Screenshots031

From CSP

Here are the first results of an experiment to automatically generate runway textures with accurate markings and highly detailedtextures. Runway heading, L/R marking, width, and length are input to the Python program, which generates a skinned 3D model (.osg). The model must then be retesselated by a separate tool to match the local terrain before being used in CSP.

The repeated concrete texture (256x256) has a texel size of about 2 cm, while the runway markings (which fit into a 1024x1024 texture with lots of room to spare) have about 10 cm resolution. The skid marks are added with a third texture (512x512, only halfused so far). On most modern hardware all three textures are applied in a single pass. The runway marking texture can be reused for any runway of the same width. Extra space in the runway marking texture will be used for taxi entry and exit points. The taxiways, blast pad, etc, will probably be generated and textured separately.

There's no reason this tool can't be extended to automatically generate and place standard signs, lights, etc, with far greater ease than hand modelling and with complete precision.

For those who are interested, detailed runway and taxiway marking guides are available at http://www.airlinemuseum.com/airportworkshop/faadesign.htm

An excellent source of civil aviation images is http://www.airliners.net/

Here's one for those of you who prefer the more weathered look. This is a slight variation on the approach used for the previous shot, in that the detail texture is now 1024x1024 and repeats over a 50x50 m area. This texture contains all of the weatheringdetail (cracks, discoloration, etc.) The textures were made quickly in the Gimp, so I'm sure they can be improved significantly. One big advantage of this approach is that all the textures are applied with GL_MODULATE, so lighting works without any special effort (the shot above used GL_DECAL for the markings).

Finally, here's what it looks like in the sim. The retesselator has mapped the runway vertices onto the local terrain (no extravertices were needed since this area happens to be rather flat), and OpenGL's polygon offset has been enabled to prevent z-fighting with the underlying terrain. The two surfaces are completely coplanar, unlike earlier runway attempts in CSP. The only strange thing is that display lists must be disabled for the runway to prevent the runway texture coordinates from thrashing the M2k's texturing. This bug is still being tracked down.