Hi Peter:
The above attached GP BGL can be imported into MCX via its Ground Polygon Wizard feature:
...and can be exported via MCX' default workspace GUI, to a Collada
*.DAE or other 3D exchange format file.
It can then be imported to Sketchup (or another 3D modeling app) to perform any desired edits:
When the edited GP is imported into MCX via its Ground Polygon Wizard feature, any FS8-type attributes may be implmented.
IIUC, these types of SCASM / ASM -based, flat / level 3D Ground Polygons are similar ...regardless of the app used to author them.
When compiled via SCASM / BGL_C, you get a G-Poly that can be displayed via its BGL just as any made via ADE (or SBuilder for FS9).
IIRC, the only substantial difference would be that you would not have the GP object shown in the ADE workspace GUI.
I have not tested this yet, but I suspect there may be a way to get a 3D object "2D footprint" to show in ADE ...for a 3rd party G-Poly.
While I understand your greater familiarity with the ADE GP Editor is preferable, AFAIK, it may be deprecated due to Don's untimely passing.
IIUC, Don Grovestine had implemented a highly sophisticated method of working with these SCASM / ASM based "FS2002 / FS8" objects.
AFAIK, ADE_GP_Editor saved vector data for points / vertices to a proprietary data format prior to output of source code for compilation.
I do not know how ADE GP's are saved, nor do I know how ADE GP's load / display from a ADE GP project file into ADE's workspace GUI.
You could use satellite imagery from ESRI ArcGIS World Imagery Clarity tileserver to make a custom photo-real BGL or ADE background image:
Or, if manually tracing over a high resolution ADE background image derived from SBuilderX' tileserver also offers no advantage:
...then one must manually trace the GP loaded via a BGL, in a FS-ADE FSUIPC linked flight ...to get its point coordinates into ADE GP_Editor.
[
EDITED]
I do not use ADE_GP_Editor, so my insight here is limited; but if one reads the
ADE Ground Polys manual via Dons' stuff4fs website:
http://stuff4fs.com/newpage.asp?Folder=ADE_GP&JS=true
http://stuff4fs.com/Applications/ADE_GP/ADE-GP - User Manual.pdf
...one sees this possibility on Page 25 of 36:
"30 November, 2021
Importing Ground Polys
Those of you who have previously created FS8-style ground polys for your airport using Gmax
and FS8 MakeMDL (or some other set of tools) may now wish to integrate those ground polys
into your airport AD3 file. ADE allows you to do this using the Import Ground Polys function
under the File menu.
First, ensure that all required textures are available in your Textures and Textures_Dpy folders.
(ADE_GP won't import any objects from a file unless all required textures are available in those
folders. It will, however, list the texture files that are missing.) Then, for each file to be imported,
click ADE's File / Import Ground Polys menu item, navigate to the .asm file (not the _0.asm file) -
tweaked or un-tweaked - containing the ground polys and click Open on the File Open dialog. (If
un-tweaked, you'll be asked to specify the layer number to be assigned.) Your ground polys
should immediately appear on your ADE display.
The importer is not perfect. It attempts to re-create lines and polys from individual triangles.
However, it has no reference for doing so other than the position of the vertices comprising the
triangles as generated by Gmax and MakeMdl and the sequence in which it encounters those
triangles. So, what you created as a single large poly may be imported as several smaller
components. And what you considered to be a line may be imported as a poly and vice versa"
In theory, one might configure MCX to save the
*.ASM file it creates along with the
*.X file during
MDL compilation.
Normally, a SCASM / ASM -based G-Poly is not compiled to a MDL, but perhaps one could output a MDL to get these files.
Perhaps that source data might be compatible with ADE_GP_Editor if placed in the required folder(s) during GP Import ?
[
END_EDIT]
GaryGB