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Generic Obstacles in X-Plane
The FAA lists over 30,000 obstructions to air navigation (obstacles)
and X-Plane has them all, but most of these are represented in X-Plane simply as
generic-looking buildings. These obstacles that come with X-Plane include buildings,
radio towers, powerlines, cooling towers, and smokestacks. You can easily modify
their height and heading, or add new obstacles. Simply get World-Maker into "Obstacle"
mode in the "Edit" menu and select your choice from the left-hand side
of the screen. You may delete, move, add, or edit the various objects. Press 'M'
(see the "Special" menu) to cycle through these options. While the default
obstacles are functional from an aviation point of view, they are not very exciting
to look at since they are simply generic towers, smokestacks, and a few generic building
types. This being the case, you may want to customize certain buildings so that they
really look just like their real-world counterparts. Examples of buildings that you
may want to look just like their real-world counterparts may include the World Trade
Centers, the Sears Tower, the Statue of Liberty, or your house. This is easy to do
using CUSTOM OBJECTS in X-Plane. Here's how:
Custom Obstacles in X-Plane
Custom Objects in X-Plane are 3-dimensional structures that
are defined by x,z,y-points and have textures on them in 24-bit BMP-format. Read
"World-Maker Instructions.txt" in your "X-System" folder to see
a description of the current format, and how to add your own custom obstacles. The
basic idea, though, is that you create a text file in the word processor of your
choice that contains the geometry of the custom object, and lists what textures you
want to be used on that object.
Note: The surfaces of the custom objects must be designated clockwise as seen from
the outside: topleft - topright - bottomright - bottomleft.
Note: When you are done creating the objects in your favorite word processor, be
sure to save them, in the "Resources:Custom Objects" folder. SAVE THEM
AS ASCII TEXT FILES!
Note: When you save the custom object textures, be sure to
save them in the "Resources:custom object textures" folder. Save them as
24-bit bitmaps!
After you have created and saved your custom objects, get World-Maker into "Obstacle"
mode from the "Edit" menu, and then choose "add custom" and click
on the desired location to place your custom obstacle. A small cross will appear.
Click in the "change name" box to open the custom object file that you
created and saved (with a word processor) in the "custom objects" folder.
Note: Don't create new env. files! Instead edit existing ones on the CD! The current
elevation maps provide a good starting point for your work!
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You can make the Golden Gate Bridge, the Sears Tower,
the Statue of Liberty, the Mirage and GM of Las Vegas, and any other buildings
you like for X-Plane.. here's how:
=>Look in your RESOURCES NAV DATA folder.
=>Now look in your CUSTOM OBJECTS folder.
=>Open the file "KSBD Example.obj" in the "SoCal"
folder with any word processor... this is a custom building. (IBM users
can open with WordPad... you may have to mess with the carriage return
to make the carriage returns come out right).
Anyway, here is the file format that you can use to make your own custom
objects, including statues, bridges, custom buildings, your house, or
anything else.. the sky is the limit. Follow along in the "KSBD Example.obj"
file to see it in practice:
A
The file must start with a capital 'A' or 'I' (created on Apple or IBM)
FOLLOWED IMMEDIATELY BY A CARRIAGE RETURN WITH NOT OTHER COMMENTS.
2
Then enter the file version number... "2"
in this case.
SoCal:KSBD_example
This is the texture that this object uses. This texture
must be used for every bit of the object, but you may use a different
part of the texture for each polygon on the object. Simply make a 24-bit
BITMAP of anything you like and make sure it's dimensions are a power
of 2 and save that texture in your 'objects' folder... that texture will
then be available for your buildings... there is basically no limit to
the number of textures and objects you create. Make your textures in any
graphics program that can save bitmaps.
4 0.5 1.0 0.0 0.5 // concrete base
The number "4" means that you are about to give a polygon (4
corners).
You may use "3" for a triangle, "2" for a line, or
"1" for a point. (light)
THERE MUST BE A COMMENT AFTER THE POLYGON INDICATOR! THE COMMENT MAY BE
ANYTHING YOU LIKE, BUT A COMMENT IS REQUIRED!
The 0.5 1.0 0.0 0.5 indicate the "s" and "t" parameter
of the textures that htis polygon will use. In this case, this polygon
uses the texture from the 50% to the 100% point on the texture horizontally
left to right, and the 0% to the 50% of the texture bottom to top.
10 10 -10
15 0 -15
15 0 15
10 10 10
These are the points that define the polygon, X, Y, Z for each corner.
X is positive meters EAST.
Y is positive meters UP.
Z is positive meters SOUTH.
Define points clockwise starting from the upper-right corner for your
4-sided polygon.
Make up to about 30 polygons or so, and then we get to LINES (good for
antennas):
2 5 5 5 // antenna on roof
-10 50 -10
-10 70 -10
The "2" means we have a line... Lines do not have textures...
instead they have colors... the 5 5 5 are the red green and blue values
of the lines ON A SCALE FROM 0 TO 10, WHERE 0 IS TOTALLY DARK, 10 IS FULL
INTENSITY.
1 10 10 10 // light on antenna
-9 55 -9
Here is a light... the "1" means we have a point (light) and
the 10 10 10 mean it gets a full red, green, and bue... it is a white
light.
Note: If you set your light color to 99 99 99 you will get a PULSING RED
light.
Note: If you set your light color to 98 98 98 you will get a WHITE STROBE
light.
99 // ALL OBJECTS MUST END WITH A 99 TO DENOTE THE END OF THE FILE!
You have to put a 99 at the end.
OK, that is how you make buildings.
To put them into X-Plane's world, go into world maker and add them as
custom obstacles.
Here is how:
=>Launch World-Maker.
=>Go to an area where you like to fly.
=>Select OBSTACLE mode from the EDIT menu.
=>Select ADD CUSTOM from the list on the right hand side of the screen
and simply click on the map to place the custom object.
=>Backspace over the '?' in the CHANGE NAME field and type in the name
of the custom object you want to place there... say "BUILDING1"
(not BUILDING1.OBJ... there is no need to type in the ".OBJ")
to place the building that we just looked at.
Now go into X-Plane, go to the airport that you just placed the building
near, and look at it.
OK, you got it... it is ludicrously easy... NOW GO MAKE STUFF!
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