Ortho4xp looks like a killer app for X-Plane scenery!

[captain420 3,099]

I was using g2xpl, but just heard and saw a few videos about this app on youtube! What I like about it over g2xpl is that it has a nice GUI, and you can easily have multiple areas with different ZL. Wow, I'm not sure but the water edges look amazing. Not sure if it's from using this app or what. Can someone confirm how we can get these beautiful water edges like in this video?

 

[tonywob 4,768]

Yes, I'm using it and it's fantastic. You can see a load of screenshots if you look in my Denmark Pro post. It's a little trickier to use than G2XPL, but the results are worth it. It produces its own full mesh, but you do need to download the elevation tiles you need (Instructions all provided)

 

The water masking is incredible, and brings the coastlines alive. It's produced some of the best ortho and mesh imagery I've seen in any sim. It now has a nice GUI and nice detailed instruction manual in English. Once you've generated your first few tiles, it's really easy to use (I'd recommend starting at ZL16 and work your way from there). One ZL16 tile takes me about 20 mins to produce.

 

Get it, you won't regret it.

[hjsmuc 393]

Amazing. But I am running into a problem with the test tile of Ouessant. 

 

The python output is:

 

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "C:\Python34\lib\threading.py", line 920, in _bootstrap_inner

    self.run()

  File "C:\Python34\lib\threading.py", line 868, in run

    self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)

  File "C:\Users\Jack\Desktop\Ortho4XP\Ortho4XP.py", line 2856, in build_dsf

    mask_data = which_mask(texture,strlat,strlon)

  File "C:\Users\Jack\Desktop\Ortho4XP\Ortho4XP.py", line 2479, in which_mask

    mean=subprocess.check_output(check_black_cmd, shell=True)

  File "C:\Python34\lib\subprocess.py", line 620, in check_output

    raise CalledProcessError(retcode, process.args, output=output)

subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command 'convert  .\Masks\test_mask.png -format "

%[mean]" info:' returned non-zero exit status 4

 

 

 

I have not the slightest idea what this means, let alone why it happens. 

 

Help appreciated.

 

Thanks

Hans

 

[Oscar Pilote 22]

Dear Hans,

 

The issue seems to be related to "convert" which is a utility provided by Imagemagick.

The error is indicated in the last and before last lines above; the corresponding

instruction should check whether a croped image file is totally black or not to decide

wether a water mask should be created there. Your OS tells python that the external

call to convert failed (return status should be zero for a succesful command).

 

Which is your OS and where did you get Imagemagick from (including version number) ?

If you open a terminal window and type in "convert -list format" (without the quotes),

you should get of list of supported formats (and PNG should be one of those, along with

JPEG and DDS, both in read and write mode). If you don't get a list but an error message

from the OS, it is then simply that convert is not in your PATH. If you get a list but

not all the desired formats, your version of Imagemagick was compiled with only a limited set

of features.

 

Installation of prerequisites is (or can be) by far the most annoying part, but once this

is settled you should get a smoother experience.

Tony is certainly not a good example of "average user", but a number of people from the

french forum are now using it although they had never glanced at a source file before

(and you actually won't need to).

 

 

Regards,

Oscar

[captain420 3,099]

tonywob I will definitely give this a try, do you know where this app is getting its imagery from? What source? I heard USGS is a good source since that's what Megascenery earth uses as theirs.

 

I would like to create orthophotos for the entire chain of Hawaiian Islands. Especially the big island. g2xpl did a horrible job, and not even complete. I hope ortho4xp can add amazing coastlines to the Hawaiian region.

 

I didn't even know this app was out! I thought it was still in development.

 

Also you mentioned that this app creates its own meshes. Is this an optional step and is it necessary for those who already have alpilot's HD Mesh v3 installed? Does the mesh this app produce better?

 

Also where can I download the latest version? I'm assuming the signature in Oscar's post? I click on it and see a bunch of files and folders. Not exactly sure exactly which files I need in order to install this on my machine.

[captain420 3,099]

Nevermind I installed it, however when reading the instructions on how to install this, I'm quite confused. I am using WIndows 7 64bit, I currently have python3.5 (32bit) and python 2.7 installed. I also installed ImageMagick 6.9.1.9 that was in the install folder that came with Ortho4XP. In that folder i see 2 files that I'm unsure what they are or if they're needed:

 

GDAL-1.11.2-cp34-none-win_amd64.whl

numpy-1.9.2+mkl-cp34-none-win_amd64.whl

 

Also in the manual it states this:

6. Netpbm is present on your computer and possesses the executable pamundice (other

required executable are assumed to be present if pamundice is).

 

I checked my e:\netpbm\bin folder and there is no pamundice.exe. However I see a pamdice.exe. I downloaded netpbm-10.27-bin

 

Instructions are kind of vague. Please help.

 

I'm getting the following error:

 

Python 3.5.0 (v3.5.0:374f501f4567, Sep 13 2015, 02:16:59) [MSC v.1900 32 bit (In

tel)] on win32

Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

>>> import requests, overpy, numpy, tk

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>

ImportError: No module named 'requests'

>>>

>>> from PIL import ImageTk

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>

ImportError: No module named 'PIL'

 

----------------------------------Attempting to launch Ortho4XP.py from Windows 7 command prompt----------------------------------------------

E:\Applications\Ortho4XP>py -3 Ortho4XP.py

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "Ortho4XP.py", line 7, in <module>

    import array,numpy

ImportError: No module named 'numpy'

 

E:\Applications\Ortho4XP>

 

 

Also I see 2 ortho4xp.py scripts. Theres also one marked alpha in the Archives folder. Which one is the latest?

