• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

Breaking lines in SBX

P

pierrot1951

Messages
334
Country
france
Hello.

I realized shorelines by applying "Make line" to waterpolygons and deleting unused straight vertex.

It remains an open curve; I assign width, a shoreline tag, waves... All is ok!

Now, to improve the shoreline, I need to break it into several parts: especially for mouths of streams, so I could apply a different tag (without waves) to such parts.

Is it possible to break a line? How to perform it?

Thanks for help. Pierrot - FMEP
 
Yes, now to see IIRC?

In line mode highlight the line you want to work on, then press and hold the letter B, go to the first node of the line where you want the break to begin and click that node, go the the last node where you want the break to be and click that node. The selected area should turn a different shade than the unbroken portion of the line and you can now move or delete the broken piece. And you can take your finger off the B key at this point...:rolleyes:
 
Hello

Thanks for answer; I tested this way and it works perfectly.
Now, I'll begin to correct all stream mouths.

Where can we find such other commands as this "B" one?

Pierrot - FMEP
 
I saw a posting at PTSim's forum where Luis mentioned different keystrokes that would work, much as in SB for FS9. I'll keep an eye out for that posting or you may just want to search at Luis' site using "keystroke". Or maybe Luis will pop in here and refresh the topic.

Of course I do recall that anytime you want to add points to a poly or line just hold down the I key and click away.
 
Hello,

A source of information is the Help file for the FS9 version. Most of the Keys work in the same way in the FSX version. The old help file can be downloaded here:

http://www.ptsim.com/downloads/Sbuilder.chm

The special key functions are these:

Special Keys
Del - to delete selected items. A confirmation dialogue is invoked depending on the setting of the parameter "Ask Delete" in the INI file.

Esc - to end the creation of a Line or Polygon (as the right mouse) or to exit special modes as Automatic Inserting.

Ins - if you press (and release) the INS key while you are in Line (or Poly) mode you will enter a special insert mode. In this mode, you will insert a new point whenever you click in a segment of a line. If you want to exit from this mode you will need to press the mouse right button or the ESC key. This special inserting mode is very important to speed up some tasks.

Ctrl - you can select several Lines or Polygons or Objects with a window in Line or Poly or Object mode. In these modes you need to press and hold the CTRL key when you start the window selection.

Shift - if you press Shift while you make a selection, the new selected items will add to the existing selected items. Otherwise the previous selection is lost.

Space - this can be used in Line mode to create points in a very fast way. You can use it with or without a digitizing tablet. You start the creation of a line and, moving the mouse, you press Space. The result is as if you pressed the left mouse button.

I - to insert a Point on a Line or Polygon. See here for further information.

D - to delete a Point on a Line or Polygon. See here for further information.

B - to break a Line in 2 Lines. See here for further information.

P - if you press and hold this Key, the left mouse button will pan the display (useful for a digitizing pen or for a mouse without a wheel).

Z -if you press and hold this Key, the left mouse button will zoom in (if you move the mouse upwards) or zoom out (f you move the mouse downwards) the display (useful for a digitizing pen or for a mouse without a wheel).

R - if you press and release this key, the left and right buttons of the mouse will be reversed. You exit this mode with the Escape key. This is useful when you have a digitizing pen with a single button.

Add - to increase the width of a line. If you press and hold the "+" key and you click on a point of a line, the width of the point will increase by a factor of 1.5

Subtract - to decrease the width of a line. If you press and hold the "-" key and you click on a point of a line, the width of the point will decrease by a factor of 1.5

Up arrow - to scroll through Points when in Manual Checking of Lines or Polygons. If point N is selected and you press the Up arrow, point N+1 will be selected and the display will be centred on point N+1.

Down arrow - to scroll through Points when in Manual Checking of Lines or Polygons. If point N is selected and you press the Down arrow, point N-1 will be selected and the display will be centred on point N-1.

Left arrow - to scroll through Lines and Polygons in Manual Checking of Lines or Polygons. If you are checking Line N or Poly N, pressing this arrow will select point 1 of Line N+1 or Poly N+1.

