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/images/notams/notams19/beam0828.jpgWelcome to Portland International Airport, pride of the Rose City,and second busiest hub in the Pacific Northwest of the US. KPDXHD was lovingly crafted by former Portlander Bill Womack, whotook a great many of the source photos himself and spent many monthshand-crafting this lovely, modern facility, which in real life wasvoted best in the United States several years running by Conde NastTraveler magazine. This version, targeted for X-Plane 11, is designedfor maximum immersion. It takes advantage of the advanced capabilitiesof the 64-bit simulator, and should offer you many hours ofenjoyment. Features the all-new Flightbeam Manager system for X-PlaneReflects the real-world state of KPDX as of 2019Utilizes SAM for advanced jetway interaction with aircraftIncludes custom SAM gate marshallers and hangar door animationIncludes photo-real area designed to blend seamlessly with Orbx TrueEarth: OregonKey textures are rendered in 4096x4096 high resolutionMakes use of advanced X-Plane PBR materialsIncludes detailed rendition of Cascade Station shopping area east of the airportSource Read our interview with developer Bill Womack
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/images/notams/notams19/auro0318.jpgAurora Simulations is the development studio created byScott Armstrong, the Orbx developer behind TreesHD and several popularairports, including 0S9 Jefferson County Intl, S93 Cle Elum, and KHAFHalf Moon Bay. Our next product, the long-awaited Orbx BuildingsHD, is in fulldevelopment alongside scenery veteran Bill Womack. BuildingsHD is afull overhaul of the autogen buildings in FSX and P3D, usinghigh-resolution textures from photos taken on-location in manycountries around the world for an incredibly realistic autogenexperience. Head over to our new web site, where you can check out some brandnew preview shots of BuildingsHD. Be sure to sign up for thenewsletter, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for allthe latest news and product announcements! www.aurorasimulations.com Facebook Twitter Instagram
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/images/notams/notams18/port0823/port0823.jpgOn their Facebook page, Flightbeam Studios have shown their firstscreen shots of Portland International Airport KPDX, fromBill Womack. No other details so far, so let the pictures speak for themselves: /images/notams/notams18/port0823/kpdx-1.jpg /images/notams/notams18/port0823/kpdx-2.jpgSource
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/images/notams/notams18/orbx0731/orbx0731.jpgHello X-Plane fans! You've asked for it, so we've done it - fromscenery legend Bill Womack, we are excited to release KVUO PearsonField for X-Plane! Among all the small Pacific Northwest airports that are loaded withcharacter, Pearson Field stands out. For one thing, it predates themall; KVUO is officially the oldest continuously operating airport inthe region, and one of the two oldest operational fields in theUSA. Even before the dawn of aviation the site was a hub of activity,as evidenced by the 19th-century Hudson's Bay Company fort and tradingpost just off the threshold of runway 8. So far, the tiny airport hashosted the first crossing of the Columbia River by airship in 1905,been a stopover on the US Army's first round-the-world flight, andmade Russian aviation history as the landing spot for the ChkalovTrans-Polar Flight in 1937. /images/notams/notams18/orbx0731/kvuo-1.jpgToday, Pearson Field is a popular field for GA pilots and historybuffs, and occupies a prime piece of real estate along the banks ofthe Columbia in the flight path of KPDX's runway 10L. We've workedhard to replicate the feel of this busy suburban field using hundredsof photos taken on-site. Many of the unique landmarks are represented,including the I-5 bridge between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver,Washington, the railroad bridge just downstream, the busy shoppingarea of Jantzen Beach on nearby Hayden Island, and a faithfulreproduction of downtown Vancouver. /images/notams/notams18/orbx0731/kvuo-2.jpgKey Features12 square miles of photo terrain around KVUO, including Hayden Island, Oregon and downtown Vancouver, WashingtonDetailed reproduction of downtown VancouverDetailed modeling based on hundreds of reference photosAirport ground polys utilizing XP11 PBR materialsStatic aircraft commonly seen on the rampDetailed & accurate buildings in the region of the airport, especially on approach pathsAll models optimized for high performancePurchase Orbx - KVUO Pearson Field Released For X-Plane /images/notams/notams18/orbx0731/kvuo-3.jpg
