Blending photo real water with default ocean

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Rochas99
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Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:23 pm

Blending photo real water with default ocean

Post by Rochas99 » Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:31 pm

Hello,

I have successfully created the photo-real water and island, but one issue which I did not see it mention on the tutorials is how to blend the photo-real water with the default ocean.

The water around my island seems different in tone of colour and looks like squared.

Is there any way around this?

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Luis Sa
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Re: Blending photo real water with default ocean

Post by Luis Sa » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:32 pm

Hello,

Have you already tried to create a blend mask? Please read "Custom Ground Textures" in the Help file.

Best Regards, Luis

Rochas99
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:23 pm

Re: Blending photo real water with default ocean

Post by Rochas99 » Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:03 am

Hello Luis,

Thanks for your response. I have done blend masks the ones that are tiff format and as it is a water mask it is ending with W. however, the issue is that I want to have the photo real water, and the blend mask allows me to have that, I have shaded black the area which is supposed to be water and sbuilder indeed does it correct, the problem is that once the photo real water meets the default water ocean there are some differences in the color of the water which when seen from above you could notice a square like ocean.

What I would like to do is blend the photoreal water with the default ocean water.

Or is there a blend for the blend mask?

meshman
Posts: 219
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2006 11:54 pm

Re: Blending photo real water with default ocean

Post by meshman » Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:18 am

I believe you're confusing the purpose of a blendmask versus the watermask, at least for what they do when compiled.

A blendmask in it's most basic form is pure black and pure white. What is covered in the white area is shown in FSX and the black area is not. A good blendmask will have a gradient in grayscale to soften the sharp contrast between the black and white area.

A watermask is used to show the wave action and glittering effect on the photo area that is normally shown in FSX water.

If you are looking to soften the transition between the photo area water and the default water area, then this is done with the blendmask using a gradient from full black area to the full white area. Depending upon the graphic tool you use, there may be a feathering brush that can be set to various widths that will "spray paint" around the white and black transition. That dithering effect, from strong to weak will help to smooth out the hard transition.

When you go to do the watermask, if you want a watermask for the effects mentioned above, then it can be a simple black and white file, with no gradient necessary.
Lance

Rochas99
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:23 pm

Re: Blending photo real water with default ocean

Post by Rochas99 » Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:32 am

Oh I see, I can apply both blend and water mask. I was under the impression I could only apply either water or blend mask.

So I can have two files one ending with _B.tiff and another _W.tiff

Ok I will try that, thanks!

Another question, my photo scenery has some black borders, I read in a thread that often it is caused by imperfect fit among photo maps, is there any way around to fixing those black lines?

Thanks

meshman
Posts: 219
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2006 11:54 pm

Re: Blending photo real water with default ocean

Post by meshman » Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:33 am

From what I can recall, black borders were happening with the RTM version of FSX. Microsoft issued a small patch and subsequent updates to the SDKs fixed the problem. What version of FSX and SDK are you using?
Lance

Rochas99
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:23 pm

Re: Blending photo real water with default ocean

Post by Rochas99 » Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:28 pm

Hello Meshman,

I am using FSX SP2 and 1A for SDK

Rochas99
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:23 pm

Re: Blending photo real water with default ocean

Post by Rochas99 » Tue Sep 29, 2009 5:53 pm

Usually the black borders are gone if I remove the water mask .tif file from the photo file.

Rochas99
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:23 pm

Re: Blending photo real water with default ocean

Post by Rochas99 » Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:10 pm

The black borders and the blending went great after adding the blend mask.

Thanks!!

I had thought I could only use either water blend or the normal blend.

That worked! :P

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