New FSX scenery design tool using Google Earth

[jvile]

1st picture we will add the new runway for atlanta

2nd picture we will get rid of scenery and add taxiways and ramps. At this point notice the runway is floating in the air by 50 ft with all mesh/terrain sliders full left.

3rd picture we will add the grass texture using the google earth and tool. The sliders are full left for mesh/terrain. Tag that I used is Airport_Backgrounds_Flatten_MaskClassMap_ExcludeAutoGen.
Elevation went to 0 ft. and at the original airport border that stayed at 1024 ft. minus the drop to 0 ft.

4th picture shows that I moved the
mesh complexity 15
mesh resolution 152M
texture resolution 1M

5th picture shows that I moved the
mesh complexity 37
mesh resolution 38M
texture resolution 5M

Never had this problem in FS9 so I am either doing something wrong or FSX elevation flattens are handled differently.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[jvile]

Thanks Dick

I added the pictures when you where posting. Will work on what you have said.

 

[jvile]

Now it is starting to work

Thankyou Dick

Need to add another google earth kml and tweak the 2 I already have but the poly's are looking good with sliders set high.

Just a matter of choosing the right <tag>

Now if I could fiqure out how to get that multi lane highway under the runway. May have to build a road block because the highway animation goes up the hill and crosses the taxiway/runway due to default apron/taxiway flattens.

Have to do some more experimenting with the tool in the areas of traffic and see if I can add in a new road with start/stop so FSX will honor it based on their default. That Interstate is I-285 around Atlanta which is also now the worlds longest tunnel under a runway/taxiway with 10 lanes of traffic.

 

[MatthewS]

I have the tool working just fine but the Tag discription like Winfried says can be misleading if you don't copy it correctly. Even though the compile says complete the shp files are not generated if the tag discriptin is not exact.

Thanks. In the next build im working on its far more forgiving when determining what tag is being used. (eg it ignores extra spaces and linefeeds).

BTW in FSX KML any invalid items display in RED... you can highlight the item and Press F2 to popup the valid tag list and select from that.

Also... i will make the log more descriptive... and have it say when its ignored any polygons/lines because of invalid tags

 

[MatthewS]

To get a specific landclass for an airport background, you need to apply "Land Class Polygons"in one poly, and then exclude autogen with another poly:

I am going to add the ability to "tag" one poly with multiple tags. This would mean you could just draw the poly once, but tag it twice, once with the landclass and once with the exclude autogen.

You think this will make it easier?

 

[MatthewS]

But of course Scott. Get them to shp files and that would do it. Sounds like that would involve just adding an option to produce shp files only. Good idea. I think Luis is adding a shape file import capability to the new Sbuilder.

The current version (1.02) can do that already. Just dont click the "Run SDK tools" button and it will only create the shape files.

Also, in the next version i will add option for output directory so that you can configure where the output goes (by default it goes in the current directory)

 

[MatthewS]

Any "Texture" that has a flatten mode will revert to 0.0 meters elevation if no z coordinate is added to the shape file.

Currently I'm writing 0 elevations to the shape files. I guess i need a way for a poly to be tagged with an elevation somehow.

Would that be useful?

 

[MatthewS]

In the build Im working on now (1.03) i have got it producing islands in shapefiles correctly... ie i can see in global mapper the shape with islands correctly "cut out" (ie a multipart shape).

But in FSX it doesnt seem to work.

What im trying to test is creating a river with an island inside.

Anyone have any ideas if this is even the correct way to do it in FSX?

I suppose when i release 1.03 (very soon) people can have a play and tell me whats wrong. In the meantime i just thought someone might have some insite into this.

Any ideas?

 

[MatthewS]

Have to do some more experimenting with the tool in the areas of traffic and see if I can add in a new road with start/stop so FSX will honor it based on their default. That Interstate is I-285 around Atlanta which is also now the worlds longest tunnel under a runway/taxiway with 10 lanes of traffic.

