scenery builder

General discussion about Scenery Design. Questions about SBuilder for Flight Simulator FS2004.
marc
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 6:29 pm

scenery builder

Post by marc » Thu Apr 29, 2004 6:29 pm

Dear Luis;
Thanks for scenery builder program.

Just need a little clarification.

When compile tiles for photoscenery - the resulting compiled bgl is blank - and bmp are not placed in order - but at randoom position withing the coordinates - basically are mismatched.

if you can give some light on this it is appreciated.

regards
marc

marc
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 6:29 pm

Post by marc » Thu Apr 29, 2004 11:33 pm

Dear Luis;

i can see program now works well with lines and poly - no problems on that -

problems sussist when ortoimage - is used to re-produce the photorealistic base terrain. [:(!]

It will be nice of you if you can write - the steps required to produce photorealistic terrain - only - to get over this hurdle -.

thanks
marc

marc
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 6:29 pm

Post by marc » Tue May 04, 2004 12:07 am

Heloooooo!!

Anybody Here???? [:(]

User avatar
Luis Sa
Posts: 1736
Joined: Sun May 18, 2003 11:17 am
Location: Portugal
Contact:

Post by Luis Sa » Tue May 04, 2004 7:51 am

Hello Marc,

Welcome to the forum.

I implemented the photo part in February. However one user wrote me privately about a similar problem. He send me a map. I tested it and it worked as expected. He had bad configurations. Take note:

- you need to have a bitmap grey color placed at Alpa Map!

- the name of the bitmaps appear on the status bar. Do they get generated? remember that you need to select them before pressing BGL

- one user said that he will be writing a tutorial!

Regards, Luis

marc
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 6:29 pm

Post by marc » Tue May 04, 2004 8:40 am

Hi Luis;
Thanks for the tip.

perhaps the problem was from the alpha bitmap - not on grey color - i'll try that and see how it works -

yes bitmaps get generated!
tx
marc [:D]

Celso de Almeida Junior
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2004 12:21 pm
Location: Brazil

Post by Celso de Almeida Junior » Fri May 14, 2004 3:50 pm

Marc, hi:

Did you try to use some Martin Wright's tools
to generate alpha bitmaps?
An alpha bitmap must be in grey scale, I guess.
More info about, contact me.

Cheers, Celso.

Celso Junior

marc
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 6:29 pm

Post by marc » Sat May 15, 2004 5:10 am

Dear Celso;

alpha bmp files were in black and white - i to test in gray scale - and find out - let you know.

by the way - what Luis has done is an Amazing tool!!! tx Luis! you are great!

marc

marc
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 6:29 pm

Post by marc » Sat May 15, 2004 5:43 am

hi Celso;

well - can generate bitmaps - no prob - but the bgl is blank - therefore it show nothing.

obviously i miss somenthing somewhere - but what??

i think better wait for the tutorials to be available - that will clear all the problems.

marc

User avatar
Luis Sa
Posts: 1736
Joined: Sun May 18, 2003 11:17 am
Location: Portugal
Contact:

Post by Luis Sa » Sun May 16, 2004 12:23 am

Hello Marc,

SBuilder generates the bitmaps and, regarding BGLs, it generates a SCM file (SCASM txt file) and the compiled version of this SCM file (=the BGL file). Did it create the intermediate SCM? Have you set the project folders?

Regards, Luis

Celso de Almeida Junior
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2004 12:21 pm
Location: Brazil

Post by Celso de Almeida Junior » Wed May 26, 2004 3:02 pm

Hi, Marc:

You're right. Alpha bitmaps are black&white.
There is a lot lot of time ago I used them, by first
time, so the mistake.
I tried extract alpha by using Paint Shop Pro,
and application didn't work in TerraBuilder.
So, I tried to use a Martin Wright's program,
DXTBMP, I guess. Using your colored bitmap, you
can extract an equivalent alpha bitmap.Doesn't
matter the size format, we can use it in TerraBuilder,
since we introduce the coordinates. It works fine.

(Luís, help: não estou sabendo explicar direito,
para o garoto. Se você entendeu, me ajuda.Você
conhece um programa do Elrond Elvish, para essa
finalidade? Ainda não usei o SBuilder, pois estou
envolvido com Mesh.)

