Comments on: Draped Object Geometry in X-Plane 10

By: Two Features for Scenery Conversions | X-Plane Developer Blog

Two Features for Scenery Conversions | X-Plane Developer Blog — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:15:20 +0000

[…] Geometry: I’ve mentioned this feature before; basically in X-Plane 10, the horizontal geometry that sits “on the ground” can […]

By: Benjamin Supnik

Benjamin Supnik — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 17:01:00 +0000

There will be more info coming when the real authoring guides for v10 are released. But ...

- Generally the draped part of the OBJ is almost exactly the same in cost as a draped polygon.

- Generally you want to use the OBJ when you have small decals, particularly ones that need to match ONE object.

- You want to use a .pol when you have HUGE decals (like an ortho of an airport) that have to be registered with MANY objects.

- Some MSFS converts have large poly_os geometry segments, there won't be any harm converting them to draped OBJs.

A draped-only OBJ should have the same cost as a pol, and no OBJ-related cost.

By: Anton

Anton — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:58:38 +0000

Hi!

One more question. What about performance? In which cases will it be advisable to use a drapped object, and in which a drapped polygon? Is it only a matter of modularity? (i.e. objects may be more suitable for replication across the scenery and polygons for single instances...)

By: Benjamin Supnik

Benjamin Supnik — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:40:44 +0000

yes. transparency is honored…which is pretty useful for 'integrating' the ground footprint.

By: Steve in Tucson

Steve in Tucson — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:47:57 +0000

Ben, will .png transparency be honored for the draped object's texture so that the edges can be "feathered in" to the surrounding terrain if needed?

This is definitely not spam. I prefer green eggs and ham!

Steve

By: Benjamin Supnik

Benjamin Supnik — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:13:41 +0000

Hi AJ,

Completely flattened to a square; the vertical coordinate is ignored.

By: A.J.

A.J. — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 22:24:51 +0000

Am I correct in assuming that any draped geometry must be 2d? If, for example, I tossed attr_draped onto a cube, would it be smooshed into the ground, or would the geometry become vertically skewed to match the lay of the land?

The latter could be quite useful for detailed fences, and so on.

By: simmo

simmo — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:22:05 +0000

This is not spam. Not spam not spam..

Good moves Ben, I love trying to make ground marks eg dirt and skid marks, attr_poly_os can be a pain to get right, so hopefully this makes it perfect now

Simon