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1. E W Gridsnap Select through 14 Select the object in the Top xz view window the lower left of the four object views by clicking on it illustrated below This view is for the top of the object B 84 _ Moveto ah 1 i Camera View Orth Size to 0 1 lo lo Move oo foo hoo _ Visibility A Hide Sell Unsel Non Lock Sel Unsel Non Set Surface type PT gt 2 Camera View U Poly Polyline Line Smooth Object name 4 W Gridsnap Select through 15 Press F10 or select the Tools option on the menu bar at the top of the screen and select Texture Coordinate Editor from the dropdown menu The following window will appear N AC3D Texture Coordinate Editor window Edit views Select by 0 311 2 602 Surface o Wertes Select All Mone Remap Front back left top M Keep size ratio spherical Flip Horiz Werk Aotate 5 EB i cw cow sd gt 0 5 0 5 Mowe to Testure CAA System 7 63 Custom Scene SJO WW alkthrough custom object testuresfzignageT asi bmp Editing 1 surface of object box Surfaces selected in TEE 1 M ps 5 16 In AC3D Texture Coordinate Editor zoom out using the mouse scroll until you can see the whole texture file and the perimeter of the green boundary boxes illustrated below These boxes correspond to the part of the object previously selected In this exam
2. fame van Orth z 100 100 1100 Visibility Set Surface type Poly Polyline Line Smooth Object name m Grdsnap Select through 20 Repeat Steps 11 through 19 to change the Left zy view window to apply the white XYZ letters with red background from the texture file to the object as illustrated below 2002 10 10 Subdiv Subdiv a oe x 0 00 Y 1 202 1 90 w 0 00 H 1 00 D 1 00 S Camera View Orth Left zy E Camera View 30 A gt al 21 Note that the XYZ text may appear sideways or oriented incorrectly on the box To correct this return to AC3D Texture Coordinate Editor and select CW or CCW to rotate clockwise and counterclockwise Readjust the shape of the boundary box as needed until the XYZ text reads right side up from left to right as shown below B 88 iz 103 102 Subdiv Subdiv m al E 0 50 4 0 10 Ey Camera view Orth Left zy i 22 Select the File option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear 23 Select the Save As option Save the object as Sample box The default file extension should be ac but check the Save as type field to ensure that the field says AC3D model files ac The object should be saved at the following data path C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough custom objects Note The folder specific to your facility can be used in place of the SJC Walkthr
3. Deu 62 CIA TUNW a Burface Observations for 2006071718 0 conditions clean and dry Data in raw format either METAR or 5A0 for stations that don t C fk yet issue METAR reports Data courtesy of University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign 0 Department of Atmospheric Sciences Contact curt me umn edu for assistannce 2006071718 METAR PKMJ 1717592 10009KT 15SM FEWO1S SCTOSO BKN120 BKN300 26 24 42975 RMK FIRST 335 nr PKMJ 1717592 10009KT 15SM FEWO1S SCTOSO BKN120 BKN300 26 24 A2975 RMK FIRST 008 38 1 En an Weather download 100 ERSP 1717542 AUTO VRBOSKT 10SM FEWO9O 32 22 A3013 RMK A02 SLP188 703170217 10317 20239 58003 511 _ 2 lle rom the internet K474 1717452 AUTO O0000KT 10SM CLR 33 12 A3010 RMK AO2 850 SAUS70 KUBC 171800 KFYJ 1717452 AUTO 16004KT 103M SCTOSO 35 24 A3002 RMK A01 38 A Periodically 5CAN Real Weather file PASP 1717532 O0000KT 4SM BR SCTO20 OVCO40 07 05 A3011 RMK ESTIMATED PASS OPEN NOSPECI ss METARRWX to set weather in X Plane K1H2 1717452 AUTO 24007KT 10 M CLR 33 18 A3001 RMK A02 TSNO K3LF 1717452 AUTO 18006KT 103M CLR 33 21 A3003 RMK A02 38 K3T5 1717452 AUTO QOOOOKT 103M CLR 34 20 42999 RMK 402 KFEP 1717452 AUTO 22011G17KT 10SM CLR 35 26 A2993 RMK A02 download and scan 10m allow max if KLNC 1717452 AUTO OOOOOKT 103M CLR 37 19 A3000 RMK A02 Real Weather every minute visibility of nm KLOT 1717452 AUTO 22014G18KT 10SM CLR 33 25 A2995 RMK 402 gg Bg KMEZ 1717452 AUTO 06004KT 10 M CLR 37 18 A3003 RMK A02 KPPQ 171745
4. 14 Refer to Chapter 6 for more information on using ObjView exe to view the generated signs B 58 Chapter 5 Previewing Objects The most efficient way to preview an object obj file is through the use of ObjView exe an application that is part ofthe XP Tools software ObjView exe allows you to view all angles of an object in a separate window without having to place the object using WorldMaker exe and drive to the exact location in X Plane for only a limited view ObjView exe is also beneficial when searching online for objects created by other X Plane users ObjView exe allows you to view object files that are not accompanied by a display picture without having to use WorldMaker exe and X Plane 7 63 exe saving valuable time This allows files t0 be downloaded and previewed then deemed useful or not and either deleted or saved accordingly without storing irrelevant files in the X Plane system This chapter explains how to use the ObjView exe application and overviews how to avoid common usage mistakes Part 1 ObjView exe Application Overview ObjView exe functions similar to TaxiMaker exe To view an object drag the obj file into the ObjView exe window A white silhouette of the object will appear To view the object with the correct textures colors and markings another texture file must be dragged over the top of it After dragging the texture file into the ObjView exe window simply left click once to apply the te
5. 37 933197 xxx 138 37 929283 xxx 138 37 918221 xxx 228 37 937767 xxx 228 EAS 921181 xxx 228 FE 933334 xxx 228 FE 914162 xxx 228 37 934113 xxx 228 37 924957 xxx 228 37 929344 xxx 228 A 922386 xxx 228 Sees 920471 xxx 228 BES SOILLA XXX 2285 ree 940933 xxx 138 3 a xxx 228 37 E xxx 228 37 e xxx 228 37 3 KKK LS Su 37 E xxx 184 32 xxx 199 ETAN 5 xxx 218 E ree 939392 1 windsock 37 9316039 1 windsock 37 940277 1 windsock 37 9318739 1 windsock 37 936081 1 windsock 37 926697 1 windsock 32 927721 O O Tower viewpoint COOOOOOOOCOOOCOOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOD OODOOOODOODOOOOOODOOOODOOOOOODOD NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNENN DODDODDDDDODSDODODODDODODOODODOOOODOOO OOOOOODOOOOOOOOOODOODODODONwWn OOOOOOOOOOOOOODOODOOOODODODOD PA A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A N A PP A PA A un en en en en en e e e e e e e en e e en en en en en en en Ln en Ln ODOODODOODODODODOODODDODRP RP 161161 926933 1 Rotating Beacon 51 12400 CTAF 52 11800 CLNC DEL 53 12170 GND 54 12070 TWR 55 12010 NORCAL APP 56 12130 NORCAL DEP B 132 apt dat File Footer Ensure that the file contains the correct footer otherwise it will not work properly The should stand alone on the last line which is simply the numerical value 99 TaxiDraw exe Once a dat file has been exported as described in Steps 35 through 42 of the Chapter 3 Walkthrough exercise the file must be renamed and saved to th
6. Q U S Department National Transportation Cambridge Massachusetts 02142 1093 of Transportation Systems Center Research and Innovative Technology Administration John A Volpe Kendall Square May 8 2008 To Whom It May Concern Since the completion of the Low Cost Ground Vehicle Simulator project several upgrades and enhancements to the software have occurred X Plane has updated to version 9 0 instead of version 7 63 utilized in the project Two new programs WorldEditor WED and OverlayEditor replace the capabilities of the two programs used in the project WorldMaker and TaxiDraw All of the changes relative to using the software as a tool for a ground vehicle driving simulator increase usability and enhance realism The modeling tools AC3D and Blender have no significant changes and can still be used with the X Plane package The new version releases affected four main areas visuals interface design internal configurability and vehicle modification The method for generating scenery was substantially changed improving visuals and frame rates The realism of the lighting on the airport surface was greatly enhanced along with the curved pavement paint and additional viewing options for out the window The menus were redesigned facilitating the navigation and manipulation of the simulator The internal configurability has increased and allows further networking options to increase the flexibility of the simulator While X P
7. s low cost driving simulator project Versions are typically released in whole number increments 6 7 8 etc After the initial release of a version downloadable updates are available to upgrade the X system e g 7 3 7 63 8 5 etc Additional help for X Plane can be found on an up to date forum at http www x plane org The individual applications included within X System 7 63 are X Plane 763 exe Plane Maker 763 exe World Maker 763 exe Airfoil Maker 763 exe and Briefer 763 exe The following discusses each of these applications B X Plane 7 63 exe X Plane 7 63 is flight simulator software similar to the popular Microsoft Flight Simulator software see http x plane com about html A major difference between the two programs is that X Plane allows a higher level of hands on customization and user control With the X Plane software a community of involved users and hobbyists exists who not only customize items for their own personal use but also for the public see http www x plane org An important distinction to remember is that X Plane was designed for flight simulation and as a result aviation terminology and a flying task perspective is present throughout its design and community The desired levels of fidelity realism and detail demanded of excellent flight simulator software enable X Plane to house an airport driving simulator Since a primary focus on flying exists within X Plane along w
8. 14 The screen should appear as follows Po Inivis ACID File Edit Views Object Surface vere Orth 30 Tools Help All None Dup Cut sl Pass Gap Paste Group Pre Flip Espada soz 2z00 1 Groups bjects selected 1 0 00 Y 6L Camera View Orth i e Hl Select 0 0 Mode rs gt N Front xy fe x gt jo Howe to ee u m Cie km Camera view Orth Pi 5l EJE 15 Repeat Steps 22 though 28 to save export view and place the object in X Plane Save the double hangar as Hangar1 ac and Hangar1 obj rather than as SampleBox ac and Box1 obj respectively Exit AC3D exe B 96 Section 3 Drawing Pavement Markings on Top of a Background Image 1 Double click on the TaxiDraw shortcut on the Desktop to open the program 2 Select Raw Data options The following screen will appear Raw Data Options Default Format Plane Plane Data Path E S uste 7 53 Resources Earth nay datasapt dat Choose Flightaear Data Path Choose Cancel 3 Make sure the Default Format field has X Plane entered If it is not displayed select the X Plane option 4 Enter CAX System 7 63 Resources Earth nav datalapt dat into the X Plane Data Path field circled in blue Select OK Note In the future when working with your airport the data path should be as follows C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery Your Airport Earth nav data apt dat Otherwise X P
9. 4 Load KSJC if necessary refer to Chapter 3 for additional instructions note that the customized curved intersection of Taxiways V and L circled in blue below will load B 136 5 On the Insert menu select the Startup Location option both circled in blue below E TaxiDraw KSJC Norman Y Mineta San Jose Intl File Edit En Insert port Projection Background Tools Help 6 Click on the black dot that appears in the center of the screen and drag it to the intersection of Taxiways V and L circled in blue below Before dragging black dot u 7 Right click on the black dot 8 Change the heading from 0 00 north to 90 00 east 9 Change the label from Custom Startup Location to Taxiway L and V Intersection 10 Repeat Steps 5 through 10 to add more custom startup locations at different positions on the airfield 11 Export to X Plane format refer to Chapter 3 for additional instruction if needed Save the apt dat file to the preferred of the two possible locations discussed in Section 1 of this Walkthrough exercise under either the Resources or the Custom Scenery folder 12 Open this newly created apt dat file using a text editor such as Notepad B 137 13 Insert the header and footer refer to Chapter 3 Walkthrough exercise if needed 14 Double click on the X Plane 7 63 shortcut on the Desktop to open the program 15 Go to KSJC 16 From the Ramp menu under the Location menu
10. If X Plane is not displayed select that option 5 Enter C X System 7 63 Resources Earth nav data apt dat into the X Plane Data Path field circled in blue Select OK Note In the future when working with your airport the data path should be as follows C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery Your Airport Earth nav data apt dat Otherwise X Plane will load the unaltered airport surface that you originally started off with in X Plane 6 Select the File option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear B 43 7 Select New The following screen will appear Airport Selector Enter airport 4 latter ICAU code 8 Type the four letter facility identifier e g KSJC in the Airport Selector circled in blue Select OK 9 Press F4 to zoom out until the entire airport layout fits into the window Minimize this window to the bottom of the screen but do not exit the application 10 Double click on the X System 7 63 shortcut on the Desktop In this window double click on the Custom Scenery folder Within that folder open the SJC Walkthrough folder and double click on the SJC pdf file to open the airport diagram for SJC 11 Adjust the size of the windows for TaxiDraw and the airport diagram pdf to compare both layouts side by side An example follows i Adobe Reader EN TaxiDraw KSJC Norman Y Mineta San Jose Intl SAN JOSE NORMAN Y MINETA SAN JOSE INTL SIC 9 JOSE CALIFORNI
11. Revolve Mirror Optimize vertices Ctrl Shift W Optimize Surfaces Reduce Subdivide Subdivide Commit Subdivision Re centre Minimum centre Fragment Merge Cbrl ShiFE M Explode Extrude Along Path 9 Within the Object drop down menu select the Texture option circled in green Within the Texture option pop out menu select the Load Texture option circled in red 10 Select the Taxi bmp texture file to load in AC3D exe and press Open The data path for the Taxi bmp file is as follows C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough custom object textures signageltaxi bmp Note The folder specific to your facility can be used in place of the SJC Walkthrough folder in the above data path B 83 11 On the Select bar located in the upper left corner just below the menu bar change the option to Surface Select manipulate individual surfaces mode third button from the left circled in red below J Inivis AC3D File BIE Ser ES WEIS Ober allen Vertex Orth 30 Tools Help pi 2 E Copy Pastel es selected 6 12 At the top of the screen to the right of the Select bar click the None option circled in green above to unselect all objects currently selected in AC3D exe 13 Make sure the Select through checkbox circled in blue located at the bottom left of the screen next to the Gridsnap checkbox is unchecked aa Du Du ne Visibility Hide Sel Lock Sel
12. Selecting an Airport X Plane provides a comprehensive list of airports for you to select and view This section details specific options you will utilize to select and view the desired airport from different angles and locations Location Menu This menu located on the menu bar that appears at the top of the screen when the cursor is placed over this area provides several options for finding the desired airport and for placing an aircraft vehicle in different locations The following list defines some of the options 1 Ramp a Selecting this option will ultimately place you on the ramp of either your airport or one in close proximity to it as long as your airport was the last to be loaded in X Plane b Initially after selecting the Ramp option a list of all of nearby airports including your current airport will appear c Find your airport in the list and click on its name d Asmall pop up menu will appear displaying Default and Custom Starting Location as the available options Note These options are not standard across all airports in X Plane either or both may be available for your selected airport Default If this option appears you can use it to view your airport from additional locations Selecting it will drop you at the point deemed default by X Plane Custom Starting Location If this is the only option to appear for your airport you will not be able to use the Ramp to be placed at a d
13. all shown below are adjustable by height Height can be adjusted both prior to object placement and by selecting the object once it has been placed Prior to the placement of a generic object be sure to select the desired height of the object which is entered in feet The placement is a simple process and is accomplished by selecting the desired type of object to insert and then clicking on the desired location to position the object on the airport layout The closer you are zoomed to the airport surface the more precise the object placement will be ee ee E to moise click Ll add custom ob ject Part 4 Placing Custom Obstacles The Obstacles tab in World Maker exe has a fifth option for object placement in addition to the four default object types This option allows for the placement of customized objects those you may have created or may have obtained from the Internet that are adjustable by orientation or heading Prior to placement be sure to select the desired heading which is entered in degrees and automatically saved The placement of these objects similar to the placement of default objects is accomplished by selecting the add custom object option shown below and then clicking on the desired location to position the object on the airport layout Again the closer you are zoomed into the airport surface the more precise the placement will be cy select nearest obstacle to change it E add
14. generate global dynamic real time weather situations The controls for this feature are located in the lower right corner of the X Plane 7 63 weather settings screen This feature allows X Plane 7 63 to download a Meteorological Aerodrome Report from the Internet saving it as a METAR rwx file in the central X System folder X Plane 7 63 provides the option of periodically downloading this information an Internet connection is necessary to constantly update the METAR rwx file with real time authentic weather conditions for the simulated airport Using this option will continuously overwrite the pre existing METAR rwx file so if a weather condition that may be useful in the future is ever downloaded be sure to save it as a sit file otherwise the METAR rwx file will be erased when the next download occurs X Plane 7 63 also provides a display box that indicates the progress of the download from 0 to 100 completed If this option is selected X Plane 7 63 will periodically scan the METAR rwx file and import the information from it to update the weather setting of the simulation X Plane 7 63 allows users to choose how often the program should download from the Internet update the simulation and define the maximum visibility B 123 settings to be uploaded The following images display these options circled in red on left along with a sample METAR rwx right VII 0 File Edit View Insert Format Help
15. robinp mindspring com This data is free software you can redistribute it and or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation either version 2 of the License or at your option any later version This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR amp PARTICULAR PURPOSE See the GNU General Public License for more details You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program AaptNavGNULicence txt if not write to the Free Software Foundation Inc 59 Temple Place Suite 330 Boston MA 02111 1307 USA This product was developed using DAFIF the Defense Aeronautical Flight Information File a product of the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency NIMA NINA requires the following warranty statements A Under 10 U S C 456 no civil action may be brought against the United States on the basis of the content of a navigational aid prepared or disseminated by either the former Defense Mapping Agency DMA or the National Imagery and Mapping Agency NIMA B The DAFIF product is provided as is and no warranty express or implied including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for particular purpose or arising by statute or otherwise in law or from a v For Help press F1 l NUM Part 2 Instal
16. 63 shortcut on the Desktop to open the program 3 Using the mouse move the cursor to the top left of the screen This will result in the appearance of a menu bar across the top of the screen 4 Select the File option through a single left click of the mouse A dropdown menu will appear Wien Special Plates Plugins About File Location Open Aircraft ave situation 5 Within the dropdown menu select the Open Aircraft option through a single left click The following screen will appear SAY INTENTIONS 6 In the aircraft directory select the General Aviation folder circled in orange by clicking on the listed name 7 In the General Aviation folder select the Cessna 172 Skyhawk folder circled in green by clicking on the listed name SAY INTENTIONS SAY INTENTIONS General Aviation eu E EA VE 17 25P act 8 In the Cessna 172 Skyhawk folder select the Cessna172SP acf circled in red by clicking on the listed name 9 Use the controls learned in Chapter 1 to look at the aircraft itself as well as the airport surface from this aircraft 10 Repeat and select other acf files to sample some of the aircraft available in X Plane 11 Go back to the aircraft directory Step 6 and select the Vehicles folder 12 In the Vehicles folder similar to Step 7 select the Developmental Vehicles folder 13 In the Developmental Vehicles folder select the Sports Utility Vehicle folder 14 In the Sports Ut
17. Airports Experiences during the Building Process Each airport started the building phase during the week following the Volpe Center s initial visit Each airport began with the default airport setting standard to the X Plane software see Figure 1 Since the X Plane software was designed as a flight simulator rather than a ground vehicle simulator the details of the airport surface are not in depth In some instances these details are inaccurate and are in need of modification however this setting was the starting point for all airports in the building process The step by step manual given to all airports was geared to the user as a pathway for building and reconstructing the airport environment Although the manual was used at all airports some used it in a different order than how it was initially set up e g Chapter 1 followed by Chapter 4 This usage did not seem to cause any problems for the airports or for Volpe staff who were on call for technical support Some participants felt that using the manual in a different order than was originally designed was more intuitive to them for the building process Additional technical support was provided to each airport as requested An airport participant would contact Volpe Center technical support staff with a question Volpe staff would then log the problem and investigate it and contact the airport by phone and or e mail with a solution if possible For the purpose of data collection a
18. Christopher Cabrall of the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center for his time and effort as well as to the software providers for their support and the use of their programs Table of Contents 1 IMTOd UC Ot 1 ZEN ALEXDEELAUONS POCO A CORE A 3 2 1 PAU CP AO IS insel 3 2 2 Computer experiencia a 3 2 3 EXperience With simulators sinroro a noia 4 2 4 Effectiveness of the simulator in training occoocccoccconiconccnnccnnoncnonconanonanonanonons 4 2 5 Reducing runway incursions and other surface incidents 02 002 00 4 2 6 Comments regarding participation in the current project occoocconcccnconionncoc 5 3 Airports Experiences during the Building Process 2 222022002402000enenne nennen T 3 1 Types or GUESTIONS AR DD Daeg a a aa a 7 3 2 Time required to address facility QUESTIONS ooccoccconconcccnconionncanconnconcnnononnnoos T 3 3 Completion of simulator construction of local detail u22022022 8 4 Airports Expectations after Completion of the Simulator occocccoccocnconconnconnns 11 4 1 Use of the simulator used in training coocccoccccncconcccncccnnncncnncnancnnncncnnncnnanonass 11 4 2 Definition of a successful simulator ocooccocccoccocnconconnconoonoocncononcnonncnnnnnnnnos 11 4 3 Common issues with simulator CONStrUCtiON ccoccconconcconconcocnconconncancnnnnnnnors 11 A CONCUSSION s
19. Desktop to open the program Select the Place Aircraft by Airport option on the Location menu and visit KSJC Select the Takeoff option on the Location menu both circled in blue below About File Location Settings Output View Special Plates Plugins a Special Take Off j Special In Flight i w Set planet to Earth Set planet to Mars Find and select the Norman Y Mineta San Jose option then select the RWY 12R option Either use the viewing controls or drive to the intersection of Taxiways V and L Notice that the original 90 degree intersection circled in blue below that exists in place of the smooth curved intersection created during the Chapter 3 Walkthrough exercise X Plane 7 63 loaded the information from the master B 134 apt dat file since the custom apt dat file was hidden by the name change in Step 2 8 Prior to exiting X Plane7 63 exe select the Ramp option from the Location menu 9 Find and select the Norman Y Mineta San Jose option noting the availability of the only option Default circled in blue below Exit X Plane 7 63 10 Access the original master apt dat file from the following data path C X System 7 63 Resources Earth nav data 11 Rename this file originalmasterapt dat so that X Plane 7 63 will not recognize it but also will not erase the work in the file Be careful not to delete this file 12 Access the smaller customized apt dat file renamed hidemeapt dat in Step 2 f
20. Select Load Background Image Select a background image e g SJCsat bmp from C Documents If this file is not displayed as an option you may need to change the Files of Type at the bottom of the screen to All Files If SJCsat bmp is still not displayed as an option you will need to change the folder listed in the Look in field The following is a representative file path to the SJCsat bmp file C Documents SJCsat bmp 15 To turn off the displayed grid press Ctrl G The same key combination will turn the grid on To highlight the TaxiDraw airport layout in bright blue to stand out from the loaded gray satellite image press F6 For an outline of the TaxiDraw airport layout with no solid shading press s 16 After turning off the displayed grid highlighting the TaxiDraw airport layout in bright blue and removing the solid shading select the Projection option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear 17 Select the UTM Universal Transverse Mercator projection this will assist in the orientation of satellite and other images taken from above 30 000 feet by accounting for the curvature of the earth For more information reference the Loading and Calibrating Background Images section in the official online TaxiDraw tutorial 18 Select the Background option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear 19 Select Calibrate Background Image The following screen will ap
21. for which the object file is intended The I stands for an IBM computer whereas an A stands for an Apple computer If there is ever a problem with an obj file check to make sure there is an T in the first line If there is not change the A to an T and the problem should cease to exist The 700 underlined in blue designates the version of X Plane for which the object file is designed The 700 stands for version 7 and any updates whereas an 800 stands for version 8 and any of those updates Unfortunately changing the 700 to an 800 or vice versa will not change the compatibility of the file for the other version To use a version 8 object in version 7 or vice versa simply import the file into AC3D exe save and then export as the desired version 7 or 8 The OBJ underlined in green indicates that the file is indeed an object file The YellowLine underlined in orange indicates the name of the texture file applied to the object excluding the file extension bmp png etc If the texture file is located within a subfolder of the Custom Object Textures folder the title of the subfolder will appear first followed by a colon as a separator and then by the file name but excluding the file extension The underlined in brown indicates the end of a line of text in the obj file Without these front slashes the program reading the obj file will not be able to distinguish the end o
22. had never thought would be possible When asked about participation in the project employees responded in terms of anticipated benefits and potential obstacles All airports expected potential benefits from this project In particular they found it beneficial not only that a simulator could be built at their facility but that it could be modified as needed For 75 of the airports construction and signage changes on the airport surface would need to be reflected in the simulator One concern was whether time spent using the simulator in training would upset employees especially tenant employees who are on a tight timetable and already feel that training takes too much time Even though airports noted this concern it was not a deterrent to participation Another issue for some airports was deciding where they could house the simulator Even though this type of simulator would not take much more space than an average size desk and chair the space still needs to be accessible for employees and to be in an isolated area free of distractions When asked what they believed would be the biggest obstacle in building the simulator airport participants responded that it was how they would build in the details that go beyond the basic layout of the airport surface Many employees believed this was something that might exceed their technical abilities even with the step by step instructional manual and other technical support provided by Volpe Center staff 3
