able to read whether there is an attach point for an object. Clealry you need one in the 3D object before trying to add something to it.
 
scruffyduck said:
Also there is the slight complication of being able to read whether there is an attach point for an object. Clealry you need one in the 3D object before trying to add something to it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation. I hadn't understood that the 3D model had to have an attach point available. I thought/assumed you could attach anything to any object. Beginner's naivety showing through here :rolleyes:
 
huntercottage said:
Thanks for the explanation. I hadn't understood that the 3D model had to have an attach point available. I thought/assumed you could attach anything to any object. Beginner's naivety showing through here :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

No worries. Most things like beacon towers and airport towers will have an attach point. This involves attaching a beacon element to the object. The alternative is to place a suitable object or effect that the correct altitude and position. In this case you don't need an attach point but the object beacons (certainly in FS9) do not rotate if I recall correctly.
 
I did put a beacon on manually, with the glow and everything, and it did not rotate. I loaded the airport at Friday Harbor and saw the <AttachObject> tag on the beacon tower there. That's why I thought it would be an easy match to get it to rotate... after a little trial and error it rotates now...
 
huntercottage said:
I did put a beacon on manually, with the glow and everything, and it did not rotate. I loaded the airport at Friday Harbor and saw the <AttachObject> tag on the beacon tower there. That's why I thought it would be an easy match to get it to rotate... after a little trial and error it rotates now...
Click to expand...

You seem to be on top of it :)
 
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