The Vehicle Editor provides the ability to define vehicle shapes via an easy to use, but flexibly powerful editing tool. Vehicle shapes can be defined in terms of separate lines or polygons. Multiple independent lines or polygons may exist within the same vehicle's definition.
Vehicle's may have a default shape which generally has less definition and subsequently draws faster on the map graphics window. A detailed shape may also be provided which allows for more realism when zoom levels are close to ground levels.
To speed the definition process, it is also possible to define an aircraft's shape by pointing to, thus "using", another aircraft's shape. This is referred to as supplying an alias.
The Vehicle Editor is divided into six major areas with three auxiliary windows which provide additional functionality. The six major areas are:
The three auxiliary windows are as follows:
A snapshot of the Vehicle Editor is shown below:
Open Vehicle Shapes File - Use
this option to open a previously defined vehicle shapes file.
Save Vehicle Shapes File - Press
this button to save your current work. Important Note: The APECS Animator only reads the file called vehicle_shapes.txt
from the Resources subdirectory of your SIMMOD installation. You may save copies of your work under differing names,
but you should move one of them to vehicle_shapes.txt for inclusion in the APECS Animator's display.
Create New Vehicle
- Press this button to create a new vehicle. A window will pop-up asking you the name of this vehicle.
Delete Current Vehicle - Press
this button to delete the currently chosen vehicle. A window will pop-up asking you to confirm the deletion.
Manage Vehicle
Aliases - Press this button to open the Aliases Manager (described below).
Choose Vehicle Name
- This drop down list contains the defined vehicles in the current file. Choose a vehicle from the list to
edit it.
Choose
Vehicle List - APECS maintains two internal lists of vehicles, each of which can be chosen by use of these
choices. The Default list is designed to be displayed when the zoom level is far away from the airport. The Detailed
list contains vehicle shapes to be displayed when the zoom level is very close to the airport.
 Coarse Grid
- Displays a coarse grid with a red line displayed every 200 feet. Medium Grid
- Displays a medium detailed grid with a blue line displayed every 8 feet. Fine Grid - Displays
a finely detailed grid with a white line displayed every foot.Note: Use of this grid display may completely block out the display of a background vehicle graphic. Zoom in closer to display any background image.  Vehicle Image
Import Manager Button - This button opens a tool which allows the user to assign a background image to be displayed
on the grid. In the full screen example above, the image to the right is displayed. The image as displayed above
is rotated 90 degrees and scaled to approximately 20 percent of it's original size. Further discussion of the Vehicle Image Import Manager can be found below. |
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The Polygon Definitions Tab allows the user to define multiple polygons which will be displayed to represent a vehicle by the APECS Animator. Multiple polygons could be useful to represent aircraft flying in formation. It is expected that advanced versions of this software will allow for articulated ground vehicles such as baggage trains.
The provided spreadsheet displays the data for one polygon. It also allows for the editing of the polygon data including copying and pasting from other spreadsheet applications such as Lotus, Excel, and StarOffice.
Spreadsheet Editing Functions:
Insert Row
After - Insert a row of polygon data after the currently selected row.
Insert
Row Before - Insert a row of polygon data before the currently selected row.
Delete Row
- Delete a row of polygon data.
Copy Selected Data - Copy the
selected rows to the clipboard.
Paste Clipboard Data Before
Row - Paste the clipboard's contents below the currently selected row.
Paste Clipboard Data After
Row - Paste the clipboard's contents above the currently selected row.
Polygon Management Functions:
 Polygon Transparency Manager
- Press this button to open the Polygon Transparency Manager. If multiple
polygons are defined for a vehicle this functionality allows the user to define the transparency levels for the
currently active polygon and for non-active polygon's previously defined. Transparency settings provide the ability
to see any background image imported or to distinguish between polygons which are layered on top of each other. New Polygon - Press
this button to create a new polygon. The newly created polygon will be a triangle (it takes three points or sides
to make a valid polygon). Add additional XY points to define more detailed shapes. Delete Polygon - Deletes the currently
selected polygon. Polygon List
- Lists the currently defined polygons. |
Transparency Example: |
The APECS Animator can display vehicles which have lines defined as well. In general, the display of lines is faster than the display of polygons. Also, the more lines a vehicle definition contains the slower the drawing of this vehicle will be. The same can be said for polygons.