23. is located in equivalent areas for both the upper and lower cloud layers each menu displays identical cloud type options Cloud type options circled in blue in the upper cloud layer section and the selection menu for the options circled in green in the lower cloud layer section are shown below i haze layer cloud tops 96 999 hi cirrus iar Lar Le Lo lo stratus scattered CCEC broken cloud bases 936 999 I Overcast Er ID A cloud tops 50 9 9 9 MSL TOTTI Ta Ta Ta Ti AA cloud bases 90 9 9 9 MSL 2 5 8 2 ACL ID III Note The values appearing in the screenshot above are random and do not necessarily represent ideal settings B 110 The following chart identifies and describes each cloud type and provides a brief explanation of any changes in elevation parameters or system requirements that occur with selection of that cloud type Translucent and thin Haze layer does not appear on radar Patches of thin We disconnected stretched Hi cirrus clouds does not appear on radar Connected thin Lo stratus stretched grayish clouds does not appear on radar Thicker faintly connected Scattered cloud layer appears slightly on radar Thicker partially Broken connected cloud layer mostly appears on radar Thicker connected layer vercast appears on radar Maximum upper cloud tops height 96 999 ft MSL No separation between cloud tops and bases allowed Maximum upper cloud tops height 96 999 ft MSL N
24. is purchased Open the AC3D 6 1 folder from C Program Files and verify that its contents look like the following Create a new subfolder within the AC3D 6 1 folder entitled Removed Plugins Open the plugins folder within the AC3D 6 1 folder Find select and remove the following two files obj export p obj_import p and place them into the Removed Plugins folder created in Step 5 To obtain the plugins that allow the program to work with X Plane files go to the following website http scenery x plane com tools php Right click on either AC3D 5 0 or 6 1 depending on the version of Windows being used and select the Save Target as option Select the Desktop as the destination for the ac3d_xplane_210b2 zip file Extract the contents of the zip file README XPlaneSupportMac p and XplaneSupportWin p into the following location C Program FileslAC3D 6 plugins 10 Open the README file in a text editor for more information on how AC3D exe and XPlane exe work together Part 3 Arranging for Your Specific Airfield Customization The following steps will ensure that grass or earth rather than the default water scenery is present around your airfield They will also establish a location for files that you customize or create 1 Open the Custom Scenery folder within the X System folder found at the following location C Program Files X System 7 63 Custom Scenery 2 Create a new subfolder with your airf
25. layer of cloud bases and the lower layer of cloud tops if this minimum difference does B 109 not exist X Plane 7 63 automatically adjusts the heights to maintain the separation Since the upper layer of cloud bases appears above the lower layer of cloud tops and the visual focus for driving simulator tasks perceives only the lower layer of clouds the upper cloud bases settings are not relevant X Plane 7 63 allows the user to manipulate these cloud bases settings according to above ground level AGL height which will be most beneficial for driving simulator tasks Using these settings will simultaneously alter any previous MSL values to properly correspond with the AGL height The following table lists the acceptable values for cloud tops Upper Layer MSL 3 000 ft MSL 96 999 ft MSL Lower Layer MSL O ft MSL 90 999 ft MSL Relative to Relative to Upper Layer AGL individual airfield individual airfield Relative to Relative to Lower Layer AGL individual airfield individual airfield Cloud Types This control determines the consistency of a layer of clouds A cloud type control exists for both the upper and lower cloud layers Manipulating this control can affect the maximum height of the cloud tops the level of precipitation the severity of thunderstorms and the type of runway conditions it can also introduce a required 3 000 foot separation between cloud tops and cloud bases The selection menu for cloud types
26. nm also described as severe clear at the same airports would make these distant objects appear hazy while a setting of 5 0 nm would make them disappear Conversely airports located in more remote or desert like locations with no large objects visible from a great distance would find this control less relevant The following visual illustrates the visibility control setting at 10 0 NM severe clear Mi severe clear Cloud Controls Each of the controls relative to cloud settings is of importance because these controls determine how much sunlight appears through the clouds the color of the sky and the appearance of the clouds a Cloud Tops This control helps to determine the thickness of the clouds by manipulating the height of the cloud layer The height of the cloud tops is measured as the height in feet above mean sea level MSL Two cloud tops controls exist one for an upper layer and one for a lower layer While X Plane 7 63 does not specify which cloud tops control is for which layer the control that appears highest on the Weather screen circled in blue below corresponds to the upper layer while the control that is lower circled in green corresponds to the lower layer haze layer MAY aa a h cloud bases 18011 MSL 16 85 4 AGL we e e nnn AANA cloud bases 14 7 3 3 MSL 1 3 5 7 6 AGL PPPI PITI Note The values appearing on the screenshot above are random and do not necessaril
27. of the SJC Walkthrough folder in the above data path 30 The following is an illustration of the Line1 obj file open in Notepad tine1 obj Notepad File Edit Format Wiew Help YellowLine res ATTR_no_cull Jf tr Er 41 722534 0 500000 34 843430 0 195312 1 009030 5 42 040936 0 500000 34 440834 0 808594 1 009030 26 178782 0 500000 21 528944 0 195312 0 006595 ri HE 26 497189 500000 21 126345 0 808594 0 006595 26 178782 500000 21 528944 0 195312 0 006595 42 040936 500000 34 440834 0 808594 1 009030 end FE 31 Add the following text circled in blue to the obj file under the texture file path instructions as illustrated below ATTR_no_ depth Il tine1 obj Notepad Jeg File Edit Format View Help Af Af A 0 34 843430 0 195312 1 009030 040936 D 34 440834 0 808594 1 009030 178782 0 21 528944 0 195312 0 006595 ri FE 497189 0 21 126345 0 808594 0 006595 178782 0 O 21 528944 0 195312 0 006595 040936 0 500000 34 440834 0 808594 1 009030 Af 32 Repeat Steps 27 and 28 to view and place the object in X Plane B 103 Section 4 Technique for Drawing Curved Pavement Lines 1 Creating curved lines consists of copying pieces of a rectangle pasting the pieces appending them to the edge of the original or previous piece and rotating the piece to form a curve To create a curved line repeat Steps 65 through 68 for the first piece of line 2 Dup
28. of the sign described by that specific code Front of sign Back of sign Single Sided Combination Sign The following is an example of a complete line of script for a single sided combination sign ils_apron obj ILS APRON gt ils_apron obj is the name of the sign file and ILS APRON gt designates the sign characteristics The sign described by that specific code appears as follows Front of sign Back of sign http www xsquawkbox net tools xptools docs taximaker html served as a reference and guideline for this chapter B 52 Double Sided Sign The following is an example of a complete line of script for a double sided sign 22 Ar obj 22R 4L A 22 _ Ar obj is the name of the sign file and 22R 4L A designates the sign characteristics The front of the sign consists of 22R 4L and the back consists of A The sign described by that specific code appears as follows Front of sign Back of sign Bracketing Characters The bracketing characters used to enclose the content of the sign depict the sign colors and borders Available bracketing characters and their operations are as follows Bracketing Characters Sign Color Special Notes XXI crow background WIEN Key to use is Shift ack lettering Red background with N one white lettering yellow border Black background with XX yellow lettering and No spaces allowed Used only for signs showing distance remainin
29. select the HS lines obj file Note Since objects vary in size you may need to zoom in closer to see the addition of custom lines signs and other objects when changing the custom type from a larger to a smaller object 34 Choose the select nearest obstacle to mouse click and click on a hangar 35 Adjust the heading of the hangar so that the hangar becomes parallel to the runways by using the object heading control at the bottom left of the screen The entered heading will automatically save itself A ir add radio tower E E3 add cooling tower i Ea add smoke stacks Ll e add custom object 2 AAA object Fooo deg for custom heading objects BR Note The object heading control is in the same location and is the same control type as the object height control however for custom objects you are able to enter a heading in degrees to adjust the orientation whereas for default objects you are able adjust the height in feet B 70 36 If the hangar appears to overlap with the hold short lines placed in Step 33 zoom in closer and use the move nearest obstacle to mouse click to readjust its the position Overlapping T Hangar and HS Lines Zoomed in view to fix overlap Adjusted object without overlap 37 Using the information learned in Steps 26 through 36 add one of each of the included sign types in the Custom Objects folder same location as the T Hangar obj and HS lines obj files Rotate the sign head
30. taxi2 bmp file Customize a defined or easily identifiable area for example Change the yellow 5 with a yellow border and black background circled in green below 5 taxi2 bmp Paint 3456789ABCDEFGHIJKELMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ e gt tyuexsrma to a white 5 with no border and a black background circled in green below W DistanceRemain5 bmp Paint Fie Edit View Image Colors Help B 141 b Save this customized texture file with a new and distinct name such as DistanceReman5 bmp 2 Second a new sign script can be written using TaxiMaker exe or an existing sign can be edited using AC3D exe a Using TaxiMaker exe write a sign using the script that describes the original area of the texture file that was altered For example in Dist5 obj 5 the square brackets and the 5 are still used to reference the area of the altered texture file that was changed from a yellow 5 with a black background and yellow border to the current white 5 with a black background and no border OR a Import an existing sign into AC3D exe b First a rectangle must be created to superimpose on and attach to the face of the sign Click on the Rect Draw a Rectangle button then click once in the Front xy window which will draw a default one by one meter rectangle as shown in the illustration above Switch to the Vertex selection mode the
31. taxiway and apron 11 Mouse click and hold the desired object Drag it to the intersection of a taxiway and apron and release the mouse button 12 Change the heights of the objects Choose the select nearest obstacle to mouse click and click on a building Note Flashes silver white when selected 13 Adjust the height of the building to 100 feet by using the object height control at the bottom left of the screen circled in blue The entered height will automatically save itself 4 add smoke stacks e 1 add custom object ft for non custom objects height B 68 14 Choose the select nearest obstacle to mouse click and click onto a radio tower Note Flashes silver white when selected 15 Adjust the height of the radio tower to 75 feet by using the object height control at the bottom left of the screen The entered height will automatically save itself 16 Choose the select nearest obstacle to mouse click and click onto a cooling tower Note Flashes silver white when selected 17 Adjust the height of the cooling tower to 40 feet by using the object height control 18 Choose the select nearest obstacle to mouse click and click onto a smokestack 19 Adjust the height of the cooling tower to 30 feet by using the object height control 20 Select the File option through a single left click of the mouse A dropdown menu will appear 21 Within the dropdown menu select the Save Terrain and Obs
32. the page There are various other forums that can be browsed Surf the available forums until a topic or title description mentions the availability of scenery for an airport a city or a discussion of another topic of interest Discussion boards generally include links to other web pages B 73 for direct downloads of X Plane obj and bmp or png texture files files also may be located on the discussion board itself X Plane provides a collection of downloadable objects available by selecting the following options at the top of the X Plane org webpage underneath the X Plane icon Files gt Download Manager After clicking on Download Manager available files for downloading are grouped by category Choose a category and begin searching The following are illustrations of the X Plane org website to further illustrate the information described above Links 7 i Address 4 http jew x plane org 3 e ka ae Home Store Contact s __ Files _ _ _ _ 2 Forums Forums Portal Flight Ops a Blogs Se a The Org IRC a Event Calendar E rt Members eu a Member Map a Shoutbox H New Resources HA News Foru m FAQ a davalR E 4380 repaint Vietnam FSWidgets Release EFB for Beer h Airlines 3 0 Su a e z Ste ne EL F Henschel P 7 Last October FSWidgets releg ER rear FS2004 which was AVA Flvinn Tiners designated EFB2004 Electronic Flight Bag Pre FS2004 They are now also happy
33. the screen select Quit f Click Don t Save on the prompt Save Changes to Airport file first g Open the subfolder New Custom Scenery located in the Custom Scenery folder under the X System folder and found at the following data path C Program Files X System 7 63 Custom Scenery New Custom Scenery B 19 h Write down the name of the only subfolder in the New Custom Scenery folder as highlighted below Earth nav data File Edit View Favorites Tools Help ae Q tex QJ wi yo Search E Folders si Address C Program Files x System 7 63 Custom Scenery New Custom Scenery Earth nay data v Go Size Type Date Modified File and Folder Tasks 2 M 40 090 File Folder 4 24 2007 10 05 AM mj Rename this Folder Move this Folder A Copy this Folder Publish this folder to the Web i Open that folder and write down the name of the only env file within it as highlighted below 40 090 File Edit View Favorites Tools Help Q sack Y Dd yo Search gt Folders ii Address C Program Files x System 7 63 Custom Scenery New Custom Scenery Earth nay data 40 090 Name Size Type Date Modified File and Folder Tasks 2 41 088 env 370 KB ENV File 4 24 2007 10 20 AM m Rename this file iy Move this file N Copy this file A Publish this file to the Web Copy the 1 x 1 latitude longitude degree square env file determined in Step 4 i from X Plane s global scenery Create a folder with the name d
34. to unselect all objects currently selected in AC3D exe The screen should appear as illustrated below A Inivis AC3D BAX File Edit Views Object Surface Vertex Orth 3D Tools Help Select All None Dupl Cut Copy Paste Group Unarat p Flip y 2 50 200 10 10 Subdiv Subdiv re Nothing selected x 0 00 Y 130 702 379 80 Camera View Orth Pi Camera View Orth Front xy Left zy Move to a n y Size to Camera View Orth gt 5 E Camera View 3D Top xz 3D xyz 0 1 0 0 Al ZEN ix hoo fioo foo L Visibility Hide l Object name E B 92 7 Draw a boundary box around the far right hangar of the three hangars by using the mouse to click hold and drag open a box around the hangar The screen should appear as illustrated below A Inivis AC3D m Xx File Edit Views Obiect Surface Vertex Orth 3D Tools Help las All None Dup Cut Copy Paste Group Unaroup Flip x Y z 50 200 10 10 Subdiv Subdiv gu amp Dr y Y Vertices selected 101 x 0 00 Y 9 70 Z 138 90 W 56 30 H 19 40 D 48 60 Camera View Orth gt 5 E Camera View Orth Mode Front xy Left zy Xx y 2 a Eo Ho po Move to I 9 Camera View Orth Camera View 3D Size to Top xz 3D xyz for o Do Move x ho fo fio Visibility Hide Sel Unse
35. view of your aircraft vehicle The following is an example of this change 9 Press and hold the minus underscore key _ to zoom out This will allow you to view the layout of your entire airport surface but be careful not to zoom out too far or you will be past the clouds literally The following is an example of this change 10 The following keys allow you to adjust the viewing angle of the airport The minus underscore key _ zooms out The plus equal sign key zooms in The directional arrow keys rotate the screen The left arrow key lt rotates the screen clockwise and the right arrow key gt rotates it counterclockwise The up arrow key 7 elevates your view and the down arrow key lowers it B 29 11 Press the w key to return to the view from inside the vehicle aircraft To remove the dashboard cockpit display from the screen for a larger field of view press the shift and minus underscore keys at the same time An example of this change is illustrated below Note Pressing the w key will cause the dashboard cockpit view to reappear 12 Practice manipulating your field of view until you reach a desired level of comfort with the task Note any changes additions deletions or manipulations that are necessary to customize the airfield to your actual airport surface 13 Using the mouse move the cursor to the top left of the screen This will result in the appearance of a menu bar acr
36. view the Obstacles tab Initially this tab provides an aerial view from several thousand feet above the airport surface The following shortcuts are used to zoom and adjust the view to that of your virtual airport surface Press and hold the minus underscore key to zoom out from the airfield surface Press and hold the plus equals key to zoom in closer to the airfield surface Pressing the up arrow key shifts the airport layout to the top of the screen Pressing the down arrow key shifts the airport layout to the bottom of the screen lt Pressing the left arrow key shifts the airport layout to the left of the screen gt Pressing the right arrow key shifts the airport layout to the right of the screen Note If your airport is not located in the display under the Obstacles tab go to the Airports tab and enter its name similar to the procedure described in Step 5 of the Chapter 1 walkthrough exercise Then return to the Obstacles tab and begin zooming Your airport will be displayed Part 2 Overview of Functions to Manipulate Obstacles World Maker exe deletes moves and selects objects based on their proximity to a mouse click The closest object to the point on the airport surface that you click on will be deleted moved or selected based on a function selected prior to the mouse click Note To reduce any errors always zoom in as close to the desired object as possible before you mous
37. weekly survey summarizing the building experience during that week was sent to the airports by e mail If no work had occurred during a particular week the survey would be returned reflecting this 3 1 Types of questions asked Of the questions posed to the Volpe Center technical support staff many were related to hardware issues and the handling of static objects such as buildings Questions regarding signs were also commonly asked Seventy five percent of the airports asked an average of one question every three weeks A total of 43 questions were asked during the building phase of the project Many of the technical support staff s answers were sent to all airports in case those airports were also having the same problem or would soon be at that same point in the building process An example of a technical problem as stated by one airport participant was that Some of our taxiway lines are floating in mid air Our response was that Your obj line files are too large or too far from center obj can cause parallax distortion so you need to segment lines into smaller obj files 3 2 Time required to address facility questions Many of the questions asked took the Volpe Center technical support staff considerable time to uncover a solution When additional time was needed the airport would be informed that the question was currently being worked on and that someone would try to get back to them by the end of the day with a solution Wit
38. 2 AUTO 21008KT 10SM CLR 32 24 A3002 RMK A022 325 SAUS70 KWBC 171800 0 KAMA 1717452 AUTO 19007KT 10SM CLR 32 25 A3001 RMK A02 KAJG 1717452 AUTO 17006KT 103M SCTO48 SCTO60 32 19 A3004 RMK A02 PWINO KcO9 1717452 AUTO 22011G15KT 105M CLR 31 24 42996 RMK 402 KDKB 1717452 AUTO 22014KT 105M 33 23 42995 RMK 402 C kt PE a Help Bess pl B 124 Part 2 Chapter 8 Walkthrough Exercise This section provides step by step instruction to apply the information from this chapter 1 Insert X Plane Version 7 into the CD Drive If the Explorer window pops up close it Do not run or install any programs from this CD it is just the key to unlock X Plane and run it with access to the full version the demo version runs with limited capabilities 2 Double click on the X Plane 7 63 shortcut on the Desktop to open the program 3 Using the mouse move the cursor to the top portion of the screen A menu bar will appear across the top of the screen 4 Select the Settings option through a single left click of the mouse A dropdown menu will appear About File Location Settings Output View Special Plates Plugins Larrea sme Weight amp Balance 4 Fuel System Failures Other Aircraft Quick Flight Setup ption me Movie Options Flight Data Recorder Files Joystick Operations amp 5 Within the dropdown menu select the Weather option through a single left click The following screen will appear ft RIDGE LIF
39. 21 934855 Lat 37 367891 594315 27 Y Projection UTM Zone 10 xp 715 Runways Locked Notice that shortening as well as lengthening narrowing and widening occurs from the midpoint rather than the end of the selected pavement Although insignificant for this exercise this is important to remember You should always have the full piece of pavement in view when performing such actions to see the effects on both ends You may have to alternate between repositioning the location of the pavement and resizing its length to get what you want done correctly 28 Select Taxiway W and copy it by pressing Crtl C Click somewhere to the side of the airport layout and paste this copied taxiway by pressing Crtl V 29 Right click on the pasted taxiway The following window will appear Taxtway Properties rn Geometry Length wit FE 150 True Heading degrees 128 90 Algn with rune m Attributes Surface type Concrete Center lights Po E dge lights Blue Roughness OE Cancel B 47 30 Enter 245 into the Length ft field circled in blue Press OK 31 Select and drag this piece the pasted taxiway that is now shortened to the end of Taxiway V with a slight overlap 32 To create the desired curve you will need to angle and duplicate this piece for the length of the curve To angle select the piece right click and enter 155 in the True Heading degre
40. 4 Community gt Forums gt Forums Portal Links 2 Address El http Forurns plane org Read Rules before shouting Alternate skin available without Shoutbox Choose Org No Shout at bottom of forum x Plane Org Forum Portal Board Navigation Welcome Guest Please Register or Login o User It is now Today 08 49 AM a There has been 46341 posts in 4060 topics today oe a Be Login E mea Wiew all of todays active posts Help Add To Your Favorites Add 4 File to the DOM Link to view available forums B 74 Links gt Address E http Forums x plane orglindex php s c4ece197625c0192b7078c4Fffad10 W amp act idx Ah Review payware content here Strict rules apply Forum Led by Moderators Admin nr eg ii Engineering Department oa Forum Aircraft and Panel Development Discuss Aircraft and Panel Development Forum Led bp Mederators Admin Airplane Development Notices Post notices here about airplane changes and upgrades Forum Leo by Janin HModargtors Scenery Development Forum Post here about Scenery in Plane Foru Les by Abalone Moderators Airplane Request Forum Don t know howto make an airplane Post your requests here Engineering Department Forum gt Links 2 Address 18 http fensa x plane org lt a Download Manager a Registry Archive a Hosting E a m d e H New Resources r runnu E u rem F nu ml Fil
41. A File Edit View Insert Airport Projection Background Tools Help ren age 7 JOSE TOWER eerie AAA AAA eee a a ler 1207 257 wy 11 29 oo Ga 6 20a el ttt EEE 3 tae ara ar Ton m o y ho HH oA A u an P gt x x 4 ZN N N gt Ki A Tat N PIIA Rwy 12l ldg 8810 R 450 Rey 300 lig 7855 Rwy 308 ldg 7479 RWY 11 29 TTT TTT Y 447 A 4 UE FEL ad EN FR RPP eee Presse Pay Tt ae iia aoe im y al N I lt m ld ie i iE u de El a u i i de a 2 F E o E Ld 2 EN a a Ea Ld Ld 4 El e 2 le 2 30 a Ro Pa 4E 2 00 m aa wis ws JE 1 30 aig na mi ae aa 7 00 RWY 2R3OL 220 1250 1175 11605 DDTE75 MiB rwy 121 308 gt 220 1250 STI75 TT605 m 34 a itt u El E a ia E a u E hal a pl El EJ 3 lt XP 715 Runways Lock 22 N B 44 12 Notice the differences between the two airport layouts For example in the pdf diagram Taxiway V curves into and then becomes Taxiway L whereas in the current TaxiDraw rendition of KSJC Taxiways V and L meet at an abrupt 90 degree angle Loading a satellite image of KSJC as background in TaxiDraw and working on top of that image to draw a more accurately shaped curve for the Taxiway V and L intersection will resolve this discrepancy 13 To load a satellite image select the Background option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear 14
42. Draw exe is directed to the custom apt dat file as opposed to the master apt dat file using the Raw Data Options on the Airport menu as described in Steps 2 through 5 of the Chapter 3 Walkthrough exercise If TaxiDraw exe is directed to the correct file you will be able to work off of the most recent copy each time TaxiDraw exe is opened however it is important to note that in order to update the virtual environment with modifications made in TaxiDraw exe the changes will always need to be exported to X Plane format renamed and saved in the correct location as described in Chapter 3 For minor apt dat file modification tasks such as altering custom starting locations and inserting windsocks manually manipulating the code in the apt dat file by using a text editor may be easier than using TaxiDraw exe B 133 Part 2 Chapter 9 Walkthrough Exercise This section provides step by step instruction to apply the information from this chapter The Chapters 1 and 3 walkthrough exercises must have been previously completed in order for this section to be beneficial Section 1 Understanding the Different apt dat File Locations 1 Access the smaller customized apt dat file from the following data path C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough Earth nav data Rename this file hidemeapt dat so that X Plane 7 63 will not recognize it and the work in the file will not be erased Double click on the X Plane 7 63 shortcut on the
43. Flip s Yiz 50 200 Nothing selected DODY 2 7 Camera wiew Orth a on Front xy jp eo Move to a i A ee ert at 7 Repeat Steps 70 through 76 to texture save export and place the obj file in X Plane B 106 Chapter 8 Weather X Plane 7 63 has the capability to vary weather from clear skies with ideal visibility to thunderstorms with controllable winds to snow with low visibility and slippery surface conditions The available weather variations and combinations are abundant Weather conditions can be preset saved and then loaded in X Plane as situation files sit however conditions can also be selected and manipulated during the actual simulation X Plane 7 63 also allows the user to download weather conditions from the Internet which provides a realistic display of current weather at your airport during the simulator use This chapter explains how to manipulate settings create situation files and utilize real time weather conditions Part 1 Weather Settings Originally designed as a flight simulator X Plane 7 63 weather settings revolve around their impact on aviation often utilizing aviation terminology The weather conditions are organized with use of a combination of approximately 30 different variables Some factors such as thermal climb rate and altitude wind layers may not be relevant or have an effect on driving simulator tasks however many factors are both relevant
44. Maker 7 63 is opened a modeling tube displayed below will appear This modeling tube is used for the creation of a new vehicle from scratch it can also be accessed by using the New option under the File menu New files should always be saved as acf files otherwise the vehicle will not function in the simulation Plane Maker 7 63 can also be used to modify a vehicle or aircraft that previously existed in X Plane or was previously designed by someone else Revisions to previously existing vehicles or aircraft can be saved as new vehicles by using the Save As feature Always ensure that the file extension is acf under the File menu The most recently viewed or edited file will open automatically each time Plane Maker 7 63 is started B 33 mi KERLE ee rma al kur Modeling Tube View Controls This section lists the controls used to view the modeling tube or the existing aircrafts vehicles in Plane Maker 7 63 The view controls are as follows e 1 Pressing the up arrow key will shift the position of the object towards the top of your screen e Pressing the down arrow key will shift the position of the object towards the bottom of your screen e lt Pressing the left arrow key will shift the position of the object towards the left of your screen e gt Pressing the right arrow key will shift the position of the object towards the right of your screen e a Pressing this key rotates the object clockwise on a ver
