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Peter - a request...


PhilHawkey

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... slightly frivolous, but might it be possible to modify the 'visualisations' of thermals to include the birds modelled as scenery objects in FSX, so that they can be seen to mark thermals particularly at lower altitudes. Do I think right, in that your cumulus cloud modelreplaced the default visualisation of thermals in FSX, in which case I wonder if the white birds (gulls?) present in FSX as optional scenery objects, might be made to present 'on the fly' where cumulusX generates a thermal. If these white birds could be seen, particularly nearerer the ground, say between 100 - 1000' they would act as a thermal marker, something which is not uncommon in my experience in UK.

I have never actually seen a 'raptor' soaring in FSX, and I would like to see birds soaring, call me a sentimental old fool if you like :-)

Best wishes,

Phil

PS - hope you are fine and I'm wondering if you have been able to make any progress with 'wave' lift in FSX; any news please?

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Hi Phil,

thanks for your suggestions regarding the birds. I have it already on my list of potential features. In native FSX the birds are almost black predators, hardly visible from some distance. Even in reality I guess, you will notify them only if they are less than half a mile, but they are pretty frequent. During nice soaring weather you may have an encounter every other flight. Indeed, the gulls may be more visible and could be present in the proximity of water bodies. However, the native Birds have killed my FPS at that time, so I'm a bit reluctant to spend a lot of these (maybe only within one or two miles).

CumulusX! clouds are not anymore a replacement of the native thermal depictions. Instead, the entire CumulusX! thermal engine is a fully self-standing subsystem,which does not use any of the built-in thermal functions and assets. So you can't use CumulusX! clouds for built-in thermals, or the built-in spirals or birds for CumulusX! thermal depiction.

I made also some progres with the wave lift calculations, however I'm a bit stuck at the moment at the windowing function. Currently the most efficient analytical approach is ray-based calculation, using a decomposition of the terrain surface into sinusoidal components. To come up with calculation speed, one need to limit the considered area reasonably. A common approach is, to pick a sufficiently large surrounding area and assume this continues periodically into all directions. However, useful RW waves are determined by resonance between different altitude layers, and this approach leads to catastrophic overestimation of certain wave components.

I have added a picture from the French Alps which shows a calculation window of 300x300 km (4-8°E, 43-46°N) where the terrain has been smoothed out at the edges. The grey shading is the ground elevation and the coloured surface the calculated waves in 5000 m.

best regards,

Peter

post-24548-0-16378100-1322384961_thumb.j

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Thank you, Peter, that's all understood and I know what you mean by the fps issues of course, and still hope you could find a way forward perhaps with a randomization as to appearance of the bird phenomenon. Perhaps the water factor could be a way forward, and if so, good luck with that, it's all much appreciated.

The image you've posted as to a wave model seems encouraging, isn't it, as you have been able to generate a wave system with all its anomolies and fading away at the edges and reducing in amplitude down-wind of the mountain range.

I am thinking that FSX will be the MS soaring sim of choice even after 'Flight' appears for some years to come (don't have Condor). Wave would be a valued upgrade for CumulusX and potentially visually stunning if lenticulars are there too.

Many thanks and best wishes

Phil

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