object height above the terrain (Above Ground Level) / above sea level (Mean Sea Level); in a DSF the 4th object coordinate, the mode is set by the AGL comment
Airport filter (sim/filter/aptid)
binds overlay items to an airport: X-Plane shows them only when the same pack contains an apt.dat with that airport
the output of base DSF edits: a copy of the base DSF in which only what you edit changes (terrain, water, taken-over items) – the rest stays byte for byte as the original; in X-Plane it replaces the original tile
Base map
map tiles (OpenStreetMap or another provider) under the tile picker map and in the 3D editor
Batch
one edit record applied to many DSFs or places at once
Build
the exact RF Studio version label (date and source code fingerprint), see About
Bump
a local deviation of the runway surface from a straight line (30 m straightedge)
Cache
Studio folder for large data: new DSF versions, exports, orthophotos, check results
Continue from it
the button below a write result: the written DSF version becomes the project base (the terrain or the scenery to edit) and further edits start from it; Back to the original undoes it
Crack
the same place with different heights in the mesh – a gap or step
Custom Scenery
X-Plane scenery pack folder; the order is set by scenery_packs.ini
DEM
digital elevation model – a height raster (usually a GeoTIFF)
DEMS
rasters inside a DSF (elevation, sea_level…)
Distant view
in the editor, the simplified terrain of the window outside the loaded mesh pieces: a height grid (about 230 m for a whole tile) – first from the height raster, then from the mesh heights as X-Plane draws them
DSF
binary file of one 1° × 1° tile (mesh, overlays, objects, polygons, roads, rasters)
DSFTool
Laminar Research tool converting DSF to text and back; an optional check in the Studio
Edit log (.log.json)
the operations of a version tied to coordinates and definition names
Entity fingerprint
a checksum of the content of a project entity; a taken-over entity remembers the fingerprint of its original, Studio uses it to see what changed and to find the item in the base copy. Validate remembers entity results by fingerprint
EULA
end-user license agreement; for RF Studio see Help › About
Exclusion / exclusion zone
a rectangle or polygon (X-Plane 12; forests rectangles only) in an overlay that hides objects, forests etc. of lower-priority scenery
Existing scenery
the items X-Plane really draws at the project place (overlays and the base mesh by scenery_packs.ini), shown read-only as a layer in Underlays
Facade (.fac)
a building or wall extruded from a footprint
Fan
a vertex with many thin triangles
Forest (.for)
tree definition; in a DSF an area with a density
Global Airports
the default X-Plane airport database
Global Scenery
the Laminar Research default scenery
ICAO Annex 14
the ICAO standard for aerodromes (runway slopes, obstacle limitation surfaces)
Laminar
Laminar Research, the maker of X-Plane
Local part
a DSF definition (object, draped polygon, facade …) X-Plane finds as a file in the DSF's package – it takes precedence over the library; the DSF alone does not carry it, so the Studio asks Bundle / Keep the reference before a write, an export (overlay, WED) and a test
Lock (editor)
a locked entity or a whole kind of project entities is read-only and is not selected in 3D; Ctrl+L, stored in the project
Mesh
the terrain triangles of a DSF
OLS
obstacle limitation surfaces
Ortho4XP
a tool for tiles with an orthophoto as the terrain texture
Orthophoto
an aerial or satellite image rectified to the map
Overlay
a pack or DSF without its own terrain that draws objects and polygons on another scenery's terrain
Patch (DSF)
a group of triangles with one terrain texture
Patch (.rfpatch)
a small file with edits only, replayable on your own DSF
.pol
draped polygon – an image laid on the terrain
Pool
a block of DSF vertices sharing a scale (16-bit quantisation)
RenderFarm
optional generator of whole tiles ("Tvorba" folder)
Scenery to edit
the project DSF that buildings, autogen and forests are taken over from, OLS is checked against and the roads for the OSM import come from; usually the same DSF as the terrain, otherwise e.g. an airport overlay (Properties › Base)
scenery_packs.ini
order and enabling of scenery packs (higher = higher priority); edited in the X-Plane scenery view – changes are made in a draft and written only after a preview and a confirmation, with a backup
