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FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Questions and discussion about enhancing and populating the FlightGear world.

Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby xDraconian » Thu Mar 28, 2019 6:32 am

@Figaro, Thanks for the interest in scenery maintenance and for your feedback.

Figaro wrote in Thu Mar 28, 2019 5:11 am:13L/31R is a disused runway. Not sure how best to handle it. Leave it like this and modeling big X's is my idea - unless theres a better solution. Probably rework it in WED I guess, not too sure.

I would lean toward reality. If the real pavement has been torn up, then remove it completely. If the pavement still exists with big X's, then go that route.

Figaro wrote in Thu Mar 28, 2019 5:11 am:With a save tool, I'd adjust the surrounding tile as needed and go from there.

Preferred approach would be to regenerate the surrounding terrain rather than manually adjusting it around the airport keep. Then there is also the problem with the tile boundaries also needing manual adjustment to remove seams.

Figaro wrote in Thu Mar 28, 2019 5:11 am:With WED, the online genapts tool and a save function with FGBlenderTools I'd be able to update layouts and scenery as I need very easily - and all well within my technical ability. Regenerating the scenery through TerraGear is beyond me - I've never got it to work as I've needed it.

I'd be interested to know where the technical challenge exists. Is it with compiling the terragear tools, or more with the proper usage of the tools?

Adding the BTG Save feature is a relatively simple task, so I'll add it to my todo list. Just be aware that manual edits would be lost during a World Scenery release... but that may not be a bad thing since you are trying to fix things that were not generated well to begin with. It is a also a future concern because there is still a lot of work needed to prepare for a World Scenery release, but progress is being made.
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby Figaro » Thu Mar 28, 2019 7:59 am

xDraconian wrote in Thu Mar 28, 2019 6:32 am:I would lean toward reality. If the real pavement has been torn up, then remove it completely. If the pavement still exists with big X's, then go that route.

It's still there, with the big X's it's just whether or not to have them as part of the airport layout exported from WED, or use 3D models. Of course keeping the layout accurate is the main idea!

xDraconian wrote in Thu Mar 28, 2019 6:32 am:Preferred approach would be to regenerate the surrounding terrain rather than manually adjusting it around the airport keep. Then there is also the problem with the tile boundaries also needing manual adjustment to remove seams.

I understand that it wouldn't be ideal - but it would work well enough. Crude but effective, as some would say.

xDraconian wrote in Thu Mar 28, 2019 6:32 am:I'd be interested to know where the technical challenge exists. Is it with compiling the terragear tools, or more with the proper usage of the tools?

Probably more so the compiling - but also proper usage of the tools too.
3D modelling, texturing and placement of objects is, for me, pretty easy. But for there to be any point to that, the layout needs to be correct. And it's that aspect of scenery building that I've always struggled with, and it has killed my projects previously.

xDraconian wrote in Thu Mar 28, 2019 6:32 am:...Just be aware that manual edits would be lost during a World Scenery release... but that may not be a bad thing since you are trying to fix things that were not generated well to begin with. It is a also a future concern because there is still a lot of work needed to prepare for a World Scenery release, but progress is being made.

True. However airports with totally incorrect or generic layouts - like UGTB as well as the two other major airports in Georgia - UGKO (Kutaisi/Kopitnari) and UGSB (Batumi) have updated and accurate layouts on the XPlane Scenery Gateway - and it's my understanding it is from here that FlightGear has and will get its apt.dat from (this could be wrong?). Therefore, these updated airport layouts would then be included with future World Scenery releases. FGBlenderTools would be able to provide a crude but effective stop-gap solution for those unable to generate scenery.

That being said - the scenery around UGSB (Batumi) probably needs more work than FGBlenderTools should realistically be used for. The long "peninsula" is the airport runway - which in reality doesn't jut out into the water at all (as you can see, the road goes west of the runway). Confusing thing here is, the coast was consistent with the surrounding area, but the road data is accurate to reality. I'll have to try Batumi again though, as the coastline is suspiciously straight - maybe a bad tile load or something?
Image

-S
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby wkitty42 » Thu Mar 28, 2019 10:19 am

this problem with the edge of the shore and the airport may be due to the resolution of the available geodata... shorelines are notoriously error prone without good hiresolution geodata and/or human manipulation of the geodata in the geo database where the shape files are generated from...
"You get more air close to the ground," said Angalo. "I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up."
"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby legoboyvdlp » Thu Mar 28, 2019 11:49 am

Why not use osm beach and coastline data? That is usually very accurate and looks very good. Any gaps between the coastline / existing landclass would be default landclass or could be filled manually.
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby www2 » Thu Mar 28, 2019 2:10 pm

