HR-Photo Quality

General discussion about Scenery Design. Questions about SBuilder for Flight Simulator FS2004.
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Mick
Posts: 59
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:42 pm
Location: Germany

HR-Photo Quality

Post by Mick » Tue Oct 16, 2007 1:37 pm

Hello everybody,

still struggling with my first little Scenery, I think I would definitely need some advice from you experienced ones in here... I'm using FS9, so of course I'm also into SBuilder 2.05 rev6.

1. Trying to bring in some "photoreal" enhancements. The pic quality (I think I made it to 1.2 m/pix) looks quite decent in SBuilder (right pic), but after compiling it just looks horrible (left side).

[img]uploaded/Mick/2007101661747_comparison.jpg[/img]

Could anyone tell me if that's really the maximum quality of "photoreal" I can get? In that case I'd skip the idea... [B)] But being a newbie I guess there's just something I don't know and also didn't find in the help and forum etc.... E.g. somewhere I read that, in some cases, texture files would have to be flipped (whatever that means), someone else wrote in case of HR-Photo you'd need to flatten the whole area ... (would I lose my mesh elevations in that area then?). Unfortunately all the hints were dated 2004 or so, long before several revisions. What's true now?

2) I tried to make a water mask, following Luis' annotations here in the forum. I understood it had to be 8-bit grayscale bmp, and I also think it's mandatory to name it the same like the original bmp with the name extended as "_W.bmp". Both I did, but the result is still close to nothing.

[img]uploaded/Mick/2007101663246_ViewInFSTotal.jpg[/img]

From some discussion I had to guess that the order in which you include the maps could be relevant. Unfortunately nobody tells which order it's supposed to be to make it work...

3) Something quite similar seems to be the issue for blend masks, which might aviod the sharp transitions to the defaule area. I named the file "...(name).._B.bmp" according to the watermask-idea, but it also doesn't work.

Would please anyone be so kind as to support me with some detail knowledge on this? I'm already a bit desperate...

Thank you very much,
regards
Mick

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Luis Sa
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Location: Portugal
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Post by Luis Sa » Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:34 am

Hello Mick,

Here some answers:

1 - in FS9 maximum photo resolution is 4,8m per pixel except if you "make terrain as an object". That is the case of high res photo scenery that SB produces. So, to go higher than 4,8 you need to make an object: the mesh and the texture to cover the mesh. If you do meshes with SB you can follow the help file to produce an high res scenery. Otherwise it is better not to try high res scenery.

2 - to produce 4,8 m per pixel scenery you can use the SDK resample or the "VTP method" that SBuilder uses. In the last case the textures need to be flipped (vertically inverted).

3 - you should use a blend mask so that your photo blends naturally with the underground terrain. Please see the help file and tutorials. I really do not remember the details and I could give you a wrong advice.

Kind Regards,

Luis

Mick
Posts: 59
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:42 pm
Location: Germany

Post by Mick » Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:15 am

Thank you, Luis - so I've really been running in a dead-end street all the time. From all the forums I was aware that SBuilder uses a different method, but I had thought it uses this "other method" somewhere in the background...

Since I could master creating my first (working [:)]) mesh within a much shorter time, I'll try the "object" way you mention and put my photo map over the mesh. Wish me luck [8D]

Have a nice day,
Mick

Mick
Posts: 59
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:42 pm
Location: Germany

Post by Mick » Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:49 am

Hello Luis,

I put the follow-up into a new thread, so that you're not the only one who feels addressed ... but I guess the other "experts" more or less left this part of the forum? If I can assume your permission, I'd like to place a little cross-reference into the SBX section.

Hope I don't bother you too much. Please believe me that I'm studying and trying hard, but all the (completely new) information is really confusing.

Kind regards again
Mick

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