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Sloping flattens

Tim_A

Tim_A

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523
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england
I'm trying to get rid of the cliffs surrounding my FSX airport, and I think the way to do it is with sloping flattens and SBuilderX. Now, the vertices at the airport boundary will be at the airport's defined elevation, but how do I go about defining the outlying vertex altitudes - where the flatten meets the mesh? (wasn't that a Meatloaf song?)

Sorry if it's a numpty question, but I'm still new at this!
 
When you make your polygon in SBX there is the right click choice to set elevation. It would entail using the left side of that selection box to individually set a height for the outer vertices. Tedious, but effective. And a task that would seem to call for as few vertices as possible!
 
Thanks Lance.

There's so much unsaid in the simple statement "assign a height in metres" (from the "Terrain_Design_for_Flight_Simulator_X" tutorial). What's the best way of finding out the terrain height? Is it a matter of moving the plane in FS to the position of the vertex and reading off its altitude, or is there something better? Also is there a tool to let me visualise the terrain in order to choose the most appropriate polygons and vertex positions for the best blend?

Presumably I would need to repeat the process for default (75m) and addon (5m) meshes...
 
I think looking at the elevation in FS with Shift-Z is the quickest way to find terrain height. I'm just learning about the use of "Sloped Flattens" too. I "think" the way to do it with SbuilderX is like this: Say you want to make an airport without the annoying plateau. I'm making Cardiff Airport in South Wales which has an elevation of 220Ft. You make an AB_Flatten polygon and adjust all vertices to read say 100Ft (it would be in meters) and then another AB_Flatten with the same outline with all vertices reading 220Ft which the airport then sits on. I think this is the way to do it. I am most probably wrong though! I first heard about "Sloping Flattens" when I read Gary Summons' "No More Cliffs" thread: which you can find below:

http://www.uk2000scenery.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=414.0

I'm going to try and test this tonight but I think other more knowledgable designers could perhaps help us both!:)
 

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Yes, that's where I discovered the idea too! :) I'm doing a 1945 retro version of Enstone in Oxfordshire. At least I don't have to worry too much about night lighting ("Oi, turn that bleedin' light out!"), but I am going to want flares on the active runway, which might be fun...

One thing I have discovered: Pause the sim when you're slewing around, otherwise you'll end up carreering off down into the nearest valley! :o
 
i'm trying to raise the elevation of a certain spot to create a hill by using a flatten area, but for some reason, that doesn't work unless I am making the hill straight north-south, because the flatten makes it jagged. It's really weird, I know...
 
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