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/images/notams/notams18/orbx0731/orbx0731.jpgHello X-Plane fans! You've asked for it, so we've done it - fromscenery legend Bill Womack, we are excited to announce KVUO PearsonField for X-Plane! Among all the small Pacific Northwest airports that are loaded withcharacter, Pearson Field stands out. For one thing, it predates themall; KVUO is officially the oldest continuously operating airport inthe region, and one of the two oldest operational fields in theUSA. Even before the dawn of aviation the site was a hub of activity,as evidenced by the 19th-century Hudson's Bay Company fort and tradingpost just off the threshold of runway 8. So far, the tiny airport hashosted the first crossing of the Columbia River by airship in 1905,been a stopover on the US Army's first round-the-world flight, andmade Russian aviation history as the landing spot for the ChkalovTrans-Polar Flight in 1937. /images/notams/notams18/orbx0731/kvuo-1.jpgToday, Pearson Field is a popular field for GA pilots and historybuffs, and occupies a prime piece of real estate along the banks ofthe Columbia in the flight path of KPDX's runway 10L. We've workedhard to replicate the feel of this busy suburban field using hundredsof photos taken on-site. Many of the unique landmarks are represented,including the I-5 bridge between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver,Washington, the railroad bridge just downstream, the busy shoppingarea of Jantzen Beach on nearby Hayden Island, and a faithfulreproduction of downtown Vancouver. /images/notams/notams18/orbx0731/kvuo-2.jpgKey Features12 square miles of photo terrain around KVUO, including Hayden Island, Oregon and downtown Vancouver, WashingtonDetailed reproduction of downtown VancouverDetailed modeling based on hundreds of reference photosAirport ground polys utilizing XP11 PBR materialsStatic aircraft commonly seen on the rampDetailed & accurate buildings in the region of the airport, especially on approach pathsAll models optimized for high performanceSource /images/notams/notams18/orbx0731/kvuo-3.jpg
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Bill Womack Developer Interview Conducted by Dominic Smith Bill, could I begin by asking you about how and when you started developing for Orbx? That question takes me back to 2007 and the Microsoft developer conference. It was a gathering of FS developers unlike anything I've seen since. Everyone was there! I was rubbing elbows with nearly every notable designer, developer, and programmer in the FS universe, not to mention most of the ACES team as well. I remember going out to dinner one night with Holger Sandmann (with whom I had already been working for a while), Allen Kriesman, and John Venema among others. John pulled out his iPhone at some point and started flipping through some shots of projects his company was working on. I was just blown away by the beauty of the shots, not to mention the attention to detail. I can't even remember what the pics were of at this point, but I just remember thinking "how could any serious scenery developer not want to be a part of this?" Holger had recently started working with Orbx, and he had positive things to say about the company as well. After a chat with JV about my interest, plans were quickly laid for me to start bringing some of my work into the Orbx universe. The rest, as people say, is history. Prior to joining the Orbx team, what experience did you have in regards to MSFS development? I started off in 2003 with the intention of developing some fun Alaskan bush sceneries. My first release was the Antelope Trail Ranch for FS2002. A few months later, I talked my way into working on the Reading Regional Airport project for MAAM-SIM (a flight museum in Pennsylvania, USA). With a mid-sized airport under my belt, I got the attention of Francois Dumas at FS-Addon, and together we did a few projects such as Freight Dogs, Tongass Fjords, and the original Plum Island airport. Through my contacts in the hobby, I also did some airport modelling for RealAir Simulations, such as Bear Gulch (included with the Citabria/Scout/Decathlon aircraft release) and RAF West Malling, circa 1943 (included with their Spitfire). My first FSX project was Dillingham Airport in Hawaii (PHDH) for Aerosoft in 2006 - a project that I still get royalties from to this day, to my great surprise. After initially joining Orbx in 2009 and producing three airports, I decided to try my hand at creating my own brand - iBlueYonder - in 2013. Through that label, I produced three more airports; Nantucket Memorial (KACK), the fictional Heron's Nest bush scenery, and Plum Island/Minute Man Air Field. Once I rejoined Orbx again this year, those releases were folded into the Orbx offerings. Bill, when given the task of starting a new scenery project, do you get to choose the location yourself, or is it a team decision (what factors help you/team decide)? For the most part, I've done the location choosing myself. I have always taken a long view when it comes to deciding on an airport to model. Instead of just thinking individual airports, I consider the whole region and what possibility there is for groupings of airports. If a given airport catches my interest, I look at what other options are nearby, within a couple hours flight by GA aircraft. If there are enough to form a nice grouping, I'll bump it up on the list. Once I've settled on a region to study, I'll check what source aerial imagery is available for orthophoto backgrounds. Luckily, in the USA there is fairly good coverage of this sort, and most of it is freely available. If it looks like my area of interest is well enough supported, data-wise, it mostly comes down to what interests me. I've turned down requests to