Im currently not writing the freeway traffic data to the DBF. FSX KML will create the road and freeway (ie traffic) shapefile... but you will have to go into the freeway DBF file and set the fields for traffic direction, number of lanes, etc before you run the SDK tools (ie before you run RUN_SDK_TOOLS.BAT)

I need to add the ability for you to specify this data within FSX KML... ie have the ability to associate specific data (freeway traffic, elevation etc etc) with a given tag so that FSX KML can write the DBF fully.

 

[mirand]

I cant build the source file

Hi,
I am using FSX KML 1.02 beta and Google freeware. I dresigned a line in Google to make a river that is missed in FSX. I saved the file with the corect tag and opened it in FSX KML. Here is the RioPoty.klm file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.1">
<Folder>
<name>RioPoty</name>
<open>1</open>
<description>Hydro_Polygons_Generic_River_Perennial</description>
<LookAt>
<longitude>-42.80274979995067</longitude>
<latitude>-5.048840313619538</latitude>
<altitude>0</altitude>
<range>12560.90093371967</range>
<tilt>-6.000044169621371e-012</tilt>
<heading>-0.6758434311105892</heading>
</LookAt>
</Folder>
</kml>

When I try to BUILD the program does not generate the source file. What am I doing wrong???
Thanks
Fernando Miranda (from Brazil)

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I am going to add the ability to "tag" one poly with multiple tags. This would mean you could just draw the poly once, but tag it twice, once with the landclass and once with the exclude autogen.

You think this will make it easier?

Hi Matt.

I think that should work just fine.

Dick

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Currently I'm writing 0 elevations to the shape files. I guess i need a way for a poly to be tagged with an elevation somehow.

Would that be useful?

Yes. Very useful for water polys demanding elevation or flattens or airport backgrounds that use elevation.

Dick

 

[rhumbaflappy]

In the build Im working on now (1.03) i have got it producing islands in shapefiles correctly... ie i can see in global mapper the shape with islands correctly "cut out" (ie a multipart shape).

But in FSX it doesnt seem to work.

What im trying to test is creating a river with an island inside.

Anyone have any ideas if this is even the correct way to do it in FSX?

I suppose when i release 1.03 (very soon) people can have a play and tell me whats wrong. In the meantime i just thought someone might have some insite into this.

Any ideas?

Hi Matt.

I think polys are supposed to be clockwise, with islands counterclockwise, with lakes inside islands clockwise, etc...

If the polys show correctly in a GIS program, they should show in FSX.

EDITED:

It could be that the UUID number may need to be larger for the island, so the hole is made after the river is made????

Dick

 

[MatthewS]

Hi Matt.

I think polys are supposed to be clockwise, with islands counterclockwise, with lakes inside islands clockwise, etc...

If the polys show correctly in a GIS program, they should show in FSX.

It could be that the UUID number may need to be larger for the island, so the hole is made after the river is made????

Thanks, I'll try counter clockwise for my island.

Also, the UUID has a purpose in FSX? I've just been assigning 1 to all the UUIDS. But you seem to be saying that the UUID might indicate some sort of priority?

 

[MatthewS]

Hi,
I am using FSX KML 1.02 beta and Google freeware. I dresigned a line in Google to make a river that is missed in FSX. I saved the file with the corect tag and opened it in FSX KML. Here is the RioPoty.klm file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.1">
<Folder>
<name>RioPoty</name>
<open>1</open>
<description>Hydro_Polygons_Generic_River_Perennial</description>
<LookAt>
<longitude>-42.80274979995067</longitude>
<latitude>-5.048840313619538</latitude>
<altitude>0</altitude>
<range>12560.90093371967</range>
<tilt>-6.000044169621371e-012</tilt>
<heading>-0.6758434311105892</heading>
</LookAt>
</Folder>
</kml>

When I try to BUILD the program does not generate the source file. What am I doing wrong???
Thanks
Fernando Miranda (from Brazil)

Are you using Google Earth PLUS ? That doesnt look like a polygon created using the PLUS version.

If you are then does the tag display in RED in FSX KML? If so you must have made a spelling mistake. Click on the tag and press F2... you will be able to select a valid tag from the popup list.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Thanks, I'll try counter clockwise for my island.

