Maps2XPlane are well known for their Arctic, Antarctic and Svalbard sceneries and now we have another release coming from them the Majestic Faroe Islands, said to be one of Europe's best unknown holiday destinations. According to the Visit Faroe Islands website:
Unfathomable beauty, mysteriously tucked away like a figment of a child’s imagination.
What intrigues me about this release are two prominent features (full feature list at the bottom):
- EIGHT helipads which are spread over the archipelago
- Various texture sets for a realistic seasonal representation of the landscape
That’s right: EIGHT helipads for us rotor heads as well as SEASONAL TEXTURES! This will be one of the fews sceneries out there to include seasonal variation and will prove to be a very interesting area to fly around as not only the ground textures but also some of the ground objects like grass and flowers will also change.
I reached out to Maps2XPlane and asked some questions about the upcoming release.
Bradley: I know that you do a LOT of mesh work and it's kind of what you're known for, what source data did you use for the Faroe Islands and what resolution was it? 10m? 30m?
Maps2XPlane: The Faroes4XPlane terrain mesh is based on a custom elevation mosaic out of sources with a horizontal resolution up to 2 meters. The derived elevation mosaic, underlying the terrain mesh, has a horizontal resolution of about 17 meters.
Bradley: How long have you been working on the scenery and what made you decide to attempt seasonal variations?
Maps2XPlane: I made first plans and did some preliminary work for Faroes4XPlane already in 2017. It took a while until I found with Albert a professional, reliable and motivated partner for this ambitious project. I teamed up with Albert end of May 2018 and since then we worked quite intensively and almost exclusively on the Faroes4XPlane project.
As it regards seasonal representations, they are in my opinion a very important feature to highlight all the different facets a landscape has in reality. Svalbard4XPlane featured already two textures sets (summer and winter) and for Faroes4XPlane we decided to add two further texture sets, to achieve even more variance over a year.
Bradley: Thanks for including so many Helipads, were you perhaps inspired by our good friend monoblaue (Stefan)?
Maps2XPlane: Yes, I know Stefan a.k.a. monoblau very well. I had / have the pleasure to cooperate with him in regard of Krabi4XPlane, which features a custom mesh by Maps2XPlane :-)
Features
- Detailed terrain model with various texture sets for a realistic seasonal representation of the landscape
- Includes the Vágar Airport (EKVG)
- Eight helipads which are spread over the archipelago: Froðba (EKFA), Kirkja (EKKU), Klaksvík (EKKV), Mykines (EKMS), Skúvoy (EKSY), Stóra Dímun (EKSR), Svínoy (EKSO) and Tórshavn/Bodanes (EKTB).
- Realistic recreation of the complete Faroe Islands with an area of about 1400 km2
- High resolution terrain mesh with various texture sets for a seasonal representation
- Customized local terrain details, e.g. realistically sloped runway at the Vágar Airport
- Detailed rendition of the Vágar Airport and eight helipads spread over the islands
- Faroese themed autogen, navigation obstacles and dynamic traffic on the islands
- Hundreds of custom objects with PBR materials, 3d vegetation, night lighting
More about Faroes4XPlane
You can read more about the development of Faroe4XPlane over at their website.
