Changing The Standard Airspace Colours

[carlp101]

Hi All,

I've been flying with a SkyView D1000 for a year and very pleased I am with it. However, I've always found the standard colours used for the various airspace classification, CTRs, CTA, etc., a little odd. Some of them are hard to distinguish when you fly with Terrain selected as your background. So I've changed mine, as you can see from the screenshot. If you would like to do the same here are the steps:

1. Power-on your D1000 and plug a USB stick into the cable that comes from the D37 connector (the one you use to update the Dynon software, etc.)
2. Press the two right-most buttons for a few seconds to access the system menus
3. Use the menu options to backup your system setting to the USB stick
4. Plug the USB stick into a PC and open the Dynon settings file - the file that ends in .dfg
5. You need to replace all the text from the line that contains "map_bling={" to the line immediately before the one that contains "map_north_up=MAP_ZOOM_20" with the contents of the file I have attached called "Dynon Improved Airspace Colours.txt".
6. Save the changes as a new file on the USB stick.
7. Plug the USB stick back into your D1000 and, using the system menu options, load the file
8. When you exit the system menus and view the map screen you should see the changes. If you want to revert back to your previous colours just load the original .dfg file

For those who want to play a little and make your own changes, you'll need an application that displays the colour hex codes as actual colours. You can use the following web page http://www.hexcolortool.com, but I use an application called Hex Colour Finder that allows you to sample any colour displayed on your screen and return its Hex code. You can find it here: http://www.hexcolorfinder.com

The follwoing explains what I have worked out so far about the relevent settings within the .dfg file.

Colour Code Structure
---------------------
Pairs of hexadecimal codes for Red, Green, Blue, & Transparency - from 00 = transparent to FF = solid)

Object Usage
------------
color0 = Outer colour
color1 = Inner colour
color2 = (Still to confirm where this is used)
color3 = This may be the background when the screen object is selected

Line styles used to draw the object
-----------------------------------
1. MAP_BLING_DRAW_STYLE_SOLID_TICKS = Solid boundary of color0 with ticks on the inside of color1
2. MAP_BLING_DRAW_STYLE_SOLID_FADE = Solid boundary of color0 with a faded inner boundary of color1
3. MAP_BLING_DRAW_STYLE_FILLED = ?
4. MAP_BLING_DRAW_STYLE_DASHED = Solid boundary of color0 with dashes overlaid of color1
5. MAP_BLING_DRAW_STYLE_SOLID_UNCLIPPED_TICKS = Train line style
6. MAP_BLING_DRAW_STYLE_FRAG_SHADER = ?

Example setting from the .dfg file
----------------------------------
map_bling={
tfr_active={ Active temporary flight restriction
color0=FF5A01FF Strong Orange
color1=FF0001B3 Strong Red
color2=FF5A01FF Strong Orange
color3=FFFFFFFF White
width0=2
width1=4
width2=6
cycle=0
fraction=0
outline=1
style=MAP_BLING_DRAW_STYLE_FILLED
}
tfr_upcoming={ Temporary flight restriction not yet active
color0=E6E300FF Yellow
color1=E6E30080 Yellow shaded
color2=E6E300FF Yellow
color3=FFFFFFFF White
width0=2
width1=4
width2=6
cycle=0
fraction=0
outline=1
style=MAP_BLING_DRAW_STYLE_FILLED
}

I've also attached a file where I've decoded the standard colours used, called "Colours decoded.txt"

 

[swatson999]

This is a great idea...I may try changing a few colors to see how I like it, primarily the Restricted areas and MOAs...they don't match the colors on a sectional chart, and it's always kind of bugged me. Worth a shot!

Thanks for the tips...

 

[carlp101]

Here is an updated set of colours that replaces the hard to view yellow airspace objects with blue/red.

Enjoy!

 

[carlp101]

Here is a before and after screen shot of approximately the same are. See how it's difficult to see the yellow airspace objects in the before shot? They are easily distinguishable in the after shot.

This was using the setting in the Dynon_Improved_Airspace_Colours_2.txt.

 

[preid]

I did this a few years back except all the colors I chose match the sectional colors Blue for B, magenta for C blue for D, Than I made colors that would stand out for the rest RED for Prohibited Orange for Restricted, purple for MOA.
I might suggest, if you're going to take the time to change colors make it to a color that you're familiar with? Most of us have EFB's so why not match it to those colors as close as possible?

 

[NASA515]

This is a great piece of work - an excellent "hack."  The nice thing about the Dynon SV is the customization - I can't get enough of it - some of which comes from the user base.

In my case - hmmmm - I actually like the original better than the revised.  But, that's what makes horse racing.

I personally feel many of the callouts on the Terrain chart are hard to read, so I use the Alternate dark scheme almost exclusively.  I really don't care much where the roads and RR's are, and if I need to know, I can bring them up (along with the assorted SA navigation charts.)

Good work!

P.S.  I tried attaching two examples but no joy as the Dynon server keeps telling me to reselect for security reasons.  I tried 5 times and gave up.

Bob Bogash
RV-12
N737G

 

[carlp101]

I did this a few years back except all the colors I chose match the sectional colors Blue for B, magenta for C blue for D, Than I made colors that would stand out for the rest RED for Prohibited Orange for Restricted, purple for MOA.
I might suggest, if you're going to take the time to change colors make it to a color that you're familiar with? Most of us have EFB's so why not match it to those colors as close as possible?

I don't use the EFB (I assume you are referring to EasyVFR). Perhaps you could post the relevant section of your settings file for all those who do?

All the best.
Carl

 

[carlp101]

This is a great piece of work - an excellent "hack."  The nice thing about the Dynon SV is the customization - I can't get enough of it - some of which comes from the user base.

In my case - hmmmm - I actually like the original better than the revised.  But, that's what makes horse racing.

I personally feel many of the callouts on the Terrain chart are hard to read, so I use the Alternate dark scheme almost exclusively.  I really don't care much where the roads and RR's are, and if I need to know, I can bring them up (along with the assorted SA navigation charts.)

Good work!

P.S.  I tried attaching two examples but no joy as the Dynon server keeps telling me to reselect for security reasons.  I tried 5 times and gave up.

Bob Bogash
RV-12
N737G

Yes, I used to use the dark theme, but I quite like the terrain theme and I couldn't see all the airspace objects, so I did some research and a little tweaking. I'm very please with the results.

 

[skyview_user]

For Europe one source of airspace and airfield data is pocketFMS. I have adapted the native (US) SV colors to their planning software (easyVFR). That makes planning and flying very easy.

 

[AlanR]

Carl,
Am I right in thinking you are using AirMillion chart mapping and not standard Dynon chart mapping in your Skyview?