Tutorial on how to import Geotiffs into FSX using SBuilder?

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andrewlsummer
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Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:37 am

Tutorial on how to import Geotiffs into FSX using SBuilder?

Post by andrewlsummer » Tue Sep 13, 2011 11:56 pm

Hey guys
Can someone point me to a tutorial to take a properly prepared geotiff file and make FSX scenery out of it using Sbuilderx?
Otherwise, could someone please list the detailed steps on how to do this in SBuilderX? I am a newbie and am looking for some clear, easy helpful instructions!
I have a geotiff ready to go and I really want to import it into FSX and then share it.
Thanks! Andrew

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roger-wilco-66
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Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2010 1:56 pm

Re: Tutorial on how to import Geotiffs into FSX using SBuild

Post by roger-wilco-66 » Sat Oct 29, 2011 11:53 pm

I guess you want to add a custom mesh - if so, I'd use the resample tool from the FSX SDK for that. It's quite easy to use. You might want to check this:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... sampleTool

You need to write an .inf file for each tile you want to resample into a bgl and make sure the tiff format is compatible.

Cheers,
Mark
Development of historical sceneries for FSX and Lockheed Martin Prepar3D Simulators

My scenery development galleries:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/DFwnonB1nH

andrewlsummer
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:37 am

Re: Tutorial on how to import Geotiffs into FSX using SBuild

Post by andrewlsummer » Sun Nov 06, 2011 11:00 am

Hi Mike!
Thanks so much for your help!
I have been able to import new scenery using a land and water mask!
The only problem now is still GEOTIFFS
When I get a geotiff from Nasa , the geotiff is projected from south to north, but RESAMPLE needs it to be project as North to South?
What are the easiest ways to convert from south-to-north to proper North-to-South mapping?
Thanks so much for your help!

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luisfeliztirado
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Location: Santo Domingo

Re: Tutorial on how to import Geotiffs into FSX using SBuild

Post by luisfeliztirado » Sun Nov 06, 2011 12:12 pm

Hello Andrew,

I believe that SBuilderX will not create altitude mesh, unlike SBiulder for FS 9. So, if this is what you want to do, then, as Mark suggested, you should use the FS SDK tools directly.

Please indicate precisely what projection is used in the GeoTIFF. FS requires the use of the so-called "Geographic" projection.

Best regards.
Luis

andrewlsummer
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Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:37 am

Re: Tutorial on how to import Geotiffs into FSX using SBuild

Post by andrewlsummer » Sun Nov 06, 2011 10:56 pm

Hello Luis,
Thanks so much for your help - I really appreciate all your effort in helping everybody!
Here is the information on my geotiff imported from a nasa application. It gives me an aerial photo and elevation data, but both have the pixels going south-to-north and not north-to-south. Please see listgeo info:


t Kit\Terrain SDK>listgeo property-elevation.tif
test-elev.tif: Warning, unknown field with tag 42113 (0xa481) encountered.
Geotiff_Information:
Version: 1
Key_Revision: 1.0
Tagged_Information:
ModelTiepointTag (8,3):
0 0 0
152.788003 -27.3162378 0
511 0 0
152.802149 -27.3162378 0
511 445 0
152.802149 -27.3271858 0
0 445 0
152.788003 -27.3271858 0
ModelPixelScaleTag (1,3):
2.7627881e-005 2.45470945e-005 1
End_Of_Tags.
Keyed_Information:
GTModelTypeGeoKey (Short,1): ModelTypeGeographic
GTRasterTypeGeoKey (Short,1): RasterPixelIsArea
GeographicTypeGeoKey (Short,1): GCS_WGS_84
GeogAngularUnitsGeoKey (Short,1): Angular_Degree
VerticalCSTypeGeoKey (Short,1): VertCS_WGS_84_ellipsoid
VerticalUnitsGeoKey (Short,1): Unknown-9001
Unknown-0 (Short,0): End_Of_Keys.
End_Of_Geotiff.

GCS: 4326/WGS 84
Datum: 6326/World Geodetic System 1984
Ellipsoid: 7030/WGS 84 (6378137.00,6356752.31)
Prime Meridian: 8901/Greenwich (0.000000/ 0d 0' 0.00"E)

Corner Coordinates:
Upper Left (152d47'16.81"E, 27d18'58.46"S)
Lower Left (152d47'16.81"E, 27d19'37.87"S)
Upper Right (152d48' 7.74"E, 27d18'58.46"S)
Lower Right (152d48' 7.74"E, 27d19'37.87"S)
Center (152d47'42.27"E, 27d19'18.16"S)


--------
Notice Upper Left and Lower Left Latitudes!
I would be so happy to find a solution to this!
The "Warning, unknown field with tag 42113 (0xa481) encountered" is irrelevent and does not cause any problem with importing elevation data into FSX using resample.
When I import my aerial photo it goes correctly with viewed in TMFviewer, but if I view the elevation data it is upside down.

andrewlsummer
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Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:37 am

Re: Tutorial on how to import Geotiffs into FSX using SBuild

Post by andrewlsummer » Sun Nov 06, 2011 11:19 pm

on this page http://gis.ess.washington.edu/data/rast ... eotiff.txt
it says:

Like the Tiepoint tag, this tag information is independent of the
XPosition, YPosition, Resolution and Orientation tags of the standard
TIFF 6.0 spec. However, simple reversals of orientation between raster
and model space (e.g. horizontal or vertical flips) may be indicated by
reversal of sign in the corresponding component of the
ModelPixelScaleTag. GeoTIFF compliant readers must honor this sign-
reversal convention.

This tag must not be used if the raster image requires rotation or
shearing to place it into the standard model space. In such cases the
transformation shall be defined with the more general
ModelTransformationTag, defined below....

---
So does the 1 after the variable "ModelPixelScaleTag" in my geotiff mean the pixels are upside down? Why doesn't resample recognise this?
How do I reformat the geotiff! :)

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luisfeliztirado
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Location: Santo Domingo

Re: Tutorial on how to import Geotiffs into FSX using SBuild

Post by luisfeliztirado » Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:39 am

Excuse me, Andrew, I am not sure I see the problem. It seems that this project is in Australia and the coordinates appear correct for the Southern Hermisphere. They are not reversed at all and that is why your custom ground textures display correctly.

As for the altitude mesh, I assume that you did not make it in SBuilderX, so could you please indicate what method you used and the inf file? Thank you.

Best regards.
Luis

andrewlsummer
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:37 am

Re: Tutorial on how to import Geotiffs into FSX using SBuild

Post by andrewlsummer » Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:10 pm

Hi Luis,
I found out that the geotiff elevation data files I source from Nasa have the pixels projected south-to-north instead of north-to-south. So they are geo-referenced correctly but the pixels go from bottom to top instead of top to bottom inside the file.

I have proved this as I am able to import my geo-referenced photos OK, but then the terrain goes upside down (bottom to top). I've also proved that the geotiffs from nasa go from bottom to top as I have loaded them in 3DEM and other GIS program and the pixels are upside down.

I found out that there is a tag in the geotiff that says the pixels are upside down, but resample doesn't recognise those, that's why I am after a way to flip them.

Anyway thanks to both of you guys help I can successfully import ground photos, water masks, blend masks, and elevation terrain - the only problem is the files I get from nasa are upside down!

Thanks for bearing with me. I wish I could have found this problem earlier but I have learnt a lot!
Best wishes to you
Andrew

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