README.materials This README describes the materials.xml file format. It is targeted at those wanting to change the appearance of the scenery in FlightGear. As is the norm in FG, the materials.xml file is a properties file. However, it is only read on startup, is not part of the main property tree and cannot be changed at runtime. The properties file consists of a number of entries, each of which describes a single visually distinct terrain material in the FG world. The rest of this document describes the children tags of the entry. name : Scenery type names that map to this material. These are typically taken from landclass definitions created by TerraGear. Multiple scenery types may map to a single material. This is recommended to minimize texture memory usage. condition : A condition statement used to activate the material. Note that this if evaluated once at start-up. texture : A relative path to an SGI RGB, PNG or DDS file containing a texture for the material. RGB and PNG are recommended for platform compatibility. You may define more than one element, in which case the scenery loader will choose one texture for each contiguous set of scenery triangles. texture-set : If using an effect (see below), it may be necessary to define more than one texture. The texture-set element has multiple element children which may then be referenced by the effect. You may define more than one element, in which case the scenery loader will choose one texture for each contiguous set of scenery triangles. object-mask : An optional bitmap file used to control random placement of lights, buildings and vegetation on the terrain. The green channel mask is used for random vegetation placement, the blue channel for buildings and lights. and the red channel controls the rotation of buildings (0.0 is North, 0.5 is South). Fractional colour values can be used to give a probability of placement. Multiple object-masks may be defined to match up with or elements. effect : The effect to be used for this material. (default: Effects/terrain-default) ambient, diffuse, specular, emissive, and shininess are copied into the parameter section of the effect created for this material. wrapu : True if the texture should repeat horizontally over a surface, false if it should not repeat (default: true). wrapv : True if the texture should repeat vertically over a surface, false if it should not repeat (default: true). mipmap : True if the texture should be mipmapped, false otherwise. (default: true). xsize : The horizontal size of a single texture repetition, in meters. ysize : the vertical size of a single texture repetition, in meters light-coverage : The coverage of a single point of light in m^2. 0 indicates no lights at all. Minimum value is 1000m^2. May be masked by the blue channel of an object-mask. Lights are all generated 3m above the surface, and have random colour (50% yellow, 35% white, 10% orange, 5% red) ambient : The ambient light colour for the material, specified as separate r, g, b, a components (default: all color components 0.2, alpha 1.0). diffuse : The diffuse light colour for the material, specified as separate r, g, b, a components (default: all color components 0.8, alpha 1.0). specular : The specular light colour for the material, specified as separate r, g, b, a components (default: all color components 0.0, alpha 1.0). emissive : The emissive light colour for the material, specified as separate r, g, b, a components (default: all color components 0.0, alpha 1.0). solid : Whether the surface is solid from an FDM perspective. If it is not solid, it is assumed that the material models a fluid (water) surface. (default: true). friction-factor : The friction factor for that material. The normalized factor can be used by a FDM to post-multiply all contact friction forces with that factor. That is the more slippery a material is the smaller this value should be. (default: 1.0 for Dry concrete/Asphalt). rolling-friction : the gear rolling rolling-friction coefficient for this particular material. (default: 0.02 for Dry concrete/Asphalt). bumpiness : normalized bumpiness factor for this particular terrain. (default: 0.0 for a smooth surface). load-resistance : a pressure value how much force per surface area this surface can carry without deformation. The value should be in N/m^2 (default: 1e30). glyph : group that defines one letter/digit/symbol in a font texture sub-entries: name, left (default: 0.0), right (default: 1.0) (left and right describe the horizontal position in the texture.) wood-coverage : The coverage of trees in areas marked as woodland in m^2. A lower number means a higher density of trees. A value of 0 indicates no woods. May be masked by the green channel of an object-mask. (default: 0) tree-range-m : The range at which trees become visible. Note that this is not absolute, as trees are loaded in blocks. A lower number means trees will not become visible until you are closer. tree-texture : A texture to use for the trees. Typically this will be a strip with multiple tree textures. tree-varieties : The number of different trees defined in the tree-texture horizontally. (default: 1) tree-height-m : The average height of the trees. Actual tree height will vary by +/- 50%. (default: 0) tree-width-m : The average width of the tree cover. Actual tree width will vary by +/- 50%. (default 0) object-group : A group of random objects to be placed on the surface. Contains and one or mode children. range-m : The distance at which objects within this object-group become visible. Note that for realism, 60% of the objects will become visible at , 30% at 1.5*, and 10% at 2*. (default: 2000) object : A set of random objects to be placed. Contains , and children. coverage-m2 : The coverage of a single object in m2. Lower values mean a higher density. Minimum value is 1000. spacing-m : The minimum space between this object and any other on the surface in meters. This helps to avoid objects being placed ontop of each other. (default 20) path : Path relative to FG_ROOT to a model definition, usually .ac or .xml file. More than one may be included within the tag, in which case a single is chosen at random for each individual object placement. heading-type : Indicator of how the heading of the random objects should be determined. Valid values are: fixed - Objects all point North. Default. random - Objects are assigned an individual random heading mask - Rotation is taken from the red channel of the object-mask billboard - Object is always rotated to face camera - expensive