SceneryDesign.org Today the FsDeveloper site will be down again for most of the day, this is because today we will do a second (and hopefully last) attemp to move the site to the new server and get all the new features we have been working on live for the end user as well. I expect the site to go down around 12:00 (CET) and then appear live again somewhere in the evening.
Preparing for another trip to the US
Some of you already know, but next week I will be travelling to the US again. This time it is not for work and I will be going to Seattle. That is because I am going to the AvSim FanConf and the DevConf this year. I am really looking forward to this and if some of you will also be there I am looking forward to have a talk with you.
Because I also have to prepare some presentations for these events, I did not have some much time last week to check the forums and reply to posts. Also this week I think the preparations might take quite a bit of my spare time. I hope you understand that.
Panoramic photos
When on vacation I always like to make panoramic images, because that gives a much nicer view of the landscape. And also because my camera, a Canon Powershot A70, has a nice setting for that. Until now I mainly used the software supplied with the camera to stitch the separate images together. Although the software works fine in most cases, I was looking for a replacement lately as I am using Linux more and more now for my non-FS related work. In the end I found some nice tools that seem to give an even better end result than the software supplied with the camera. So if you like to stitch panoramic images together as well you might want to take a look at Autopano and the Hugin. Autopano helps in finding the overlapping points in the photos, while Hugin is a nice GUI to make your final panoramic image.
FsDeveloper update not fully completed
This weekend Nick and I have been working on moving the FsDeveloper site to a new server. We have been able to do some preparations. But once we really wanted to move the site, we found out there was a technical problem with the server we were moving to. So unfortunately we could not finish the move. We have now put the site back online, but that is still on the old server, so within a few weeks we will have to put it offline again to try to move again.
FsDeveloper down this weekend
Part of this weekend the FsDeveloper site will be down. That is because we are going to move it to another server and also improve the site in other aspects. For example a better Wiki integration and an easier navigation menu are on the todo list. So don’t panic when you can’t reach the site this weekend.
Geoids, projections, datum, what?
At work I came across this nice article that explains some basics of GIS data projections, datums, geoids, etc. Although the target audiance of it is more the oil industry, I think it would also be good reading for people making FsX terrain scenery and wanting to know a little more about what could be involved when using GIS data. Because knowing that the data is in the right projection, etc is very important for the best result.
Little update from abroad
As you can see I do have internet access while on travel for my work at the moment. Yesterday we arrived on our destination and today we had a sort of free day to rest from the travelling and enjoy the surrounding landscape a bit. So together with my collegue we drove around in the car a bit, we have seen Paris and Montpelier. Mind you, we are not in France, but in the United States. From Salt Lake City we drove north in the direction of Bear Lake and it seemed that in Southern Idaho they also have a Paris, is it only slightly smaller than the well known Paris.
But I am not only writing this blog post to talk about my travelling. Just before I left, I was able to post a new version of ModelConverterX. This new alpha versions solves most of the problems reported before and should hopefully make the tool a little more useful. Of course there are still more then enough features on my todo list, but it should at least allow the conversion of some simple macro objects.
Although I have internet here, I will probably not be able to follow the forums as closely as I can do at home. So don’t expect me to reply as often as normal and I might also not reply to all emails. But at least I can still monitor things a little bit.
I am back for a little while
Just a quick note to let you all know I got back from my vacation safely. I still have to do some unpacking of bags, washing of cloths, etc. So I will be doing that first, before I return fully online and start to read my email and the forums again.
Also, next week I will be away travelling for my work, so I will only be home for a few days. Hopefully just enough to catch up with everything going around.
See you in two weeks
My vacation is now really getting near. Tomorrow morning I will have to leave very early to get to Schiphol and fly to Malaga, Spain. I am really looking forward to get cycling again in an area that is not so extremely flat as the Dutch polder landscape I live in.
I have also been able to put an updated version of ModelConverterX online. It solves some of the problems the first alpha release had, so that should allow you to convert more objects without trouble. Of course it is still an alpha version, so I am sure you will be able to find some more bugs while I am away. But that is something for me to worry about when I get back.
So, see you in two weeks time and don’t expect me to reply to forum posts or emails until then.
Wat was waar
This title probably makes no sense to the non-Dutch readers, but it is the name of a website I came across today. On this website you can watch old maps and aerial photos of the Netherlands in a Google Earth style. And in this case with old I mean maps from the 19th century or aerial photos from the Second World War. So if that interests have a look at the site, I enjoyed it a lot browsing through it.