whisplacer

Whisplacer - an object placer with live preview features

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Version Française en cours d'édition

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Introduction

Whisplacer is originally a tool I developped to show how the simconnect API can be used to insert live scenery objects in FSX. I decided to make it a full-featured object placer because I felt globally disatisfied with SDK's object placement tool and I wanted a tool that can be used remotely on a second computer.

Whisplacer is an XML object placer with the following features:

• Top-Down map view
• open/save XML files
• open/save BGL files (experimental)
• Live preview of inserted library objects in FSX
• Insert/Edition of beacons, windsocks and effects
• See a thumbnail of library objects
• Use background images
• Line/Polygon filling tools

You must have java JRE 5.0 installed. get it free at http://java.sun.com

Download / History

Since 0.8, Whisplacer comes in two packages, a thumbnails package containing images of library objects included in FSX libraries and a program package.

Thumbnails package :

Last thumbnail package : 23 December 2007 (Download). Includes images from FSX Acceleration XPack objects and generic buildings textures.

Previous releases:

• 4 November 2007

Program package :

New: version 0.9 : 23 december 2007

Note: Old versions are not downloadable

• Whisplacer version 0.9. 23 December 2007.
  • Fixed thumbnails search path algorithm (again!)
  • Generic buildings preview
  • rewrote MDL code (again!)
  • Make backup when overwriting files
  • Added startup tooltips
  • Rewrote library managment windows
  • Default windsock have non-zero length
  • Modified plane & screen center cursors
  • Added remove image button in background images manager
  • Changed pitch/bank/hdg edit widgets to sliders

• Whisplacer version 0.8. Monday 05 November
  • Rewrite of library db I/O code
  • Library DB assistant on startup
  • Fixed trigger drawing
  • Added FSX Acceleration thumbnails
  • Memorize window size/placement
  • Objects compatibility report tool

• Version 0.7 Thursday 11 October .
  • Added grid color chooser to configuration dialog
  • Workaround for pitch angle wrapping in live preview
  • Saving scenery.xml also save included .mdl files
  • Fixed menu items appearance bugs
  • Fixed "cancel" item behaviour in line/poly fill
  • Added "fencing" line filling mode
  • Easier simconnect configuration
  • Some code cleanups
  • LibraryExtract standalone tool

• Version 0.6 Monday 24 September . This is mostly a bugfix release.
  • Fixed bugs with invalid colors when using updated/old config files
  • Fixed XML winsock & triggers read bug (length modifiers)
  • Added "extremely dense" scenery display setting
  • Fixed altitude spinner bug in scenery object dialog
  • Fixed some scaling issue with library objects
  • Fixed line/polygon French translation
  • Renice FS option

• Version 0.5 Sunday 16 September .
  • Added line/poly fill tool
  • Fixed thumbnail search path bugs
  • Fixed duplicate items bug in last recently used files
  • Support for FSXPlanner-style backgrounds
  • Fixed some object insertion bugs and bizarre behaviours
  • Updating pitch, bank or heading in object properties dialog updates automatically object view

• Version 0.4 Sunday 02 September.
  • Added a list of FSXRTM standard fx proposed while editing effects
  • Added triggers support (bgl+xml read/write, edit, add)
  • "close scenery" menu item
  • fixed bugs (library import, attached objects)
  • Read/Write of ModelData in the scenery (de)compiler
  • Auto-import objects contained in a mixed lib/placement bgl when editing it
  • display terrain quad tile number along terrain dir/file
  • can directly edit coordinates in edit dialogs
  • workaround for selecting objects with zero size
  • Search/Replace dialog
  • import library information files (rwy12, EZS)
  • manual compile with bglcomp

• Version 0.3 Sunday 26 August .
  • rendering of library objects with images on map
  • open and save of XML mission files (limited to objects)
  • some bugfixes

• Version 0.2 Thursday 23 August.
  • added exclusion rectangles (rendering,edit,add)
  • display layer menu
  • fixed grid autosizing bug
  • global coordinates format configuration
  • french translation
  • added "go to" dialog
  • show effect name on map
  • fixed texture display in preview with user imported libraries
  • update library thumbnail by taking a screenshot in FS

• Version 0.1 Sunday 19 August :
  • Initial release

Importing libraries

See the separated documentation here. Also in available as PDF. Here are some extra thumbnails for popular third-party libraries :

• MCDMilitary modern military library by Michael Carr, available here
• Rwy12 objects library, from Israel Roth, Seev Kahn and other contributors, available here

Interface

Thumbnail preview on map introduced in 0.3.

The mouse operation is:

• right click + drag : move view point
• wheel : zoom in/out
• ctrl + wheel : rotate screen by 10 degrees
• shift +wheel: rotate screen by 1 degree
• left click + drag : select objects into a rectangle, or move object (if already selected)
• left double click : edit object properties
• shift + left click + drag :rotate selected objects
• ctrl + left click : add/remove an object from selection

To add new objects, you must create a new document and select one of the add button in the toolbar. press esc or select the "mouse" button to revert back to editing mode.

Using the live preview:

NB: although you could add windsock, beacons and effects in editor, only library objects can be seen in live preview You must export the contents of the library to SimObjects container. Select the Live Preview->Library maintenance menu item. Select the root of FSX libraries and changethe export mode to "Automatic" then apply changes. Restart FS.

Exporting is only needed the first time you run whisplacer or when you import libraries. At any time you can check the status of library exports by doing a refresh

When connected, the keyboard shortcut "o" will insert an object at the user position in flight simulator.

License:

This software and its source code are in the public domain. Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this program for any purpose is hereby granted, without any conditions or restrictions. This software is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.