How can I get rid of blocky and course cliffs in my scenery

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Norry
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat May 23, 2009 12:03 pm

How can I get rid of blocky and course cliffs in my scenery

Post by Norry » Tue Dec 15, 2009 4:44 pm

Can anyone explain what is happening here. These are two pictures of the same place, the only difference is that in the second picture I am about 200 meters closer than in the first but in moving closer the cliffs get very blocky and course. I am not sure how to overcome this.
it is especially noticeable for me because just 3 or 4 miles south of here Holgers Tongass scenery starts where the land slopes down neatly to the shoreline.
Yakobi Island 003.jpg
Yakobi Island 003.jpg
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Yakobi Island 004.jpg

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luisfeliztirado
Posts: 436
Joined: Sun May 15, 2005 9:15 am
Location: Santo Domingo

Re: How can I get rid of blocky and course cliffs in my scenery

Post by luisfeliztirado » Wed Dec 16, 2009 11:31 am

It looks like the typical problem of mis-matched altitude mesh and hydro polygons (water).

Hydro polys have an altitude value and when they meet the mesh, they flatten it to the height of the water, thus creating those cliffs.
fs water flatten.jpg

The solution is to create a new coast (hydro polygon) that is placed where the altitude mesh is at the lowest or most realistic point.

Best regards.
Luis

Norry
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat May 23, 2009 12:03 pm

Re: How can I get rid of blocky and course cliffs in my scenery

Post by Norry » Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:05 pm

Thanks for your input Luis, From what you say It looks like that in order to satisfy the default mesh, I may have to sacrifice the geographical accuracy of the coastline, unless there is a way of easily changing the mesh in a local area? Anyway I shall give your suggestion a try.
As always, thanks a lot for your help.

Norry

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luisfeliztirado
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Location: Santo Domingo

Re: How can I get rid of blocky and course cliffs in my scenery

Post by luisfeliztirado » Fri Dec 18, 2009 12:27 am

Do you know, Norry, it really all depends on what you want from the scenery - I analyzed this same problem some time ago (3 and a half years ago!) on the Avsim forum, and it all comes down to whether we choose to depict the landscape realistically or accurately. Accuracy is not necessarily the best choice, since nobody knows exactly (accuracy) how coasts or mesh look in detail - we all have only a general impression of how they should look (realism).

So, the question here is whether those coasts have sharp cliffs or whether the hills slope down gently to the water. This should probably be the deciding factor in how you choose to approach this scenery modification.

As for whether the altitude mesh or the coasts are more accurate, I would not bet on either one. There is a lot of inaccuracy (mostly unsuspected) in data sources, and I have seen minor, and occasionally major, variations in coasts and DEMs. But, again, I don't really believe that matters much, rather it should look right, no matter the accuracy of the source.

Best regards.
Luis

Norry
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat May 23, 2009 12:03 pm

Re: How can I get rid of blocky and course cliffs in my scenery

Post by Norry » Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:25 pm

Luis, an interesting and thoughtful view on the subject of scenery accuracy, and I go along with what you say. I know from looking at google maps that just when you thought you had the coastline nailed down nice and accurately, Google will suddenly allow another zoom level and what you thought was accurate, is a long way from it. So one has to say at some point in the process that my scenery is as accurate as I want it to be, knowing that it will never be 100% correct. Having said all that, I took you up on your suggestion of moving the coast line outwards to allow the cliffs to slope down into the water, but unfortunately it didn't work, all I ended up with was an ever increasing area of level ground at the base of stubbornly lumpy cliffs. I just wonder whether the default mesh in that area is somehow lacking in definition.
Thanks again Luis

Norry

shedman51
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Re: How can I get rid of blocky and course cliffs in my scenery

Post by shedman51 » Thu Dec 31, 2009 2:40 am

Sounds like you could try a flattening polygon and edit the point heights to control your slope.

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