45. N B 120 4 High Altitude Wind Layer This control manipulates AGL elevation for the highest wind layer The minimum accepted value is 3 000 ft AGL and the maximum accepted value is 99 999 ft AGL Since driving simulator tasks occur on the airport surface variables such as high altitude wind layer which affect flying conditions are not considered useful Setting this wind layer at the maximum height is recommended to avoid any potential interference with the airport surface The following shows the recommended setting for this control altini re igh aiude 99 9 9 9 feet AGLI IIUST 9 Mid Altitude Wind Layer This control manipulates AGL elevation for the intermediate wind layer The minimum accepted value is 2 000 ft AGL and the maximum accepted value is 99 999 ft AGL Since driving simulator tasks occur on the airport surface variables such as mid altitude wind layer which affect flying conditions are not considered useful Setting this wind layer at the maximum height is preferable to avoid any potential interference with the airport surface The following shows the recommended setting for this control AAAA SS ee ee ee mid altitude wind layer 99 9 feet AGL ele lee la 6 Thermal Tops This control sets the elevation at which the likelihood decreases that an aircraft may experience low turbulence effects of a warm rising air current also Known as a thermal produced by heated areas of the earth s surface The mi
46. Special Approach Get Me Lost y Set planet to Earth Set planet to Mars 5 Within the dropdown menu select the Place Aircraft by Airport option through a single left click The following screen will appear 6 This screen lists the facility layouts available in X Plane You can select the desired facility in one of three ways a Scroll through the listed options click on the desired facility so that the name is highlighted then click on the Go to This Airport option at the bottom of the screen This will automatically load open the facility s layout b Type the facility name e g Norman Y Mineta San Jose International Airport into the longer search bar located on the bottom left circled in orange then click on the Go to This Airport option at the bottom of the screen This will automatically load open the facility s layout Note Pressing Enter will not load the selected airport c Type the facility identifier e g KSJC into the shorter search bar located on the bottom right circled in blue then click on the Go to This Airport option at the bottom of the screen This will automatically load open the facility s layout Note Pressing Enter will not load the selected airport 7 Press the a key This changes your view from the inside of an aircraft vehicle to the outside rear as shown below B 28 8 Press and hold the up arrow f key until the view stops changing This provides a bird s eye
47. T will is 10 000 z be added to this 9990909 s 25 843 MSL 99909 ases 22 843 MSL 21 686 AGL 99009 99009 s 13000 M8 PET 999909 as es 10 000 MSL 08 843 AGL conditions eee Periodically DOWNLOAD Real Weather E file METARRWX from the Internet download 100 Periodically SCAN Real Weather file deg F eee on B METAR RWX to set weather in X Plane te at 099 O deg c download and scan oA minute allow max 5 nm inch uc Real Weather every visibility of 99 99 guy miltibars 14 1NM seyere clear A ee u none precip understorms a El a microburst probability rate of change B 125 6 Atthe bottom center of the screen click on the Randomize Weather and Close Window button circled in blue 7 Repeat Steps 3 through 6 and note the changing values of the controls on the screen until a desirable weather combination is achieved 8 Using the mouse move the cursor to the top left of the screen A menu bar will appear across the top of the screen 9 Select the File option through a single left click of the mouse A dropdown menu will appear 10 Within the dropdown menu select the Save situation option through a single left click A screen similar to the following will appear 11 In the search bar at the bottom of the screen type a file name relevant to the weather conditions that the sit file will represent e g sampleFOGGY sit Then press En
48. The following image should appear 7 Practice using the ObjView exe controls until comfortable then try the following tasks a Left click and hold the sign drag to each corner of the window b Right click and hold the sign drag to view the back of the sign c Use the mouse scroll to zoom in until the sign fills the entire window d Use the mouse scroll to zoom out until the sign is no longer visible 8 Using Steps 3 through 7 view the other signs created in the Chapter 4 Walkthrough exercise B 62 Chapter 6 Placing Objects on the Airport Surface This chapter covers placing objects on the airport surface a task that will enhance the realism of your simulation The chapter introduces World Maker exe the software used to place and position existing objects and explains how to use the software to view manipulate and place default as well as custom objects into your simulated airport World Maker exe cannot construct objects see Chapters 4 and 7 whereas its main purpose is to place and reposition objects The Obstacles tab within World Maker exe allows you to place objects such as buildings signs and pavement markings in your virtual airport As flight simulator software X Plane treats these types of objects as obstacles since simulator pilots want to avoid flying into these objects Therefore we will use the terms obstacle and object interchangeably Part 1 Viewing Obstacles To begin open World Maker exe and
49. Y Mineta San Jose Intl E ESIC i airport type elevation Oo 0 06 1 1 ft a ee ae tower height 000 fo woo A Obstacles click on TOP bars to SEARCH click on BOTTOM bars to EDIT EX has control tower Mm has standard hangars H has asphalt shoulder PA has concrete shoulder FA has distance left signs Mm default tower is visible 3 Type KSJC into the top search bar circled above in blue Press Enter 4 Click on the Obstacles tab as seen below at the top of the screen below the menu bar l n 1 22 deg m delete nearest obstacle to mouse click cf move nearest obstarle to mouse chic gt select nearest obstacle to change it NAYAIDS B 67 5 Zoom in and adjust the view of the airport using the shortcut controls described in Part 1 of this chapter The change in view should be similar to the following Before Zooming After Zooming 6 To add any of the default objects click on the corresponding bubble to select the Add specific object name option 7 Click on the area of the airport surface where you would like to position the object 8 Add a combination of the default buildings radio towers cooling towers and smokestack objects to the northeast upper right section of the airport layout 9 Zoom in on one of the objects 10 Select the move nearest obstacle to mouse click to readjust the position of this object to the intersection of a
50. a positive effect on their training curriculum No problems such as negative feedback from the trainees were noted and the trainees thought that the simulator was a useful training tool All airport participants stated that they intend to use the simulator in future driver training to train new employees on the airport movement area and possibly to train experienced drivers on a recurring basis 4 2 Definition of a successful simulator All airports were asked what they believed would make their simulator a successful part of their training program A major factor was how quickly the trainees became comfortable out on the airport surface A simulator would also be considered successful if the feedback from the trainees reflected that they could recognize their location on the airport surface without having to worry about the risks inherent in actual operations Other airport participants commented that a simulator would be successful if a driver could locate points on the airport surface just as they did in the live environment All of the airports had some participants that judged their simulator to be successful 4 3 Common issues with simulator construction As previously discussed each airport was provided with a step by step user s manual to guide them through the development process While the airports rated this manual as satisfactory one airport suggested that a more extensive section on the custom building of signs and markings would have
51. acility being used B 99 19 The screen should appear as illustrated below Move to gt li i Camera View Orth Size to N u o1 fo 10 q ir 4 Ar PA tt Move IE dih 21 100 i 100 11 100 _ Visibility Hide Lock Sel Unsel None Sel Unsel Hone Mi de MU A mM Y EY EEN Po er W Gridsnap W Select through 20 Since one small square is equal to one tenth of a meter the background image needs to be scaled accordingly Use Alt Shift T to enlarge the image to scale and Alt Shift to shrink it Use Alt directional arrows gt 4 T to move the image within the drawing window Remember to keep the object centered over the crosshair to avoid errors such as those described in relation to ObjView exe The following is an example of a scaled TaxiDraw screenshot __ Moveto zZ MA Moo Siete Camera View Orth Top 24 fo 1 fo lo _ Moe oo fi00 1000 f Visibility Hide Sel Object name 1 4 R Gridsnap W Select through 21 On the Mode bar in the upper left corner just below the Select bar change the option to Rect Draw a rectangle mode third button from the left in third row circled in red below o Inivis AC3D File Edit Wiews bject Surfa Verbes Orth 3D Tools Help Select al Mone Dup Cut Copy Paste Group group Flip ARE 50s 200 Se DT vp J Nothing
52. and enhance realism Pavement surface conditions visibility and precipitation settings as well as two separate layers of clouds in which the altitude and cloud type can be altered are examples of pertinent variables A control exists that allows the regeneration of weather around specified limits currently set by the weather controls along with a control that randomly assigns new values to these controls X Plane 7 63 also allows for periodic downloads from the Internet of actual weather conditions replicating real time weather information in the simulation Relevant Controls Controls relevant to driving simulator tasks are discussed in the following section 1 Visibility The visibility control determines the maximum distance in nautical miles nm that a person can view objects without external assistance The minimum accepted value for this control is 0 0 nm or socked in and the maximum accepted value is 25 0 nm or severe clear The following table shows descriptions and ranges of the visibility settings B 107 The scenery of a specific virtual airport influences the effectiveness and relevance of the different ranges of visibility For example a setting of 25 0 nm described as severe clear makes mountains clear for those airports located in an area with mountains visible in the distance or renders buildings clear for those airports in an urban area with high rises visible in the distance A setting of 10 0
53. ans 13 O REICIENCES iris aiii 15 Appendix A Hardware and Software Used in Low Cost Simulator A 1 Appendix B Instructional Guide for Customizing Low Cost Airport Vehicle Driving OMU AIOES nao B 1 List of Figures Figure 1 Modification of Airport Environment at Charlotte Douglas International Airport CLT and Akron Canton Regional Airport CAK 222022002202200nn0nnnnnnnnnennnnnnennenenennn nenne nennen Executive Summary Vehicle pedestrian deviations VPDs occur due to many factors such as the driver s knowledge of airport layout required communications and other operational procedures To address and create awareness of these issues research has been conducted to explore the use of simulators in the driver training curriculum Since training in a simulator or virtual environment has been found to be very helpful in learning complex routes as well as in spatial orientation and in assimilating signs and markings Darken and Peterson 2002 an initial investigation into making this technology more accessible to airports was needed Previous work demonstrated the benefits of incorporating a high fidelity driving simulator into ground vehicle drivers training Chase and Hannon 2006 Subsequent work showed that a low cost simulator provided comparable benefits Chase 2006 This low cost simulator was designed and built by staff at the John A Volpe National Transportation Systems Cent
54. assroom training and during subsequent classroom training as a way to reinforce class material through a virtual tour by the instructor For example the image of the airport s environment could be projected onto a screen so that all employees could see the airport as the instructor ran a training scenario 2 5 Reducing runway incursions and other surface incidents When employees were asked if they thought that the simulator being built could assist in reducing surface incidents involving vehicles at their airports at least some of the participants at each airport were confident that it would Some participants were quick to point out that a simulator would not eliminate incidents altogether but that it would reduce the number of incidents due to a necessary level of familiarization of the airport surface that an employee would gain if required to train in the simulator For some airports the training and actual time out on the surface can lag so there is a period during which information from training may be forgotten before it is actually used and reinforced For many a simulator would be an intermediate step prior to the real world practice that the vehicle driver is given Many participants thought a simulator would be of greatest benefit in the non movement area of the airport surface 2 6 Comments regarding participation in the current project For 50 of the airports the experience of building a simulator at their facility is one that they
55. been useful Several issues existed that were common to all of the airports experiences in building their simulator adapting the simulator to the local environment was more complex than airport personnel had anticipated simulating their own airport environment required using several different software functions creating and placing objects was a complex task comprised of several individual activities that took a relatively long time to master While satisfied with the outside technical support provided by the Volpe Center users of the software stated that they were apt to forget how to perform certain functions that they had already done if they did not work on the simulator at least once a week When asked about the quality of technical support received from Volpe Center staff all of the airports stated that Volpe had offered very quick and thorough responses Though the building of the simulator is complete as indicated by completion of this project some of the airports stated that they intend to enhance their simulator capability either with additional computers and or memory an upgraded processor or a larger display To increase the realism of the simulator two factors were noted as being highly desirable larger screens and the addition of air traffic control ATC communications One airport has already purchased three 50 inch plasma screens All of the airports stated that building the simulator had been a worthwhile endeavor and that th
56. building ay Ea add radio tower E a add cooling tower E add smoke stacks e Cm add custom ob ject The first time that you click on the airport surface to add a custom object a file selection box will automatically pop up prompting you to choose an obj file to insert The subsequent times that you mouse click the airport surface to add a custom object the previous custom object will be inserted This will also occur if you use other options and come back to the custom object function without leaving the software While the object is still selected you will need to press the select current custom object button to change that file B 66 Part 5 Chapter 6 Walkthrough Exercise This section provides step by step instruction to apply the information from this chapter 1 Double click on the X System 7 63 shortcut on the Desktop In this window double click on World Maker 763 exe to open the program 2 Click on the Airports tab circled in green at the top of the screen below the menu bar Special File i Terrain Mordhorn Lingen Horfolk 32M Morfolk Intl EORF Morfolk Island Intl SAE Morfolk Ms ENGU orman ESLL Morman 4 White 6T1 Morman Co Ada Twin Valley Doo Norman Manley Intl Pl Morman Wells Norman Y inet Mormans Cay Mormanton Horm Airpark Morris Airstrip Morris Farms Morris Field Morris Field Morris Landing Strip Morris Raun Ranch Morrtalge Mellingholm hhh ere Norman
57. cally SCAN Real Weather file METAR RWX box is checked 34 Compare the values on the Weather screen along with the weather conditions of the simulation after closing out of the Weather screen with real time weather conditions at the specified airfield to make certain the simulation accurately reflects current weather conditions 35 Any real time weather condition can be saved as a situation sit file Simply follow Steps 8 through 11 when the desired real time weather condition is simulated to save a file that can be loaded for future use B 129 B 130 Chapter 9 apt dat Files X Plane 7 63 utilizes a master airport database file apt dat which contains basic runway and taxiway configuration data for a globally comprehensive list of actual airfields This airport database file is located within the Earth nav data folder of the Resources folder in the X System folder The following is an example of the data path in which the apt dat file can be found C X System 7 63 Resources Earth nav datalapt dat A smaller apt dat file containing information specific to an individual airfield is generated through use of TaxiDraw exe for pavement adjustments Saving this smaller file to a specified location allows X Plane 7 63 to load the customized pavement adjustments created in TaxiDraw exe instead of the generic scenery provided by X Plane 7 63 This chapter explains the contents and structure of the smaller apt dat file along wit
58. cation of lines and line segments should be used often in order to save time as well as to create a uniform marking appearance across the simulation since most lines and line patterns are the same among different areas of the airport surface Small sections of lines should be grouped together as a single obj file because smaller objects are easier to work with in WorldMaker exe to attain precise placement and rotation The appeal of an obj file containing only a single line or a few segments is the simplicity Since these are small manageable objects viewing and manipulating everything within the object simultaneously is straightforward The restraint of this method is tedious creation of painted lines from individual foot length segments Additionally Worldmaker exe imposes an invisible grid snap mechanism for placing objects which can cause an object to jump from one location to another as if snapping to a grid During a less defined placement task such as positioning a building this issue would not be noticeable This grid snap issue is most noticeable when completely zoomed during precise placement tasks such as stringing multiple line segments together problem areas circled in red below B 79 Part 3 Chapter 7 Walkthrough Exercise The following four sections provide step by step instruction to apply the information from this chapter Section 1 Creating Texturing and Exporting an Object 1 Double click o
59. ch variable on the line The example above shows more spaces simply to demonstrate which information corresponds to a variable The following is a true example of how the line should appear 15 37 376000 121 930000 180 Starting Location 1 11 Repeat Step 17 in Section 2 of this walkthrough exercise to access the new custom startup location 12 Verify that this is the desired position on the airfield B 140 Frequently Asked Questions FAQs Why are there buildings on the airfield that do not appear in WorldMaker exe and how can I getrid ofthem In the apt dat file the parameter for the display of these default hangar like buildings is turned on numerical value set to 1 To hide these buildings the fourth item bolded in red in the example below of the first line of airfield definition in the apt dat file must be changed from 1 to 0 The following are examples of text to display and hide these buildings Displaying buildings 1 5355 1 1 KABQ Albuquerque Intl Sunport Hiding buildings 1 5355 1 0 KABQ Albuquerque Intl Sunport Refer to the following website for additional information http www x plane org home robinp Apt715 htm How can I make signs that are not available in the taxi2 bmp texture file used by TaxiMaker exe For example how can make runway distance remaining signs above 4 1 First customize the taxi2 bmp file using a texture editor a Using the Microsoft Paint application open the
60. ction e Use Browse button to select the destination folder from the folders tree It can be also entered manually e Ifthe destination folder does not exist it will be created automatically before extraction Destination folder C Program Files we Installation progress Install Cancel 2 Open the X System 7 63 folder and verify that its contents look like the following fe X System 7 63 Seles File Edit View Favorites Tools Help ae Q Back 5 wi pa Search Key Folders Ei Address C Program Files System 7 63 nal Go File and Folder Tasks Aircraft O Airfoils J Make a new folder 3 Publish this Folder to the Web Custom Scenery Instructions Other Places Desktop ES My Documents Vv ig My Computer Weapons Y A Birfoil Maker 763 My Network Places gt Briefer 763 yes Plane Maker 763 Details seg World Maker 763 FA x Plane 763 3 Navigate to the apt dat file located at the following data path C Program Files X System 7 63 Resources Earth nav datalapt dat 4 Right click on the apt dat file Select the Open with option and then select WordPad exe 5 Change the first letter of the file on the first line from A to I highlighted below save the file and close it i apt dat WordPad File Edit View Insert Format Help Cee Ska BBo amp A 715 Version DAFIF data cycle 200309 build 1343 metadata AptxP710 J Copyright ic 2003 Robin Peel
61. d depending on the severity level of the thunderstorms Since the precipitation and thunderstorm levels work together as described in the previous section manipulating the thunderstorm levels will have the same effect on the cloud type settings Regenerate Weather This control randomly produces different weather conditions for the virtual environment based on the weather control settings The control is particularly helpful when trying to simulate rain snow or thunderstorms Since setting the precipitation and thunderstorm controls does not guarantee the occurrence of either weather condition using this control renews the weather conditions This may produce the desired effect if not the first time then almost certainly in subsequent attempts The button randomly loads new weather without changing the control values so each new weather scenario is a variation of the desired B 115 settings The following visual shows the regenerate weather control and radar screen 7 Runway Conditions This control manipulates the slipperiness of the airport surface pavement which will influence the braking and steering capabilities of driving The runway condition options range from clean and dry damp slushy wet oricy Apart from the clean and dry selection the availability of options is dependent on the sea level temperature and the elevation of the individual airport as demonstrated in the following table Runway Condition Tempera
62. digital form as vector data TaxiDraw provides a visual interface for manipulating this data which in X Plane is stored as an apt dat file in the Resources folder in the X System folder As a result TaxiDraw acts as a bridge into the apt dat file and its information For the low cost driving simulator project TaxiDraw can be used to access the current pavement information of your airport and make changes which then can be saved as a new apt dat file containing only your customized airport AC3D 6 exe AC3D 6 is three dimensional 3D computer modeling tool This program allows users to draw shapes in 3D and save those shapes and dimensions in various formats Fora low cost driving simulator project AC3D is used to create obj files by drawing scaling and texturing objects in AC3D and then exporting those objects to X Plane format Pre existing obj files can be opened and edited in AC3D by selecting an import option AC3D comes with a user friendly design which is easy to learn and use however other 3 D modeling tools compatible with X Plane format are acceptable such as Blender if you are more familiar using other 3 D modeling tools GIMP 2 exe GIMP 2 is a texture editing image manipulation application suitable for tasks such as photo retouching image composition and image authoring In the low cost driving simulator project this program can be used to create image texture files e g bmp or Png for texturing X Plane objec
63. dynamics runway conditions and precipitation Temperatures set at extreme high or low values may affect the engine performance of the vehicle The following table represents the available range of minimum and maximum temperatures Temperature Scale Minimum Value Maximum Value Celsius C 250 Fahrenheit F 450 Within a normal range of temperatures the freezing point 0 C 32 F appears to affect the speed and manifestation of precipitation When the temperature is set below the freezing point precipitation falls slower in a downward path When the temperature is set above the freezing point precipitation falls faster in a sporadically angled downward path Runway conditions also vary based on freezing point When the temperature is set below freezing point runway conditions include clean and dry slushy and icy When the temperature is set above freezing point runway conditions include clean and dry as well as damp and wet Precipitation This control adjusts the level of visible precipitation and depending on the temperature the type of precipitation displayed in the virtual environment The lowest precipitation setting is none the highest is severe and the intermediary settings are light moderate and heavy The severity settings are moderately arbitrary since slight precipitation may occur when the control is set to none and no precipitation may occur when it is set to severe thus trial and error may be the best
64. e The purpose of this control is to manipulate all of the weather variables simultaneously to either improve or deteriorate the conditions at a specified rate The advantage of using this control is the ability to create a dynamic changing environment where the driver cannot predict or fall complacent during a driving task The disadvantage is having to relinquish control of the variables to the computer which means that variables described in this document as irrelevant and potential hindering would be utilized The rate of change options range from rapidly deteriorating to rapidly improving with the following intermediary options gradually deteriorating stagnant and gradually improving Setting this variable at stagnant will not invoke a rate of change but will instead maintain the specified weather conditions The following visual displays the rate of change control at stagnant as an example for those scenarios that do not require changing weather conditions rate of n change Note Although the control may be set to stagnant current weather conditions would still change if the control slider were the slightest bit off center from the precise midpoint Randomize Weather and Close Window This control allows X Plane 7 63 to randomly generate a weather condition for the virtual environment ignoring all previously entered variable values This control is only helpful if a specific type of weather is not desired for the driving sim
65. e after the heading altitude and speed settings have been entered Zoom in closer for a more precise placement 20 Click on the X in either the top right or top left corner to bring you back to the airport surface with these desired settings 21 Repeat Steps 7 through 12 to look at the airport surface from various angles 22 To exit X Plane Using the mouse move the cursor to the top left of the screen This will result in the appearance of a menu bar across the top of the screen Select the File option through a single left click A dropdown menu will appear Within the dropdown menu select the Quit option through a single left click Chapter 2 Selecting and Changing a Vehicle X Plane allows an aircraft vehicle to be created from scratch and any vehicles previously existing within X Plane to be modified through the use of PlaneMaker 63 exe an included application In working with a drivable vehicle looking at objects and the airfield surface while driving may be a simpler task than using the camera like viewing that focuses on the aircraft vehicle Assuming that the steering wheel brake pedal combination is set up properly driving a car should provide an accurate driving experience for simulated tasks and should be easier to maneuver than taxiing an aircraft Part 1 Finding a Drivable Vehicle Since X Plane was designed as a flight simulator the initial drivable vehicle options within X Plane are fairly limited Th
