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FSX Using ADE for custom taxiways and aprons

pinkjr

pinkjr

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us-texas
apron.jpg
taxi.jpg
All I can say is THANKS for ADE!

Finally found a way to do commercial quality custom taxiways and aprons using ADE. Taxiway took me 10 minutes (5 were for creating the texture with PS). Apron took more as all lines are actually GP lines.

This will bring my freeware sceneries to a new level!

David
 
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Care to share details for those of us new to this and interested in custom ground polys and textures in ADE? Also are those custom taxiway lights places with ADE?
 
taxi1.png
I should probably create a tutorial, but is quite easy.

For the apron, I just created a 1024x1024 tile that covers an area of ~1500'x1500'. The base texture is made up concrete squares, with added weathering details (photoshop). This gives you a pretty decent resolution. I then created a 1500'x1500' ground polygon for the apron.
The rest is just ADE. Add the 1024x1024 texture to ADE using GP Management tool, and place it over your 1500'x1500' ground polygon and use the editing tool to orient it correctly. Then, just add markings using the GP line tool at a higher layer level.

Taxiways are similar, except I placed three 500' parallel segments in a 1024x1024 texture as shown below. Create 500'x125' polygons using the shape tools and apply the texture. Use the GP Editing tool to use different texture segments (so they are not constantly repeated, changing texture orientation helps too!)
 
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lights.jpg
Guys, it is so simple I feel stupid for not doing this before. The difficulty lies on learning to use ADE GP Editor correctly, really.

The taxiway lights and signs are custom made reflections. Also easy, but a completely different product!
 
pinkjr said:
View attachment 21265 I should probably create a tutorial, but is quite easy.

For the apron, I just created a 1024x1024 tile that covers an area of ~1500'x1500'. The base texture is made up concrete squares, with added weathering details (photoshop). This gives you a pretty decent resolution. I then created a 1500'x1500' ground polygon for the apron.
The rest is just ADE. Add the 1024x1024 texture to ADE using GP Management tool, and place it over your 1500'x1500' ground polygon and use the editing tool to orient it correctly. Then, just add markings using the GP line tool at a higher layer level.

Taxiways are similar, except I placed three 500' parallel segments in a 1024x1024 texture as shown below. Create 500'x125' polygons using the shape tools and apply the texture. Use the GP Editing tool to use different texture segments (so they are not constantly repeated, changing texture orientation helps too!)
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing it looks good. I think it would be great if you did a tutorial. This is the route I'd like to take since I am not too familiar with GMAX but am with ADE. those textures look very nice, are they something you'd mind sharing? Even a tutorial on how you made/weathered the textures would be cool.
 
arnobg, the file I uploaded here is actually pretty close to the original size, so have at it! if you need larger resolution I can email it to you too. These were made for a specific airport, but they would work for any concrete taxiway.

Sure thing, I owe it to FSDevloper, scruffy and Arno to share the lessons learned. I will do a tutorial on creating the texture, but it is really more of Photoshop technique. There are 1000 ways to skin that cat! :-)
I will actually do a tutorial on placing the texture using ADE too. It took me a while to understand what the GP Editor does, and once I figured it out I relaized how powerful it is.

I have yet to try Gmax.
 
I've found my issue is scaling the textures to a certain size area in feet. My asphalt and concrete particles tend to come out too big in the sim. Any tip for this?
 
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