Any guides in english how to make your own scenes/airports

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velocity90
Posts: 7
Joined: 07 Aug 2013 17:17

Any guides in english how to make your own scenes/airports

Post by velocity90 »

Hi,

Are there any guides on how to make your own scenes/airports?
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JS1
Posts: 165
Joined: 28 Jun 2013 14:48

Re: Any guides in english how to make your own scenes/airpor

Post by JS1 »

I don't think there is an english manual describing all of the steps. But you may find descriptions on some (the sim independent) steps in the web. AFAIK the steps involved are roughly:

1) Taking pictures of a panorama
2) Stitching the pictures to one panoramic image in equirectangular format
3) Optional: Converting that panorama to cubic format and generate the 6 views as then used in the sim (if not done already in step 2)
4) Optional: Make crash objects
5) Make the XML File to include the images in Heli-X with all the required parameters.
6) Make a preview, adjust file names etc.

A good site (google translated) is here, with many scenes already at mid res.
For stitching and converting there are different programs available. For stitching I know the free Hugin. For converting (maybe including stitching) there are some listed on the Heli-X site but I haven't figured out how to use a free one yet.
For crash objects using Blender there is some modeling required, but basic stage setup greatly supported by a script from Michael.

Sorry I can't give more info. So far I only made crash objects for existing sceneries (Airport Luebeck, Tellingstedt).
Modelling helis for Heli-X! See model build log here.
tweeb
Posts: 6
Joined: 16 May 2014 22:48

Re: Any guides in english how to make your own scenes/airpor

Post by tweeb »

*Edit- I've spent some more time digging, and reading through the .xml file, and it's becoming more apparent and much simpler, I should have looked there first. Also, want to point out that the user manual has a rather large developer section, chapter 5, at: http://www.heli-x.info/help/UsersManual.pdf

*Edit 2- Got rid of lots of bla-bla-bla up there and answered my own questions by just messing with the .xml files of existing scenes and exporting some simple models. Should have something interesting to show, and I'll do a little description of the process soon.
Last edited by tweeb on 17 May 2014 01:27, edited 2 times in total.
tweeb
Posts: 6
Joined: 16 May 2014 22:48

Re: Any guides in english how to make your own scenes/airpor

Post by tweeb »

Oh and by the way, in regards to the original question, here is the "Developer" page from the original Heli-X page: http://www.heli-x.net/developer_e.shtml

It's in german, but here's the google chrome auto-translation of the pertinent info for you:


Panoramas

HELI-X used for photorealistic rendering of panoramic photos in Cubic format.
The idea of this format is as here described.
Each panorama consists of 6 frames. This ideally have a format of 2048 by 2048 pixels.
The six images must all be in a Directory name. The name of the directory is the name of the scene.
The scene Alvier is for example in the directory with the name Alvier. It consists of 6 files with the following names: Alvier_back.jpg, Alvier_front.jpg, Alvier_left.jpg, Alvier_right.jpg, Alvier_bottom.jpg, Alvier_top.jpg.
In addition, the file Alvier.xml is needed. Here are included the direction of the sun's rays to the start position of the helicopter and the amount of information horizon.

Conversion of the equirectangular format to the format Cubic

This requires a program that can convert the equirectangulare image. This can be done, for example, HDR Shop or Pano2QTVR 1.6 or the tools of Eric Gerd's use.
With HDR Shop is obtained as the result of a big picture that needs to be cut or into 6 parts, with Pano2QTVR or the tools of Eric Gerd gets you 6 frames.
Before Umtransformieren and cut it may be necessary to reflect the image yet, because currently the image is used in HELI-X as you would see it from the outside.
If the original image does not contain the full 180 °, it must be increased before the Transfomation yet.
Matlab scripts realize the filling of the output image and the cutting of the Cubic-image, I can provide.
Starting position of the helicopter and the direction of the sun's rays

In the xml file, which is part of every scene, you should specify the start position of the helicopter and the direction of the sun's rays.
The coordinate system in HELI-X is a right-handed system. The x-axis points to the right, the y axis pointing upward, and the z-axis points to the rear.
The starting position of the heli is so specified in the xml file: x, y, z Here, the y value does not matter, as is seen in the positioning of the helicopter, where the ground is. The y-coordinate is automatically selected so that the helicopter is on the ground. That's why you let the y value to zero.
In order to find a suitable starting position, you can enter the-DheliX.statusformat = 1 option in the command line in a batch file or in a shell script. Then, in the status bar in HELI-X of the helicopter, the current position is indicated by its x, y and z coordinates.
The direction of the Sonnenstrahlöen is important for the generation of the shadow. Here one of the x, y and z components of the vector which describes the direction of the sun rays. Since the sun always comes from above, the y value is always negative.
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