66. e appropriate location Be sure to rename the file as apt dat otherwise X Plane 7 63 will not recognize the file for its correct function The newly created apt dat file can be saved in one of two locations If no use or desire exists for the other generic airports provided with X Plane 7 63 the master database apt dat file can be replaced with the smaller customized apt dat file With the smaller customized apt dat file saved in place of the master apt dat file the only airport that will exist in the simulation is the customized airport described within it which may eliminate confusion between the apt dat files Save the customized apt dat file to the following location C X System 7 63 Resources Earth nav datal Note It is highly recommended that the original master apt dat file never be overwritten or deleted even when not in direct use by the simulator as it contains valuable information Instead simply rename it e g as ORIGINALapt dat if it is decided that the simulator should not access it If there is an interest in being able to access the other generic airports save the customized apt dat file to the following location C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery ABC Facility Specific Earth nav datal Saving to the above location will still allow access to the generic airports provided in X Plane 7 63 To ensure that TaxiDraw exe opens the correct apt dat file for editing each time you use the program double check that Taxi
67. e click B 63 Deleting Obstacles To delete an object select the delete nearest obstacle to mouse click option shown below located to the right of the screen Once this option is selected click on or directly next to the object you wish to delete As a rule of thumb click on the object you wish to delete to avoid unnecessary deletions If you click too far away from it another object closer to the point where you click might be deleted There is no undo option in World Maker exe if an object is accidentally deleted it will need to be replaced About File Special lat 37 deg e AAA lon 122 deg ar aji delete nearest obstacle to mouse click move nearest obstacle to mouse click NAV AIDS select nearest obstacle to change it Repositioning Obstacles To reposition objects already included in the virtual airport or to position new objects that may have been placed incorrectly select the move nearest obstacle to mouse click option shown below Once this option is selected click and hold on the object you wish to move Drag the object to the desired location and release the mouse click Terrain Obstacles Airports NAVAIDs lat 37 idegi F PF Sad lom 12 2 ideg mri 5 a delete nearest obstacle to mouse click move nearest obstacle to mouse click select nearest obstacle to change it Note Be careful not to mouse click the airport surface where you wo
68. e located within an outlined one meter box The features most likely to be used in AC3D exe for this type of project are described as follows 1 Gridsnap is an option that facilitates the creation of perfectly aligned objects which is located in the bottom left corner of the screen Remember to check this option prior to importing an obj file for modification or to using the drawing tools to create a new object Checking this option will keep the object aligned with the corners of the grid boxes if the object is repositioned 2 Select through is an option that allows for the additional selection of items beneath or behind the item being selected which is also located in the bottom left corner of the screen For example if a box sits on top of a line in the top or birds eye view selecting the box will also select the line beneath it If this option remains unchecked only the box will be selected and not the line beneath it 3 Wireframe is an option that allows for the viewing of an object being modeled either as a solid object or as a structural frame For viewing as a solid object this option would be left unchecked on the dropdown menu For a structural frame this option would be checked This option is located on the Orth and 3D dropdown menus at the top of the screen 4 Texture is an option that allows for the viewing of a texture currently applied to the object being modeled If this option is checked on the dropdown menu the text
69. ears at the beginning of each line of note text An example is as follows Some sample signs The first four are single sided and the last four are double sided OnA obj A OnSWestRampRight obj S W_RAMP gt Left523 29Right obj lt 5_23 29 gt IntersectJEFG obj E F J G IntersectSE obj S E S TermAhead obj TERM T J J OnFApprch1129 obj F 11 29 F ILS obj R R ILS The notes do not have any computational value however can be helpful Blank lines within the script file are also allowed which can be beneficial for organizational purposes but also does not have any computational value TaxiMaker exe has several advanced features that can be included in the scripts While these features are not essential to sign creation some may be of interest to your facility For more information regarding these features reference the following website http www xsquawkbox net tools xptools docs taximaker html Once the script file is complete the file should be saved as a txt file in the Custom Objects folder found within your facility s folder in the Custom Scenery folder underneath the root X Plane System folder Within the Custom Objects folder you can create as many subfolders as desired to store sign files Operations staff at an airport constructing a customized simulation of its facility suggested that you split your facility s airport signage plan into different quadrants These quadrant
70. ection and turbulence exist in X Plane 7 63 for each altitude layer organized in corresponding tiers dark blue light blue and green Since only the low altitude wind layer is potentially relevant to driving simulator tasks only the green tiered wind controls circled below in blue are potentially relevant Note The values appearing on the screenshot above are random and do not necessarily represent ideal settings Of the five wind controls turbulence is not relevant The other four controls slightly affect driving simulator tasks with regard to visual scene and driving dynamics The wind speed control determines the strength of the main wind magnetic wind direction the direction of the main wind shear speed the strength of the sporadic secondary wind and shear direction the direction of B 118 the sporadic secondary wind The minimum and maximum accepted values for these four wind controls are shown below Wind Control Minimum Value Maximum Value Wind speed 200 kt Magnetic wind direction 360 degrees Shear speed 50 kt Shear direction 360 degrees Since wind does not directly affect a driving simulator task the way that it does an aviation task determining exact values for noticeable weather effects is complex Increasing the strength of the winds by increasing the speeds is noticeable when precipitation is present Setting the magnetic and shear wind directions to dissimilar values can create a blizzard like effect w
71. ects Note The folder specific to your facility can be used in place of the SJC Walkthrough folder in the above data path 2 Refer to Chapter 5 to open ObjView exe and preview the Box1 obj file just created with Taxi bmp as the applied texture 28 Use World Maker exe see Chapter 6 to place this object Box1 obj somewhere on the airport surface Open X Plane drive to the object for viewing and then exit X Plane B 90 Section 2 Importing and Modifying an Existing obj file with AC3D exe 1 Double click on the AC3D exe shortcut on the Desktop to open the program Close any tips that may pop up at the program s start Select the File option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear Select the Import option Select Hangar obj from the following data path and press Open C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery San Bernardino Example custom objects SoCal Make sure the Select through checkbox see Step 13 located at the bottom left of the screen is checked On the Select bar located in the upper left corner just below the menu bar change the option to Vertex Select manipulate individual vertices mode fourth button from the left circled in red below u Inivis AC3D File Edit Views Surface Vertex Orth 30 Tools Help select EON Monel Dup Cut Copy Paste Gr pl et Vertices selected 192 6 At the top of the screen to the right of the Select bar click the None option Step 12
72. efined within them by the keyword hard Opening up an Obj file in Notepad allows you to do a search find Ctrl F for hard If this designation is found in one of your objects the entire polygon that it defines can be deleted or you can attempt to convert it to a non crashing polygon by deleting the word and the underscore before it Example of how to eliminate quad_hard polygons from obj files Systematically open obj files in a text editor Use Ctrl F to find the keyword hard and change from quad_hard II to quad II B 145
73. el en Sees or s program E EVE Na ee txt ues Foundation INZ a Eee ne Bade ee This product vas develo Be aeronautical Flic qht Info en a File a product and Mapping Agency ee MIMA requires Latements 4 under 10 456 civil action may be brought against the unit E af the content oF 7 tional aid prepared or disseminated by either the former Mapping Agency CDM490 or the Mattia anad PAGET e an AS E AC yo Ch T E The DAFIF product ar Te 5 ad NO w y press or u le inz Tuatng mp lied warr anties a merchant ak ala or partic Suar purpose or arising by sta atute or a course or dealing or usage in ap ade is ade eae MIMA accuracy and Functioning or the ala lp ai e ee an p a will be liable for amy claims Jas S OF ed with the use of his pro duct z E ER United states Mational Ima Mapping Bee 7 users sole and exclus we remed using the DAFIF lve 16 000 4000 OB 56 000 1670 ae 29 65 56244 96 580101 xxx 256 000 150 40 In Notepad open the KSJC dat file which was just created in TaxiDraw from the following data path C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough 41 Paste the first paragraph disclaimer copied from the apt dat file at the beginning of the KSJC dat file preceding any text already in the document Make sure there is one blank line between this paragraph and the original text 1 6110KSJC Note Pressing Enter twice may resolve this issue 42 Scroll to the bottom of this file Type 99 on it
74. enery XP Tools converts X Plane files views obj files and creates taxiway signage Designed by an X Plane developer but not directly packaged with X Plane XP Tools is available as supplemental freeware ObjView exe ObjView exe is a program for viewing object obj files This program provides a faster alternative to placing an obj file using World Maker 7 63 and then navigating to the object in X Plane 7 63 for viewing ObjView exe works by simply dragging and dropping an object file and if desired a texture skin file e g bmp or png into the ObjView window TaxiMaker exe TaxiMaker exe is a program for making taxi signs which provides a faster simpler alternative to creating each sign from scratch and customizing each separately Instead simple script Symbolic instructions are typed into a text file the text file is then converted into a taxi taxi file and the taxi file is then dragged and dropped into the TaxiMaker window Upon completion of this process all the signs that were specified in the text file are generated saved and stored automatically in the same folder as the original taxi file Env2CSV exe Env2CSV is used to convert scenery files to text format and vice versa but was not relevant or helpful in the development of a low cost driving simulator and therefore was not used This program comes bundled with the XP Tools package which is the only reason that it is mentioned Getlmage exe Ge
75. ening moving adding or deleting portions of asphalt for surfaces such as taxiways runways and ramp areas Within the X Plane 7 63 system World Maker 7 63 has the capabilities to manipulate pavement use the Airport tab however the benefits of this program are limited to properties of runways precision markings PAPI VASI MIRL REIL thresholds surface types etc Part 1 Using TaxiDraw exe The online TaxiDraw tutorial lt http taxidraw sourceforge net taxidraw tutorial html gt can be referenced as needed for additional support This section explains how to set up TaxiDraw during the first use as well as how to load satellite imagery and use editing controls Initial Setup TaxiDraw will need help in locating X Plane s airport database apt dat file during the first use TaxiDraw will prompt you to enter a data path to the default airport see Walkthrough exercise Once this issue is resolved loading an airport can be accomplished by entering the four letter facility identifier after choosing the New option in the File dropdown menu TaxiDraw will then load X Plane s current rendering of your simulated airport surface Satellite Imagery Precise modifications to the simulated airport surface are most easily accomplished by loading a satellite image of your airport surface as a background For a more in depth understanding of this process the Loading and Calibrating a Background Image section of the TaxiDraw tut
76. er and was tested using ground vehicle operators from the Hanscom Field Airport BED in Bedford Massachusetts The results of training ground vehicle drivers with the low cost simulator were positive with regard to navigational and spatial awareness issues The purpose of the current work was to determine the feasibility of airport personnel building and implementing a customized low cost driving simulator approximately 1 000 each In particular the project s goal was to provide the information needed to build a low cost simulator from the ground up The report is divided into five sections Section 1 provides an introduction to the project Section 2 describes airports expectations of a simulator before they began the building process Section 3 discusses airports experience during the building process including setup activities the types of questions that arose and the final product Section 4 examines how well the end product and the process by which it was achieved matched expectations Section 5 summarizes the results and explores potential next steps for future research This work resulted in three key findings First airports regardless of their size can build their own simulators for vehicle driver training with minimal outside support Second the time required for facilities to build their own simulators was three to five hours per week over a period of 25 weeks Third the approximate cost of this activity was 1 000 for
77. errors in the sign script that exist but were not severe enough to prevent the generation of an obj file ObjectView exe functions similar to TaxiMaker exe see Chapter 5 for further explanation i http www xsquawkbox net tools xptools docs taximaker html served as a reference and guideline for this chapter B 56 Chapter 4 Walkthrough Exercise This section provides step by step instruction to apply the information from this chapter 1 Open the Microsoft WordPad or NotePad application usually found in the Accessories section of All Programs in the Start Menu Type or copy and paste from the electronic version of this document the following script into WordPad or NotePad A few sample signs the first four are single sided and the last four are double sided OnA obj A OnSWestRampRight obj S W_RAMP gt Left523 29Right obj lt 5 23 29 gt IntersectJEFG obj E F J G IntersectSE obj S E S TermAhead obj _TERM T J J OnFApprch1129 obj F 11 29 F ILS obj R R ILS Note Be sure to include all line breaks and spaces of the above script in WordPad In WordPad NotePad select the File option from the menu bar A dropdown menu will appear Within the dropdown menu select the Save as option Save the file as SampleSigns in the Custom Objects folder specific to KSJC Note Be sure to save the file as a txt file Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Custom Objects fo
78. es field and press OK Or you can select the piece left click and hold on the corner a crosshair cursor will appear and then drag to the desired orientation 33 Duplicate the angled piece through copying and pasting append to the end of the last piece and angle to finish the curve 34 If needed complete the curve by readjusting Taxiway L so that the corners do not stick out To widen a taxiway select and press O 35 Select the File option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear Select Export X Plane Format 36 Save the file as KSJC dat in the following data path C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough 37 Close the TaxiDraw program 38 In Notepad open the apt dat file from the following data path C X System 7 63 Resources Earth nav data Note You may need to select All Files in the Files of Type field for the apt dat file to appear as an option B 48 39 Highlight and copy Ctrl C the first paragraph disclaimer All text beginning at the top from before the I to after the product should be highlighted as illustrated below apt dat Notepad Bee ae Saar zE HE rr AAA A 2 1343 oat 1 Crobinpeminds Br ric oom can Bears stribute it andor modi era Public License as published ae i 5 ersion 2 oF the License or version This program is distri mi ee bot WITHO UT AMY Y warranty or MERK THAMNTABILITY t he SMU Gener 2l B ubli sz awe pec
79. es gt Download Manager Part 2 Creating Modifying Your Objects X Plane 7 63 has two main options for modifying X Plane objects The first option is to directly manipulate the code in an obj file Doing this in WordPad is a simple option for easier specific tasks The second option which also allows for the creation of objects is to use an independent 3 D modeling program to draw an object and then to export and save the object as an obj file X Plane highly recommends the use of the AC3D application due to its X Plane compatibility however other existing 3 D modeling programs can be used B 5 Understanding an obj File Once familiar with the script in an obj file simple file alterations can change the object without the use of a 3 D modeling program which may be beneficial depending on the task athand The following example of an obj file will be used as a reference for the rest of this section line1 obj Notepad Fie Edit Format View Help oe ETTR_No_depth oe ATTR_ no zul pora tri eae 41 722534 0 500000 s4 84s450 195312 1 009030 503504 1 009030 1395312 0 005595 42 040956 0 500000 34 440534 25 178782 O 500000 21 528944 Ooo tri ELE 26 497189 0 500000 21 126345 808594 0 00659 25 178782 0 500000 21 528944 195314 0 00659 42 040956 0 500000 34 440534 0 505504 1 009030 DO 5 5 end ER The I underlined in red designates the type of computer
80. es sm m mM engine thrust se 3 3 FS FS a ss m m mM switches 2 32 mm FA FA engine torque es MI ff a 97 mm mM switches 3 33 mm mM engine RP na ss MAA ss m mM MM switches 4 FD HSI RMIE 34 mm mM prop re na 67 m m mM gers elevators smm mM prop pitch s M A A gers rudders sm m MM annunciators general 36 m mM propwasn s jetwasnh 2550405 gers yaw brakes 100 M A A Fl annunciators engine 37 P3 F3 F3 ma o M A Toral vert thrust vects 101 mmmnM autopilot status 3s PM FS FS FS nz 2 PP PS Tora omm mM autopilot status 39 MM FJ me 2 mm mM pitch cyclic disc tilts o M M A FA weapon status so PM PPP Er a MAA amp ro cyclic disc tilts 104 FA FA FA pressurization status a1 9 SS 2S se mm mM pitch cyctic Mapping 22 F3 SS SS s M A E El ron cyctic flapping os M AM FS El warnings 3 PM PA M 6S S amp S failures 4 Pm ON uu Y Eu E os erre i 7 mM AM MAF ice states 705006 ond effect drag wings smm mr ot press s M M A amp grnnda effect lift stabs s M M mM r vspeeds E E Fs FS mp 2s M AM A sorna effect drag stabs 2s M FS FS FA hardware options zmm mM generator amperage so F3 PM AM effe fe emm mM camera location s AAA battery amperage sm m MM grnd effect drag props m m mM ground location sm 93 battery voltage 2 M M FA FA Avidyne PFO o mM AM A E ruei pump 22 M AF wing ii fe 12 M m mM generator zammmM wing drag 22mm mM ate speed 24 M mm EA stab ure 3 F3 F3 F3 FI ravec smm mM stab darag 4 MI MT starter timeout s M MAMMA com s M AM FS F payioad weight
81. etermined in Step 4 h within the Earth Nav Data folder of your specific facility folder located at a data path similar to the following C Program Files X System 7 63 Custom SceneryORD Chicago Earth nav data 41 088 Paste the env file that corresponds to your airfield s location from X Plane s global scenery obtained in Step 5 into the folder created in Step 6 Refer to the following websites to view Scenery DVDs for purchase or downloadable scenery from community X Plane users http store x plane com cart php m product_list amp c 3 and www x plane org B 20 9 After completing all three parts of the installation and setup create a folder somewhere on your computer as an archive for all Install files XWIN763 exe ObjToolsWin zip ac3d_xplane_210b2 zip ac3d6107 exe etc that were previously saved to the Desktop for future reference and backup purposes B 22 Chapter 1 Visualizing Your Airport X Plane contains an extensive database of real life airports The airports within the database are basic layouts of airfields and are not complex with objects customized to your current airfield Before you begin to create your own virtual airport you must determine what already exists within X Plane in regards to asphalt runways signs markings and lighting etc After you know what is included you can decide on the changes necessary to customize the X Plane airfield to replicate your current airfield Part 1
82. existing resources for finding obj files and the second part discusses how to use the AC3D application AC3D allows you to construct obj files from scratch or import and modify previously created obj files Using AC3D will allow you to create buildings and pavement markings specific to your airport which dramatically improves the fidelity of your airport driving simulation The first part of the chapter provides information on existing resources for finding obj files and the second part discusses how to use the AC3D application B 6 Chapter 8 Creating and Modifying Weather Conditions This chapter explains how to manipulate weather settings create situation files and utilize real time weather conditions in the simulation X Plane has the capability to vary weather conditions ranging from clear skies with ideal visibility to thunderstorms with controllable winds to snow with low visibility and slippery surface conditions etc Weather conditions can be preset saved and then loaded into X Plane as situation files sit These conditions can also be selected and manipulated during the actual simulation Additionally X Plane allows the user to download current weather conditions from the Internet which provides a realistic display of weather occurring at your airport during simulator use Chapter 9 Importance of apt dat Files and Their Modification X Plane utilizes a master airport database file apt dat which contains basic run
83. ey expected the final product to be extremely helpful in vehicle driver training 11 12 5 Conclusion Three key findings emerged from this work First regardless of size airports can build their own simulators for vehicle driver training with minimal outside support The time required to build the simulators was three to five weekly hours for 25 weeks at an approximate cost of 1 000 for hardware and software Although the process was more complex than the airports anticipated participants were happy with the final product and thus far have found the simulator to be very beneficial in driver training Additional work on evaluating the facilities long term experience would be useful For example what effect if any does use of the simulator have on the incidence of vehicle deviations How much added value does enhancement with ATC communications provide How useful easy is it to adapt the simulator to include airport construction Must the instructor be present to give direction or could the simulator be used as computer based instruction to obtain the same benefits What would the simulator s usefulness be with a non native English speaking workforce As the number of airport operations increase so will the complexity of operating in the airport environment Airports and airport service providers will be challenged to maintain a well trained cadre of vehicle drivers The participating airports have shown that low cost simulat
84. f one line of text from the beginning of another The other lines in the object file refer to the actual dimensions and attributes of the object B 76 AC3D exe AC3D exe is an independent 3 D modeling program that is highly recommended by the X Plane developers and the X Plane user community members Within AC3D exe objects can be rendered either by using the application s drawing tools for new object creations or by importing a pre existing obj file for object modification After the object is in the desired form AC3D exe exports it into X Plane format AC3D exe will allow for the importation of any pre existing X Plane version 7 or X Plane version 8 obj files for modification AC3D exe does require the user to specify whether the object needs to be exported to X Plane version 7 or X Plane version 8 regardless of whether the object pre existed or was just created When creating or modifying an object within AC3D exe remember to keep the object positioned near the center of the drawing axis If the object is created too far into one of the quadrants errors related to viewing it in ObjView exe are introduced The default scale in AC3D exe is in meters The smallest box drawn on the grid corresponds to one tenth of a meter in length and width however upon zooming out this one tenth meter box will disappear and become a box corresponding to one meter This is noticeable prior to zooming out because the one tenth meter boxes ar
85. fter you have loaded a background image and made some adjustments but before you are ready to export your work into the X Plane format you need to save your work ina TaxiDraw project file TaxiDraw saves and loads work in project files denoted by the tpj file extension Part 3 Exporting to X Plane TaxiDraw automatically generates a dat file e g KSJC dat upon exporting When exporting the file should be stored in the Custom Scenery folder under X Systems 7 63 After exporting this file the header and footer need to be inserted from the Original apt dat file and the file name must be changed from its original name e g KSJC dat to apt dat see Chapter 3 walkthrough exercise for an example and refer to Chapter 9 for more information related to this topic B 42 Chapter 3 Walkthrough Exercise This section provides step by step instruction to apply the information from this chapter 1 Double click on the TaxiDraw shortcut on the Desktop to open the program 2 You will be prompted to enter a data path to a default airport Select the Airport option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear 3 Select Raw Data Options The following screen will appear Raw Data Options Default Format Plane Plane Data Path EAS peter 7 6S4Resources Earth nay datatapt dat Choose Flightaear Data Path Choose Cancel 4 Make sure the Default Format field has X Plane entered
86. g XX represents the potential content of the bracketing characters Black background with AX white numbers gt http www xsquawkbox net tools xptools docs taximaker html served as a reference and guideline for this chapter B 53 Sign Content and Special Characters The sign content expressions entered in between the bracketing characters expresses the alpha numerical or symbolic basis of the sign A few general guidelines to consider include capitalizing all letters using the underscore key _ to signify a space between letters numbers or symbols and reversing the directions for the backside of signs The following is a list of special characters that may be helpful in modeling the signs based on those on your actual airport surface Symbols Special Notes EEE MESS Hold short of ILS critical area sign Hold short of runway sign a Dot used to separate runways in taxiway signs Roman numeral used for ILS Cat Il and III ee eee ee BEE We ICI EN ee BEE Bu En BEE u DCI IA O et ita Iwww xsquawkbox net tools xptools docs taximaker html served as a reference and guideline for this chapter B 54 Additional Script Information When writing a script file for multiple signs remembering which signs and types of signs are included in the file can be difficult Entering a note into the script file as a memory jogger or label will not interfere with the sign generation process as long as a symbol app
87. g on the specified variable The following shows the recommended settings for this control using wind speed as the specified variable re O O wind speed QQ kt 30 r Note The green bar at bottom represents values for the low altitude wind layer which is utilized for driving simulator tasks The value shown above for this layer is random and does not necessarily represent an ideal setting 11 Situation sit files Upon attaining the desired combination of weather controls the devised weather condition can be saved in X Plane 7 63 as a situation sit file for future use When this file or any created situation file is loaded X Plane 7 63 will recreate not only the weather value settings but also the date time and selected vehicle settings that existed when the situation file was saved However X Plane 7 63 will maintain the current settings for the rate of change control within the weather condition i e deteriorating versus improving along with the value set for thermal tops These sit files are stored and loaded from within a folder called Situations located in the Output folder of the central X System folder e g C X System 7 63 Output Situations 12 Real time Weather X Plane 7 63 has the ability to download actual current weather conditions from the Internet and then to load those data into the simulation With actual weather being reported worldwide at thousands of airports X Plane 7 63 can
