First scenery problems

TFLeonard · Post by **TFLeonard** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:02 am

I'm just starting to use sbuilder, and I thought I'd try creating a simple photo scenery of an island.

I have an aerial photo that I prepared and created an alpha version for my water mask.

I started by adding the photo with the "Map" button. Sbuilder added the photo and asked me to calibrate.

Before calibrating, I went to the "photo map" tab and changed the Alpha map with the "browse" button to my water mask file. Is this the right way to add the alpha mask?

Then I proceeded to calibrate, and all looks fine.

I tried viewing my alpha mask by selecting it in the "view" menu. However it does not show. Is that the way I can verify if its really added to my project?

The help file says I can access the maps properties again my right clicking on an edge of my map. I've tried and it just doesn't work. The only way I can access that calibration/maps dialog is to start over. Is there a better way?

I then click on the "photo" button and add the photo tiles. I'm assuming that if there are no photo tiles in a LOD13 square then those squares are ignored during bgl/map creation?

I then "select all" and click the "BGL" button. By default VTP Photo is checked. I add "Move BGL files to scenery folder" and press "Compile". I briefly see SCASM launch, but then I only get a small (560 bytes) bgl in the scenery folder and about 15 files in the "Work" folder. I'm guessing the compilation process didn't finish. Is there supposed to be any progress display or message to confirm a succesful compilation?

Am I missing a step or have I got some other problem that prevents me to create the scenery and textures?

Thanks for your help.

Luis Sa · Post by **Luis Sa** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:24 am

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by TFLeonard
 I'm just starting to use sbuilder, and I thought I'd try creating a simple photo scenery of an island.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
You are welcome!
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
I have an aerial photo that I prepared and created an alpha version for my water mask.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
If it is an island you could just make opaque photos (no alpha) and then place LWM polygons of type = water around your island!
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
I started by adding the photo with the "Map" button. Sbuilder added the photo and asked me to calibrate.

Before calibrating, I went to the "photo map" tab and changed the Alpha map with the "browse" button to my water mask file. Is this the right way to add the alpha mask?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
No! You need to have 2 bitmaps of the same size : the 1st is the photo bitmap itself. The 2nd is the alpha bitmap (only 256 Black and white shades). You should calibrate imediately! And then using the View you would see that the same 1st map would appear in all the 7 different view (there are 9 views!). Then you right click the border of the map to access its properties (yes this works!!!) and then in the second sheet called "Photo Bitmaps" you would tell SBuilder that the 2nd bitmap is a different one! That is the way I go ...
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
I tried viewing my alpha mask by selecting it in the "view" menu. However it does not show. Is that the way I can verify if its really added to my project?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
It will show if you follow the above notes!
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
The help file says I can access the maps properties again my right clicking on an edge of my map. I've tried and it just doesn't work. The only way I can access that calibration/maps dialog is to start over. Is there a better way?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Yes! Left click the BORDER (not the interior!) of the map will select it! Right click will give you access to its properties!
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
I then click on the "photo" button and add the photo tiles. I'm assuming that if there are no photo tiles in a LOD13 square then those squares are ignored during bgl/map creation?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
yes!
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
I then "select all" and click the "BGL" button. By default VTP Photo is checked. I add "Move BGL files to scenery folder" and press "Compile". I briefly see SCASM launch, but then I only get a small (560 bytes) bgl in the scenery folder and about 15 files in the "Work" folder. I'm guessing the compilation process didn't finish. Is there supposed to be any progress display or message to confirm a succesful compilation?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
No! But as soon as you get used to the process you will be able to follow everything that takes place by examining the SCASM files left in the Tools folder! The BGL is small! But the textures take some time to be resampled by SBuilder! You need to check if the bitmaps are generated!

Regards, Luis

TFLeonard · Post by **TFLeonard** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 2:41 pm

Thanks for your quick reply.

So if I understand you correctly, I add the photo bitmap with the Map button and calibrate. Then I repeat the same process adding the alpha map on top of the photo bitmap with the Map button, and calibrate again?

Luis Sa · Post by **Luis Sa** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:56 pm

Hi

No! The photo bitmap should have the same size (pixels) and the same borders (North Latitude, West Longitude, South ....) as the alpha bitmap. In fact the seven bitmaps (Su, Fa, Sp, Wi Hd, Night and alpha) should have the same size and the same coverage. The set is referred to as the "Photo Bitmaps". When you calibrate one, all get calibrated! There is an extra 8th bitmap (Class) and an extra 9th bitmap (mesh). These 8th and 9th can have different sizes and so they can be calibrated separately.

Hope that is useful,

Luis

edited: so after you calibrate the main (say summer) bitmap all you have to do is to get the properties of that map and change the name of the alpha bitmap (all the 7 get the name of the summer).

TFLeonard · Post by **TFLeonard** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 1:57 pm

I got it.

My problem was that I hadn't first selected (made the map have a yellow border) the map. Once I did that I could right click and get properties. I see both maps now.

I still can't get the SCASM compile to work. It launches fine and if I look in the work folder I can see some bgl's and about 15 bitmap files. Those files get created in less than a minute but after that (I left it alone for an hour) no additional files are made. I looked at the bitmaps and they look like mipmapped pieces (slices) of my photo. From what I can tell these slices are from the bottom left corner of my photo.

I tried running the process several times with exactly the same results. There are no error messages and sbuilder is fine (I can access menus etc.) I don't know if SCASM is running out of memory or what. Is there an error log that could help us diagnose the problem?

Luis Sa · Post by **Luis Sa** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 4:39 pm

Hi,

How many photo tiles did you created? 15? How many seasons do you have? Only summer?

If the answer is yes to both questions, SBuilder only generates 15 bitmaps!

Luis

TFLeonard · Post by **TFLeonard** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 5:22 pm

Yes I didn't realize that the photo tiles (green hatched squares) will correspond to the end result. I will look at it more carefully. One thing that didn't work is the files weren't copied from the work folder to the scenery/texture folders. Can I assume I copy the "Bgl" files to a scenery folder and the rest to a texture folder?

Luis Sa · Post by **Luis Sa** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 5:30 pm

Hi,

I am assuming you are making "VTP photo" not "High Resolution".

You need to read the help regarding "Folders". Right click the project in the midle of nowhere to access the properties of the project. Here is the help:

Main BGL Folder
The complete path to the folder where most of the BGL files are copied to. This folder has the name of Scenery and it normally has a sister Texture folder. This folder must be activated in the Scenery Library of FS2004.

Secondary BGL Folder
The complete path to the folder where VTP Photo scenery and Land/Water class scenery BGL files are copied to. This folder has the name of Scenery and can not have a sister Texture folder. This folder must be activated in the Scenery Library of FS2004.

You also need to set the "Copy Bitmaps ..." so that they are copied to the default texture folder!

Luis