[TUTORIAL] Advanced Elevation Grid Rotation

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Lor599
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[TUTORIAL] Advanced Elevation Grid Rotation

Post by Lor599 »

Note: this tutorial is very similar to Waspe414's tutorial on 3-D rotation, but focused on elevation grids.

Alright so lets say we are creating a ramp that connects to a bridge or something. Chances are it will look something like this.
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Notice how the vertical wall extends from the ground. But let's say I want the vertical wall to also be sloped so it looks nicer. This cannot be done inside of scenery editor itself.

First, open a new FLD and insert your elevation grid. MAKE SURE TO INPUT THE WIDTH FIRST! (if you want it to be bent a little bit insert more than one grid on the z axis)
Image
Now, add the thickness of your ramp (show/hide side wall)
Next, you're going to rotate the elevation gird to the slope of the ramp we want. So if we want a 20º slope rotate it 20º.
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Now, you are going to save the FLD. DO NOT EXPORT IT AS AN ELEVATION GRID AS IT WILL NOT WORK. Open the FLD in notepad and find the TER part and do the following.
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Now open up the FLD in scenery editor and you should have a sloped elevation grid with the vertical walls also sloped.
Image

I also added support beams.
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You are only limited by your imagination, there is probably lots you can do with these that I have not thought of.
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Advanced Elevation Grid Rotation

Post by Neocon »

I'm going to have to play with this and see what's possible.
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Advanced Elevation Grid Rotation

Post by Gunny »

So can you import and export these as a .ter or a .fld file only?
Image[/align=centre]
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Advanced Elevation Grid Rotation

Post by Lor599 »

Gunny wrote:So can you import and export these as a .ter or a .fld file only?
Unfortunately, no, if you were to import the .TER it would be flat again.
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Advanced Elevation Grid Rotation

Post by waspe414 »

As a note, unless something has changed in the 2015 version, elevation grids that have a base above y=0 have no collision detection. I'm not sure what the limitations are (if it's rotated and has a part below y=0 does it collide?), but trying to make a ramp by rotating will probably not get you far.

(A solution would be to put regular one underneath and hide the faces)
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Advanced Elevation Grid Rotation

Post by Lor599 »

waspe414 wrote:As a note, unless something has changed in the 2015 version, elevation grids that have a base above y=0 have no collision detection. I'm not sure what the limitations are (if it's rotated and has a part below y=0 does it collide?), but trying to make a ramp by rotating will probably not get you far.

(A solution would be to put regular one underneath and hide the faces)
Yes, there is no collision so you would go through the ramp. But I was thinking to use this for visual purposes.
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