88. ging vehicle The following shows the recommended setting for this control AAAA i 2 baro pres at sg g 3 inch HG sea level Duo EA millibars Wind and Turbulence This control randomly assigns values to wind speed magnetic wind direction shear speed shear direction and turbulence controls located in the center section of the Atmosphere tab based on the selected severity level which ranges from none to severe Since the five variables affected by this control can be manipulated independently and systematically and since turbulence is not relevant to driving tasks because it is aviation related the control is not considered useful Therefore it should be set at the lowest value to allow for the independent manipulation of the five variables that it controls Changing the level of the control to a setting other than none will override any settings previously determined for the five variables The following shows the recommended setting for this control none wind and es turbulence Turbulence The independent turbulence control affects the level of turbulence that an aircraft would experience for each layer of a set altitude The severity scale ranges from no turbulence 0 to severe turbulence 9 Since driving simulator tasks occur on the airport surface variables such as turbulence which affect flying conditions are not considered useful The following shows the recommended settings for this control 0 O 0 H
89. h how to save and load it Part 1 Customized apt dat File TaxiDraw exe provides a user friendly interface for manipulating the content of an apt dat file When creating an apt dat file within TaxiDraw exe as described in Steps 35 through 42 of the Chapter 3 Walkthrough exercise the file must contain the correct copyright header and footer An apt dat file can be opened viewed and edited by using a simple text editor program such as Notepad or WordPad apt dat File Header Ensure that the file contains the correct header or it will not work properly The header should be organized with the letter I on the first line and the copyright paragraph on the next line as shown below 715 Version DAFIF data cycle 200309 build 1343 metadata AptXP710 Copyright 2003 Robin A Peel robinp mindspring com This data is free software you can redistribute it and or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation either version 2 of the License or at your option any later version This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE See the GNU General Public License for more details You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program AptNavGNULicence txt if not write to the Free Software Foundation Inc 59 Tem
90. hardware and software combined Although the process was more complex than airport personnel anticipated all who reported stated positive outcomes with their final product and found the simulator to be very beneficial in driver training vii Acronyms and Abbreviations BED Hanscom Field Airport Bedford Massachusetts CAK Akron Canton Regional Airport North Canton Ohio CLT Charlotte Douglas International Airport Charlotte North Carolina HNL Honolulu International Airport Honolulu Hawaii PVD T F Green Airport Providence Rhode Island RIC Richmond International Airport Richmond Virginia Volpe Center John A Volpe National Transportation Systems Center VPDs Vehicle Pedestrian Deviations 1 Introduction Vehicle pedestrian deviations VPDs occur due to many factors such as the driver s knowledge of airport layout required communications and other operational procedures To address and create awareness of these issues research has been conducted to explore the use of simulators in the driver training curriculum Since training in a simulator or other virtual environment has been found to be very helpful in learning complex routes as well as improve spatial orientation and facilitate the assimilation signs and markings Darken and Peterson 2002 an initial investigation was conducted on making this technology more accessible to airports Previous work demonstrated the benefits of incorporating a high fidelity driving simulato
91. he vert arm row circled in blue This number represents the height of the view from the driver s window in feet Adjust the value to a height of interest For example the height of the Volkswagon is 1 4 feet and the height of the truck is 3 4 feet The heights of these two vehicles as well as those of any other available or created vehicle are not absolute and can be changed to suit individual preferences Note The viewpoint height is modeled around an arbitrary reference point so the 1 4 or 3 4 feet for the two vehicles does not begin from ground level 22 Click on the X in either the top right or top left corner to close the Viewpoint window 23 Select the File option on the menu bar at the top of the screen Choose the Save option and then select the Quit option from the same dropdown menu 24 Double click on the X Plane 7 63 shortcut on the Desktop to open X Plane 7 63 exe 25 Observe the difference in the out of window view Repeat Steps 16 through 24 as desired to find a preferable viewpoint height B 40 Chapter 3 Adjusting Pavement The X Plane database encompasses over 24 000 airports The likelihood that your airport is available is extremely high however the runway taxiway and pavement specifications will most likely need some modification The outside application Taxidraw exe is provided for making any desired or necessary pavement adjustments Modifications may include actions such as lengthening wid
92. here jasa Pans the view of an object in a window 4 q Minimizes or maximizes a window Opens the orthographic option menu for loading a background image o gt B 78 The AC3D application provides a user manual for assistance with the drawing tools it is accessible within the program under the Help menu in the Manual option For additional instruction tutorial films are provided on the AC3D website at the following address http www ac3d org tutorials html Lines Structurally line obj files are the same as any other obj file used in X Plane or its supporting applications however line obj files require special usage considerations Since lines are flat objects these obj files necessitate precise placement to ensure that the lines do not float in the simulation Line markings are flat 3 D objects that can be created as well as modified in AC3D exe The line colors are determined through the application of a texture file or a portion of a texture file to the line obj file within AC3D exe The Texture Coordinate Editor is a program within AC3D exe that allows for the selection and application of a single color or a selection of colors from a multi colored texture file to the line being modified in AC3D exe Lines should be drawn on top of a screenshot from WorldMaker exe or TaxiDraw exe since these layouts are the exact pavement structure displayed in the X Plane simulation The dupli
93. hin two or three hours a solution was found for most questions however a couple of questions were never resolved For example one airport reported that Too much static scenery was causing problems for frame rate performance Another example of a difficult question was Is it possible to digitally photograph other buildings on the airfield and include them in the environment Our response was Yes although it would require some trial and error This experimentation was something that the airports would need to do on their own but Volpe Center staff would be there to help get them started or to answer any questions that may arise during the process 3 3 Completion of simulator construction of local detail Airports spent between 24 and 34 weeks building the simulator Most airports averaged about three to five hours of work per week The 10 week difference in building the simulator was largely due to the level of detail desired by each individual airport for the simulated environment CLT showed the greatest amount of detail and spent the most time 34 weeks working on its simulation In the CLT simulated environment a large amount of detail is seen in the custom pavement including many curved soft intersections rather than 90 degree sharp angles and many periphery ramp areas The building object diversity is high extending beyond the terminal area into the ramp areas and including half a dozen realistic textures representing
94. ield s identifier and location e g ORD_Chicago which will be referred to as your facility folder B 18 3 Within that folder create four subfolders a Custom Object Textures will hold files bmp png etc for texturing custom objects b Custom Objects will hold custom objects obj files c Custom Terrain Textures will hold files bmp png etc for texturing the earth around the airport surface d Earth nav data will hold the apt dat file and the env folder and its files 4 Determine the 1 x 1 latitude longitude degree square within which your airfield is located Refer to the three Legacy links at the following website http scenery x plane com library php More specifically this Legacy link may prove to be the most helpful http scenery xplane com library php doc packagesv php amp title LEGAC Y 3A V7 Scenery Packages a Open WorldMaker exe from within the X System folder and select the Airports tab at the top of the screen b Search for and select your airfield from the master list For additional instruction refer to Step 5 of the Chapter 1 walkthrough exercise c Select the Obstacles tab Zoom in over your airfield to verify its location within the X Plane env square For additional instruction refer to Chapter 6 Part 1 Viewing Obstacles d From the File menu at the top of the screen select the Save Terrain and Obstacles option e From the File menu at the top of
95. ifferent location until you B 23 have created a Custom Starting Location Customizing this option allows you to be placed on a ramp at your airport 2 Takeoff a Selecting this option will ultimately place you on the end of a runway at either your airport or one in close proximity to it as long as your airport was the last to be loaded in X Plane b Initially after selecting the Takeoff option a list of all nearby airports including your current airport will appear c Find your airport in the list and click on its name d A small pop up menu listing the runway designations at your airport will appear Select the desired runway e If a runway at your actual airport is not listed refer to Chapter 3 for creating a runway and to Chapter 9 for customizing a start location 3 Place Aircraft Vehicle by Airport a Selecting this option will provide a list of available airports in the database and allow you to open the desired airport for viewing b Upon opening the airport X Plane will place your aircraft vehicle on the airport specified from the database s list Instructor s Console This option is located on the Output menu found on the menu bar that appears at the top of the screen when the cursor is placed over this area The Instructor s Console consists of an airport diagram interface that allows relocation of the aircraft vehicle on the airport surface through zooming pointing and clicking To begin
96. ility Vehicle folder similar to Step 8 select the SUV acf file B 38 15 Notice the height of the view from the driver s seat Then close X Plane 7 63 16 Double click on the Shortcut to X System 7 63 folder on the Desktop Double click on the Plane Maker 7 63 exe file to open the program 17 Select the File option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear 18 Within the dropdown menu select the Open option Search for the SUV acf file using the same procedure as in Steps 11 through 14 19 Select the Standard option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear About File Standard Expert Background Special Viewpoint ln Engine Specs Systems Wings Misc Wings Engine Pylons Fuselage Misc Bodies Engine Macelles Wheel Fairings Control Geometry Landing Gear Weight amp Balance 20 Within the dropdown menu select the Viewpoint option The following screen will appear A CRA NOZBKD DIDI i Tao code INDICATIONS LA landlight landligt long arm O 3 5 O0 95 8 0 0 9 8 OOO El 097 DPPP 0999 Wem 000 f Ws 000 woe side slip Ban pixels O String o 0 Peo mh _ AS AA wre oo DD Side slip BAS oo Pixels E string Y I for non I roe view center Y of left Bas za Base m i G 5 amp 5 5 5 5 5 side views pixels 1 11 Tas E Sua woe wno oO 0 wag B 39 21 In the Viewpoint column find t
97. implest way to solve the problem Example 1 Using the Notepad application open the desired complicated custom object 2 On the blank line located just above the first statement below Either tri Il or quad Add the following line of text ATTR_LOD 0 18 49 LOD1 100 This text line notifies X Plane to draw the object only at its present complexity 100 when the object is at a distance of 0 to 18 49 meters from the viewer Save changes 3 Import the original object into the AC3D application Select all points of the object At the top of the screen open the Object menu and select the Reduce option Type in the percentage of the object to maintain Do not check the keep original objects box Click Reduce Click Close 4 Export this reduced version of the complex object under a new and distinct name e g Object_at_30_ percent 5 Using the Notepad application open this object Select all text beginning with and including the first tri II statement to the blank line before the end I statement Press Crtl C to copy the text Close the file B 144 6 Use Notepad to open the original complex object On the blank line above the end II statement add another ATTR_LOD X Y statement to indicate the distances ATTR_LOD 18 5 36 9 LOD2 30 between which to draw the object in the reduced form specified in c 7 Beneath this insert paste the selection made in e by pressing Ctrl V 8 Open AC3D and import the object i
98. individual buildings e g U S Airways hangar BAX DHL The number of static aircraft is extensive approximately 75 aircraft of a dozen or more types and although they are primarily centered on the terminal structures they are also disbursed across the majority of other ramp areas Further static scenery includes a large number of baggage tractors and carts spread around the terminal structures and a crashed aircraft one generating smoke fire near the approach of Runway 23 The signage and taxi lines for the airport are 100 complete Further paint markings include a white access road and numbered yellow spots encircling the terminal structures Lastly a CLT operations vehicle was developed with customized textures to be viewed realistically both from inside and out Overall CLT demonstrated the highest level of customization in its simulated environment On the other end of the detail spectrum CAK showed a medium to high level of pavement development during the 24 weeks it spent building the simulator While the number and location for each taxiway and ramp area are well represented only a handful of pavement intersections were softened from sharp angles to more realistic smooth curves Although the taxi lines are plentiful and are present on every taxiway the lines abruptly intersect with one another and fail to lead on off runways in smooth drivable trajectories the lines also suffer from overlap problems The building object diversity i
99. ing process who considered themselves proficient with computers At one airport employees rated themselves as having only basic computer knowledge such as Microsoft Office and e mail The primary software used to build the simulated airport environment is called X Plane This software was Though HNL did not receive an on site visit phone interviews were conducted to offer assistance in the setup of hardware and software as well as to help with the initial tutorial Additional phone interviews were conducted before the building process began familiar to employees at only two of the four airports However their experience in using the software was not in attempting to manipulate the simulated environment as was required in this project but instead as a game for personal use 2 3 Experience with simulators All airports had multiple employees who were experienced with using simulators Three of the airports had employees experienced with actual driving simulators Employees with simulator experience had their exposure in the last 10 to 15 years with a median of approximately 12 years The types of simulators ranged from a full cab full screen driving simulator to a video game simulation on a television screen All employees expressed that their previous experience had been positive 2 4 Effectiveness of the simulator in training All of the participants at the airport stated that the simulator would be helpful in both initial and recurre
100. ings so that they all face the same direction 38 Choose the delete nearest obstacle to mouse click 39 Zoom out enough to see the northeast area of the airport in which you placed default objects during Steps 6 through 8 40 Practice deleting objects by mouse clicking on them and on the surface near them The purpose of this activity is to become comfortable deleting the intended objects through mouse clicks since this action is not always accurate 41 Repeat Steps 20 through 24 to view and verify the locations and directions of the hangars signs and hold short lines B 2 Chapter 7 Creating and Modifying Objects In the X Plane simulation every physical structure on the airport surface such as buildings jet ways parked aircraft light poles etc is considered to be an object Each of the files for these physical structures has an obj file extension Chapter 4 discussed using the ObjView exe application to view objects from different angles and Chapter 6 described using World Maker exe to place objects onto the virtual airport surface This chapter explains three different tasks how to use the Internet to search for pre existing objects the different ways to create and modify objects and the preferred AC3D exe 3 D modeling application Part 1 Using the Internet to Search for Objects The diverse community of X Plane enthusiasts tends to create customized objects for existing airports virtual environments dependi
101. is section discusses outside resources available to obtain vehicles as well as the location of vehicles within the X Plane system Internet Members of the X Plane community have created vehicles that are available for anyone to download from the Internet and use in their simulation These vehicles are not always abundant or useful however some are helpful X Plane community vehicles can be downloaded from the Ground Vehicles X Plane forum at lt http www x plane org registry 8 X Plane Ground Vehicles shtml gt A car can also be purchased from http www aerospace net nz although a Volkswagen is the only vehicle currently offered by this company This website may offer different types of cars in the future Currently a fuel truck tow motor TUG and jeep SUV can be requested from the Volpe Center for use in your simulation If you would like these vehicles please contact Stephanie Chase at Stephanie Chase volpe dot gov Within X Plane Vehicles are located in the Aircraft folder within the primary X System 7 63 folder Each aircraft file identified by file extension acf resides in its own folder and is accompanied by various texture files identified by file extensions bmp png etc Make sure to maintain this organizational pattern when adding new vehicles acf files Part 2 View Controls in Plane Maker 7 63 Plane Maker 7 63 allows for the modification or creation of aircraft and vehicles The first time that Plane
102. is the desired operating system as Windows Vista is not recommended For tips on how to manipulate the software using the programs that are not described by this instructional guide query the user communities and visit the suggest forums as these resources were vital to the initial phases of the project and also may provide groundwork for airports of interest to the enthusiasts You may also contact the authors of the report for additional information if needed NOTE The following document is a report based on the involved airports experiences building a low cost simulator along with the instructional guide for software customization and manipulation This document does not provide a suggested training curriculum DOT FAA AR 07 59 DOT VNTSC FAA 07 10 Office of Runway Safety and Operational Services Washington D C 20024 Constructing a Low Cost Ground Vehicle Driving Simulator at an Airport Stephanie Chase Ph D Caroline Donohoe U S Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration John A Volpe National Transportation Systems Center Cambridge MA 02142 1093 Final Report September 2007 Q U S Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration Preface The authors thank the Federal Aviation Administration s Office of Runway Safety and Operational Services for its sponsorship of this work and especially Robert David for his guidance The authors are also grateful to
103. ise is included in each chapter This component will allow you to practice the material that you have learned and will also serve as a reminder for any steps that may have been forgotten The building process is discussed as follows Chapter 1 Visualizing Your Airport This chapter explains how to use the X Plane controls to view different areas of the airport surface at your virtual airport which is important in determining changes that need to be made as well as scenery objects that need to be included in the simulation Viewing the virtual airport surface is also important in order to determine the changes that need to be made to the existing layout of pavement so that the virtual airport accurately reflects your actual airport surface Chapter 2 Selecting and Modifying Your Vehicle This chapter describes how to select and modify a vehicle for use in the simulation Selecting the appropriate vehicle is important to facilitate the viewing of all areas of the airport surface The ability to modify vehicles is important so that you are able to construct and use vehicles in the driving simulation that consist of the same characteristics as those vehicles used by trainees on the actual airport surface Chapter 3 Adjusting Pavement This chapter explains how to adjust and create pavement within X Plane to obtain an accurate virtual depiction of your airport s surface The TaxiDraw program is introduced in this chapter which is used to ass
104. ist in pavement modifications Adjusting the pavement to obtain an accurate airport layout is important because the configuration of taxiways runways and ramp areas is the foundation to a well constructed low cost vehicle driving simulation B 5 Chapter 4 Signage This chapter covers the use of TaxiDraw to generate customized signs specific to your airport None of the pre existing airports within X Plane include any signs and with the wide variation in possible combinations of standard sign symbols a default set is not provided Each airport is responsible for creating its own unique set of signs Using a standard symbolic language TaxiDraw allows a complete set of signs to be created automatically at one time rather than requiring each one to be created individually and separately Chapter 5 Previewing Objects This chapter discusses the use of ObjView exe to preview a obj file without having to utilize World Maker exe to manually place an object at an airport open X Plane and visit that airport just to view the object ObjView exe provides a faster practicable alternative to viewing an X Plane object from all angles than is even possible in the X Plane simulator itself Previewing objects is helpful when searching for relevant objects made by the X Plane community and others which could be useful for your virtual airport Not every obj file download will be accompanied by a visual display of the object and probably not fr
105. ith an inherent loss of detail from 20 000 feet airports built into X Plane begin with default settings and generic appearances Most flight simulator software users want to take off and land at airports that look realistic and familiar resulting in the integration of detailed airport scenery customization World Maker 7 63 exe World Maker 7 63 is used to customize what X Plane and its community refers to as scenery As an imprecise term scenery is used to describe almost everything existing in X Plane aside from the physical flight dynamics For example scenery refers to everything that is seen or flown over including roads buildings aircrafts vehicles trees and topography In designing a low cost driving simulator World Maker s primary use is for placing object files obj which include buildings lines signs static aircraft and light poles around the airport surface World Maker comes with a few large built in objects that would be significant or of notable size to an in flight aircraft e g smoke stacks and cooling towers but requires users to find or build smaller objects e g taxi signage or hold short lines on their own which would be significant to a vehicle driving around an airport Plane Maker 7 63 exe Plane Maker 7 63 was originally created to customize and design flyable aircraft In designing a low cost driving simulator this program is used to create or modify drivable vehicles These types of objec
106. ith falling precipitation during a snow condition Ifthe vehicle used by the simulator is light in weight increasing the wind speeds may affect the driving dynamics The driver will need to retain more control over the vehicle under such conditions Irrelevant Controls Several of the weather controls are not useful to a driving simulator and the types of tasks that are performed in it The following table lists irrelevant controls along with suggested values and sliding bar positions to minimize any potential for undesirable interference Control Label Recommended Position and Values Blue tiered wind turbulence Left O controls Note Some of the control values are default settings in X Plane however always check to make sure the desired values are entered B 119 The following section further explains each of these controls and provides reasons for their insignificance with regard to the driving simulator 1 Barometric pressure at sea level The control baro pres at sea level represents the current barometric pressure level in the virtual environment Since the pressure caused by the weight of the air is most relevant to aircraft this control is not useful for driving simulator tasks However engine performance and driving dynamics may be affected if set to extreme or unrealistic conditions The default setting of 29 92 inch Hg in X Plane 7 63 is recommended to avoid any undesirable interference such as a heavy drag
107. ith sign generation the script may not have been saved in the appropriate format An individual script file can generate more than one sign as long as additional signage script is included Depending on your personal preferences and the task at hand you can create one script file to generate either a single sign or many different signs A script contains one line per sign file to be generated Each script line contains between two and three segments The first segment is the name of the obj file that will represent the sign The second and third segments contain the code that will generate the sign once the file is dragged into TaxiMaker exe The second and sometimes only other segment of the script line contains the code that will generate the content for the front side of the sign The third segment contains the code that will generate the content for the back side of the sign If no third segment or back side exists TaxiMaker exe automatically generates a gray backing for the blank side Each segment is separated by a space or break in the text just press the spacebar once in between segments Single Sided Sign The following is an example of a complete line of script for a single sided sign n1 obj N1 i http www xsquawkbox net tools xptools docs taximaker html served as a reference and guideline for this chapter The n1 obj is the name of the sign file and N1 designates the sign characteristics The following is an illustration
108. ith the rest of this walkthrough exercise 23 Click on each checkbox in the right portion of the screen above the radar for the options labeled Periodically DOWNLOAD Real Weather file METAR RWX from the Internet and Periodically SCAN Real Weather file METAR RWX to set weather in X Plane 24 Change the scan real weather time from the default time of 30 minutes to 5 minutes 25 Wait for the download percentage to reach 100 Before clicks and changes 26 Exit the Weather screen 27 Exit X Plane 7 63 exe 28 Double click on the Shortcut to X System 7 63 folder on the Desktop 29 Open the METAR rwx file in a text editor such as Notepad exe or Wordpad exe 30 Open the Find option in the text editor either by pressing Crtl F or going to the Edit option on the menu bar and selecting Find Type in the desired facility ID to locate the text lines of meteorological observation for that particular airfield 31 If desired refer to the Wikipedia article on METAR code at http en wikipedia org wiki METAR and compare the accuracy of the weather B 128 information in the METAR rwx file with the actual real time weather conditions at the specified airport 32 Close the METAR rwx file and ensure that it is correctly saved directly within the root X System 7 folder and as METAR rwx 33 Double click on the X Plane 7 63 shortcut on the Desktop to reopen X Plane 63 exe and then repeat Steps 3 through 5 Ensure that the Periodi
109. jView exe window will have the same texture applied until a different texture file is dragged into the window Additionally once the texture that is specified in the obj file is applied to the object in ObjView exe the program will remember that texture for that object While that instance of ObjView exe is still open if that object is dragged into the ObjView exe window then that texture will automatically be applied Common User Errors When viewing an object the zoom level might be too far in or out Ifthis occurs the object may not appear in the ObjView exe window or may encompass the entire screen Simply adjust the mouse scroll either to zoom all the way in to see if an object appears or to zoom out farther so the object is at a viewable size If this does not resolve the issue the object will need to be placed in X Plane through the use of WorldMaker exe see Chapter 6 The currently applied texture also may not be the appropriate texture for the type of object being viewed which could result in the appearance of an invisible or blank texture being applied to parts or all of the object Verify the appropriate texture by opening the obj file in a text editor and checking the texture file name identified on the fourth line Then find and drag the bmp png file from within the Customs Textures into the ObjView exe window to load An additional error is distortion of the obj file s central point of reference which resu
