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CAE ACE Clutter Definition Files

Software version 2.1

PROPRIETARY NOTICE: This document, including the information contained herein is confidential and/or proprietary to CAE Inc.,
and shall not be reproduced or disclosed in whole or in part, or used for any purpose whatsoever unless authorized in writing by
CAE Inc.

22 July 2013 Rev 1

Contact Information
CAE Inc., 8585 Cote de Liesse, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H4T 1G6

CAE Inc.
www.cae.com

Customer Services
caextranet.cae.com

Trademarks and/or registered trademarks of CAE Inc. and/or its affiliates include but are not limited to CAE, CAE &
Design, CAE Atmos, Atmos, CAE Exos, Exos, CAE Ionos, Ionos, CAE Lithos, Lithos, CAE Mesos, Mesos, CAE Stratos,
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CAE Inc. Confidential and/or Proprietary Information see title page

 CAE ACE User Guide
Revision History

Revision History

DOCUMENT DATE COMMENTS SOFTWARE

REVISION LEVEL VERSION

0 22 July 2013 Official Release 2.1

TPD 19333 Rev 1 Revision History

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CAE ACE User Guide

Note to Readers

This User Guide describes the Clutter Definition files for ACE version 2.1. This
version of ACE is compatible with a CAE Tropos-6000XR system running an IG
baseline IG 8.1 or greater.

For earlier versions of ACE, please refer to the CAE ACE User Guide
version 2.0.

Revision History TPD 19333 Rev 1

Page iv
 CAE ACE User Guide
Table of Contents

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................ 6
1. Primary Clutter Definition File (CDF) .......................................................................... 6
1.1 Description ........................................................................................................ 6
1.2 DB Manager Integration .................................................................................... 6
1.3 CAE True Airport Service Integration ............................................................. 7

CHAPTER 2 .............................................................................................................................. 10
2. Production CDF ....................................................................................................... 10
2.1 Description ...................................................................................................... 10
2.2 DB Manager Integration .................................................................................. 10

TPD 19333 Rev 1 Table of Contents

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CAE ACE User Guide

Chapter 1

1. Primary Clutter Definition File (CDF)

1.1 Description
Each airport custom scene has a editable and unique primary Clutter Definition File
(CDF) specified by the ICAO code for that airport. The new format is
<ICAO>.aceTAS, where <ICAO> represents the ICAO code of a specific airport
scene, with a file extension of aceTAS. (For example, the ACE filename generated
for New Yorks JFK airport would be named KJFK.aceTAS.)

All changes made by a user to a clutter definition in a database will be saved as an

aceTAS CDF. To edit other clutter definitions defined in other CDF types, the user
must first import the applicable CDF into ACE and save it as an aceTAS CDF.

On a ACE standalone station, by default, ACE will give precedence to the

<ICAO>.aceTAS in a particular database folder over any other CDF files. The order
of precedence is

<ICAO>.aceTAS files
models_site.acdf (pre-ACE 2.1 CDF type, obsolete with ACE 2.1)
models_db.acdf (Visual Database Production ACE CDF)
database.ini (Standard CDF initialization for database)

For further details on the aceTAS CDF as well as older ACE CDF types, please refer
to Chapter 3, ACE File Description of the CAE ACE User Guide, Software Version
2.1.

1.2 DB Manager Integration

When the editing of the clutter definitions for an airport is finished, the definitions in
the <ICAO>.aceTAS file can be transferred to the visual system.

Primary Clutter Definition File (CDF) TPD 19333 Rev 1

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 CAE ACE User Guide
Chapter 1

After the <ICAO>.aceTAS files are transferred, enter them using the Database
Manager of the CAE Main UI as follows:

1. Choose the database folder for the matching <ICAO>.aceTAS file and
Right-Click;
2. Choose the New TAS file option as shown in Figure 1.1;
3. Enter the required info in the Check-In popup boxes;
4. Stop the visual and rerun again for the changes to be evident.

Figure 1.1 Installing a new aceTAS file for the CYUL database

1.3 CAE True Airport Service Integration

One of the features of Tropos-6000XR is the ability to share various airport
customizations between different users of CAE ACE. This is achieved through the
CAE True Airport Service website. Clutter sharing is done on an airport-per-
airport basis.

To upload the file to the CAE True Airport service, login to caetrueairport.cae.com
using the login information provided by CAE customer services. Once logged on
select Community Content as shown in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2 Community Content option on CAE True Airport Service.

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CAE ACE User Guide

Then, select the Content Submission tab as shown in Figure 1.3

Figure 1.3 Content Submission

Enter the information in the submission form. Note that it is important to accurately
fill out each field, otherwise the submission may be rejected. Once the form is filled
out, submit the .aceTAS CDF along with a screenshot. The screenshot can be
obtained from ACE by using the File > Save snapshot of 3D viewer option. Position
the viewpoint to a location where a good overview of the airport clutter is visible.

All files submitted are reviewed and validated before being shared with the CAE
True Airport's Community.

Primary Clutter Definition File (CDF) TPD 19333 Rev 1

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 CAE ACE User Guide
Chapter 1

The user can also download an aceTAS file for a specific airport from the CAE
True Airport service. Login to caetrueairport.cae.com and select the Available
Content tab as shown in Figure 1.4.

Figure 1.4 Available Content tab

Choose from the list of available clutter content for airports that have been shared by
the CAE True Airport community. Click on any of the airport ICAO codes to
download the corresponding .aceTAS file to your disk. One can also rate the content
that has been downloaded.

The downloaded aceTAS file can be imported into CAE ACE if ACE is running or
copied directly to the appropriate airport database folder. It can also be directly
installed into the Database manager as described in Section 1.2.

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CAE ACE User Guide

Chapter 2

2. Production CDF

2.1 Description
Each airport custom scene has a unique production CDF named models_db.acdf.
This file is produced by the CAE Visual Database Group and is released with each
custom airport scene as part of the database package.

Note that this file cannot be edited by the user, but it can be imported into ACE and
the clutter definition can be saved as an aceTAS CDF for editing. (Please refer to
Section 3.5.2, Importing from External Files, of the CAE ACE User Guide, Software
Version 2.1. for detailed instructions.)

2.2 DB Manager Integration

The models_db.acdf is part of each custom scenes database package. As such, it is
entered automatically when entering the rest of the database package into the DB
Manager. The models_db.acdf file resides in the respective database node designated
by the ICAO code for that airport.

(continued)

Production CDF TPD 19333 Rev 1

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 CAE ACE User Guide
Chapter 2

In order to import the models_db.acdf for a particular airport, one must extract the
CDF from the DB Manager as follows:

1) Choose the ICAO code for the airport and Right-Click on the database
folder to view the database folder sub-menu (refer to Figure 2.1). Then
choose Advanced Manage Files. (Alternatively, one can also highlight a
database folder and type the hotkey Ctrl+F.)

Figure 2.1 Database folder sub-menu

(continued)

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CAE ACE User Guide

2) Then choose the models_db.acdf in the database folder and save it to a

folder outside the DB Manager. Note that the ICAO code designation for
the chosen airport is displayed in the title bar as shown in Figure 2.2

Figure 2.2 Database folder files

3) Import the file into ACE and save it as an aceTAS CDF. The clutter
definitions can now be changed. For further details on importing CDFs ,
refer to Section 3.5.2, Importing from External Files of the CAE ACE
User Guide, Software Version 2.1.

Production CDF TPD 19333 Rev 1

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 CAE ACE User Guide
Chapter 2

TPD 19333 Rev 1 Table of Contents

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