Suggestions for Future Versions 2010

[scruffyduck]

I got three thinks that might be interesting.

1. Guideline copy/paste ability

2. Guideline offset. When you make one guideline, it would be very interesting if it had the possibility to make a couple of offsets to each side of that guideline at a certain distance.

3. There are a whole lot of things predefined by ICAO standard. Ain't it possible to incorporate those ICAO standards.
For instants the guideline offset. One could think of a guideline offset preset for the holdshort nodes. There is prescribed at what kind of distance of the centerline of the runway they should be.
There are also a whole lot of prescribed taxiway width and runway width.


Victor

Interesting ideas I will add them to the list

 

[Pyscen]

Interesting ideas I will add them to the list

I think the suggestion is an interesting one,... yes... but there is always exceptions to all rules,.. so in this case... make it a toggle option?

 

[BeachComer]

#1: Integrate the stand-alone Library Object Manager. Probably this is much more difficult than it seems on first blush, and I will admit that I have no idea of how much LOM would have to be first modified to be useable in CAD mode with ADE. But consider this:

I have spent untold hours getting scenery objects organized and thumbnailed so I can use them, and searching the message base here, I am not the only one. I will admit this does not hold a patch to the untold man-years invested in ADE to date. But for me, when I was frothing at the mouth to get to WORK on scenery building, this meta-work is maddening. In fact, scenery design itself (notwithstanding two released titles to my name) is meta-work: done only to increase my flying enjoyment, and not as an end in itself. Meta-work piled on meta-work is not only maddening, but due to my busy consulting business and 5 kids, it's just not gonna happen with me very often. I'm getting too old to stay up til 3AM on recreational activities any more.

Once the work of getting LOM ready to use for building scenery was done, it was very worthwhile, though I was VERY glad it was over. Only it isn't over, because (how, I can't imagine) a wonderful opportunity to import LOM into ADE went begging and now there's a parallel stream. And Jon says (in another thread) not even the databases and thumbnails can be used. By the ADE canon, all the work I did in LOM is lost, except possibly the work of creating the thumbnails themselves.

This sounds like griping, criticism, etc., and far be it from me to do so. I'm VERY THANKFUL for the many free and VERY USEFUL tools that have come out of ScruffyDuck. But let me remind you of the ADE manual, p12, §1.2, second sentence:

"In the past, a developer had to use multiple utilities to add or modify library objects, generic buildings, land class, flattens, exclusions, and terrain vectors in their airport projects. Most of this work can now be completed in ADE9X."

This is a wonderful goal to me, because I actually have trouble remembering which of the dozen tools I must use (and how to use them) for different aspects of airport modification and new airport design. If the object is to make ADE (to the greatest degree possible) the single go-to software for airport design, failing to integrate LOM for the FS9 release seems to be a rather major omission.

In another thread, I read that object placement is not seen by the team as being very important compared with the aspects of airport, runway, parking, navaids, etc. Well and good, except on my Banff project (and my dozen unreleased projects), mere object placement is almost the entire reason for the project's existence! In fact, reading the manual for the first time, unless there is some workaround method I can figure out to automate getting my existing AFCAD airport into ADE in a way that can be integrated with FS approach data, it might be that the only thing ADE will be able to do for me, and only if the requested feature is added, is create stand-alone approaches to add to my projects that FS9 ATC will recognize and assign to me and AI traffic.

However, I'm just getting started with ADE, so we'll see.

Again, I'm NOT wishing to leave the impression that I'm anything other than THRILLED to see ADE released for FS9 and (other than the learning curve) useable in an almost immediate fashion to encompass the many OTHER aspects of airport design (besides object placement). But I have too much invested in LOM to give it up now.


--The BeachComer
Stephen "Beach" Comer
Maker of Vail and Banff sceneries - the latter, impossible (for me) without LOM!

 

[scruffyduck]

The short answer is that I have just ported LOM (which was written in Visual Basic) to C# (which is the development environment for ADE) with the intention of extending the LOM in ADE. Just is a curious word in this context since I have been at it on and off for the past couple of years and finally got a version working last week. So at least the two use the same language now!

Hope that gives you some comfort

 

[BeachComer]

WE'RE SAVED!!!!!!!!!

Dear Mr. ScruffyDuck,

Truly, there are no words to adequately convey the idea of just how much that news does indeed comfort me!!!

Thanks so much for the encouraging words!!

 

[scruffyduck]

Expect a small application called LOM2ADE to be released in the next 24 hours that will import library object data and thumbnails from LOM into ADE.

 

[Joao.Sparky]

Hi to all.
I don't know if it has already been suggested as an improvement for next version of ADE, but I think it makes some sense.

Sometimes custom buildings are made, based on 2 or 3 existant ones, it all depends of the position and the arrangement you made.
After all the work done it's not possible to select multiple buildings/objects and save them as a unique and single object.

