Simviation Forum - Airport Design for FS2004?

Jan 29^th, 2006 at 3:37pm

MickeyMouse Offline
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Hi Mom!

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What application would I use to create a Airport from the ground up in FS2004? If there is a list of software needed, could someone list what they are and what you use each one for?

Thanks

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Reply #1 - Jan 29^th, 2006 at 4:57pm

dave3cu Offline
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Briefly, 2 programs will do the job.

Afcad2- http://www.simviation.com/fs2004utilities1.htm : to create the airport facilities, i.e.- runways, taxiways, parking, nav aids, communications, etc.

Before you build the airport you may first need to level the land (called 'flatten')and clear any unwanted objects like trees and buildings (called an 'exclude'). You might also want to change the ground from say swamp or rocky to grass fields (called 'landclass').

While there are small, seperate, programs to do each of these tasks (In the 'Scenery' downloads section) one program will do it all.

SBuilder 2.05- http://www.simviation.com/fsdesign_scenery8.htm Besides all the above tasks (except what Afcad does), it also can place buildings and other objects in/around your airport. (Sbuilder cannot create (draw) new objects. That requires a 3-d object design program.)

Dave

At that time [1909] the chief engineer was almost always the chief test pilot as well. That had the fortunate result of eliminating poor engineering early in aviation. Igor Sikorsky

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Reply #2 - Jan 31^st, 2006 at 2:35pm

brittair Offline
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Hi Mickey

There is several different ways of creating scenery and you will find most designers have there preferred way. This link will take you to a forum at www.ukscenerydesign.co.uk by Birdman which gives a good overview of progammes.

http://ukscenerydesign.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3

I use:

AFCAD2 - runways, taxiways, navaids etc
Gmax - for creating buildings etc
Arnos Object Placer - for placing the Gmax create objects
A paint programme for creating textures
DXTbmp to convert textures to FS format

Hope it helps

Brittair Grin

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Reply #3 - Jan 31^st, 2006 at 11:07pm

BFMF Offline
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Quote:

Before you build the airport you may first need to level the land (called 'flatten')and clear any unwanted objects like trees and buildings (called an 'exclude').

Sbuilder can flatten and exclude areas? Can it exclude and not flatten, or is flattening and excluding one function?

One more question Wink

What happens if I build an airstrip on a slope without flattening the area? Will it turn out like James Belk's bush scenery and give me sloped runways?

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Reply #4 - Feb 1^st, 2006 at 8:04am

dave3cu Offline
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Quote:

...or is flattening and excluding one function?.....

Excludes and flattens are seperate functions. Both are easily handeled in SB, including LWM3 (tilted) flattens for your sloping runways.

Some other functions in SBuilder;

*Create terrain mesh
Modify landclass and waterclass
*Create photo scenery
Create roads, rivers, shorelines
VTP excludes (roads, rivers, bridges, etc)
Place objects (FS library, api and scm macros, Rwy12)
*Overlay arial photo or map for reference
....and more

*=tools I haven't used yet.

In short it is a 'Swiss Army knife' of scenery design tools.

It has a decent help file, though for some of the more complicated tasks additional references may be necessary.

Dave

At that time [1909] the chief engineer was almost always the chief test pilot as well. That had the fortunate result of eliminating poor engineering early in aviation. Igor Sikorsky

I intend to live forever....so far, so good. Steven Wright

You know....you can just rip up a to-do list.

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Reply #5 - Feb 1^st, 2006 at 11:58pm

MickeyMouse Offline
Colonel
Hi Mom!

Posts: 125

You all are great! Thanks, I have downloaded the apps and will get started this weekend on my Airport.

I also need to changed the look of a 737 and Lear 45 to match my Virtual Airline... next step, how to paint a plane.

Thanks, I'll let you know how the airport is going.

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Reply #6 - Feb 3^rd, 2006 at 4:25pm

avp_bluearmy Offline
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Memphis

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Here is what i use:
AFCAD for airports and EOD for the buildings. But i dont know why, but the airport does appear on the airport list, but i cant see it Sad

i mean, i start in the middle of grass. Also i dont know how to add my buildings, exclude, and level the land. If you could please PM me and tell me how to do this! Thank you!

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Reply #7 - Feb 3^rd, 2006 at 8:17pm

dave3cu Offline
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3CU, Northern Wisconsin, USA

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avp,

Re Afcad: Assuming you've add visual elements (runways, taxiways, etc.) properly, the first thing I'd check is the elevations. They might be hidden below ground.

Quote:

....Also i dont know how to add my buildings, exclude, and level the land...

As mentioned above, SBuilder will do all of that including placing your EOD created .api macros. (It will also place FS Library Objects, .scm macros, and Rwy12 objects.)

SBuilder, like most good programs, come with descent help files to get you started. Also there are many tutorials related to scenery design floating around to fill in the holes if needed. And of course these forums when you hit a snag.

Dave

At that time [1909] the chief engineer was almost always the chief test pilot as well. That had the fortunate result of eliminating poor engineering early in aviation. Igor Sikorsky

I intend to live forever....so far, so good. Steven Wright

You know....you can just rip up a to-do list.

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