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Cant apply runway marks correctly in Gmax

Itay Dor

Itay Dor

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274
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israel
im trying to create a custom runway texture and marks with this guide: https://iblueyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/iby_ground_poly_tutorial.pdf , and i cant apply them correctly.
Help please (width sould be 45.1 i changed it)
Capture1.PNG
Capture.PNG
 
Hi,

If you are trying to use a texture that should only be applied to a portion of the runway, then you need to section your runway into separate polygons and texture the relevant polygon on the end separately using this texture. The middle of the runway can be textured using a similar texture but with only the textures needed for the middle part of the runway. This will tile itself down the length of the runway. You will probably need a another polygon at the other end for the other end markings.

You can use the Splice Plane modifier (works better than the Splice Plane tool in the Polygon rollup) for splitting up your current object, or create a new Plane object with the correct number of sections (at least 3 in this case) and then move the section lines to the desired locations in Vertex mode.

After adding an Edit Mesh or Edit Poly modifier and going to polygon submode you select the polygon to use this texture. Then add a UVW Map modifier to the stack and texture only this polygon as usual. Add another Edit Mesh or Edit Poly modifier and select the poly at the other end and add a UVW Map modifier and texture that one. Then select the rest of the polys and texture those, allowing it to tile down the length of the runway.

Hope this helps,
 
First, create a texture containing all three parts of the runway - one end, the middle and the other end. These need to appear as you want them to appear on the runway surface in FS - not random parts like your current texture. The texture's parts will be aligned vertically - i.e. the runway number should be right side up and readable like yours are. Put the top end of the runway's markings on the left side, the middle of the runway in the middle (with the dotted line down the middle aligned vertically), and the other end of the runway on the right. There should be no extra texture parts above or below these three sections (this is required for the tiling of the center part of the runway). The pixel size should be a power of two in each direction, something like 1024 x 512. The two outer sections would be 341 x 512 in this example, and the middle section will be 342 x 512. They are arranged like:

One end of the runway | the middle | the other end of the runway.

Then in GMAX:

1. Create/Basic Primitives/Plane
2. Drag mouse from corner to corner in top view, doesn't matter the shape or size.
3. Click the elbow pipe tab in the rollout section (top right side of screen).
4. Edit the length and height to the runway's length and width (i.e. 5000' by 150 ').
5. Change the Length Segs to 3, the Width Segs to 1
6. Apply an Edit Mesh modifer to the stack (click down arrow to the right of Modifier List at top of rollout)
7. Click the little black + sign to the left of Edit Mesh to open the sub-rollout.
8. Choose Vertex.
9. Choose Move mode (button with 4 arrows on it).
10. In top view, drag the mouse across the 2 vertices in the middle of the runway (the top ones).
11. Using the gizmo (the arrows), drag them up until they create a rectangle at the top of the runway with the same proportions as your "end" texture. Since that's 341 x 512 in my example, that would be a size ratio of 1.5 to 1, vertical to horizontal.
12. Do the same thing with the other middle vertices, dragging them down to create a rectangle at the bottom of the runway.
13. Create a Material using the Material Editor and apply to the runway.
14. Assuming you still have the Edit Mesh modifier active in the rollout, choose Polygon sub-mode and click on the top runway polygon to select it. If you press F2 the selected polygon will have a red color.
15. In Top View, apply a UVW Map modifier to the stack. This will texture map only the selected polygon. I press the View Align, Fit, and Bitmap Fit buttons (select our current texture file) to insure that the texture will not be distorted.
16. Either use the Gizmo to change the mapping, or add an Unwrap UVW modifier to the stack and press the Edit button. The polygon should be mapped only to the left hand portion of our texture. I assume you know how to do this.
17. Once you have that end looking correct, add a Mesh Select modifier to the stack, go to Polygon sub-mode, and select the polygon at the other end of the runway.
18. Then repeat steps 15 and 16 to texture that end, using the right hand portion of our texture. It will need to be rotated 180 degrees, of course, which can be done using either method.
19. Add another Mesh Select modifier to the stack and select the middle polygon. Add a UVW Map to the stack. Press the View Align, Fit, and Bitmap Fit buttons.
20. Use the gizmo or add a UVW Unwrap modifier to the stack and adjust the mapping until a rectangle at the top of this polygon is properly mapped to the middle section of the texture, and the rest of the polygon below this is mapped by the tiling action of GMAX when doing this kind of texturing. If you have created the texture properly, this will create continuous markings down the length of the runway.

If you need other markings on the runway (touchdown marks, etc.), either make the end runway polygons longer to include these markings (and make the texture taller to include them), or create more sections of both the runway and the texture and use those to place those markings in the proper location. Fill in with the "middle" texture section in those sections without special markings.

Hope this helps,
 
Last edited:
When you map the background you need to tile your runway surface image along the distance of the runway so it's not stretched (look at your original image). I assume it is a separate layer from the markings.
 
untill you reply i manage to fix it :) and i put the runway base and runway marks in the ADE file so only 3 files rather 5.
And i could not see default taxiways with GP somehow do you have a simple fix?
 
Itay Dorfman said:
untill you reply i manage to fix it :) and i put the runway base and runway marks in the ADE file so only 3 files rather 5.
And i could not see default taxiways with GP somehow do you have a simple fix?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I understand you properly but it is normal for a GP to cover default taxiways and aprons etc - there is nothing you can do other than cut the part of your custom GP that you want to substitute with default taxiways.
 
Itay Dorfman said:
i just need the lines because they covered by GP
Click to expand...

There's absolutely no way you can bring through the default markings on a custom GP. You will have to do those markings yourself the same way you done the runway markings.
 
Yes, it's true. If you decide to use GPs for runway and taxiway surfaces, then you also have to create all the lines.
 
Itay Dorfman said:
and how i create it?
Click to expand...

Use the "Line" tool in GMax and trace the taxi lines on the satelite image reference if you have one.

You can get images from SBuilderX which grabs them from Google or Bing, among others.. but it's important to note that you can't use the downloaded sat images in a publicly distributed product, freeware or payware.

You can then use MCX co-ordinate converter to get XYZ values out of geographical co-ordinates, then you create a single flat plane in gmax and move the 4 corner vertices to the XYZ values given... don't forget to choose and keep a reference point though, center of the runway is ok.
 
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