Insert Row
- Insert a row into the spreadsheet.
Delete Row
- Delete a row from the spreadsheet.
Copy Selected Data - Copy the
selected rows to the clipboard. The copied data will be tab delimited and may be posted in your favorite spreadsheet.
Paste Data from Clipboard - Paste
data stored in the computer's clipboard.
The Grid and Vehicle Display Area displays the defined lines and polygons for the current vehicle. It can also display a background image for reference purposes.
The Grid itself is defined in terms of feet. Sufficient grid coordinate space is provided for the definition of vehicles up to 2000 feet in width and height.
Grid navigation buttons are provided above the grid and are explained below:
Zoom In - Zoom in on the grid
by 50 percent.
Zoom Out - Zoom out by 50 percent.
Pan Left - Pan
the image to the left by 20 percent.
Pan Right -
Pan the image to the right by 20 percent.
Pan Up - Pan the
image up by 20 percent.
Pan Down - Pan
the image down by 20 percent.
Center Image -
Center the image without changing the zoom level.
It is not necessary to define a shape for every vehicle used in your model. It is possible to define an alias for a vehicle which points to a shape already defined for another vehicle. The Aliases Manager makes it easy to review and edit Aliases.
| Save Aliases Data - Save the current
Aliases data back to the Vehicle Editor. Insert Alias
- Insert a new Alias into the spreadsheet. Delete Alias
- Delete an Alias from the spreadsheet. Copy Aliases to Clipboard - Copy
the currently selected rows to the clipboard. Copied data may then be pasted into a third party spreadsheet. Paste Aliases from Clipboard - Paste
the contents of the clipboard into the spreadsheet. |
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It is possible to import a bitmap image file into the Vehicle Editor for reference purposes. The Vehicle Image Import Manager tool accomplishes this task. An image which is imported will be displayed in the background. Thus, all grid lines and vehicle definition data will be drawn above the imported image.
When initially importing an image it is recommended that the Grid be changed to the Coarse Grid setting () otherwise the image may
be obscured by grid lines.
Known file types which may be imported include GIF, JPEG, and PNG files.
Note: Extra large images, those greater than 640 pixels in either the X or Y dimension may not properly work in the Vehicle Editor. Although some scaling is provided by the Vehicle Image Import Manager it is recommended that you scale your image file using your favorite image manipulation program such as JASC's Paint Shop Pro!.
| Open Vehicle Image File - Open an
image file which may have originated from a scan of a photo. Supported image filetypes are GIF, JPEG, and PNG. Rotation - The rotation to apply to the image. The rotation is applied to the image first. Scale X - How much to scale the image in the X direction. 0.5 means to scale the original image to fifty percent of it's original size. Scale Y - How much to scale the image in the Y direction. 1.5 means to scale the original image to one hundred fifty percent of it's original size. Translate X - Translate the image in the X direction. The translation is in units of feet. Translate Y - Translate the image in the Y direction. The translation is in units of feet. |
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Since the Vehicle Editor allows multiple polygons to be displayed simultaneously it is necessary to provide a way for the analyst to view all polygons simultaneously. The Polygon Transparency Manager provides this functionality.
Setting transparency values also allows any imported background image to be viewed as well.
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Base Transparency - The transparency value to be applied to all polygons that are not currently being edited. The lower the value, the greater the transparency. Higher values produce more opaque polygons. Current Transparency - The transparency value to be applied to the polygon which is currently being edited. The lower the value, the greater the transparency. Higher values produce more opaque polygons. Transparency Example:
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Transparency Manager |