do quite a few airports after finding that they consist almost entirely of sheet-metal prefab buildings with no real character. There needs to be some sort of quirkiness or charm for me to be interested in a given place, whether in architecture or location. For instance, when I was looking at Plum Island Airport in Massachusetts, I wasn't initially sold on it. Then I discovered that it claimed to be the oldest operational airfield in the US. That piqued my interest. What clinched it was discovering that there was a property dispute going on between the airport and its neighbor, and the neighbor had claimed one end of the runway, put a fence across it, and parked his boat and RV on it. At that point, it became irresistible. What do you find the most challenging aspect of a project? Without a doubt, the hardest thing about any project is knowing when to stop. I get so wrapped up in creating details and making the airport feel as much like the real thing as possible, but at some boundary, that realism has to give way to the less detailed surrounding world. I sometimes struggle with where to draw that line, and then to stick with it as development wraps up. There is always more that can be done, but at some point, you have to let go and just release a product. Bill, how long does a typical project take to develop and which projects have been the most time consuming? I'm not sure that "typical" applies in this case. My projects have been so wildly different from one another. The original Plum Island scenery that I did back in 2008 is still my shortest project. I set a goal to do it from start to finish in 30 days, and basically stuck to it. On the other hand, I was organizing some files recently, and found that the Nantucket project spanned nearly 7 years from initial photography to final release! Now of course, there is a lot of other work that got done in that interim, but it does point out how a project can have multiple starts, stalls, and re-starts. These days, I'm much more disciplined and focused. Depending on the size of the project, I'll take between 2 and 6 months to create an airport. How does creating payware scenery differ from the freeware you have created in the past? I'm not sure there's very much difference. Of course, technically, it's the same amount of work using the same tools. My most recent freeware, the Heron's Nest island scenery, was one of the more complex works I've done, mostly because I decided to model the entire island as a 3D mesh. I suppose I could say that the payware is made more to please the customers while the freeware is there to tickle my own fancy, but I enjoy the payware work just as much if not more. So, there you go - a non-answer if there ever was one. Of all the projects you have been involved in (indirectly and directly), which project are you the most proud of? The one overarching motivation that's constant in my life is competition. Not with other developers, mind you - although I get plenty of inspiration from them - but with myself. I can be a pretty harsh judge of my own work at times, but it's because I'm always trying to outdo my previous projects. All of this is a long way of saying that my most recent release is always my favorite; in this case, KVUO Pearson Field. With any luck, that will be toppled by my next project. Bill, when developing a scenery, what would you say your main role is? Principally, I am the wearer of many hats! I have always had a strong entrepreneurial spirit. I am never satisfied unless I have at least a decent working knowledge of every aspect of whatever I'm working on at any given moment. In almost all my projects, I've done the initial site photography, the modelling, the texturing, placement, and any other work necessary. I have at times been aided by some talented developers who have skills that complement mine, but even then, I like to understand what they're doing. It's a compulsion. Are the objects used in your sceneries all custom made by yourself, or are they from a shared resource at Orbx? In general, I create nearly all the objects I use. On occasion, I've either purchased pre-built libraries of objects, or dipped into the vast array of Orbx libraries to help round out a scenery. The trick is picking things that look as much as possible like they belong in the world I'm creating, which can be harder than it seems. For instance, even when I purchased a library of static cars, I ended up taking apart the library, baking ambient occlusion maps, adding shadows, and remapping the textures to optimize performance. It's seldom a drag-and-drop operation. How do you go about sourcing all the necessary information needed for creating a scenery? To start, I usually like to visit the airport I'm about to build so I can photograph it myself. With the small GA fields, I've been fortunate to have found a number of airport managers who were very cooperative. In some cases, they were even sim fans who were delighted to have their home base re-created digitally. The site photos are my primary source material. Secondarily, I have had people take photos for me as follow-ups. For example, with Nantucket, my original photos didn't include a new FBO building that was built after I visited. A