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Scenery question for Falcon and others . .

expat

Charter Member
Made a very simple airport near me (Goudhurst, Kent, GB) which came out pretty well using ADE in P3D4. Had an airport poly where you select "grass" to surround the runway, buildings, etc but this texture is pretty "fixed" in ADE and very two dimensional (painted on) looking. I have removed the poly, so the grass strip just sits on the default landclass/autogen but that on the other hand looks pretty mottled and un grass like.

How do I using ADE get the grass surrounding the runway to look like it does in the following two examples of Falcon's airports? I have searched over at FDS/Scruffy Duck but the discussions there are too over my head/rocket science to follow. If I need to import some third party textures into ADE I ought to be able to handle that.

320613781479812763.jpg



703414737978246276.jpg
 
I believe Ed is using photoreal images for the background. It is the easiest way to have the area looking like the real deal. There are several ways of doing that, one is using SBuilderX. The important steps, once you find a good image, is to color correct it and create a smart blend map to make it blend smoothly with the surrounding textures. You will need an image editing tool for this like Photoshop.

A good how-to guide can be found here: https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?250762-How-to-create-photoreal-scenery-for-FSX

An alternative way would be to use ground polys (GPs). This is completely different and more complicated but will give you the ability to create virtually anything on the ground, provided you have or create the right textures. I can't point you to one good guide for GPs but there are several Youtube videos that you can check. You can create simple GPs with ADE too, so check the ADE manual for this.
 
Made a very simple airport near me (Goudhurst, Kent, GB) which came out pretty well using ADE in P3D4. Had an airport poly where you select "grass" to surround the runway, buildings, etc but this texture is pretty "fixed" in ADE and very two dimensional (painted on) looking. I have removed the poly, so the grass strip just sits on the default landclass/autogen but that on the other hand looks pretty mottled and un grass like.

How do I using ADE get the grass surrounding the runway to look like it does in the following two examples of Falcon's airports? I have searched over at FDS/Scruffy Duck but the discussions there are too over my head/rocket science to follow. If I need to import some third party textures into ADE I ought to be able to handle that.

320613781479812763.jpg



703414737978246276.jpg

Are those pictures of your scenery? Bottom one looks like a photo, the other like FSX, but looks amazing (love the shadows under the trees).
 
You'll need some orthophotos... which in the UK means you'll mostly (though not always) have to pay for them and cannot distribute the scenery without an appropriate license.

I'm assuming it is Lamberhurst you're making? If so, I can't find any free orthophotos for this area. So long as it was just for your use there are other means of making orthophotos using online services (e.g. Google, Bing etc.)... OR... if you know people who fly from the airfield and are willing to engage I could help you create some bespoke orthophotos from scratch... ;-)

I can also help you with terrain mesh and flattening, if needed?

cheers

Andy
 
Many thanks Andy for your reply and offer of help. Afraid this is all above my skill level. I will just live with what I have been able to create in ADE.
 
. . . is there a way to copy a texture from someone's freeware scenery and import it into a ground poly using ADE without jumping through too many hoops?
 
Many thanks Andy for your reply and offer of help. Afraid this is all above my skill level. I will just live with what I have been able to create in ADE.

No worries. The offer of help will remain open though... I'm always keen to collaborate on the creation of scenery and especially smaller airstrips dotted around the country. Just drop me a PM if you want to discuss anytime...

Andy
 
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