Texada Island ProjectLast update: 2004 / 05 / 23Texada Island is located in British Columbia (Canada). It is the largest of the islands in the Strait of Georgia between the Canadian mainland and Vancouver Island . This project replaces the default Texada Island - the one that ships with Microsoft FlightSimulator 2004 - with a model of much higher detail and precision. The complete island has been re-modelled; this includes a new elevation map (20m mesh, LOD-11), a precise coastline with (most of) the small islands near by and a new ground structure with all the lakes, rivers, roads and communities on the island. The following screenshots are taken from an on-going project; whenever there are new scenery elements, the screenshots will be updated to reflect the new stage.
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Sight-Seeing tour around Texada Island ...The terrain of Texada Island has been completely re-modelled. Based on over 40.000 elevation points from all over the island, a triangulated mesh (digital elevation model in its original meaning) was generated. This mesh was then cut into 19.2 meter cells to produce a rastered elevation map. The map was finally converted into a LOD11 terrain model for FlightSimulator.Additionally more than 100 lakes, about 200 rivers and uncountable roads, streets and trails have been added and fitted to the terrain. The level of detail allows VFR with a "real" map of the island.
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After starting in Qualicum Beach (CAT4), we headed for the southern part of Texada Island. We approach the island where the mountains of southern Texada fall steeply towards sea level. |
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We are passing the southern tip of Texada island; on the right you can see Point Upwood with its lighthouse. After passing the southern tip we can see Anderson Bay on the lower left and an (un-official) airstrip (no ICAO listing) a bit further along the coast. |
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A close look on the little airstrip close to Anderson Bay. The airstrip has a grass
runway of 1500ft is is located quite close to the mountains - a very scenic approach
and landing with a small aircraft. The airstrip is unmodelled right now; there is only the runway and a windsock... |
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Climbing up the mounatins while going further north leads to a plateau that is covered with small lakes and rivers. |
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Flying back to the north side coast of Texada we reach Vananda, the second largest community on the island. |
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The northern tip of Texada is at Blubber Bay. The quarry at Blubber Bay is one of three quarries on the island that together produce about 6 million tons of limestone every year. Blubber Bay is equipped with a Deep Sea Loading Facility and a ferry connection to Powell River on the mainland. |
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Following the coast we approach the second quarry (the largest of the three). From here you can already see the airport (when you know where to look for it ;-) and Gillies Bay (the largest community on the Island). |
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Landing at Gillies Bay airport in a helicopter and by plane...When this scenery will ever be finished, it will have some approach charts and stuff like that with it. Currently this is only a planned task, so nothing to help you find the airport yet... |
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Looking south from Gillies Bay Airport (CYGB) and Cranby Lake towards Gillies Bay. |
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Approaching the airport in a helicopter shows a small airport that is
nicely embedded into the hilly forest surroundings. The airport is well equipped for camping, so you may decide to stay for a while... |
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The helipad has been setup just recently and is used mainly for sight-seeing trips across Texada. |
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At the end of runway 32 there is the exit and a taxiway to the GA parking. There are eight parking lots allocated for ATC; four of them on the "apron" in front of the buildings. |
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Taxi to parking - keep left at the end of the taxiway and get a free parking slot on the paved "apron". There are more parking positions to the right of the fuel station. |
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Final parking is close - just stop in front of the display board and turn off the engines. The windsock is animated with wind direction and wind speed and serves as a precise wind indicator. |
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Ready to taxi to the runway. |
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Inspecting the airport...I used some areal photos of the airport that I found on the Internet to model the airport. But sadly these photos are of low resolution and only the main buildings can be identified in them. So I used that few information (and some imagination of how it could look like) to build the airport from scratch.If you are an Texada Island resident or could provide better images of the airport (or of any other intersting location on the Island) I would be very happy if you can give me a pointer to them... |
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The largest building at the airport is the airport office next to the entrance
gate. The building also has a private part with an entrance on the back of the building. |
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Furthermore there is a little shelter with animated doors, a fuel station with an AVGAS tank and two little weather logging stations to record weather conditions. |
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The shelter is mainly used for the animated lawnmover / plow tractor and as a storage for all the tools needed to maintain the airport. |
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The fuel station is operating - just insert your credit card ;-) |
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Animations at the airportI have put quite a few animations into this scenery. After developing the BusyObjects framework for FS animations in static sceneries a while ago, I deployed the technics of that framework to build various animations:
Simple animationsThere are simple animations like the shelter doors that can close and open (including a folding door) or the traffic gate at the entrance that goes up and down.
Wind-dependend animationsMore complex technics are used for the two wind-dependend animations; their animation is continous with the wind speed (in the range 0 to 32 mph wind speed) and the wind direction: |
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Flags are animated 3D objects; they orient with the wind and their movement is wind speed dependend: The stronger the wind, the more the flag is moving with the wind and the more it is "unfolded". |
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The animation is continously changing with time and wind-speed; the images on the left show the flag shape at different wind speeds (0, 8, 16, 24 and 32 m.p.h.) |
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Windsocks are also animated 3D objects; they too orient with the wind and their shape is wind speed dependend: The stronger the wind, the more the windsock is "straight" and "horizontal". |
Time-based animations... are used to move vehicles and objects around on the airport. Currently one of these (planned) animations is done: |
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A lawnmover during summer and a snow plow during winter this vehicle has different tours - some of them taking 30 minutes of (unrepeated) animation. |
Character animations... are certainly the most complex animations you can have in Flight Simulator; I created character animations to populate the airport with people walking around or doing their daily work (this is work-in-progress; no skinned human being is modelled yet...): |
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This headless robot (looks a bit like Bender after he sold his head to Nixon ;-) is just there to test the "limb animation" for a walking person. |
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Taking the car to the airport... |
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It is just a short trip from Gillies Bay to the airport on a scenic road. You can't miss the airport, it's on the left side after you have passed Cranby Lake to your right. |
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Opening hours are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily; during this time the animated traffic gate will open for vehicles. |
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Park your car in the designated area - turn right after passing the entrance gate. In this iamge you can also see the animated lawnmover (currently un-manned) working in the background. |
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Cars are constantly arriving and leaving, so I hope you find a free parking lot... |
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Leaving the airport by car. |
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Staying at the airport... |
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Enjoy your stay on the airport - campfire and camping is provided. |
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