Landscape Scene Utility - Object Plotter for FMS

[Perry]

Sometimes it's trial and error to place objects on the landscape, and it takes a lot of time.
I don't know if there is a utility out there to aid in the placement of your objects ... So I made one.
It's free to anyone to use but there is no guarentee .... and it doesn't as yet have a help file ... not hard to understand though .... it works for me.
Download it from my site @


I called it FMSXYZ
Though it doesn't as yet have the option of giving you the height position, it will give you a X and Z position (Y being the height) with point and click ease.
It is a small utility but since it is written in Visual Basic the support files are large ... the whole package zipped is about 1500KB.
I hope this helps some others out there who might have had the same frustration.

[apierid]

What a great job.!!!!!!

[Perry]

Thanx
Glad you like it.
Am working presently on a version that will give the height also. Almost complete.
I'm having difficulty discovering what all the Scene file designations are for.
For instance I understand I think the 500 .... the 250 following is a little more puzzling ... I think it's the Quadrant X and Z ... but it doesn't behave as I anticipated ... The final 50 is the most puzzling of all ... heightdist maybe but experimentation doesn't shed much light so far.
If the creators of FMS could elucidate, it might facilitate more program utilities of this nature.
Yohoo! ... anybody out there ?

Perry

[Roman Moeller]

Hello Pery,

if I remember right, the first (500) means that the scenery has a dimension of 500 meters in each direction, so the world is a square with 1000m x 1000m, the next number must be a divider of the first and gives the dimension of texture-field. The third number must be a divider of the second one, and is used for meshing the world. The smaler it is, the finer the world is meshed.

Roman

[Perry]

Ahhhhh!
I think I now understand why it behaves the way it does.
Thanks a lot. I really appreciate the info. It makes sense.

Perry

[birdsofplay]

I was wondering if anyone has the DOCs or FAQs regarding landscape creation.

The tutorials were a wonder start, thank you very much.

Now we "NEED MORE INPUT"

I appears that we "all" need to know ALL the KEYWORDS and the
allowable limits and effects of ARGUMENTS for each Keyword.

We all also need to know about Scale factors and controls.

I appears that everyone has been "discovering" bits and pieces
by trial and LOTS OF ERROR.
Fun as "discovery" is it would be nice to know the actual RULES

Max resolution and color depth is another concern.

I've slugged my way thru a 1st attempt at my little river valley
and like the initial results. Of course improvements are the next step.

Anyone interested ... just e-mail me for a ziped copy

I especially like being able to land a Heli on some local Mountain top of slope and then "rudder" around for valley views.

Perhaps Michael Moeller could shed some light Doc or FAQ

Even an original German version would be acceptable.

Anyway,

I'm Loving FMS

Thanks in advance

[Perry]

The newest version of FMSXYZ is ready for download.
FMSXYZ release 1.0.42
For those who don't know yet, FMSXYZ is a utility that will help you find the X, Y, and Z positions for plotting your objects for making scenery.
This version has the new addition of Y position plotting.

Download from my website @


In this version I separated the Visual Basic support files, which are 1.5 MB, from the executable which is 19K. So if you have already installed a previous version this utility, you need only download the FMSXYZ.zip file.

[Ken Rusnok]

Perry,

The link to the VB support files for FMSXYZ is a "can't find". Can you please give us a new one?

Thanks,

Ken

[Perry]

[Perry]

The Newest version of FMSXYZ is ready for download.
New Features:
- Markers can now be placed to plot your object positions, Pilot, Aircraft, and just markers for objects in general.
- A Y graph has been added to give you a better visual on the ground height.
- You can now edit your scene file directly from FMSXYZ.
- Toggle back and forth between the scene graphics and the scene text.
- Better Y ground height plotting algorithyms.
- Spiffed up the GUI

- The broken Link on the web site to the VB Support files has also been repaired.

Download from:

[Scarz]

very nice!

Ive been working on my own vers of an object placer, with visual basic, untill i seen yours,

Small Suggestion: all those number behind the decimal point aren't really needed, are they? being a visual basic programmer myself, ive found that a simple bit of code, would simplify things.

example: text1.text = INT(your/formula/equasion)...

the INT statement, rounds the decimal. or maybe you already know this, and just havent had time to implement.

AnyHoot, your doing a great job!

[Perry]

Sorry for Slooooooooow response. I've been busy.

You're probably correct.
However I suffer sometimes from an anal tendancy to be exact, and can carry things too far.
I supposed at the time, if FMS eats it then leave it in there.
Actually better code might be:

text1.text = Format(Round(val,2),"####.##")

This would round the figure to 2 decimal places, which my observation says might be sufficient.

Will implement this in the the next release.

Glad you enjoy it.
Perry