friend who lives nearby the field took some additional shots for me once construction was complete. Thanks to the Web, there is also a plethora of information available to reference for almost any location on earth. The combination of browsing Flickr photos, Google Earth, and street view photos rounds out the info I generally need to get a project completed. Obviously, nothing but my original photos and those of friends are used in the final textures, but I don't depend a lot on photos for that anyway. How do you go about finding the balance between visual detail and performance, and how much is this a factor in your development? Detail and performance are the co-dependent twins of good scenery work. Without detail, there's no reason to download a scenery; without performance, it won't stay on the hard drive for long. As it happens, my whole career has been built around balancing these two, even well before I was involved in FS work. I started my digital design career doing CD-ROMs, before the web was a thing. I quickly learned that photos in those presentations had to look good, but also had to be 8-bit because so few people had 24-bit displays. Then I graduated to web design, where the look had to be compelling, but also optimized for dial-up speeds. Balancing performance of a scenery with its look is just more of the same. With simulators, how much detail I can put into a given project is mostly a question of overhead. How much work is the sim already doing to present the default area or airport before I start working? In the case of a remote area like the Heron's Nest, there's a lot of breathing room to work with so I can relax and focus on detail without sweating performance much. For an airport like KVUO Pearson Field that's almost literally a stone's throw from a large international airport, performance becomes more of a challenge. Fortunately, with the advent of 64-bit sims, we've gotten a bit of a reprieve. They can really soak up the details without slowing down much, if at all. Orbx have recently started developing for X-Plane 11, so what challenges do you think you face with this new platform, and how does it differ to say the MSFS/P3D series? X-Plane 11 is a very different beast in some ways from P3D or FSX. The terrain is set up in a way that demands a whole new way of working. I admit to some growing pains as I grapple with how to get the best out of the terrain mesh, but I'm getting there. Luckily for me, the biggest part of what I do, which is designing and placing 3D models, is fairly similar across the platforms. There were a few new tools to learn for XP, although nothing near the dizzying (and sometimes confusing) variety that I assembled for doing FSX work, but fortunately they're well documented as is the process of creating XP scenery in general. I must say, 90% of the time, X-Plane is a delight to work with, especially after all those years of MSFS work. And the results! To spend time in the 3D modelling program creating all that detail and then see it come to life in their world with its beautiful lighting and atmospherics is magic. In the past, I always tended to leave the night lighting of a given project for the very end, mostly because it's dependent on the day texturing, but also because it was such a pain in FSX and P3D, and I was never completely satisfied with the results. In XP, I still leave it for the end, but for another reason entirely - it's like a delicious dessert after a good meal! Their night lighting effects are the strongest aspect, graphically, of a beautiful sim. Thinking of the future, if you could choose one feature for each of the different platforms to have, what would you choose and why? Between Prepar3D v4 and X-Plane 11, we've basically got one complete, beautiful, and performant sim. Unfortunately, the best bits are scattered between them rather than gathered in one place. Bear in mind that my focus with either sim is on graphics, and take that into account with my answers. If I could choose one feature from P3D that I'd gift X-Plane with, it'd be the look of their water. It doesn't obviously repeat the way the waves in XP do, and it actually reacts to the weather around it. Graphically, it's quite beautiful to look at. I find the water in X-Plane to be a bit lacking on that count. From X-Plane, if I could, I'd take their beautiful lighting and light scattering and splice it into P3D. More than any other feature, that's what makes screen shots taken in X-Plane look so realistic, especially when compared to P3D shots. Lighting is one of the areas in P3D where I think you still feel the drag of the MSFS family tree holding the sim back. With either of these two platforms, or for that matter with others like Aerofly FS2 or DCS World, look at the hairs we're down to splitting now! It's a great time to be in the hobby, whether as a developer or enthusiast. Technology marches on, as it does, and the results are digital worlds that are quickly becoming nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. I find it all just fascinating. Bill Womack