I am all for the a save option for airports that have e.g. Kai Tak (river true the airport), Madeira (runway on pilars), Lukla and Aérodrome de Courchevel (Ski jumping hill runway)
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby ctesc356 » Fri Mar 29, 2019 12:23 pm

Hello,
I have a problem with FGBlenderTools.
the import of the btg file works fine
BTG import time: 1.3093 seconds
Import successful

but if I try to extract the shapes I have this error:
lat: 45 lon: 1 x: 1 y: 0
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/media/ett/data/Blender/blend279/2.79/scripts/addons/io_scene_flightgear/__init__.py", line 253, in execute
shapeIO.write(obj)
File "/media/ett/data/Blender/blend279/2.79/scripts/addons/io_scene_flightgear/fg_shapefile_io.py", line 390, in write
rings = meshRings.findRings()
File "/media/ett/data/Blender/blend279/2.79/scripts/addons/io_scene_flightgear/fg_shapefile_io.py", line 191, in findRings
radians=False)
File "/media/ett/data/Blender/blend279/2.79/python/lib/python3.5/pyproj/__init__.py", line 527, in transform
_proj._transform(p1,p2,inx,iny,inz,radians)
File "_proj.pyx", line 441, in pyproj._proj._transform
File "/media/ett/data/Blender/blend279/2.79/python/lib/python3.5/pyproj/__init__.py", line 420, in is_latlong
return _proj.Proj.is_latlong(self)
UnboundLocalError: local variable 'self' referenced before assignment

location: <unknown location>:-1

location: <unknown location>:-1

he select some vertices and stop, no output files.

everything was working in September of last year, there were no changes.

Ps: I am olso for the save option from blender to btg :D
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby xDraconian » Fri Mar 29, 2019 5:26 pm

Thank you @ctesc356.
I'll look into the issue tonight.
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby xDraconian » Sat Mar 30, 2019 3:01 am

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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby xDraconian » Sat Jan 04, 2020 6:11 am

I have begun working on the requested BTG Save feature. I hope to have something to share with you over the next few days.
The initial feature will be very basic. Essentially just saving the vertices into the BTG format.

Anticipated Workflow:
- Import STG
- Import BTG
- Utilize the normal Blender features to edit the mesh (move verts, add verts, delete verts)
- Export BTG
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby Figaro » Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:43 am

I've been AWOL from the FlightGear community for a number of months now (hardware problems). Still chipping away at a few little projects every now and then, though. Just getting back into it with new hardware, and so this is exciting to see! I am more than happy to test drive it if or as required.

-S
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby xDraconian » Thu Jan 16, 2020 6:26 am

Thank you @Figaro @Sam

Had a few delays (illness and then broken Blender build). Back on track now, so I'm targeting to have an initial version of BTG export working this weekend.

Scott
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby xDraconian » Sun Feb 09, 2020 3:51 am

An initial implementation of BTG Export has been implemented.

Usage: Select a terrain layer to be active -- e.g. select layer 999999_Ocean.003 and then click 'Export'. The file will be saved in the folder specified within the field 'Terrain Save Directory'.

In the future, I imagine being able to load several BTG tiles which is why selecting a terrain layer is necessary to inform the script which tile you wish to export. Loading multiple tiles would be nice to allow stitching a gap between adjacent tiles.

Known issues:
Saving the STG will only output the base mesh since Import currently only loads the base mesh.
I favored export speed over file size. A large file can take 30 seconds to export. This is a big performance improvement compared to efficiently compressing the output which was often exceeding 300 seconds to export. I'll continue to work on refining both speed and efficiency.

I'm interested to see how people leverage this feature.
Potential examples:
- Remove the taxiway berm at PHNL.
- Refine airfield terrain to add detail.
- Flat unwanted spikes in the terrain.
- Fill the deep holes (e.g. Dubai, UAE).
- Remove overlapping terrain.
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby Figaro » Tue Feb 25, 2020 3:33 am

Is the version containing BTG Export available to download?

-S
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby xDraconian » Tue Feb 25, 2020 4:13 am

Not via a file download, but it is available with...
Code: Select all
git clone https://git.code.sf.net/p/xdraconian-fgscenery/code xdraconian-fgscenery-code
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Re: FGBlenderTools - FlightGear Development Tools (Blender)

Postby ctesc356 » Tue Feb 25, 2020 6:06 pm

Hello
xDraconian wrote in Sun Feb 09, 2020 3:51 am:An initial implementation of BTG Export has been implemented.

Thank you very much for this function.
My initial tests seem conclusive.
I'm working on a serious project, and I'm giving news.
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