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I have got a few ideas for future improvements of ObPlacer XML. This are for example things that I would find useful in the projects I am working on myself. But I would also like to know the suggestions and feedback of current ObPlacer XML users about these ideas. So therefore this thread will discuss them.
Let me start by saying this is not something that will be ready next week
. At the moment they are only ideas and I am letting them mature in my brain at the moment. But all extra input at this stage is welcome.
Line of objects
The first idea is to add a line of objects feature. This would allow you to define a line and then place objects along this line. I think it would be cool if the type of object and spacing could be random. That way you could for example specify that your tree library should be used and it would result in a more natural looking line of trees, as the spacing, scale and type would not be constant along the total line.
An extension on this idea is to also allow this for polygons. So you define a polygon and then a sort of random forest can be generated (this was an idea I got from a recent thread here). But it could also be used for other things than trees of course.
For the implementation of this I have a few questions though. For example do you think it is practicle to define a line by slewing through FS? So you slew to a point and add it, slew to the next point and add it as well, etc. The alternative to this would be to have some sort of top-down view where you can draw the line by simply clicking on the correct points. Which of those would have your preference?
Save format
As a result of more advanced features as I described above, I don't think I can keep using the XML file as save file as well. It is just very hard to store things like lines and polygons in there. Especially as they are not part of the scenery, they need to be processed by ObPlacer XML.
Do you think it would be a disadvantage to have a certain save file format for your ObPlacer XML project?
User libraries
Another idea is to make it easier to import user libraries into ObPlacer XML. I have two ideas here:
Other
I think that are basically the ideas I have for future released of ObPlacer XML. A can add a few smaller ideas as well, for example the addition of the XML windsock object to the list of available objects to place.
But I am more interested in any other ideas you, as user of the tool, might still have. So please reply to this thread if you have some suggestions, comments, ideas or whatever
.
Let me start by saying this is not something that will be ready next week

Line of objects
The first idea is to add a line of objects feature. This would allow you to define a line and then place objects along this line. I think it would be cool if the type of object and spacing could be random. That way you could for example specify that your tree library should be used and it would result in a more natural looking line of trees, as the spacing, scale and type would not be constant along the total line.
An extension on this idea is to also allow this for polygons. So you define a polygon and then a sort of random forest can be generated (this was an idea I got from a recent thread here). But it could also be used for other things than trees of course.
For the implementation of this I have a few questions though. For example do you think it is practicle to define a line by slewing through FS? So you slew to a point and add it, slew to the next point and add it as well, etc. The alternative to this would be to have some sort of top-down view where you can draw the line by simply clicking on the correct points. Which of those would have your preference?
Save format
As a result of more advanced features as I described above, I don't think I can keep using the XML file as save file as well. It is just very hard to store things like lines and polygons in there. Especially as they are not part of the scenery, they need to be processed by ObPlacer XML.
Do you think it would be a disadvantage to have a certain save file format for your ObPlacer XML project?
User libraries
Another idea is to make it easier to import user libraries into ObPlacer XML. I have two ideas here:
- Also allow the import of Rwy12 XML files (they are not the same as the library XML source that ObPlacer XML uses at the moment). The advantage of this would be that a library that has been designed for Rwy12 could much easier by used with ObPlacer XML as well.
- Allow users to select the library BGL directly and ObPlacer XML would then read the information about the objects in there. The disadvantage of this is that you loose the name information about the objects, as this is not stored in the library BGL file. So either the preview of the objects should be enough to see what it is, or some sort of catelog of object names should be maintained by the program. And the user can then rename his objects in there. Any more ideas/suggestions about this would be extremely welcome.
Other
I think that are basically the ideas I have for future released of ObPlacer XML. A can add a few smaller ideas as well, for example the addition of the XML windsock object to the list of available objects to place.
But I am more interested in any other ideas you, as user of the tool, might still have. So please reply to this thread if you have some suggestions, comments, ideas or whatever