110. l None Lock Sel Unsel None Set Surface type Poly Polyline Line Smooth Fiet 15 257 name 1 Ki W Gridsnap W Select through gt B 93 8 Press the Delete key on your keyboard to delete this hangar The screen should appear as illustrated below A Inivis ACID BAX File Edit Views Obiect Surface Vertex Orth 3D Tools Help Fip Y 2 50 200 10 10 Subdiv Subdiv i E 0 x 0 00 Y 37 302 190 90 W 56 30 H 19 40 D 48 60 Pi ll Camera View Orth Front xy Left zy Select T None Dup Cut Copy Paste Group Urarouy E Go ig g Nothing selected Camera View Orth Ie RR Move to hh iz al Size to Camera View Orth Pi 5 2 Camera View 3D Top xz 3D xyz N Gridsnap WW Select through delete done o1 fo fo Move x ho fho foo Visibility Hide Sel Lock Sel Set Surface Se MODA f name 9 At the top of the screen to the right of the Select bar click the All option circled in red below to select all objects currently open in AC3D exe N Inivis AC3D File Edit Views Object Gursce vertex Orth 30 Tools Help Copy Paste Nothing selected B 94 10 Center the remaining double hangar structure on the xyz crosshair axis circled in red below by clicking holding and dragging the object Maximizing the Front
111. lane continues to be developed for flight simulation improvements in PlaneMaker provides several new options to modify vehicle models and the internal views e g windshield wipers which should result in a better overall vehicle WED replicates the function of WorldMaker and TaxiDraw for modifying pavement and paint in reference to aerial photos however OverlayEditor is now used for the placement of static objects by combining the capabilities of ObjectViewer and WorldMaker OverlayEditor improves the visualization and accuracy of object placement with a three dimensional viewer WED adds the ability to create curved taxiways and ramps instead of manually and intricately placing small segments of lines to create a curve in TaxiDraw The realism of the airport environment has been improved upon with blastpads displaced thresholds taxiway lights centerline lights PAPI VASI wig wags and boundary fencing as well as more acceptable paint WED allows for accurate faster and multiple drop point placement of signs over aerial photos With such upgrades to the software come new hardware requirements For optimal video rendering using the newest versions the Nvidia GeForce 8000 series or the ATI Radeon graphics card with a minimum of 256MB of video memory 512MD preferred is suggested along with the Intel Core 2 Duo 3Ghz or AMD Athlon 64 4000 as a minimum for CPU 1GB RAM memory 2GB preferred and at least 50GB free hard drive space Windows XP
112. lane will load the unaltered airport surface that you originally Started off with in X Plane 5 Select the File option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear B 97 6 Select New The following screen will appear Airport Selector Enter airport 4 letter O40 code Cancel 7 Type the four letter facility identifier e g KSJC in the Airport selector circled in blue Select OK 8 Press F4 to zoom out until the entire airport layout fits into the window 9 If solid shading is not activated press s to activate it 10 Press Ctrl Alt PrintScreen to take a screen shot of the TaxiDraw exe window as illustrated below File Edit Yiew Insert Airport Projection Background Tools Help 21 57 30 izpesqioo i2d 56 30 1 56 00 121 59 30 129 58 00 i21 54 30 bie AAA 11111 114111 PAP HA EAN END GEREEEEEEEEEEEERENE III IA INN EA E PY TET TT TTT TT NSN STN PA Pitti tT II FR AAS EE ANA COPAN POH IN IA NODO HH Is a EEEEENEEEEEEEEE ANAL NGEEEBEEE DABEI IA ANS 7 GEEEEEENE tT TT TTT TTT TT TT WENN WA 1 5 HEEEEEEEEER SARA ZEEENEN Peer A INN A gt HEEEENEEEEENEEEEEEER ED 4ENNEEEN Lp ON Th da m 3 Alb pd d 4 y X 11 Exit TaxiDraw exe B 98 12 From the Start menu open Microsoft Paint Press Ctrl V to paste the screenshot into the Microsoft Paint window 13 Select the File option on the menu bar at
113. lder where the sign script was just saved The data path should be similar to or the same as the following C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough custom objects Copy the SampleSigns file either by selecting the file and pressing Crtl C or by right clicking on the file and selecting Copy Within the same folder as the original SampleSigns file paste the copied file either by pressing Crtl V or by right clicking in the window and selecting Paste 9 Change the extension of the copied file from txt to taxi by right clicking on the file and selecting Rename Erase the current file extension txt and replace with taxi Do not close this window 10 On the Desktop open the Version 7 X Plane Tools folder 11 Within the folder open the XP Tools folder and double click on the TaxiMaker exe file to open the application The following window will appear _XGrinder Drag a taxi file here to build objects 12 From the window displaying the Custom Objects folder with the SampleSigns taxi file drag the SampleSigns taxi file into the XGrinder window To drag an item left click and hold on the desired file then drag using the mouse To place an item release the mouse 13 The XGrinder window will automatically generate the signs specified in the taxi file The files will be stored in the same folder as the taxi file used to create the signs To verify that the signs were created and stored check the appropriate folder
114. licate the rectangle from Step 77 by selecting the object pressing Ctrl C to copy and Ctrl V to paste The duplication will be pasted directly on top of the previous rectangle so select the object click hold and drag to append the pasted rectangle to the original rectangle The following is an example of several copied pasted and appended pieces configured to form a curving line N Inivis AC3D C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough custom objects line1 ac File Edit Views Object Surface Vertes Orth 3D Tools Help All None Dup Cut Copy Paste Groun Unoioun Flip v 2 50 200 10 10 Subdiv Subdiv Nothing selected x 143 60 Y 0 00 Z 91 20 4 gt ae R Gridsnap FM Select through en 2 3 To fill in symmetrical curve patterns flip the curve by using the Flip X button circled in red below located at the top of the screen below the menu bar Be sure to select all segments prior to using this function otherwise only a portion of the line will be rotated If you wish to have a copy of the line prior to rotation copy and paste before rotating The following is an illustration of a flipped line Inivis AC3D C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough custom objects line1 ac File Edit Views Object Surface verte Orth 3D Tools Help All None Dup Cut Copy Paste Group Ungroup ru IY Z 50 200 10 10 Subdiv S
115. ling the Associated Third Party Software Winzip exe Download and install Winzip exe from the following website 1 XPTools 1 http www winzip com To become familiar with everything that XPTools encompasses read the XPTools documentation from the following website http www xsquawkbox net tools xptools docs xptools html When ready for installation go to the XPTools main page http www xsquawkbox net tools xptools Click on the Download XPTools for Windows link and save the ObjToolsWin zip file to the desktop 4 Create a new folder on the desktop entitled XPTools 5 Find the zip file downloaded in Step 2 and then extract its contents into the new XPTools folder that was created in the previous step 6 Open the XPTools folder to verify that its contents look like the following DEAR E File Edit View Favorites Tools Help Q peck I t ps Search Key Folders E Address a C Program Files xPTools File and Folder Tasks I Make a new Folder A Publish this folder to the Web 2 Share this Folder Details XPTools File Folder Date Modified Today April 23 2007 10 45 AM 7 Create a new folder on the desktop entitled Sign Textures and a subfolder within the Sign Textures folder entitled taxiways 8 Download the taxi2 bmp and taxi2LIT bmp files to the Taxiways subfolder from the following website http www xsquawkbox net tools xptools 9 To download right click on Downl
116. lts in an off screen display for the parts of the object desired to be seen If this occurs with an object you created recreating it with an accurate central reference point is advisable see Chapter 7 If this occurs with a downloaded object using Worldmaker exe to place the object in X Plane and viewing the object using X Plane may be your only option B 60 Part 3 Chapter 5 Walkthrough Exercise This section provides step by step instruction to apply the information from this chapter 1 On the Desktop open the Version 7 X Plane Tools folder 2 Within that folder open the XP Tools folder and double click on the ObjView exe file to open the application The following window will appear UbDragObjHere enn AS 3 Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Custom Objects folder where the sign obj files were generated from the Chapter 4 Walkthrough exercise The data path should be similar to or the same as the following C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough custom objects 4 Drag the ILS obj file into the ObjView exe window The following white silhouette image should appear 5 Open a second Windows Explorer and navigate to the Custom Object Textures folder The data path should be similar to or the same as the following C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough custom object textures 6 Drag the taxi bmp texture file from the Signage subfolder into the ObjView exe window and left click once
117. method to obtain desired precipitation settings The following is a visual of the precip control light AAA Note The values appearing on the screenshot above are random and do not necessarily represent ideal settings Manipulating the precip control can also affect the values for runway conditions cloud types thunderstorm controls and naturally the radar screen display Deterioration of runway surface conditions occurs simultaneous to an increase in the severity of precipitation The following table reflects the change in runway conditions at a specific precipitation severity in conjunction with sea level temperature B 113 Precipitation Runway Temperaire Severity Condition p None Light Clean and dry All temperatures Moderate Heavy Damp Varies according to elevation of airport a couple degrees at 36 F or more 23 C Severe Icy couple degrees at 35 F or less lt 2 C severe Wet Varies according to elevation of airport a couple degrees at 36 F or more 23 C If runway conditions are set at an equal or higher degree of slipperiness level of precipitation will not alter conditions until a more severe condition is encountered For example if precipitation severity is set to none and runway conditions are set to icy no changes will occur If precipitation severity is set to none and runway conditions are set to slushy runway conditions will remain Moderate Heavy Slushy Varies according to elevati
118. n is set to none Note The list above comprises only some of the potential influences of cloud types on other weather variables it is not all inclusive The table below provides some recommended elevations to create desirable cloud conditions visible during a driving simulator task Weather Condition Condition Cloud Type Elevation and Temperature Hi cirrus or lo stratus Wi to 250 ft AGL or 6 ft AGL to 250 ft AGL or Fog Overcast higher Various Cloudy Skies All but haze layer 100 ft AGL or higher To reduce potential interference with lighter skies setting the top layer of clouds to haze layer at the maximum elevation of 96 999 ft MSL is recommended If you are creating haze or fog with a low AGL for the lower cloud bases blue skies may appear above the fog or haze To eliminate this problem alter the setting of the upper layer of clouds to one that matches the lower layer for example set the upper cloud type to overcast if the lower cloud type is overcast 3 Temperature at Sea Level This control affects the temperature within the virtual environment and can be set using either Fahrenheit or Celsius The following is a visual representation of the control temp at ann deg F sea level 399 O deg Note The values appearing on the screenshot above are random and do not necessarily represent ideal settings B 112 The importance of this control lies in its effects on vehicular
119. n its original complexity again 9 Repeat this process to reduce the object to a lesser percentage of complexity Export it as a new object steal the tri I statement definitions and add anew ATTR_LODXY IILODN P statement where X and Y represent the next set of distances N the next LOD and P the percentage of the original object s complexity that this N LOD will represent Insert these new tri I statement definitions 10 Continue for as many LODs as desired or needed e g four or five depending on how large the reductions are between them When driving around I seem to be running or crashing into some sort of invisible object The vehicle gets erratically thrown up and flipped around in the air for no apparent reason As a flight simulator X Plane treats almost all objects as obstacles For example if the vehicle assumed to be an aircraft in flight comes into contact with these obstacles on a non smooth landing approach then the simulation will go into crash mode e g make a crunching noise crack the windshield freeze the screen and attempt to reload reopen the vehicle from some other starting location Moreover this property is defined at the level of individual subparts polygons of an object rather than that of the object as a whole Not all polygons are necessarily visible some custom scenery objects obj files used in the simulation may have these invisible polygons d
120. n select and drag each of the four corner points of the rectangle to correspond with the four cornerpoints of the front surface of the sign To achieve the full three dimensional transformation remember to repeat this step in at least two different dimensional views e g the Front xy and Side xz views The following illustration shows how the sign will appear after aligning the rectangle only in the Front xy window B 142 c Switch to the Object selection mode to select the superimposed rectangle Open the Object menu from the top ofthe screen Select Texture and then Load texture Locate and select the custom texture file created in Step 1 d Press the F10 key to open the texture coordinate editor Drag the boundary green box to the area of customized texture to be displayed on the surface of the sign as illustrated below Hert 3 For either method open the sign obj file in a text editor such as Notepad exe Change the file path of the texture to refer to the new custom texture file instead of the default taxi2 bmp file as highlighted in the illustration below Dist5 obj Notepad Dar Fie Edit Format View Help ATTR_LOD 0 000000 5000 oo0000 quad ae O 300000 0 300000 0 080000 O 300000 0 900000 0 040000 O 200000 0 900000 0 040000 2 300000 0 300000 0 080000 Why is there computer lag in WorldMaker exe hesitati
121. n the AC3D exe shortcut on the Desktop to open the program Close any tips that may pop up when the program starts 2 Click the checkbox in the bottom left corner to activate the Gridsnap option circled in blue below 10 1 ld ld Mowe re 1100 100 1100 Visibility Hide Sel Unsel Non Le d J W Gridsnap ff Select through 3 Click on the Box Draw a cuboid button located on the left hand side The buttons are labeled by visual icons and not by text however if you hold the mouse over a button the text label will appear The button and text circled in red are illustrated below J Inivis AC3D File Edit Views Obje vertex Orth 3D Tools Help 50099 9 F None Dup Cut Copy Paste Group Ungraup Nothing selected Camera View Orth Front py B 80 4 Click once in the center of Front xy View being careful not to move the mouse while clicking A cuboid illustrated below will appear Ja Inivis ACID File Edit Wiews Object Surface vertex Orth 30 Tools Help ngoup Flip 4 z 50 200 10 4 0 00 0 40 Before clicking center of field KR Inivis ACID File Edit Te Object Surface vertex Orth 3D Tools Help eeto ooo all None Du pl Cut Copy Paste Group E DELL Groups Ubjects selected 1 perenne Camera View Orth Front xy nae gt Mic gt af Move to if CU Camera Wiem Irth Af
122. ng on their interests While these objects may not be exact representations of buildings or other objects on your airport s surface they will be similar and may be more desirable than the generic objects provided as a default by X Plane General searches can be made through the Google search engine as well as the X Plane community forum Google Search Engine Google is an Internet based search engine that can be used to search for objects through keywords The keywords will vary according to object A combination of keywords relevant to the desired object should be entered into the search bar For example a search for a building may use the following keywords custom objects building x plane scenery and library Past searches have identified many objects for use through the following two websites www x scenery com http www christian franz net OMOL default htm X Plane Community Forum The www x plane org website contains several useful resources for this project The X Plane forum portal is home to all of X Plane s community forums you can navigate there by selecting the following options at the top of the X Plane org webpage underneath the X Plane icon Community gt Forums gt Forums Portal Once at the Forums Portal you will need to click on the Forums link to view the available community forums The Engineering Department forum offers a number of useful resources To find this forum scroll about halfway down
123. nimum accepted value is O ft AGL and the maximum accepted value is 99 999 ft AGL Permanently setting the thermal top at the minimum value eliminates the effects produced by thermals Further use of this control is not considered relevant since the variable is strictly related to aviation The following shows the recommended setting for this control ft RIDGE LIFT will thermal tops 0 0 000 added to this B 121 7 Thermal Coverage This control sets the percentage of heated areas of the earth s surface that produce warm rising air currents thermals The minimum accepted value is 0 and the maximum accepted value is 50 Permanently setting thermal coverage at the minimum value eliminates the effects produced by thermals Further use of this control is not considered relevant since the variable is strictly related to aviation The following shows the recommended setting for this control O thermal u coverage we 8 Thermal Climb Rate This control determines how quickly a thermal will rise The minimum accepted value for is O ft and the maximum accepted value is 1 500 ft Permanently setting the thermal climb rate at the minimum value eliminates the effects produced by thermals Further use of this control is not considered relevant since the variable is strictly related to aviation The following shows the recommended setting for this control O thermal 1 ft climb rate 4 9 Microburst Probabilit
124. nt vehicle driver training Though most participants thought that an instructor should be available for the highest level of effectiveness it was not always necessary Other participants felt that having the simulator available to employees for practice would be an asset When asked how long after implementation it would take for the simulator to start positively contributing to the driver training curriculum many participants agreed that the benefits would be realized immediately Others were not sure exactly when benefits would be realized but stated that they believed it would be rather quickly For example at one airport they used PowerPoint to illustrate how signage is perceived at night versus during the day If this difference could be brought into the simulator it would give the trainees an interactive experience with the information rather than the passive experience of the PowerPoint presentation which could have an immediate influence on the training curriculum and skills learned within Actual usage in training sessions was estimated to range from an hour or two a day in recurrent training to about 15 minutes total in initial training A concern for most airports was that instructors felt that they could allow only a small amount of time to be added to the training sessions especially those conducted for tenant employees The majority of participants at the airports felt that simulator training would be most effective after the initial cl
125. o separation between cloud tops and bases allowed Maximum upper cloud tops height 96 999 ft MSL No separation between cloud tops and bases allowed Maximum upper cloud tops height 99 999 ft MSL 3 000 ft separation between cloud tops and bases Maximum upper cloud tops height 99 999 ft MSL 3 000 ft separation between cloud tops and bases Maximum upper cloud tops height 99 999 ft MSL Minimum 3 000 ft separation between cloud tops and bases X Plane 7 63 will automatically adjust the separations between cloud tops and bases to maintain the above requirements If this occurs the cloud tops elevation will be altered and the cloud bases elevation will remain the same In addition to separation requirements and changes to maximum elevation parameters cloud type changes influence several other weather factors as described in the following table B 111 Produces blue skies decreases level of lighting slightly alters color of Decreases level of lighting alters color of sky Minor precipitation may occur if set at an elevation of Scattered approximately 8 500 ft AGL or below even if precipitation is set to none Minor precipitation may occur if set at an elevation of approximately 8 500 ft AGL or below even if precipitation is set to none Decreases level of lighting alters color of sky minor Ouercasi precipitation may occur if set at an elevation of approximately 8 500 ft AGL or below even if precipitatio
126. oad taxi2 bmp Select Save Target as and save in the C Desktop Sign Textures taxiways folder Save the files with the default file names taxi2 bmp and taxi2LIT bmp by clicking Save TaxiDraw exe 1 In C Program Files create a new folder entitled TaxiDraw 2 Go to the TaxiDraw download website at the following address http taxidraw sourceforge net download 3 Right click on the TaxiDraw 0 3 2 setup exe link Select Save Target as then navigate to the Desktop and click Save keeping the default name TaxiDraw 0 3 2 setup 4 Onthe Desktop double click on TaxiDraw 0 3 2 setup exe and follow the on screen prompts to install a Click Next b Read the license agreement Click on the circle to accept it then click Next c Select C Program Files TaxiDraw as the destination folder and click Next d Indicate if a Start menu folder is desired for TaxiDraw and click Next e Indicate if a Desktop shortcut is desired for TaxiDraw and click Next f Review the choices indicated on the screen and click Install g Read the Downloading Raw Data information and click Next h Select the Launch TaxiDraw checkbox and click Finish 5 Read the pop up message that appears the first time TaxiDraw is opened and click OK Refer to the Chapter 3 walkthrough exercise for Initial Setup of TaxiDraw 6 Close the TaxiDraw application 7 Create a folder called Documents that is directly on the C drive i e C Documents and store any sa
127. om every angle Chapter 6 Placing Objects on the Airport Surface This chapter explains how to use World Maker exe to view and adjust the positions of objects on your airport surface Generally airport surfaces in X Plane will not have any buildings signs or lines in the default airports Each actual airport has a unique set ofthese objects and virtual objects must be arranged according to real life positions and orientations to reflect an accurate realistic environment for the driving simulator With these objects correctly placed the generic simulated airport becomes customized to your actual airport Chapter 7 Creation and Modification of Objects This chapter focuses on finding modifying or creating new object obj files through use of the three dimensional modeling software AC3D X Plane includes a vast database of airports but each airport is limited in detail and its initial level of realism Buildings pavement markings and signs see Chapter 4 are all objects that need to be added as custom scenery to enhance your airport s fidelity and usability Fortunately the X Plane flight simulator comes with a large community of hobbyists and professionals who are dedicated to enhancing the simulated flight experience which often includes realistic airports This means a large support network exists as a resource for people who wish to create and share realistic custom scenery The first part of the chapter provides information on
128. on and in X Plane reduced frame rate after add custom objects Is there a maximum number of custom objects that can add before everything begins to slow down This problem is attributable to the complexity of the custom objects rather than the actual number of custom objects added The complexity of an object is roughly defined by the number of polygons that construct it The obj file size e g 5 vs 50 vs 500 kilobytes represents the impact on the rendering ability of B 143 X Plane The greater that the number of kilobytes kb is in a file then the greater the impact on X Plane Three dimensional environments often utilize levels of detail LOD modeling which substitutes simplified rough models of complicated objects when those objects are too far away or too small in the field of view for the human eye to detect intricacies The following website provides additional helpful information on LOD modeling http www ai aardvark com modeling LOD 101 aia LOD html sa X The solution is to create custom objects with various levels of detail In the obj file definitions of X Plane the attribute ATTR_LOD X Y can be used to indicate that the items to follow are only to be drawn when the object is located between X and Y distances from the viewer Using AC3D s reduction function to specify a less detailed version of a complicated obj file then inserting the object into the original version at various LODs is the s
129. on of airport a couple of degrees at 35 F or less lt 2 C Varies according to elevation of airport a decreasing the level of precipitation will change the runway conditions according to the table Ifthey are set at a higher degree of slipperiness increasing the slushy as precipitation severity increases until it reaches the severe level After crossing the severe threshold runway conditions will change to icy The precipitation level also affects the cloud type controls The only instance when both the upper and lower cloud types can be set to haze layer hi cirrus lo stratus or a combination of those three types is when the precip control is at the absolute lowest value for none In other words the slider on the precip bar must be positioned as far left as possible as displayed below none As soon as the slider is adjusted from the minimum none value even to another position within the none segment of the bar if neither the upper nor the lower cloud type are set to scattered overcast or broken then X Plane automatically adjusts the lower cloud type to scattered B 114 Similar to the cloud type and runway condition controls the thunderstorm control may change with adjustment of the precipitation level Thunderstorms cannot occur without precipitation if precipitation and thunderstorm levels are both set at their minimum values then increasing the thunderstorm level will increase the precipitation level to the co
130. orial as well as the Chapter 3 walkthrough exercise should be reviewed In order for TaxiDraw to save and load image scaling and calibrations through its tpj files the image must be loaded from within C Documents If it is not already there you will have to create a folder called Documents directly under the C drive of your computer and then store the background images you wish to load in TaxiDraw within this folder B 41 Editing Controls TaxiDraw provides key commands that will facilitate the program s use found at lt http taxidraw sourceforge net taxidraw keyboard html gt A hard copy of these commands can be found at the end of this document Here are some other helpful shortcut controls Ctrl C Pressing the Ctrl key and the c key at the same time initiates the copy function Ctrl V Pressing the Ctrl key and the v key at the same time will paste the last item copied function Left clicking on a piece of pavement will select that piece Right clicking on a selected piece of pavement will open the property window for that piece of pavement Left clicking on the corner of a piece of pavement will allow that piece to be rotated Note TaxiDraw does not provide an indication of whether or not you have selected the corner until you try to rotate the pavement causing this to be a difficult task at times but can always be controlled through the property window Part 2 TaxiDraw project files tpj A
131. ors are both feasible and beneficial in accomplishing this goal 13 14 6 References Chase S 2006 Ground Vehicle Operator Training Using a Low Cost Simulator Washington DC Federal Aviation Administration DOT FAA AR 06 22 Chase S amp Hannon D 2006 Evaluation of a Driving Simulator for Ground Vehicle Operator Training Washington DC Federal Aviation Administration DOT FAA AR 06 1 Darken R P amp Peterson B 2002 Spatial Orientation Wayfinding and Representation In Kay M Stanney ed Handbook of Virtual Environments Design Implementation and Applications pp 493 518 Mahwah NJ Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 15 16 Appendix A Hardware and Software Used in Low Cost Simulator Hardware Software Computer Video adapter Steering accelerator brake Environment vehicle simulation software TaxiDraw Terraserver MassGIS GNU Image Manipulation Program GIMP Taximaker X Plane Tools Object Viewer X Plane Tools Blender World _Maker Plane_Maker Description Pentium lll CPU 1 2 GHz 256 512 MB RAM GeForce Il 64 MB video memory Logitech Driving Force Pro X Plane version 7 63 GNU General Public License Overlay X Plane airport pavement files with satellite imagery and manipulate movement and nonmovement areas to make accurate airport layouts http taxidraw sourceforge net GNU General Public License Obtain quality satellite images of airpor
