Problem with photo-textures

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kevinfirth
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:29 pm

Problem with photo-textures

Post by kevinfirth » Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:31 am

I'm trying to produce some high res photo imagery for scenery. I can use SBX and make square photomaps no problem, but I'm trying to seamlessly integrate it over another photoscenery product (I want my base images to be a higher quality). I have taken my stock photo imagery and blanked out in white the areas I don't want displayed and then imported that image as a map into SBX. Once calibrated to the right position I've run the compiler to create the bgl. So far no problems, and when added in FSX indeed the photoscenery shows up correctly at first with only the bits I want showing.

But....

1. around the edges there is a jagged visual effect which if planned correctly along fence lines or other ground features isn't too much of a problem.

2. what is really perplexing is that sometimes, and not always in the same place, FSX is displaying the night textures of the other photoscenery product around some of the edge of my new photoscenery. :x :s As you fly over it, it gradually corrects itself, with FSX reloading tiles of day photoscenery to replace the night ones. Then it may happen again in a different place. Generally it starts with a large tile of night texture which is replaced by day in sections.

Is there a reason why the night texture problem is happening that anyone can help me understand and eliminate please?


I've also only found this possible reference here on the forum to the problem, is it the same issue?
http://www.ptsim.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1683

Thanks
k

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

Re: Problem with photo-textures

Post by meshman » Fri Mar 11, 2011 3:08 pm

Q 1. - If you have a hard edge on the blendmask, then you will see little jagged areas. A hard edge is where the colors go from pure black to pure white. A gradient effect using some gray color settings is helpful at minimizing the jaggies. It can be a small band of 3 or 4 pixels, it can be larger than that and it can be more than one band of differing levels of gray. Whatever works to smooth things out. Most graphical editing software will have a magic wand which will allow you to select all the white area or all the black area and then apply a gaussian blur of (x) pixels between the white and black.

Q 2. - Time of day that you're flying? If you set your work to apply to ALL, instead of DAY and you're flying around DUSK/DAWN/NIGHT time it may be causing the swapping of tiles. You don't mention what LOD your work is or what LOD the existing photo work is at, so it's difficult to guess on these things.
Lance

kevinfirth
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:29 pm

Re: Problem with photo-textures

Post by kevinfirth » Fri Mar 11, 2011 5:07 pm

Thanks Lance

I understand the gradient stuff and I'm confident I can do that in Photoshop.

I'm not quite so certain about the answer to my second point though. I'm afraid I've only started with scenery design recently and I'm not massively conversant with LOD settings and how (if!) they affect things. Whilst I can find out the technicalities of LOD, could you give me an idea of how it may be affecting or causing my issues perhaps please? I also do not know how to set the work in SBuilderX to apply to day, dusk, sawn or night etc - there do not appear to be any settings I can alter to affect this, other than to not specify a path for a night texture under the map properties dialog box, season tab? Am I missing something here please?!?!

If it helps the entry in the inf file says LOD = auto.

Cheers
k

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

Re: Problem with photo-textures

Post by meshman » Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:39 am

Since you're snooping around the INF file made by SBuilderX you will see a line in there; Variation = All This sets the display properties for the imagery, with many options listed in the SDKs. Day, Night, Dawn, Dusk are all time related in the sim.

LODs or Levels of Detail have two meanings in FSX. First is the area of coverage in a set size, second is the resolution of the mesh or photo scenery imagery. Both can be seen by opening a mesh or photo scenery BGL file with the TMFviewer that's part of the SDKs. One of the menu options will show the different LODs (resolution) that photo scenery will display and another menu option will show a geographical boundary. Not much confusing there..., it all makes sense to Microsoft and we follow along. :lol:

You might be best served by grabbing a couple of screen captures to show what it is that you're seeing. Otherwise, it can be hit and miss. But pay close attention as to what time you have the game set to, so that the pictures can be analyzed.
Lance

kevinfirth
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:29 pm

Re: Problem with photo-textures

Post by kevinfirth » Sat Mar 12, 2011 10:50 am

Screenshot is at http://flightsimscenery.blogspot.com/20 ... ry-on.html

Flight time in game is 1200hrs. I've had a look at the bgl in Tmfviewer - looking at the View>Level of Detail menu it shows LOD 8 through to 17 in black with all other levels above and below greyed out.

Is that significant? k

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

Re: Problem with photo-textures

Post by meshman » Sat Mar 12, 2011 4:03 pm

The menu listing for LODs sounds OK.

The night textures are coming from the other scenery? And are random in nature? They don't appear when your scenery is inactive? What size is the BGL file(s) for your work? Any chance of getting a top-down picture or two showing the night texture problem?

Where I'm going with the questions is a process of elimination, as best possible. So I'm wondering if it's something that is normally occurring or just system specific? Is anyone else looking at your work and seeing the same thing? Having confirmation from someone else eliminates (hopefully?) that it's not your computer causing the problems. If you compile your work at LOD=15,17 does it make things go away? Have you defragged recently? Are you compiling at Compression=100 or a lower value? A lower value, say 90 or 85 doesn't hurt image quality much and results in much smaller files.

It's just a guess on my part, but first impressions are that FSX isn't able to get the data it needs read fast enough to display properly and that's why you're seeing the random night texture. But it's just a guess. Welcome to the wacky world of scenery design! :mrgreen:
Lance

kevinfirth
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:29 pm

Re: Problem with photo-textures

Post by kevinfirth » Sat Mar 12, 2011 4:19 pm

Hi Lance

Yes others testing my work have found similar issues on separate machines. I haven't tried compiling ata lower LOD because that would compromise the effectiveness of the scenery and the whole reason for doing the base textures! I am compiling at 85, and the night textures are coming from the other scenery and don't appear when my scenery is not activated.

I was coming round myself to the conclusion it is FSX and data transfer that is causing the issue but was hoping it would be a schoolboy error on my part and there'd be a solution to it fairly easily :p

Thankyou for taking to time to consider my problems....!

Cheers
k

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