Scenery Tools

Laminar Research Tools

These tools are created by LR for X-Plane.  They are all open source and also available as ready-to-download binaries:

  • AC3D Export Plugin.  This plugin allows the 3-d editor AC3D to import and export X-Plane .OBJ 3-d models.
  • Command-Line Tools. These tools allow you to quickly manipulate DSF files, PNG/DDS files, Obj files, with batch files or from the command line. The package also includes a drag and drop utility to assist.
  • DataRefEditor. This plugin allows you to change x-plane’s built in DataRefs, very useful for plugin developers.
  • MeshTool.  MeshTool is a command-line tool to build base meshes from raw data.
  • WorldEditor.  WorldEditor is a graphical scenery editor.  You can use it to create overlay scenery and customize airports.
  • XPlane2Blender. These scripts have been developed by Ondrej Brinkel & Ted Greene. They can be used to import or export scenery or cockpits from Blender to X-Plane.
  • Substance Painter set up file. This configuration file lets you export texture work done in Substance to X-Plane’s texture and normal map formats. Substance will merge metalness, roughness, and normals all into a single normal map file. LIT, albedo, and normal maps also all export with standard X-Plane naming conventions intact.

Third Party Tool Links

Jonathan Harris has developed a set of export scripts for Blender, a free, powerful 3-d modeler: http://marginal.org.uk/x-planescenery/.