Right arrow - to scroll through Lines and Polygons in Manual Checking of Lines or Polygons. If you are checking Line N or Poly N, pressing this arrow will select point 1 of Line N-1 or Poly N-1.

Kind Regards,

Luis
 
Last edited:
Hi Pierrot,

Yes, you were right - it was disabled. I corrected it now and it will be available on future versions. If you need that function please write me privately.

Kind Regards,

Luis
 
Hello

Thanks for offer; I contact you. Presently, I'm used with mouse and it works.

Next step of my work, I have to redraw waterpoly for streams, with slope.

I read the tuto for SB206, and I understand the method; min and max elevation axis defines the direction of slope.
In SBX, we have to choose this direction?

In case of very "curly" river, would it be better to split into different polygons for every nearly "straight" part?

Thanks for help.
Pierrot - FMEP
 
Hello,

In the Polygon Altitude Properties please press Help to get a small explanation how you create slopes.

I do not know if I can say it in English but in the case the river has many "S" curves, you can get water going up instead of going down. A picture is better than words.

Kind Regards,

Luis
 

Attachments

  • Image3.jpg
    Image3.jpg
    54.1 KB · Views: 504
Hello

Thanks for pic!
I asked my "split" question because I presumed such beahaviour. I think that "slope creation" for waterpoly uses a plane containing the red axis (line of greatest slope) to interpolate elevation of points; so the increase of elevations sometimes doesn't follow the line of river.

I thought about an other method:
- draw a rough polygon
- set individual elevations for points
- then smooth: in this case, which elevation will be assigned to intermediate points?

Thanks. Pierrot - FMEP
 
Hello,

You press and hold the B key. Then with the mouse you click the point of the line where you want to break the line. Only then you release the B key.

It is the same for the other functions. For example, to insert a point in a segment of a line you press and hold the I key and then you click with the mouse where you want the extra point.

Kind Regards,

Luis
 
Last edited:
Hi there,

what a neat idea with the movie, very helpful!

To be able to split a line it needs to have at least two points on either side of the splitting node. Not sure why Luis coded it that way but that's the current minimum. Thus, if I had a case as in your movie I'd add an extra point prior to splitting and, if it shouldn't be retained, remove it with the D key again right after.

Cheers, Holger
 
Last edited:
Just tested it, works wonderfully.

Click the line button and make an irregular line of about 5 or 6 points. Right-click to finish the line. While still in line mode, which is shown off the tip of the cursor with "line" press and hold the letter B, move to one of the interior points that you made earlier and click the point. The one side of the line should turn from blue to green and you can move the green part away from the blue part, delete it, whatever.

You should notice that the chosen points turn from a red square to having a thin red box around the point vertex.
 
HolgerSandmann said:
Hi there,

what a neat idea with the movie, very helpful!
Click to expand...

I thought so. I figured I wasn't going to get anywhere without you guys being able to physically SEE what I was doing (wrong)...

HolgerSandmann said:
To be able to split a line it needs to have at least two points on either side of the splitting node.
Click to expand...

What I still don't understand is that even before inserting the one point in the middle of the line, the line had 4 total points. That means that points 2 and 3 had points on either side. Yet, it wouldn't work? Theoretically, it should work with a minimum of a 3 point line. Yet, for me, it does not. Not until I insert a point into an already existing line...and even then, I can only break it AT THAT POINT that I just inserted AND ONLY SO LONG as I don't move the mouse after creating it. If I create a point, move the mouse away from new point, and then come back, it's no longer "breakable."
 
Last edited:
Hi there,

nope, minimum is a five-point line and then you can only break at the center point. As I mentioned above there need to be a minimum of two points on both sides of the node you're trying to use as a break point.

In your movie you happened to insert the fifth point in between the four others and thus could break the line at that node and only that node.

Cheers, Holger
 
Ah! I get it now...2 on left side, 2 on right, and you can break at the middle (the 5th) point...

Was that written somewhere other than here and I missed it?

P.S. Luis, may I request a future feature that allows for breaking of lines LESS than 5 points?
 
Until Luis might add such a feature, you can insert points, break the line, and delete the unneeded points after breaking. I know this sounds obvious, but you wouldn't believe...

Dick
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top