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/images/notams/notams18/kvuo0519/kvuo0519.jpgPearson is Bill Womack's sixth Orbx airport, and his firstOrbx-only release since returning to the fold. Among all the small Pacific Northwest airports that are loaded withcharacter, Pearson Field stands out. For one thing, it predates themall; KVUO is officially the oldest continuously operating airport inthe region, and one of the two oldest operational fields in theUS. Even well before the dawn of aviation, the site was a hub ofactivity, as evidenced by the 19th-century Hudson's Bay Company fortand trading post just off the threshold of runway 8. In its life sofar, the tiny airport has hosted the first crossing of the ColumbiaRiver by airship in 1905, been a stopover on the US Army's firstround-the-world flight, and made Russian aviation history as thelanding spot for the Chkalov Trans-Polar Flight in 1937. /images/notams/notams18/kvuo0519/kvuo-1.jpgToday, it's a popular field for GA pilots and history buffs andoccupies a prime piece of real estate along the banks of the Columbiain the flight path of KPDX's runway 10L. We've worked hard toreplicate the feel of this busy suburban field using hundreds ofphotos taken on-site. Many of the unique landmarks are represented,including the I-5 bridge between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver,Washington, the railroad bridge just downstream, the busy shoppingarea of Jantzen Beach on nearby Hayden Island, and a faithfulreproduction of downtown Vancouver. If you're a fan of our PacificNorthwest airports, this one is a must-have. /images/notams/notams18/kvuo0519/kvuo-2.jpgKey Features12 square miles of photo terrain around KVUO, including Hayden Island, Oregon and downtown Vancouver, WashingtonCityScene detailed reproduction of downtown VancouverDetailed modeling based on hundreds of reference photosEnhanced airport ground polys in Prepar3D v.3 & 4Static aircraft commonly seen on the rampCustom dynamic, animated windsockAnimated PeopleFlow people around airportDetailed & accurate buildings in the region of the airport, especially on approach pathsSeasonal vegetation models, driven by the ObjectFlow2All models optimized for high performance Purchase KVUO Pearson Field
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/images/notams/notams18/orbx0328/orbx0328.jpgKACK Nantucket Memorial Airport and 2B2 Plum Island Airport/6B6Minute Man Air Field have been released for FSX/P3D and X-Plane!Bill's products will be available at 50% off for one week only! /images/notams/notams18/orbx0328/orbx1.jpgKACK Nantucket Memorial AirportNantucket sits just off the coast of the US state of Massachusetts,below the long arm of Cape Cod. It's an island steeped in historydating back to the colonial days and is best known as the center of USwhaling in the 19th century. These days, the primary industry istourism. From a quiet, isolated enclave of around 10,000 in thewinter, the population explodes to around five times that insummer. Looking for the most expensive real estate in the country?Forget Manhattan, Oahu, or San Francisco. You'll find it righthere. KACK for FSX/P3D KACK for XP11 /images/notams/notams18/orbx0328/orbx3.jpgKey FeaturesMore than 100 square miles of photo terrainDetailed Nantucket waterfront modelingMany local VFR landmarks includedFull autogen houses and vegetationDetailed, accurate rendition of Nantucket Memorial Airport based on extensive on-site photographyEnhanced airport ground poly takes advantage of XP11's features3D grass, shrubbery, and other custom vegetationStatic aircraft commonly seen on the rampAll models optimized for high performance2B2 Plum Island Airport/6B6 Minute Man Air FieldPlum Island Airport lies along the far northern coast of thestate. The island is a stretch of sand that's home to a smallcommunity of year-rounders and a few summer folk. The lowerthree-quarters of the island comprises the Parker River NationalWildlife Refuge. The airport sits wedged between the Merrimack riverestuary and a wide stretch of salt marsh. It's the oldest operationalairport in New England, having been in services since the 1920's, andis full of its own brand of quirky charm. Why are boats andconstruction equipment parked on the fenced-off end of the runway?Let's just call it a neighborly feud. /images/notams/notams18/orbx0328/orbx2.jpgA leisurely GA flight from Plum Island, you'll find Minute Man AirField, an active GA airport located in the rolling green hills justwest of Boston. The area is steeped in history, including being thesite of the opening battle of the American war forindependence. Nowadays, the airport is home to over 60 full-timeaircraft, and stays busy in the warmer months hosting guest pilotsfrom all over. Chances are, it's not the history they're coming for,though - it's the pie at Nancy's Air Field Cafe. 2B2/6B6 for FSX/P3D 2B2/6B6 for XP11 /images/notams/notams18/orbx0328/orbx4.jpgFor Existing iBlueYonder CustomersYou can migrate your purchases for KACK Nantucket and 2B2 PlumIsland Airport/6B6 Minute Man Air Field into your OrbxDirect accountby going to https://orbxdirect.com/account/migrate/iblueyonder. Makesure you are logged into OrbxDirect first. Your email used foriBlueYonder will need to match the one used for OrbxDirect, we cannotmigrate purchases from different email accounts. The Bill's Back sale ends at 2018-04-04 10:00:00 UTC.