Also, the UUID has a purpose in FSX? I've just been assigning 1 to all the UUIDS. But you seem to be saying that the UUID might indicate some sort of priority?

Hi Matt.

The UUID is not specifically used by FSX... but we were never told it wasn't used by shp2vec to sort priorities of the same poly or line type... might be worth a look. If true, you could play with UUIDs to set relative values for nested polys. I don't know if it's true, but I would think there is some kind of ordering.

Dick

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi Matt.

I made a shapefile with a hole in it, and it compiled just fine without specifying anything as the hole GUID or UUID.

I then exported it as a KML, and here's what I got:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.0">
<Document>
  <!-- Begin Style Definitions -->
  <Style id="area1">
    <PolyStyle>
      <color>BFFF8000</color>
      <fill>1</fill>
      <outline>0</outline>
    </PolyStyle>
  </Style>
  <Folder>
    <name>Area Features</name>
    <description>Area Features</description>
    <Placemark>
      <description>Unknown Area Type</description>
      <styleUrl>#area1</styleUrl>
      <Polygon>
        <outerBoundaryIs>
          <LinearRing>
            <coordinates>
              -88.80462858,42.66293517,0
              -88.82842916,42.65950194,0
              -88.84102946,42.65023223,0
              -88.84429621,42.63581267,0
              -88.83916275,42.62310973,0
              -88.83122923,42.61658660,0
              -88.80882869,42.61246672,0
              -88.79202828,42.61315337,0
              -88.77242781,42.61761656,0
              -88.76262757,42.62791625,0
              -88.76122754,42.63958922,0
              -88.76356093,42.65435210,0
              -88.77522787,42.66224852,0
              -88.78736150,42.66568175,0
              -88.80462858,42.66293517,0
            </coordinates>
          </LinearRing>
        </outerBoundaryIs>
        <innerBoundaryIs>
          <LinearRing>
            <coordinates>
              -88.80549585,42.64697239,0
              -88.79774958,42.64697239,0
              -88.79455995,42.64423841,0
              -88.79410428,42.63907424,0
              -88.79501561,42.63436572,0
              -88.79881280,42.62996098,0
              -88.80382509,42.63041665,0
              -88.80959681,42.63406195,0
              -88.81233079,42.63846669,0
              -88.81248267,42.64196010,0
              -88.81050814,42.64439030,0
              -88.80822982,42.64560540,0
              -88.80822982,42.64560540,0
              -88.80549585,42.64697239,0
            </coordinates>
          </LinearRing>
        </innerBoundaryIs>
      </Polygon>
    </Placemark>
  </Folder>
</Document>
</kml>

Apparently there is an outer boundry and an inner boundry, within a single polygon. I don't know if this helps.

Dick

 

[mirand]

Are you using Google Earth PLUS ? That doesnt look like a polygon created using the PLUS version.

If you are then does the tag display in RED in FSX KML? If so you must have made a spelling mistake. Click on the tag and press F2... you will be able to select a valid tag from the popup list.

I am using the freeware version of Google Eart (I draw a line). The tag is not red in FSX KML.
Thanks
Fernando

 

[KalaK]

.SHP nor found

Hi
I'm using GE Pro.
But no matter what I ryr, I get this error:

Shp2Vec.exe version 10.0.60905.0 - VectorQuad 6
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Error log:
source file .\???SHORELINES*.shp not found
Press any key to continue . . .

What can I do to fix this ?

PS: This look's like a great program. I have been using Ground2K before. But this one seem's to be very user friendly and easy to use.

 

[MatthewS]

Hi
I'm using GE Pro.
But no matter what I ryr, I get this error:

Shp2Vec.exe version 10.0.60905.0 - VectorQuad 6
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Error log:
source file .\???SHORELINES*.shp not found
Press any key to continue . . .

What can I do to fix this ?

PS: This look's like a great program. I have been using Ground2K before. But this one seem's to be very user friendly and easy to use.

Thanks.

If you can email me your KML file (fsx_kml@innovasoftware.com) I can have a look after work (within the next 24 hrs).

Probably a bug, not sure.