Marc,more info, query Luís about it.

Cheers [:I]



Celso Junior

Lurch
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2005 10:31 pm

Post by Lurch » Sat Mar 19, 2005 10:43 pm

Has anyone ever produced a tutorial on this.

I have been trying to combine 9 aerial photos to make one larger photo realistic texture for msfs 04. I have used Terra builder, PhotoScenery Maker and the msfs SDK's.

I have been able to combine the photos ok, generated the bgl and texture bmp's. The photos show up pretty much where they are supposed to. But because the outer border of the combined photo area does not fall exactly on the LOD cells, i have either a "water-blue" border around the edges OR gray on one edge and blue on another. depending on what tools i used.

Because of the remote area that i live in, the only available photos are in Black and white and got them from Terra Server USA, with the Lat/Lon info.

I've been searching forums for weeks and have not found an answer yet on this.

Is there a step-by-step process on how to combine 2 or more photos without the odd borders?

I don't mind trimming the photo placement so it fits exactly on the LOD cell boundary.

RF
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 1:54 am

Post by RF » Sun Mar 20, 2005 1:15 am

Yes, you'll want to trim the photo. This is addressed in Custom Terrain Textures.doc in the FS2004 Terrain SDK. The resampler will fill up to the nearest LOD12 boundary resulting in blue or black borders if the photo doesn't fit exactly. The dimensions of a LOD12 cell are:


0.010986328125 deg latitude
0.0146484375 deg longitude

A LOD11 cell is exactly double this size, double again for LOD10 and so on.

I assume your photo is for the US somewhere. As a reference there is a LOD5 corner south of Denver at 39.375 deg N 105.00 deg W. From these values you can determine the exact LOD12 corners to trim your photo to. You should be able to stipulate these corners within the .inf file of the resampler. Sbuilder also displays LOD12 gridlines.

Lurch
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2005 10:31 pm

Post by Lurch » Sun Mar 20, 2005 6:00 am

I guess what i don't know is HOW to trim the photos? For example, when i used Terrabuilder or PSM, i put the cursor on the out line of the last full LOD cell read the LatLon coords and used them in the Destination of the inf file, with NorthLat, SouthLat, etc, but still didn't work. Are those command statements supposed to be the method of trimming the photos?

How is it done in Sbuilder?

I noticed you mention LOD 12. But everything I read appears to indicate it has to be LOD 13. So which one is correct?

and i guess i don't understand how to get the nearest LOD cell boundary with those measurements. For example the edges of my combined photo;
North Lat: N40:48:08.08
South lat: N40:45:32.66
East Lon: W76:45.48.76
West Lon: W76:50:56.30

I read that Doc on Custom Terrain Textures about 20 times, but i must be missing something.

Are those LOD 12 measurements in dec degrees

User avatar
Luis Sa
Posts: 1736
Joined: Sun May 18, 2003 11:17 am
Location: Portugal
Contact:

Post by Luis Sa » Sun Mar 20, 2005 8:29 am

Hello Lurc,

When you make an INF file you specify your source data and your destination area. If the source data is "larger" than the destination area there will be no problems.

I use to specify the destination area as latitudes and longitudes that coincide with the LOD13 grid system.

If you want to try Sbuilder and you know the limits of your souce bitmap just create a file with a basename equal to the bitmap basename and an extension TXT. Say your image is mypicture.bmp, you simply create mypicture.txt and inside it you add the borders like this:

[GEOGRAPHIC]
North=40.7380455833333
South=40.7131850833333
West=-7.90470886111111
East=-7.87610580555556

Place mypicture.bmp and mypicture.txt in the same folder. Then start Sbuilder and press "New". Then press "Add Map". Point to mypicture.bmp and say ignore the warning that you need to calibrate the image (the TXT file does precisely that). Then just click the photo tiles that you need.

Regards, Luis

RF
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 1:54 am

Post by RF » Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:57 am

Hi Lurch;
Sorry for confusing the LOD value. The cell dimensions I gave you are correct, in decimal degrees. This is as you pointed out a LOD13, not a LOD12, cell. I think Luis's method in Sbuilder is the simplest way to go.

I was referring to using the resampler to trim the photo using source and destination values as Luis mentioned.

Ross

Post Reply