132. oss the very top of the screen 14 Select the Output option through a single left click of the mouse A dropdown menu will appear About File Location Settings Output Vier Special Plates Plugins Local Maps 3 D Map Planet Man Instructor s Console Logbook ie F 4 il d zu w ur a de l al La 3 m F Fo y 4 ys SELF m le oe aL j 7 p an e 1 3 B 30 15 Within the dropdown menu select the Instructor s Console option through a single left click The following screen will appear 16 The Instructor s Console will provide a closer image of your airfield layout To achieve this use the key to zoom closer and the _ key to zoom out Use the directional arrow keys to keep the image centered on your airport The flashing red icon your aircraft vehicle should be used as a focal point The following illustrates this change B 31 17 In the upper right corner of the Instructor Console altitude alt and speed need to be changed before placement of your aircraft vehicle The altitude circled in orange needs to be changed from 5 000 to 0 and the speed circled in green needs to be changed from 1 to 0 as shown below Ce place your raft 18 The heading circled in blue controls the direction that the aircraft vehicle faces 000 is equivalent to 360 degrees or true north Change this setting as desired 19 Click somewhere on the airport surface to place the vehicl
133. ough folder in the above data path 24 Select the File option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear 25 Select the Export option circled in blue below then select the X Plane 7 Object File option circled in red below B 89 o gt Inivis ACID C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthroi ple Edit Views Object Surface Vertex Orth SD Tools ale New Cerny Norel Goal Cut Copy Paste Bocas 3 Cil Sper ecenk b Groups Objects selected 1 LD q OOOO A A imera View Orth Merge ae LOLLE xy 3D Studio X Export a i Diva OVS Save samplebox ac Ctri s Inventor Save As Massive Save Selection Povray Print Setup Quake MDZ Print Ctrl P Renderman STL ascii Senge Triangle Bib O VRML 1 r VRML 2 gt o o fr O VRML 2 Proto he ote to 305 ASE er Direct aih 1 i go OXF Size to LDOraw Lego LightWave LWO 6 1 0 Milkshape Ascii Move 100 11 100 E 100 Visibility Hide Sel Inzel N Bau 2e Unsel None 26 Save the object as Box1 The default file extension should be obj but check the Save as type field to ensure that the field says X Plane 7 Object File obj The object should be saved at the following data path C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough custom obj
134. pear Image Scale Enter image scale in meters pizel B 45 20 Type 8 for the meters per pixel scale into the empty field circled in blue Select OK The following message will appear Make one click on the Flightgear Airport followed by one click on the corresponding location of the background image Select OK Note The correct scale can be determined through trial and error however more often than not 1 will be too small and 20 will be too large Unfortunately to rescale the image if it is not scaled properly on the first try the background image must be reloaded Step 14 as otherwise TaxiDraw will allow you only to realign the image Step 21 when selecting Calibrate Background Image 21 The Flightgear Airport is the airport layout provided in TaxiDraw and the background image is the imported satellite photo Choose a point on the Flightgear Airport e g top left corner of Runway 12L and click on it 22 Find the corresponding point on the satellite image and click on it The TaxiDraw rendition of the KSJC s airport layout should now be lined up and scaled to the satellite image as shown below KSJC Norman Y Mineta San Jose Intl EIER Insert Airport Projection Background Tools Help The three runways should now fit The fitted runways serve as a base from which to manually edit the rest of the pavement in the simulated environment Saving the image creates a TaxiDraw tpj file wi
135. ple the boxes correspond to the top of the object B 85 A ACID Texture Coordinate Editor widow Edit Mie Select by 0 374 7 127 Surface CO werten Select 11 None Je Keep size ratio pheric al Teshure Clee Syustem r bor Custom Scenerne SJO Wr alkthroaughe custom object texturessigqnages T asi Ome E diting 1 surfaces of object bos Surraces selected in TCE 1 17 Click and drag the corners of the green boundary boxes to resize the box around only the ABCD white letters with red background Zooming in while resizing will ensure the most accurate fit around the letters illustrated below To shift the view of the object from left to right click and hold the four arrow button circled in blue below then drag the mouse in the desired direction B 86 Ho AC3D Texture Coordinate Editor Window Edit view Select u 203 e Ob E Surface Werten Select All None E Remap TS M Keep size ratio spherical Fip a Horiz Wert Elia est Texture C System 4 br Custom Scenen SIC Walkthrough custom object texturessignage T asi bmp Editing surfaces of object bos Surfaces selected in TCE 1 18 Click on the red X in the upper right corner of the AC3D Texture Coordinate Editor window to exit 19 Note the display in the Top xz view window The top of the object should display the white ABCD letters with a red background as shown below B 87
136. ple Place Suite 330 Boston MA 02111 1307 USA This product was developed using DAFIF the Defense Aeronautical Flight Information File a product of the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency NIMA NIMA requires the following warranty statements A Under 10 U S C 456 no civil action may be brought against the United States on the basis of the content of a navigational aid prepared or disseminated by either the former Defense Mapping Agency DMA or the National Imagery and Mapping Agency NIMA B The DAFIF product is provided as is and no warranty express or implied including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for particular purpose or arising by statute or otherwise in law or from a course of dealing or usage in trade is made by NIMA as to the accuracy and functioning of the product C Neither NIMA nor its personnel will be liable for any claims losses or damages arising from or connected with the use of this product The user agrees to hold harmless the United States National Imagery and Mapping Agency The user s sole and exclusive remedy is to stop using the DAFIF product Note The master apt dat file described in the introduction also provides the information for the correct copyright header and footer its use is advised as the primary resource for retrieving these items when needed B 131 apt dat File Contents The lines of the apt dat file following the copyright header con
137. pter 5 Previewing Objects sica Bu ee ee B 59 Chapter 6 Placing Objects on the Airport Surface occcoccccccccccconccnncocnnncncncncanonanononos B 63 Chapter 7 Creating and Modifying ObjectS oocoocccocncccncoccconicononononcnoncnnanonanononos B 73 Chapter a Wedalner as seele B 107 Chapter aPL Aal PIES nennen B 131 Frequently Asked Questions FAQS u02200220020000nnnonnnennnnnnnnennnnnenn nennen B 141 B 3 Introduction Low cost vehicle driving simulation has demonstrated positive effects for the training of ground vehicle drivers in the areas of spatial awareness navigational tasks and procedural instructions On the basis of these findings in conjunction with the FAA Office of Runway Safety and Operational Services the Volpe Center would like to offer airports the opportunity to create a low cost driving simulator to assist in their training programs and potentially to reduce runway incursions involving vehicles at their facilities This basic step by step instructional document facilitates these benefits by providing airports with the resources necessary to build a low cost driving simulator on their own time and within their budget For organizational purposes the document is divided into chapters discussing various aspects of building the simulator Each chapter draws on the previous chapter to increase your knowledge of the building process as you progress through the document A walkthrough exerc
138. r into ground vehicle drivers training Chase and Hannon 2006 Subsequent work showed that a low cost simulator provided comparable benefits Chase 2006 This low cost simulator was built by the John A Volpe National Transportation Systems Center Volpe Center staff and was tested using ground vehicle operators from the Hanscom Field Airport BED in Bedford Massachusetts The results of training with the low cost simulator were positive with regard to navigational and spatial awareness issues The purpose of the current work was to determine the feasibility of airport personnel building and implementing a customized low cost driving simulator approximately 1 000 each In particular the project s goal was to provide the information needed to build and implement a low cost ground vehicle simulator for airport use This project was comprised of three phases Phase 1 Airport Familiarization Airports were visited so that a collection of current training data along with a more detailed understanding of the airport environment could be obtained Interviews were conducted with the trainers and current drivers to better document and understand their expectations of the simulator Phase 2 Providing Technical Support to Airport Personnel A step by step instructional document was supplied for the building of the simulator Telephone and online technical support was provided for the duration of the simulator construction and biweekly progre
139. rom the following data path C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough Earth nav datal 13 Copy the hidemeapt dat file from Steps 10 and 11and paste it into Windows Explorer rename the file apt dat This customized file will now take the place of the master database file that was renamed in Step 11 14 Repeat Step 4 Note that only one airport is displayed as an option 15 Repeat Step 5 Note that alternate airports are no longer displayed as options the only option that will be displayed Norman Y Mineta San Jose is circled in blue below B 135 16 Repeat Steps 6 and 7 Note the reappearance of the curved intersection of Taxiways V and L circled in blue below 17 Repeat Step 9 Note that only one option Default is still available on the Ramp menu Exit X Plane 7 63 Section 2 Creating Custom Startup Locations Using TaxiDraw exe 1 Double click on the Desktop shortcut to open TaxiDraw exe 2 From the Airport menu select Raw Data Options 3 The file path may need to be altered so that TaxiDraw exe is directed to the smaller customized apt dat file Based on the first section of this walkthrough exercise that file should be located at the following data path C X System 7 63 Resources Earth nav data Note If you have decided to keep the master apt dat file in use the smaller custom apt dat file is currently located at the following data path C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough Earth nav data
140. rresponding setting Likewise if precipitation and thunderstorm levels are both set at the same higher values then decreasing the precipitation value will decrease the thunderstorm level to the corresponding setting The precipitation level can always be set to a higher value than the thunderstorm level but never vice versa Thunderstorms This control manipulates the level of precipitation and the severity of lightening and thunder See the section on precip control for the effects of the thunderstorm control on precipitation levels The lowest thunderstorm setting is none the highest is severe and the intermediary settings are light moderate and heavy Similar to the precip control the severity settings are somewhat arbitrary since slight thunder and lightening may occur when the control is set to none and no thunder or lightening may occur when the control is set to severe as a result trial and error may be the best method to obtain desired thunderstorm settings The unpredictable nature of this control allows for realistic simulation of unpredictable weather events The following is a visual of the thunderstorm control thunderstorms A Note The values appearing on the screenshot above are random and do not necessarily represent ideal settings Using the thunderstorm control increases the probability of precipitation for each severity level of precipitation The actual effects increase and decrease once the control is utilize
141. s 37 mm MM Nav 1 2 frequency sE totai weights and CG 33 AMAM MNM nav o zsmmmmMm nav 1 2 deflections zmm m aero forces so M M A A or s M mM E engine forces a m m mm ome 2s M A E E tanding gear vert force s2mmmmMm os status detail EM propetiers o AA IF anding gear vert def s3 FMI FA FA FEF xenpr status detai FI wings lt mM AM MM MARKER status gt detail EPM stabs 2 A AANA i effs 2 M AM mM prop efficiency B 138 4 Click on the X in either top corner to return to the driving simulation 5 Either use the viewing controls of the Instructor s Console refer to Steps 14 through 20 of the Chapter 1 Walkthrough exercise for additional instruction if needed or drive to each of the eastern ramp s corners circled in blue below on the Instructor s Console 6 Pause at each corner of the ramp to record the latitude longitude and heading as displayed in the upper left section of the screen circled in blue below 7 Exit X Plane 7 63 B 139 8 Open the customized apt dat file using a text editor such as Notepad 9 Scroll to the last line displaying a prefix code of 10 10 Insert a new line with a prefix code of 15 followed by the latitude longitude heading and label for the custom startup location The format of the line should appear as follows Prefix Code Latitude Longitude Heading Label 15 37 376000 121 930000 180 Starting Location 1 Note There should be only one space between ea
142. s can be labeled both on the signage plan and as subfolders in the Custom Objects folder and corresponding signs can be saved in each subfolder for easy reference while constructing the simulation and for future changes http www xsquawkbox net tools xptools docs taximaker html served as a reference and guideline for this chapter Alteration of File Extension Once the script file has been saved and stored in either the Custom Objects folder or a subfolder the file extension must be changed from txt to taxi Ifthis change does not occur TaxiMaker exe will be unable to generate a sign object file Creating a copy of the file prior to changing the extension may prove beneficial in case of error To change the file extension right click on the file and select Rename Erase the current file extension txt and replace with taxi File Conversion After changing the file extension to taxi leave the Custom Objects folder open Launch TaxiMaker exe Dragging the taxi file into the X Grinder window which opens upon double clicking TaxiMaker exe will automatically generate the obj files specified in the script file These files will be generated in the same folder or location as the taxi file that was dragged into the X Grinder window If files are not automatically generated check the sign script for typing errors ObjectView exe Previewing your signs prior to placement in the virtual airport is advantageous to catch potential
143. s own line subsequent to any text that may appear in the file 43 Select the File option on the menu bar at the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear Select Save As Save this file with the name apt dat in the following data path C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough Earth nav data 44 Open X Plane 7 63 exe Place or drive your vehicle to the intersection of Taxiways V and L at KSJC airport to view your pavement adjustment results B 49 B 50 Chapter 4 Signage Airports in X Plane are not pre populated with generic signage nor does X Plane contain a built in sign creation tool To remedy this situation an outside application TaxiMaker exe included with your software package is used to generate customized signage and World Maker exe described in Chapter 5 is used to place it Creating customized signage is essential to the realism of your virtual airport it is a simple multi step process consisting of script writing file extension changing and file conversions This chapter identifies each of these steps and introduces a tool used to view objects prior to their placement in the virtual environment Part 1 Script Writing NotePad is the primary application used to create sign scripts When using this application be sure to save the file as a text txt file and not as a rich text file rtf This application should automatically save using the correct txt file extension if a problem arises w
144. s sparse with only three or four distinguishable building types with one hangar set repeating often as a generic placeholder Only about 10 static aircraft were found the majority were at the terminal building and the few others at a single location at the northwest portion of the airfield No other static vehicles objects were found The signage and hold short lines were complete with signs appearing at each predictable location however the hold short markings extended onto the grass Overall CAK showed a low to fair level of customization and fidelity Though CLT and CAK had very different outcomes both simulators will continue to be used during training An example of CLT and CAK modifications within the simulated environment is seen in Figure 1 The screenshots on the left shows the default simulated environment that was given to CLT and CAK The screenshots on the right shows the environment after the modifications were made by each airport Figure 1 Modification of Airport Environment at Charlotte Douglas International Airport CLT and Akron Canton Regional Airport CAK CLT Before Modifications CLT After Modifications CAK Before Modifications CAK After Modifications 10 4 Airports Expectations after Completion of the Simulator 4 1 Use of the simulator used in training Time spent in the simulator during training averaged to about one hour per trainee All of the airport participants felt that the simulator had
145. select the recently added custom startup location Taxiway L and V 17 Verify that this location is in the position on the airfield selected by the placement of the black dot in Step 6 with the correct heading from Steps 7 and 8 18 Verify any other locations that you may have included for custom startup locations in Step 10 Section 3 Manually Creating Custom Startup Locations 1 If you are not in X Plane 7 63 double click on the X Plane 7 63 shortcut on the Desktop to open the program and go to KSJC On the Settings menu select the Data Input amp Output option circled in blue below About File Location Settings Output View Special Plates Plugins Data Input amp Output Weather Date 4 Time Weight amp Balance amp Fuel System Failures Other Aircraft Quick Flight Setup Sound Rendering Options Quicktime Movie Options Flight Data Recorder Files Joystick amp Equipment Operations amp Warnings For items numbered 16 labeled pitch roll headings and 18 labeled lat lon altitude check the boxes in the fourth column circled below in blue Selecting these boxes will display the current vehicle location latitude longitude coordinates and direction heading along with additional irrelevant information on the screen of the virtual environment while driving in the simulator tpur 2 Di 30 M FA FA FA engine power sc WM fs a smm mM switch
146. selected 2 00 a mr THect Draw a rectangle B 100 22 Click once in the Top xz view window to produce a square meter rectangle as illustrated below DIES m mi n n gt Camera Yiew Orth Size to f Top yx raum for fo fo Move ho fo fo _ Visibility ca Hide Sel Unsel None Lock Sel Unsel one Set Surface type Poly Polline Line Smooth Object name H i rect HEH 1 H 4 gt W Gridsnap W Select through 23 With Gridsnap checked readjust the length and width of the rectangle using the squares on the green boundary box and creating a line 24 To rotate the line change the mode to Rotate Left mouse button will select rotate selection about mouse pos second button from the left in first row circled in red below on the Mode bar located in the upper left corner just below the Select bar H Inivis AC3D File Edit Views Object Surface vertes Orth 30 Tools Help select All None Dup Cut Copy Paste Group Ur Dr up y Objects selected Camera View Orth Front Day B 101 25 The following is an illustration of a portion of a taxiway edge line E pu pu o Moweto o Eh iz Camera View Orth Size to hie JEL Ss JASA yoo ro Sar m 100 i 100 i 100 el EPA yl Fo leer N oe isibility il gt Hide Sel Ursel None IRE 207774 Lock Sel Unsel Hone l teen Seat Set Surface t
147. ss surveys were distributed Phase 3 Interviews with Airport Personnel In the final phase airport personnel were interviewed about their opinions on the development process as well as their satisfaction with the product The remainder of this report is divided into four sections Section 2 describes the airports expectations of a simulator before beginning the building process Section 3 discusses the airports experience during the building process including setup activities the types of questions that arose and the final product Section 4 examines how well the end product along with the process by which it was achieved matched expectations Section 5 explores the potential next steps for future research 2 Initial Expectations 2 1 Participation in the interviews Airports involved At the onset of the project five airports were selected to participate based on the airport managements interest to participate Akron Canton Regional Airport CAK Charlotte Douglas International Airport CLT Honolulu International Airport Oahu HNL Providence T F Green Airport PVD Richmond International Airport RIC Of these five airports four completed the building process PVD was the only airport unable to continue with the project Though the initial visit and interviews were conducted airport employees were not able to schedule time to complete the work needed for building a simulator Airport management was excited and interes
148. t obj files or aircraft vehicle acf files These image texture files act as skins which are laid over an object and subsequently determine what an object looks like in terms of shade and color GIMP 2 is a freeware product available at no cost and provides the user with a high level of control and options for texture editing however this program may be difficult to learn Consult http www libpng org pub png pngaped html for a list of other image editing B 10 applications if difficulty is experienced Microsoft Paint is recommended as a suitable application for users unfamiliar with texture editing Installation and Setup There are three major steps to installing and setting up X Plane 7 63 to be used as a low cost ground vehicle driving simulator The first step is to install X Plane 7 63 which establishes the X System folder and the included X Plane software WorldMaker exe PlaneMaker exe etc The second step is to install the third party software used to work with X Plane during the customization process XPTools TaxiDraw exe AC3D exe etc The third step includes a few minor arrangements in order to lay the groundwork for using X Plane to model your actual airport surface Part 1 Installing X Plane 7 63 1 Double click on the XWIN763 exe installer select C Program Files as the destination folder and then click the Install button 4 WinRAR self extracting archive e Press Install button to start extra
149. t to import into TaxiDraw http terraserver microsoft com GNU General Public License Obtain high quality satellite images of airport to import into TaxiDraw or to see airport detail http maps massgis state ma us massgiscolororthos viewer htm GNU General Public License Create manipulate or modify images that are used as textures applied to objects or vehicles X Plane requires portable network graphics PNG or bitmap BMP files http www gimp org GNU General Public License Automates the generation of taxiway signage http xsquawkbox net tools xptools index php GNU General Public License Provides a program to view objects with textures outside of X Plane http xsquawkbox net tools xptools index php GNU General Public License Open source software for 3D modeling animation and rendering http www blender3d org Part of X Plane SW Bundle Place objects on airport or anywhere in X Plane www X Plane com Part of X Plane SW Bundle Place objects on airport or anywhere in X Plane www X Plane com Appendix B Instructional Guide for Customizing Low Cost Airport Vehicle Driving Simulator Software B 1 Table of Contents INILOQUCHON sr aaa B 5 Installalon and SUD a B 13 Chapter 1 Visualizing Your fpot sn a u B 23 Chapter 2 Selecting and Changing a Vehicle oocccocccoccconcconcccncccnoncncanonanononos B 33 Chapter s Adj usting AA eno ares B 41 EHapler 2 8100 10 aio dice E B 51 Cha
150. tacles option through a single left click 22 Exit World Maker exe through the File dropdown menu using the Quit option 23 Double click on the X Plane 7 63 shortcut on the Desktop to open X Plane 7 63 exe 24 Visit KSJC and view the changes Then exit X Plane 7 63 exe 25 Re open World Maker 7 63 exe Repeat Steps 2 through 5 to return to a close view of KSJC 26 To add a custom object click on the bubble next to the add custom object option 2 Add the custom object to the southwest lower left section of the airport layout 28 Mouse click on the area of the airport surface where you would like to position the object 29 Click the buildings option in the pop up window then select the T Hangar obj file B 69 30 To add another hangar just click on the map next to the originally placed T Hangar obj file Until you execute a different action such as deleting the nearest obstacle to mouse click in World Maker exe clicking on the map in different locations will continue to add more of this customized object 31 Add at least two more T Hangar obj files to the airport surface 32 Choose select nearest obstacle to mouse click and click on a hangar If one of the hangars is still selected from when it was added to the airport surface this step is unnecessary 33 Press the Select current custom object button lower left portion of screen to change the hangar to hold short lines Click the lines folder in the window then
151. tain data that translate into the virtual environment of an airfield in X Plane 7 63 Each line identified by a prefixed numeric code represents a single item in the virtual environment While some information within the apt dat file is not relevant to a driving simulation the following is particularly useful Pace Representation Type of Information Included Title header Airfield s name and identifier line Piece of Location latitude longitude coordinates length pavement width lighting codes and identifier if representing a runway 15 Custom startup Location latitude longitude coordinates heading locations and menu option name 18 Rotating light Location latitude longitude coordinates beacon Location latitude longitude coordinates For more detailed information regarding each individual piece of information coded within an apt dat file along with the meaning of additional line prefix codes refer to the following website published by the creators of X Plane 7 63 htto Awww x plane org home robinp Apt715 htm The screenshot below shows only the contents of an actual apt dat file the header and footer are excluded E apt dat Notepad a JE File Edit Format View Help 1 611 Q KS3C Norman Y Mineta San Jose Intl A 37 363625 121 927711 12L 138 940 10992 1307 2537 37 362343 929512 12R 138 1019 890 18 37 931389 11x 138 32 920761 xxx 138 37 925774 xxx 138 900 8600 0000 150 341341 342342
152. ted in participating but the employees who would have been involved in building the simulator were limited by their current workload For the purposes of this report data collected from PVD will not be included Each participating airport with the exception of HNL was visited and a number of employees were interviewed Of those interviewed some were to be involved with building the actual driving simulator and some were to use the simulator in their training sessions either as instructors or trainees In many cases those who built the simulator were also involved directly with vehicle driver training as an instructor Data collection took place over one to two days During this time data was also collected regarding the configuration of the airport surface along with any unique attributes that potentially could be difficult to create in a simulated environment and therefore require additional assistance or documentation Information on the airport s training curriculum was gathered The setup of hardware and software required for the simulator was also completed The components and costs of the hardware and software for the simulator are listed in Appendix A During the setup session a tutorial on the simulator software and on the building process was provided The step by step manual that was used in this process can be found in Appendix B 2 2 Computer experience Three of the airports had one or more employee s involved with the build
