Creating scenery for Micro Flight

	Scenery Tutotial Main page		Tile based scenery
	Photorealistic scenery		USGS scenery

The USGS imported scenery is designed to make use of the extensive data available on the web at the USGS download site.

The import process requires using the popular 3DEM software made by Visualization Software LLC by Richard Horne, the software can be downloaded here.

The process of importing this type of scenery to Micro Flight is simple:

• Download the DEM file from the USGS server.
• Load the file into 3DEM using "Load terrain model".
• From 3DEM select "Save terrain matrix" as a binary signed integer file.
• Take the files created (*.bin and *.hdr) and put them into an empty directory.
• Take a few terrain textures and place inside the new scenery directory.
• Run Micro Flight and select the new scenery.

The benfit of using Micro Flight with this type of ecenery is enourmous, you can navigate real USGS scenery and fly inside it, making Micro Flight an essential tool for anyone working with this type of data.

Continue to the USGS scenery tutorial

The advantages of using USGS scenery are:

• Terrain elevations are imported easily and placed at the correct position on the world map.
• Objects can be positioned using exact coordinates rather than tiles.
• Elevations are more accurate as they use 16 bit elevation matrix instead of 8 bit bmp file.
• There is no limit to the diversity of the scenery objects, they are not limited to tiles.

Note:
The use of objects.txt is not limited to the USGS scenery only, it can be used for others types of scenery also, so these benefits can be combined with other type of scenery as well.

The USGS scenery uses the following files:

Mat.hdr - this is the header file exported by 3DEM using the binary signed integer file type.
Mat.bin - this is the matrix file exported by 3DEM using the binary signed integer file type.

Any name can be used for the Mat.hdr and Mat.bin as long as it is identical to both.

Objects.txt:

This file is the main object definition file, it should be placed into the scenery directory and not inside the models directory of it, its structure is similar to the structure of the *.def file, but the positions are given in coordinates.

Another difference is that this file can contain a procedure call to another *.txt file that is loaded and placed with scaling, rotation and offset from the file that called it.
Up to 12 levels of procedures can be used, for example objects.txt can call airport.txt, airport.txt can call houses.txt, runway.txt, garden.txt etc...

The objects.txt or any *.txt file can have comments in the form of // comment, these comment the whole line.

An example of the objects.txt file and one procedure call can be seen in the following example:

objects.txt

// first group

buildrw1 4.4427 45.7536 0.0 0.0 3 6 4
buildrw1 4.4427 45.7549 0.0 0.0 3 3 4
buildrw1 4.4427 45.7521 0.0 0.0 3 3 4
Sphere 4.4427 45.7536 65.0 1.0 255 255 255
Light 4.4425 45.7536 5.0 250.0 255 0 0

Blink 4.4406 45.7350 10.0 1.0 1 1 1
Blink 4.4406 45.7350 20.0 1.0 1 1 1
Blink 4.4406 45.7350 30.0 1.0 1 1 1

// second group

Array_a 4.4390 45.7535 0.0 64 10 15 100
LightArray 4.4390 45.7535 0.0 64 1 1 500
Smoke 4.4390 45.7535 0.0 1.0 127 127 127
Light 4.4390 45.7535 50.0 250.0 255 255 0

// runway object

Patch_a 4.4406 45.7350 1850 40 0.5 0 1

// plate object

Surface_a 4.440877 45.753563 0.0 0.0 1 1 1

// group of objects

houses1.txt 4.4146 45.7210 0.0 0.5 2 2 2

An example of the procedure file can be seen here:

houses1.txt

// first group

buildrw1 0.0037 0.0001 0.0 0.0 3 6 4
buildrw1 0.0037 0.0014 0.0 0.0 3 3 4
buildrw1 0.0037 -0.0014 0.0 0.0 3 3 4
Sphere 0.0037 0.0001 65.0 1.0 255 255 255
Light 0.0035 0.0001 5.0 250.0 255 0 0

Blink 0.0016 -0.0185 10.0 1.0 1 1 1
Blink 0.0016 -0.0185 20.0 1.0 1 1 1
Blink 0.0016 -0.0185 30.0 1.0 1 1 1

// second group

Array_a 0.0000 0.0000 0.0 64 10 15 100
LightArray 0.0000 0.0000 0.0 64 1 1 500
Smoke 0.0000 0.0000 0.0 1.0 127 127 127
Light 0.0000 0.0000 50.0 250.0 255 255 0

// runway object

Patch_a 0.0016 -0.0185 1850 40 0.5 0 1

// plate object

Surface_a 0.0018 -0.0005 0.0 0.0 1 1 1

The procedure file has relative coordinates and not absolute as the objects.txt has, it is loaded at the original position of the procedure ( 4.4146 45.7210 0.0 0.5 2 2 2 ) at a rotation ( 0.5 ) and scaling as specified ( 2 ).

The parameters for calling the procedure are similar to object calling:

East Coordinate, Noth Coordinate, Elevation, Angle, Scale_x, Scale_y, Scale_z