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    Scene Express 2 :: OpenFlight

    3D rendering of a mountainous terrain surrounded by water, featuring a forested area and steep cliffs.
    Getting Started with Scene Express 2

    Part 7. OpenFlight Export

    The OpenFlight export option is only available for the VNS.
    Screen captures are from VNS 3.

    1. Open the Atlantis project from the WCSProjects\SX folder on your hard drive. Save the project as AtlantisOF.

    Screenshot of Visual Nature Studio 3D software showing a 3D model in theater and overhead views, a property table with attributes, and various toolbars for editing and rendering scenes.

    2. Go to the Render Task Mode in the Scene-at-a-Glance and add a Scene Exporter Component.

    A computer screen displays the Visual Nature Studio 3.0 program with a dropdown menu open, showing various rendering options including "Add Component of this type" selected with a green check mark.

    3. Name it OF and change the Output Format to OpenFlight. Replace Exports\AtlantisOF in the Output File target with OF\AtlantisOF. This will create an OF folder in the SX project folder to hold the OpenFlight files. Temporary files will be saved in an Exports folder.

    Screenshot of the "Scene Exporter Editor" window with options for file name, output format, output file path, temp path, and buttons for additional options and exporting the scene.

    4. Go to the Terrain page. Choose Geographic – WGS 84 from the Coordinate System dropdown list.

    A software interface displaying the Scene Exporter Editor with options for terrain resolution, coordinate system selection, and fractal depth settings. The Geographic - WGS 84 coordinate system is selected.

    5. We’ll export the entire scene with one DEM object with 200 Columns and Rows. That will give us a grid cell size of about 5 meters.

    Screenshot of the Scene Exporter Editor interface showing options for terrain resolution, bounds, grid cell size, and fractal depth with editable parameters for exporting terrain data.

    6. We’ll go with the defaults on the LOD (Level of Detail) page.

    Screenshot of a Scene Exporter Editor settings window showing Level of Detail options for a terrain, including sliders and checkboxes for detail levels and distance parameters.

    7. Turn to the Texture page. This controls the texture draped on the terrain. The Image Format field also applies to the sky texture. Increase the Columns and Rows to 1024. This will give us a terrain texture resolution of about 1 meter per image pixel.

    A software screen titled "Scene Exporter Editor - OF" shows options for texture mapping, image format selection, and various settings related to columns, rows, tiles, and shading.

    8. The Foliage, Sky, and Misc page defaults will serve us quite nicely so leave them alone.

    A screenshot of the Scene Exporter Editor window, specifically showing the 'Foliage' tab with various settings for exporting foliage, such as image format, maximum image size, and transparency options.
    A screenshot of the "Scene Exporter Editor - OF" software showing the "Sky" tab with multiple sky features available for export, most of which are checked, including sky gradient, clouds, and starfields.
    A software interface named "Scene Exporter Editor - OF" displaying options for exporting 3D objects, walls, and vectors, with various settings like texture size, alignment, and file format options.

    9. Go to the Misc2 page and select the Theater Camera and Afternoon Light.

    Screenshot of the Scene Exporter Editor with options to export cameras and lights. Cameras selected include Theater, Planimetric, Overhead, and Island. Light selected is Afternoon. Haze is not exported.

    10. Return to the General page and Export Scene Now.

    Screenshot of the Scene Exporter Editor - OF window with various options for exporting 3D scenes. Options include priority, output format, file paths, and a button to export the scene.

    11. This will open the VNS Export Control window. Go to start exporting.

    Screenshot of the VNS Export Control dialog window showing export options, including exporter, format, and other settings. Various buttons and dropdown menus are available for adjustments.

    12. VNS will ask you to confirm the creation of new directories in the SX project folder. You won’t get the WCSProjects:SX\Exports window if you’ve already done other Scene Express tutorials.

    A dialog box with the message, "Path does not exist. Create a new directory?" followed by "OK" and "Cancel" buttons. A cursor is pointing to the "OK" button.

    13. VNS Export Control will let you know when export is complete.

    A screenshot of the VNS Export Control interface with options such as exporter, format, and resolution visible. The interface shows a completed export operation with timing details.

    14. Your WCSProjects\SX\OF folder contains all the data files an OpenFlight viewer will need.

    A screenshot of a file directory displaying various files with names like "AtlantisOF_RBG.png", "AtlantisOF_SkyEastRGB.png", "EngelmannSpruce_Fol.png", and "flight0_0b.flt", along with file sizes and types.

    15. Here’s how the OpenFlight scene looks in Right Hemisphere’s Deep Exploration.

    16. Exported files from this tutorial are in the WCSProjects\SX\Tutorial Output\OF folder on the VNS 3 DVD. The completed project file is in the WCSProjects\SX\Tutorial Projects folder on your hard drive.

    Produced by Scott Cherba for 3DNature

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