So this is my suggestion: Multiple selection of items, specialy library and autogen objects

Have a nice weekend
Regards

 

[scruffyduck]

Hi to all.
I don't know if it has already been suggested as an improvement for next version of ADE, but I think it makes some sense.

Sometimes custom buildings are made, based on 2 or 3 existant ones, it all depends of the position and the arrangement you made.
After all the work done it's not possible to select multiple buildings/objects and save them as a unique and single object.

So this is my suggestion: Multiple selection of items, specialy library and autogen objects

Have a nice weekend
Regards

That has been suggested before and the idea of creating groups of objects is on the development list

 

[robystar]

Hi,
And sorry if I am proliferous but something that still gives me some problems is the fact that the LOM, although now it gives the true dimensions, does not give the outline of the object but only a rectangle. It may be this question has been asked before but would it be possible to really see the object in ADE? To make myself understood: if you have a an object in the shape of a ┤, ADE would make a rectangle out of it and it would be difficult to position another object inside this rectangle.

 

[scruffyduck]

Hi,
And sorry if I am proliferous but something that still gives me some problems is the fact that the LOM, although now it gives the true dimensions, does not give the outline of the object but only a rectangle. It may be this question has been asked before but would it be possible to really see the object in ADE? To make myself understood: if you have a an object in the shape of a ┤, ADE would make a rectangle out of it and it would be difficult to position another object inside this rectangle.

This would be possible but would require us to actually draw the object using the information in the mdl file. I have code to do this for the object in 3D but would have to think about how it might be done in plan view (as it were).

 

[robystar]

Hi Jon,

I haven't the faintest what kind of code you use and I do not know the slightest about this way-over-my-head stuff, but if I look for instance at Arno's MCX, you have a means to show the bounding box but also a grid mode, rendered faces, etc. One of those could perhaps eliminate the superfluous space?
If too complicated, forget it, as it is a minor inconvenience unless there are others that find it cumbersome as well.
I am pleased with ADE as it is and appreciate the result more than I can express.

 

[C-130eng]

Runway Surfaces

Hi,
First of all I want to say I love ADE and all the things I'm able to do with it. One thing I would like is the ability to have multiple Runway surfaces for a single runway since many runways start out concrete and change to Asphalt and back to Concrete again at the end. If we could edit the surface by making the first X-thousand feet one type and and the other X-thousand feet another type it would add a great deal of realism. Thanks.

John

 

[mdm248111]

Hi,
First of all I want to say I love ADE and all the things I'm able to do with it. One thing I would like is the ability to have multiple Runway surfaces for a single runway since many runways start out concrete and change to Asphalt and back to Concrete again at the end. If we could edit the surface by making the first X-thousand feet one type and and the other X-thousand feet another type it would add a great deal of realism. Thanks.

John

This isn't possible in FS because of the way ACES coded FSX. The only way to do this is to manually "layer" the runways to get your desired look.

 

[scruffyduck]

This isn't possible in FS because of the way ACES coded FSX. The only way to do this is to manually "layer" the runways to get your desired look.

It can be done using something like GMax I think but as Michael says it is not so easy with ADE but can be done now by layering runways and perhaps aprons.

 

[danfoster]

It can be done using something like GMax I think but as Michael says it is not so easy with ADE but can be done now by layering runways and perhaps aprons.

As far as I can tell in FS9, the draw-order is only surface-type dependant for runways. Aprons are drawn according to the order they appear in the xml/bgl (I believe).

In other words, you can be sure concrete always draws over asphalt where runways are concerned, but where aprons are concerned it is a matter of trial and error (unless you edit the xml directly).

 

[scruffyduck]

As far as I can tell in FS9, the draw-order is only surface-type dependant for runways. Aprons are drawn according to the order they appear in the xml/bgl (I believe).

In other words, you can be sure concrete always draws over asphalt where runways are concerned, but where aprons are concerned it is a matter of trial and error (unless you edit the xml directly).

I am not sure our research confirms that Dan. The drawing order of Apron surfaces is different than that of runways however. The next version of ADE should draw runways and apron surfaces in the same way that FS does but we are still doing tests.

 

[danfoster]

Thanks! I look forward to the new version

ps. my belief of how the apron surface priorities work was not formed according to scientific method, I must admit

 

[f16jockey]

A circular guide with given radius...

or elliptic ???

Greetz,
Wim

 

[scruffyduck]

or elliptic ???

Greetz,
Wim

Right Click > Add Helper Shape. Define your shape in the Dialog and save it.

If you wish you can then select it and Right Click > Make Apron and ADE will make an apron to the size and shape of the Helper. You can then re-use the helper to make as many more as you wish.

Is that what you mean?

 

[f16jockey]

Right Click > Add Helper Shape. Define your shape in the Dialog and save it.

If you wish you can then select it and Right Click > Make Apron and ADE will make an apron to the size and shape of the Helper. You can then re-use the helper to make as many more as you wish.

Is that what you mean?

Yes, thank you.
One should really go through each option/menu at least once before doing an unnecessary post... Sorry for this...

Greetz,
Wim