Seam
the shared edge of two neighbouring tiles
Take-over (of the base scenery)
buildings, autogen, forests and facades of the base DSF loaded into the project as entities with the fingerprint of the original; edits are written into a copy of the base. Take-over mismatch = the scenery to edit is no longer the DSF it was taken over from (resolved by Take over again, Cancel the take-over or Restore the original base)
.ter
terrain texture
Terrain (mesh)
the DSF whose terrain mesh the editor draws in 3D, takes heights and measurements from and the terrain tools write into; an overlay or an orthophoto cannot be the terrain (Properties › Base)
Terrain flatten (::FLATTEN::.pol)
an X-Plane 12 draped polygon that sets the mesh points inside it to a given MSL height
THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES
a file in the program folder listing the third-party libraries and their licenses
TRNS
texture transitions – overlay triangles in the DSF mesh
Underlays
the editor panel below the bar of the 3D view: where the terrain comes from, orthophoto, airports (apt.dat), existing and taken-over scenery, densified mesh places
UV
texture coordinates of a polygon vertex; an orthophoto in a DSF has UV at every vertex (each part shows only its piece of the texture)
Version
a new DSF created by an edit in the Studio (with its family tree in History)
Vertex (mesh)
a point of the DSF terrain mesh; one vertex can have copies in several pools (overlays, T-junctions), height −32768 = height from the elevation raster. Edited by the Vertices tool of the Terrain & water mode
WED
WorldEditor – the Laminar Research editor of airports and overlay scenery
ZL
zoom level of orthophoto textures (ZL17 ≈ 1.2 m/px at the equator, ≈ 0.77 m/px at 50° N)
Keyboard shortcuts
While you type in a text field, keys without Ctrl and Alt (letters, digits, arrows, Delete, Backspace, Enter, Esc) belong to the field and the shortcut is not run. Shortcuts with Ctrl or Alt work even then – e.g. Ctrl+S, Ctrl+F (in Configs it searches the configs, in the editor the editor library, elsewhere except the manual it switches to the Library), in Configs Ctrl+P, Ctrl+G and Alt+1–Alt+4. The editor is an exception: Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+D and Ctrl+A work on the text in a field and the locks Ctrl+L / Ctrl+Shift+L are not run in a field. In the manual and the help, Esc also works in the search field (see the last table). The tables below are collected directly from the application code.
Measuring, comparison and manual
Keys
Action
R
editor: toggle the Measure mode
1 – 4
Measure: Distance / Area / Point / Profile tool
C
Measure › Point: copy coordinates; otherwise in Terrain & water the BEFORE / AFTER slider comparison (⇆ Compare)
← / →
slider comparison: move the slider
Enter / Backspace / Esc
Measure: finish / point back / cancel or end
Ctrl+F
manual: search (Enter = first hit)
Ctrl+P
manual: print / PDF
Esc
manual: close (in the search field it first clears the query)
Based on the RF Studio manual (F1 › Manual, version 0.11.2-beta). Post your questions and experience in this thread.
Glossary
AGLcommentsim/filter/aptid)apt.datwith that airport.agp,.ags,.agb)scenery_packs.inielevation,sea_level…).log.json)scenery_packs.ini), shown read-only as a layer in Underlays.fac).for)::FLATTEN::.pol)elevationraster. Edited by the Vertices tool of the Terrain & water modeKeyboard shortcuts
While you type in a text field, keys without Ctrl and Alt (letters, digits, arrows, Delete, Backspace, Enter, Esc) belong to the field and the shortcut is not run. Shortcuts with Ctrl or Alt work even then – e.g. Ctrl+S, Ctrl+F (in Configs it searches the configs, in the editor the editor library, elsewhere except the manual it switches to the Library), in Configs Ctrl+P, Ctrl+G and Alt+1–Alt+4. The editor is an exception: Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+D and Ctrl+A work on the text in a field and the locks Ctrl+L / Ctrl+Shift+L are not run in a field. In the manual and the help, Esc also works in the search field (see the last table). The tables below are collected directly from the application code.
Measuring, comparison and manual
Based on the RF Studio manual (F1 › Manual, version 0.11.2-beta). Post your questions and experience in this thread.