153. tellite images or aerial photography that may be used as a background image for customizing your airport s pavement 8 Refer to Chapter 3 of this document for additional instruction and information regarding the setup and use of TaxiDraw as well as the online TaxiDraw tutorial found at the following website http taxidraw sourceforge net taxidraw tutorial html Installing 20 TaxiDraw AC3D exe 1 Go to the AC3D download website at the following address http www inivis com downloads html B 16 Click the Download button located next to AC3D for Windows Click Save and select the Desktop as the download destination On the Desktop double click on AC3D6107 exe and follow the on screen prompts to install a b h Click Next Read the license agreement Click on the circle to accept it and then click Next Read the purchasing information and click Next Select C Program Files AC3D 6 1 as the destination folder and click Next Indicate where to create the shortcuts and click Next Indicate which shortcut icons to create and click Next Review choices on the following screen and click Install Click Next Select the Launch AC3D checkbox and click Finish Follow any in program prompts or visit http www inivis com buy html to purchase the full version within the first 14 days of installing AC3D Pull down the Help menu from the top of the AC3D application window and select Enter License Key if the program
154. ter 12 Repeat Steps 3 through 6 to generate another random weather condition 13 Change the time of day using the Date and Time option on the Settings menu B 126 14 Load a different aircraft vehicle 15 Using the mouse move the cursor to the top left ofthe screen A menu bar will appear across the top of the screen 16 Select the File option through a single left click of the mouse A dropdown menu will appear 17 Within the dropdown menu select the Load Situation option through a single left click A screen similar to the following will appear SAY INTENTIONS 2004 sit ears Deteriot sit 095 Night sit NightTowMotor sit Snow sit hot sit new sit rapidDet sit r sampleFOGGY sit 18 Select the situation sit file saved in Step 11 for example sampleFOGGY sit 19 Check the simulation of weather conditions the settings on the Atmosphere tab in the Weather window along with the date time and currently loaded vehicle aircraft Ensure that these settings are the same as those that were saved as the sit file in Step 11 20 Repeat Steps 3 through 5 to open the Weather screen B 127 21 Experiment with the values on the screen by manipulating the settings then click on the X in either top corner to return to the simulation and view the adjustments 22 Open the Weather screen by repeating Steps 3 through 5 Note A working Internet connection must be established on the computer to continue w
155. ter clicking center of field B 81 5 Click and hold on the center of the box Drag the box so that the bottom edge rests on top of the X axis and the left edge rests on the Y axis illustrated below MH Inivis AC3D File Edit Views Object Surface Vertex Orth 30 Tools Help Seet O all None Dup Cut Copy Paste Group Ungroup Flip x lz 50 200 0 E amp VID 98 Groups Objects selected 1 A 0 001 O 20 2 1 ei gt E Camer Camera View Orth Mode Front xy Left E E Size ta Beet Views Orth Pi E Ce 6 Select the Orth option on the menu bar at the top of the screen circled below in blue A dropdown menu will appear A Inivis AC3D File Edit Views Object Surface veo Help PA e A an AB I None j jroup Flip amp ve x vertices EEE E Camera View y Surfaces Front boy w Headlight Normals m w Grid q e Subdivisions d Interactive wireframe w Show Axis Guides Col wireframe Object Centres Show Subdivision Originals Move to B 82 7 Within the dropdown menu check to make sure that the Wireframe option circled in green is unchecked and that the Texture option circled in red is checked 8 While the object is still selected select the Object option on the menu bar at the top of the screen circled in blue below A dropdown menu will appear J Inivis AC3D ls Orth 3D Tools Help
156. th the current view settings and the correctly scaled and calibrated background image Lat 37 373271 x 595006 45 Y Projection UTM Zone 10 XP 715 Runways Locked 23 Press the F5 key to zoom in on the intersection of Taxiways V and L To adjust your view of the intersection use the F4 key to zoom out and the directional arrow keys lt gt 1 4 to move the image within the window 24 To convert the 90 degree angled intersection to the less abrupt actual intersection curve both taxiway lines need to be shortened so that an accurate curve can be drawn to connect the two taxiways Click on Taxiway L which will turns purple to indicate that it has been selected 25 Press and hold Shift L shortens taxiway until the edge lines up with the beginning of Taxiway W front corner The L key lengthens the taxiway B 46 26 Click on Taxiway V to select the taxiway Press and hold Shift L until the edge lines up with the beginning of the intersection curve in the satellite image 27 While Taxiway V is still highlighted left click and hold on the green line going down the center of the taxiway outline While holding down the left click drag the taxiway to the right and place it on top of the satellite image taxiway This will reposition the TaxiDraw taxiway to more accurately match the satellite image MM TaxiDraw KSJC Norman Y Mineta San Jose Intl TER File Edit View Insert Airport Projection Background Tools Help Lon 1
157. the top of the screen A dropdown menu will appear 14 Select the Save As option Save the screenshot as SJCTaxiDrawScreenshot bmp at the following data path and press Save C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough Note The folder specific to your facility can be used in place of the SJC Walkthrough folder in the above data path The SJC in the file name can also be replaced with the identifier for another facility being used 15 Exit Microsoft Paint 16 Double click on the AC3D exe shortcut on the Desktop to open the program Close any tips that may pop up at the start of the program 17 Select the Orth option on the menu bar at the top of the Top xz view window circled in red below A dropdown menu will appear ah kon Sew MN Ui eed E Set Background Image e 4 1 0 fi a as x Foo oo 100 Visibility 55 Hide Sel Unsel None Lock Sel Unsel None Set Surface type W Gridsnap M Select through 18 Select the Set Background Image option circled in blue above Select the TaxiDraw screenshot SJCTaxiDrawScreenShot bmp that was just saved and load it as a background image from the following data path C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough Note The folder specific to your facility can be used in place of the SJC Walkthrough folder in the above data path The SJC in the file name can also be replaced with the identifier for another f
158. this project you will use the Place Aircraft by Airport option For future visits to specific parts of your airport you will use a customized starting location from the Ramp option a specific runway from the Takeoff option or the Instructor s Console If an airport different from the one being used for the low cost driving simulator project was loaded last the Place Aircraft by Airport option must be used prior to other options Part 2 Viewing Your Airport Viewing your airport prior to creating a customized version of your airfield is essential to determining the specific objects that need to be added deleted or manipulated This section identifies specific constraints involved with airport viewing and explains how to view the X Plane airfield of your virtual airport from different angles with use of shortcut controls B 24 Constraints X Plane 7 63 provides multiple view options however each option maintains the aircraft vehicle cockpit area driver s seat as a central focal point allowing you either to look out of the aircraft vehicle or to look in at it Looking out of the aircraft vehicle provides a limited field of view for the airport not much can be seen To view a particular portion of the airport with these two major constraints a combination of various aircraft vehicle placements and view changes are necessary Use the Ramp and Takeoff options under the Location menu or the Instructor s Console under the Output men
159. tical axis e d Pressing this key rotates the object counterclockwise on a vertical axis e w Pressing this key rotates the object clockwise on a horizontal axis e s Pressing this key rotates the object counterclockwise on a horizontal axis B 34 Part 3 Modifying an Existing Vehicle Plane Maker 7 63 uses aviation terms for vehicle construction since the program was designed for the formation of an aircraft Designing vehicles within Plane Maker is successful through relational trade offs You must determine what part of a vehicle is equivalent to a certain part of an aircraft For example a landing light on an aircraft could be reshaped and positioned according to the standards of a vehicle headlight The same logic is also applied to various parameters such as engine and tire dynamics For example changing the engine specifications of an aircraft to meet the engine specifications of a vehicle or changing the tire width of an aircrafts landing gear to meet the tire specifications of a vehicle B 36 Chapter 2 Walkthrough Exercise This section provides step by step instruction to apply the information from this chapter 1 Insert the X Plane Version 7 CD into the CD drive If the Explorer window pops up Close it Do not run or install any programs from this CD it is just the key to unlock X Plane and run it with access to the full version the demo version runs with limited capabilities 2 Double click on the X Plane 7
160. tlmage is used to load terrain texture files from TerraServer and apply them to scenery files but was not relevant or helpful in the development of a low cost driving simulator and therefore was not used This program comes bundled with the XP Tools package which is the only reason that it is mentioned B 9 AddObjects exe AddObjects is used to add custom objects to a scenery file by terrain type but was not relevant or helpful in the development of a low cost driving simulator and therefore was not used This program comes bundled with the XP Tools package which is the only reason that it is mentioned ObjConverter exe ObjConverter is used to convert Version 6 obj 3DS and DXF files to Version 7 Obj format but was not relevant or helpful in the development of a low cost driving simulator and therefore was not used This program comes bundled with the XP Tools package which is the only reason that it is mentioned TaxiDraw 0 2 exe TaxiDraw is a program used in the low cost driving simulator project to add edit taxiway and runway definitions of airports for X Plane This program is an independent application designed to work for both X Plane and FlightGear another flight simulator because both simulators make use of a common airport database maintained voluntarily by the independent enthusiast Robin Peel for more information visit http www x plane org home robinp This database defines the runways and taxiways in
161. ts have the unique ability to allow a user to manipulate or interact with them so the objects hold a different file extension than the static obj files as mentioned in the World Maker 7 63 section Instead these objects are aircraft acf files that can be moved and steered by the user during the simulation Plane Maker 7 63 is the application used for creating and modifying these acf files Since this program was designed specifically for aircraft rather than for surface vehicle customization its terminology and interface are rooted in aviation phraseology such as landing lights landing gear and panels etc therefore logical translations and assumptions must be adopted in order to find and work within standard driving terms such as headlights wheels and dashboard etc B 8 Airfoil Maker 763 exe Airfoil Maker 763 is used to customize airfoils for aircrafts but was not relevant or helpful in the development of a low cost driving simulator and therefore is not used This program comes bundled with the X Plane software which is the only reason that it is mentioned Briefer 763 exe Briefer 763 is used to generate preflight weather briefings but was not relevant or helpful in the development of a low cost driving simulator and therefore is not used This program comes bundled with the X Plane software which is the only reason that it is mentioned XP Tools XP Tools is a collection of programs that work with X Plane sc
162. ture Description Clean and dry All temperatures No interference with driving Slushy Varies per elevation of airport Mild interference with a couple degrees at 35 F or driving braking and or less 2 C turning Damp Varies per elevation of airport Mild interference with a couple degrees at 36 F or driving more 23 C braking and or turning Icy Varies per elevation of airport Strong interference with a couple degrees at 35 F or driving braking and or less 2 C turning Wet Varies per elevation of airport Strong interference with a couple degrees at 36 F or driving more 23 C braking and or turning B 116 Two options exist for the distribution of slippery surfaces uniform and patchy The uniform option evenly distributes the same level of slipperiness or texture across the pavement of the virtual environment The patchy option randomly distributes slippery textures to different spots throughout the airport surface The following visual shows the runway conditions control runway conditions Note The values appearing on the screenshot above are random and do not necessarily represent ideal settings Potentially Useful Controls The following controls are not necessary for driving simulator tasks but allow for innovative use of variables in different scenarios Some of these controls may not be particularly useful to all driving simulation tasks but would not be considered irrelevant 1 Rate of Chang
163. u to place the aircraft vehicle on different portions of the airport surface Shortcut Controls Changes in view are easiest to accomplish by using the following shortcut keys a Pressing this letter once will shift the view to look at the aircraft vehicle from behind shift Pressing the shift key at the same time as the minus underscore key will remove the dashboard cockpit view from the screen providing a better field of view when driving and observing the simulated airfield w Pressing this key once will return the view to inside the aircraft vehicle cockpit area driver s seat If already inside the aircraft vehicle pressing this key once will display the cockpit dashboard view if not currently visible Pressing the up arrow will raise the elevation of your view bird s eye view Pressing the down arrow will lower the elevation of your view _ Press and hold the minus underscore key to zoom out from the airfield surface Note Be careful not to zoom out too far or you will lose sight of the airport all together Press and hold the plus equals key to zoom in closer to the airfield surface lt Pressing the left arrow key rotates the screen clockwise gt Pressing the right arrow key rotates the screen counterclockwise Finger Positioning Once you are familiar with the keys associated with viewing the airfield from different angles faster manipulation of the field of view ma
164. ubdiv Groups Objects selected 5 x 146 70 Y 0 00 Z 88 40 W 3 92 H 0 00 D 7 98 iew Orth nn Set Surface type Poly Polline Lin Smooth Flat 15 2 Object name 4 gt W Gridsnap MW Select through E y B 104 4 To ensure that the correct side of the line will be textured zoom in on the object in the Front xy view window as shown below A Inivis ACID File Edit Views Object Surface Vertex Orth 30 Tools Help AI None Dup Cut Copy Paste Group Urowup Flip 2 50 2008 11 Nothing selected A 29907 1 Camera View Orth Pa m 5 Press n to view which side will be textured pink lines will come out of that side circled in green as shown below If the lines come above the x axis the line is textured properly A Inivis ACID File Edit Views Object Surface Vertex Orth 30 Tools Help all None Dup Cut Copy Paste Groupl Ungroup Flip Eaa 50 200 1L Nothing selected 36 20 3 Fi Mic sooo Camera View Orth Front oy Y sj fe m Mowe bo 2 m EMS B 105 6 Since the pink lines appear below the x axis circled in green press Ctrl Shift N to switch sides The indication that the texture will be applied to the correct side is shown below A Inivis AC3D File Edit Views Object Surface Verkex Orth 30 Tools Help Mone Dup Cut Copy Paste Group Unaroup
165. ulator task The advantages of using this control are the ability to create new weather conditions for a driver through a single click of the mouse and allowing B 117 the driver to encounter weather conditions that may not have been previously considered or were not previously achieved If a desirable weather condition is discovered the scenario can be saved as a situation file for later use as described in this Chapter s Walkthrough exercise The disadvantages of using this button are the relinquishment of control over variable regulation and the possibility of using this function without ever finding a desirable weather condition The following is an illustration of the Randomize Weather and Close Window button Low Altitude Wind Layer The low altitude wind layer control manipulates the AGL elevation for the lowest wind layer The minimum accepted value for this setting is 1 000 ft AGL and the maximum accepted value is 99 999 ft AGL Permanently setting the wind layer at the minimum height is preferable to ensure that any manipulations of wind speed and direction affect driving conditions on the airport surface The recommended low altitude wind layer control settings appear as follows A OA ee n ee Se low altitude T 000 feet AGL wind layer y 9098 Green Tiered Wind Controls As described in the section on irrelevant controls the same five wind controls wind speed magnetic wind direction shear speed shear dir
166. uld like to reposition the desired object without holding the mouse click while dragging Clicking without holding repositions the object in closest proximity to the area that is mouse clicked which may not be the desired object especially if planning to move a far distance B 64 Selecting Obstacles The select nearest obstacle to change it option does not need to be used to select objects prior to using one of the other function controls Selecting an object is only used for changing custom objects and for altering headings and heights To select an object in the virtual airport choose the select nearest obstacle to change it option shown below then click on or directly next to the object that you wish to select The selected object will flash silver and white Unselected objects are pale yellow in color Height adjustments can be made when a generic object is selected and headings object orientations can be changed when a custom object is selected these adjustments are automatically saved Terrain lat 37 deg y ab lon 122 deg Pr JUE ia delete nearest obstacle to mouse click move nearest obstacle to mouse click A select nearest obstacle to change it Part 3 Placing Built in Obstacles The Obstacles tab in World Maker exe provides four different generic objects for placement within the virtual airport These four types of objects buildings radio tower cooling tower and smokestacks
167. ure applied will be visible if it is not checked the texture will not be visible This option is also located on the Orth and 3D dropdown menus at the top of the screen 5 Object centres is an option that permits you to view the center of the object or shape being modeled If this option is checked a crosshair symbol appears in the center of the object This option is also located on the Orth and 3D dropdown menus at the top of the screen 6 Shortcut controls are commonly used in AC3D exe The following table provides a visual of these controls along with a brief explanation of their function Al Selects all lines and Switches to Object Mode which allows for the selection of objects as a whole objects Switches to Surface Mode which allows for the selection of surfaces or edges of an T Deselects all selected one lines and objects object Switches to Vertex Mode which allows for the selection Cop Copies a selection i of vertices or points of an object Pastes a selection Cuts a selection NS Duplicates a selection y Flips selection along Z axis Flips selection along Zooms the view of an object x axis in a window Flips selection along ral Spins the view of an object in y axis Bea t Previews the model without Expands a selection grid or axis markings gt Moves a selection a Rotates a selection eel Creates a box Creates a rectangle Creates a light in the form of a small glowing sp
168. way and taxiway configuration data for a globally comprehensive list of actual airfields This chapter explains the importance of apt dat files including the contents and structure of smaller apt dat files along with how to save and load those files The master apt dat file is located within the Earth nav data folder of the Resources folder in the X System folder For example the apt dat file can be found at the following data path C X System 7 63 Resources Earth nav datalapt dat A smaller apt dat file containing the information specific to an individual airfield is generated through TaxiDraw exe for pavement adjustments Saving this smaller file to a specified location allows X Plane 7 63 to load the customized pavement adjustments created in TaxiDraw exe rather than the generic scenery provided by X Plane 7 63 The software used to build the simulator is summarized below X System 7 63 X System 7 63 is a directory that contains the X Plane 7 63 flight simulator and other specialized applications for modifying or customizing the user s experience The X System 7 63 directory is often referred to as the X System folder throughout this document and serves as the core storage location for all programs and files associated with X Plane These programs and files come directly packaged with X Plane and were designed specifically for X Plane purposes The 7 63 refers to the version available and utilized at the start of the Volpe Center
169. xture to the object Default texture files such as those for standard airport signs and markings are found in the Custom Object Textures folder located in the Custom Scenery folder Any texture files that are created must also be stored in the Custom Object Textures folder Currently a yellow taxi line texture exists in the Lines subfolder of Custom Object Textures and two sign textures Taxi bmp and TaxiLIT bmp for day and night respectively exist in the Signage subfolder Viewing Controls After an object obj file has been dragged into the ObjView exe window the object can be viewed from all different angles and directions The following controls are used for zooming and rotating the object Left mouse click and hold Moves drags the object around the window Right mouse click and hold Rotates the object in 3 D Mouse scroll wheel Zooms in and out B 59 Part 2 Application Guidelines Principles of Texture Files When using ObjView exe several things should be considered Although any bmp or png file can be dragged into ObjView exe and placed on top of an object as a texture the texture is mapped onto the object according to the instructions from the object script which are written for specific texture files If the texture being applied is not the one specified in the obj file strange looking patterns will result Once a texture is dragged into ObjView exe all future objects dragged into that particular Ob
170. xy view to fit the full screen by pressing the double square button circled in blue below may provide more room for centering the object J Inivis ACID Fie Edit Views Object Surface Vertex Orth 30 Tools Help mii Al None Dup Cut Copy Faste Group Ungraup Flip x Y zl 50 ue 10 vertices selected 163 Camera View Orth Move bo an i 11 After centering the object the screen should appear as follows OS Inivis ACID File Edit Views Object Surface Vertex Orth 3D Tools Help All None Dup Cut Copy Paste Group Ungu Flip x z 50 200 10 Select a g y y vertices selected 163 0 007 3 902 Camera View Orth gt za Cam Mode n n J Front xy Pamera Wiens Dirk B 95 12 On the Select bar located in the upper left corner just below the menu bar change the option to Vertex Select manipulate individual vertices mode first button on the left circled in red below OS Inivis ACID File zul Views Object Surface vere Orth 3D Tools Help woe None Dupl Cut Dup Cutl Copy Paste Group Ung O Groupe U bjects selected 1 amera au Orth FOLIE LL groups and Pes encase e Front xy 13 Repeat Steps 8 through 10 except use the hangar bmp file rather than the taxi bmp file as the texture located at the following data path C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery San Bernardino Example custom object textures SoCal
171. y This control manages the likelihood of a microburst which is a localized column of sinking air producing damaging divergent and straight line winds at the surface Microbursts are important to aviation because a landing aircraft can crash if a pilot does not know how to account for or detect them however these occurrences are not detectable by vehicles The lowest microburst probability setting is none the highest is very high and the intermediary settings are slight moderate and high Permanently setting the microburst probability at the minimum value eliminates the effects that it produces Further use of this control is not considered relevant since the variable is strictly related to aviation The following shows the recommended setting for this control none microburst probability e 10 Blue Tiered Wind Turbulence Controls These controls are available for the five different variables wind speed magnetic direction shear speed shear direction and turbulence that can be manipulated independently or collectively controlled by use of the wind and turbulence control The top dark blue bar and the middle light blue bar control the effects of the specified variable on the high altitude and mid altitude wind layers respectively Since neither of these wind layers is relevant to driving simulator tasks the blue tiered controls should always be set at the minimum accepted value of 0 The B 122 maximum values differ dependin
172. y be facilitated using the following finger positioning after pressing the a key Left hand Utilize the minus underscore key with the middle finger and the key with the index finger Right hand Utilize the left arrow with the index finger up and down arrows with the middle finger and the right arrow with the ring finger Now you can use your two left fingers to zoom in or out and your three right fingers to move float the view around Try holding the keys down to speed up movement instead of repeatedly pressing them B 26 Chapter 1 Walkthrough Exercise This section provides step by step instruction to apply the information from the chapter 1 Insert the X Plane Version 7 CD into the CD drive If the Explorer window pops up Close it Do not run or install any programs from this CD it is just the key to unlock X Plane and run it with access to the full version the demo version runs with limited capabilities 2 Double click on the X Plane 7 63 shortcut on the Desktop to open the program 3 Using the mouse move the cursor to the top left of the screen This will result in the appearance of a menu bar across the top of the screen 4 Select the Location option through a single left click of the mouse A dropdown menu will appear About File Location Settings Plugins Ramp Takeoff VER Final ILS Final Over VOR Over MAR Place Aircraft by Airport Output View E Special Plates nn Special In Flight
173. y represent ideal settings B 108 There must always be at least 3 000 feet between the cloud bases of the upper layer and the cloud tops of the lower layer if this minimum difference does not exist X Plane 7 63 automatically adjusts the heights to maintain the separation The following table lists the acceptable values for cloud tops Upper Layer MSL 3 000 ft MSL 96 999 ft to 99 999 ft MSL Lower Layer MSL O ft MSL 90 999 ft MSL Note Since the upper layer of cloud tops appears above the lower layer and the visual focus for driving simulator tasks perceives only the lower layer the upper cloud top settings are not particularly relevant Cloud Bases This control works with the cloud tops control to help determine the thickness of the cloud layer Corresponding to the cloud tops controls are two cloud bases controls one for an upper layer of clouds and one for a lower layer While X Plane 7 63 does not specify which control is for which layer the control that appears highest on the Weather screen circled in blue below corresponds to the upper layer while the control that appears lower on the screen circled in green corresponds to the lower layer 3 AGL A cloud tops 26 554 MSL pTI AAC ORAA Fa 25 09 9 AGL Note The values appearing on the screenshot above are random and do not necessarily represent ideal settings There must always be at least 3 000 feet between the upper
174. ype amem mi Foly Polpline Line Le See Smooth Object name rect if 5 et SSE Ieee ii yaa a a lp lel nd ie ei al in o M Gridsnap W Select through Note While taxiway edge lines are generally double lines and much smaller in width the line being used in the screenshots is for instructional purposes and is much larger in order to provide a clearer visualization for this document 26 Use Texture Coordinate Editor as described in Steps 6 through 18 to texture the line with the desired color An example of a textured line is illustrated below Camera View Orth e lee au ai marge Lil AAA Bl Visibility Hide 5e Lock Se ae ie MA EU a nm o ie ern iii a ym td lal elt pla Lj LI us Ss En a he aS SS FOREN Tr JE I No 1 A a a a 6 ti i lt i lt ja fer W Gridsnap M Select through All au 2 Repeat Steps 22 through 26 to save and export the line file Save as Line1 ac and Line1 obj 28 Prior to placing the line in X Plane with World Maker the obj file needs to be altered to ensure that the line is a flat object Open Microsoft Notepad B 102 29 Open the Line1 obj file in Notepad from the following data path C X System 7 63 Custom Scenery SJC Walkthrough custom objects Note The folder specific to your facility can be used in place

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