FS Architect 2002 Lesson 1: Custom Runway Textures

Lesson 1: Creating Custom Polygon Runways

Let's face it. Every real-world runway is different! Skid marks, weather, wear and tear, pavement type, markings, grass, cracks: all factors that contribute to the unique look of a runway. Have you ever noticed that all Flight Simulator airports have the same generic and bland look? Photorealistic areas like Meigs/Chicago really stand out from the default scenery because they have a unique look.

Now you can give every airport you create that special touch. With FS Architect 2002, and Paint Shop Pro it's easy to create a custom runway texture that includes skid marks, cracks, stripes -- use your imagination and your scenery will be much more interesting and fun to fly. It's easy, and this lesson will help you learn this technique. So let's get started!

Prerequisite: Ability to create an airport with FS Architect 2002. Beginners should complete the Simple Airport Tutorial in the Architect help file before attempting this lesson.
Software: All image handling for this lesson is done with Paint Shop Pro.

Step 1: Create the Runway In your favorite paint program, create a 256 color bitmap image of the entire runway. Starting with 1024x64 will result in a 256x256 final texture, or 2048x128 will result in a 512x512 final texture size.	click to download this sample
Draw the runway texture, and any skid marks, numbers or markings that you desire. You can paint the center line, ID numbers, and other markings right into the runway texture. The centerline, markings, and ID numbers are optional because you can still use the default Flight Simulator markings on the top of your custom texture.	This image shows the layout of the "strips" in the original image. For a 512x512 final texture, the size of each strip will be 512x128. For 256x256, the size of each strip will be 256x64.
	Step 2: Create the FS Texture Using Paint Shop Pro, create a new 256 color texture image that will become the custom runway texture. The size should correspond to the image created in Step 1. 256x256 or 512x512 size textures work best for most applicaitons.
Step 3: Rearrange the Texture Select and copy the strip sections one by one from the runway image, and paste them into the new texture image. After pasting, each strip should be rotated counter-clockwise 90 degrees and moved into place.	(figure 2)
When using the selection tool in PSP, watch the status bar to select the exact strip image. In this lesson, we are using a 512x512 final texture, so each strip will be 512x128 in size. Select a 512x128 section in the source image for Strip 1.
	Paste as a new selection into the texture image, rotate the selection 90 degrees left, then move the selection into the Strip 1 location. Repeat for the other strips. Click here to download the final texture.
Step 4: Create the Runway in Architect To assign the texture to an Architect runway, edit the properties of the runway object, and assign the custom texture.
That's it! The runway will appear in Architect and Flight Simulator using the custom texture but it will still use the default Flight Simulator lighting graphics. Notice in this example, we left the runway ID numbers to Flight Simulator, so this texture can be used for a runway in any orientation. Use your imagination and create unique runway textures for EVERY runway you create. It will make your scenery much more interesting, and fun to fly!

If you have any suggestions that might make this lesson easier to follow or use, please send them to support@pouksim.com.