[aussi]

Hi All,

There has been quite a bit of interest lately in a free shared library of scenery objects that people building scenery packages can use. It could work something like this:

1. A bunch of people contribute scenery objects
2. The objects are subject to quality control
3. All contributors agree on a licence that applies to the content of the library
4. The objects are managed centrally and version control is used to aid the management
5. On a regular basis, all the objects are packaged up as an X-Plane library and submitted to the Download Manager here at the .org
6. Authors of scenery can grab the library from the Download Manager to use when building their projects
7. Authors of scenery will instruct their users to grab the library from the Download Manager
8. Eventually everyone uses it and we all dance about a lot

Is anyone else keen to get this off the ground? If so I would be very interested to hear from people who are willing to contribute objects to the library. PM me, post here or email. If we get enough interest, I will post some guidelines for submitting objects and we can get rolling.

Some progress has already been made: Indi has set up a central server for storing the objects; we've both set up a provisional folder structure to contain the library; I have written a script that generates an X-Plane library scenery package from the contributed objects.

(Note that 'object' above means any of X-Plane's scenery elements that can be published using the library system: Facades, forests, beaches etc.)

I'm hoping we can build something that becomes a 'must have' resource. Let me know what you think!

Austin G.


Edit: Changed line about the licence

This post has been edited by aussi: 25 April 2007 - 08:06 AM

[Dhruv]

I'd be willing to provide some basic objects/textures at some point. My 3D modeling skills are nothing to shout about yet, but I can do basic stuff like airport vehicles and such that are fairly low-complexity models.

[psiteo]

that a good idea, I already start making somes animated object for scenery
I have a winsock that I will post to test if those like it
with somes helico pad

[tkyler]

Of course I'm all over it. Have lots of stuff lying around.

[aussi]

Thank you all! Ok, here's what we need: One folder for each scenery object, containing:

1. The source file (Blender, AC3D, etc) if applicable.
2. The x-plane file (.obj, .fac, .for etc.)
3. The texture(s) if applicable. Please place the textures in the same folder as the object unless you have a bunch of objects that share the same texture, in which case place the textures in one of the object's folders and reference them from the other objects using relative paths. Please let me know if your objects share textures so I can check they work correctly once in the library.
4. A text file titled 'info.txt' for each object. A template file is included below, please replace everything in square brackets with your information, leave the Revision and Date lines exactly as they are.
5. A JPEG screenshot of the object titled 'screenshot.jpg', scaled to 300px wide. This can be taken in X-Plane or in an object viewer such as ObjView.

Please note: The scenery library is for finished objects that are ready for use by others, so please don't supply a half finished model or a temporary texture. Personally, I think it is o.k. to miss out the LIT texture, even if the object would be improved by having one, but if anyone feels strongly that all objects should have a lit texture where appropriate then speak up - I don't necessarily want to be the only 'Mr Quality Control' or dictatorial in any way! All suggestions are very welcome.

Please PM your objects to me here or email them: austin at goudges dot com

Austin G.


Template info.txt file:

CODE

Title: [object title]
=====================
Author: [author's name] (miss out this whole line if you prefer to remain anonymous)
URL: [author's url] (miss out this whole line if you don't have one)
Email: [author's email] (miss out this whole line if you prefer not to give it)
Width: [overall width if applicable, include suffix 'm', 'ft' etc.] (preferably use meters, miss out all dimension lines if not applicable)
Height: [overall height if applicable, include suffix 'm', 'ft' etc.] (preferably use meters, miss out all dimension lines if not applicable)
Depth: [overall depth if applicable, include suffix 'm', 'ft' etc.] (preferably use meters, miss out all dimension lines if not applicable)
Animated: [True | False] (alternatively, you can miss out this line if the object is not animated)
Revision: $Revision$
Date: $Date$
=====================
Description: [Please include a good description of the object; describe the animation if it is animated; include any specific notes about usage]

Edit: Added email address into info.txt file
Edit 2: Added optional screenshot
Edit 3: Changed the way dimensions are specified
Edit 4: Clarified what should be done with shared textures.
Edit 5: Added email address.
Edit 6: Added 'Animated' to info.txt and clarified use of units in dimensions. Improved the description of the screenshot file.

This post has been edited by aussi: 31 December 2007 - 06:53 AM

[DenMeul]

Excellent idea! Maybe some people would like restrictions on commercial use? Also, a thumbnail or something would be handy.

[aussi]

Maybe some people would like restrictions on commercial use?

I thought about that, but would much prefer for the whole thing to be Open Source. If scenery authors need to check individual licences every time they choose an object to use then it's going to become a right pain. However, if this stops the library from growing then we may need to consider it. If we were to do this, I would favour making it explicit in the object path that certain objects had limited use, e.g. /free/objects/hangars/hangar.obj vs. /licenced/objects/hangars/hangar.obj

Thoughts anyone?

BTW does anyone have any experience applying open source licences to their own stuff? - i.e. what do we need to do and what do we need to ensure our contributors do. If anyone has any advice on this it would be helpful.

Also, a thumbnail or something would be handy.

Good idea, useful when quickly scanning through the objects. I think that when the library build script comes of age it could build a summary HTML page with all the objects in and their thumbnails and descriptions. I've added thumbnails into the spec above.

A.

This post has been edited by aussi: 16 November 2006 - 09:20 AM

[DenMeul]

If scenery authors need to check individual licences every time...

Well, maybe you could include a line in the info.txt "Do not sell this object" or something?

[aussi]

Well, maybe you could include a line in the info.txt "Do not sell this object" or something?

Mmm, but remember that this library will typically be used through an editor like OverlayEditor and so the info.txt won't be readily available - the user will have to go to the file system, locate the object on disk and find the info.txt file to read any licence information. Authors of editors like Marginal could add code in to their applications to display the info file and/or the thumbnail, but these files are not part of X-Plane and are in fact something I only made up three posts ago, so I wouldn't be surprised if they hold off, let the initial rush die down and wait until the library is accepted by the community before thinking about supporting non-standard files like these.

A.

[brett s]

I'd have a problem with anything of mine being used in payware - why should anyone else profit from my freeware? I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one who feels that way...

I'd suggest a freeware use only library, at least initially - keep things simple. With contact data included with every resource, a payware author can deal directly with the contributor if there's something they'd like to use.