[Oscar Pilote 22]

I will update the README.Install tomorrow and write it in english, I have not touched it for

a while now (some french users have made their own install tutorials, but in french).

 

You'll get a very good source for the main island of Hawai (Google is poor), but I first

need to find it back in my bookmarks...

[captain420 3,099]

Oscar thanks, in the meantime I will try to figure out how to get this to install. I really want to give this a try. If anyone else knows how to get this to work correctly under Windows, please help me out here.

 

Thanks in advance!

[hjsmuc 393]

Merci Oscar,

 

You created a little gem here it seems. I reinstalled Imagemagick from their website and that helped. Tile was produced as expected.

There is only one error left but the batch command still completes successfully.

 

(gimp-console-2.8.exe :3872): LibGimpBase-WARNING **: gimp-console-2.8.exe : gim

p_wire_read(): error

batch command executed successfully

 

I guess this could keep me busy all night.

 

Cordialement

Hans

 

PS: Most likely I overlooked this in the manual: How is the tile size defined? And are the tile coordinates identical with the ones that HD and UHD mesh use?

E.g., if I wanted to make a tile for the Nice-Cannes area how do I find the proper coordinates?

[Oscar Pilote 22]

(gimp-console-2.8.exe :3872): LibGimpBase-WARNING **: gimp-console-2.8.exe : gim

p_wire_read(): error

batch command executed successfully

That one will remain, and it is actually not an error but just a warning due to some artefact

of gimp on the console with windows. It has no effect on the process.

 

I'm in the course of adding quite a few providers in the address book, I'll release that

shortly.

 

Have a pleasant discovery !

Oscar

[hjsmuc 393]

Oscar thanks, in the meantime I will try to figure out how to get this to install. I really want to give this a try. If anyone else knows how to get this to work correctly under Windows, please help me out here.

 

Thanks in advance!

Hi Aaron,

 

With the exception of my first posted error which was due to an incomplete installation of imagemagick as it seems I followed the instructions and it worked.

GDAL and numpy should be installed with the pip command from a command prompt called from within the install\Win64 subfolder of the ortho4XP main folder.

Try to download imagemagic from imagemagick.org and go with python3.4 instead of 3.5

I also had to pip pillow to get rid of the PIL error.

 

Hope this helps. I speak French so if I can support with the translation of something in the readme let me know.

 

Cheers

Hans

[hjsmuc 393]

Maybe it's too late to concentrate but the first attempt to create a tile with a custom dem resulted in the following error messages in step 3:

 

Exception in thread Thread-29:

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "C:\Python34\lib\threading.py", line 920, in _bootstrap_inner

    self.run()

  File "C:\Python34\lib\threading.py", line 868, in run

    self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)

  File "C:\Users\Jack\Desktop\Ortho4XP\Ortho4XP.py", line 2818, in build_dsf

    texture=attribute_texture(lat1,lon1,lat2,lon2,lat3,lon3,ortho_list)

  File "C:\Users\Jack\Desktop\Ortho4XP\Ortho4XP.py", line 2085, in attribute_tex

ture

    if point_in_polygon([bary_lat,bary_lon],region[0]):

  File "C:\Users\Jack\Desktop\Ortho4XP\Ortho4XP.py", line 3679, in point_in_poly

gon

    change=quadrants[0]-quadrants[len(quadrants)-1]

IndexError: list index out of range

 

PS: Tried other coordinates and dem file and they worked fine together.

[Oscar Pilote 22]

File "C:\Users\Jack\Desktop\Ortho4XP\Ortho4XP.py", line 3679, in point_in_poly

gon

    change=quadrants[0]-quadrants[len(quadrants)-1]

IndexError: list index out of range

It is actually not related to the DEM.

The point_in_polygon algorithm is the one responsible for checking wether a triangle is in one of the

regions you have selected on the preview screen or not.

In the version you have (I thought I had uploaded the fix but it seems not) if you click twice on "save region"

you get an empty polygon after the second click and that results in the error you read ("quadrant" is the

list of the polygon vertices).

The temporary fix until I upload the "last" version is thus to not click twice in a raw on "save region". 

[tonywob 4,768]

tonywob I will definitely give this a try, do you know where this app is getting its imagery from? What source? I heard USGS is a good source since that's what Megascenery earth uses as theirs.

 

I would like to create orthophotos for the entire chain of Hawaiian Islands. Especially the big island. g2xpl did a horrible job, and not even complete. I hope ortho4xp can add amazing coastlines to the Hawaiian region.

 

It can use several sources (and you can add your own if you understand how to use python) (I believe USGS is in the list or will be). The list of addresses it uses is growing all the time. 

 

 

Also you mentioned that this app creates its own meshes. Is this an optional step and is it necessary for those who already have alpilot's HD Mesh v3 installed? Does the mesh this app produce better?

 

No, it can't use HD Mesh v3. The mesh is configurable, so you can choose how detailed you want and how much water to include, etc.. Both HD Mesh v3 an d this use the same data for the coastlines (OSM) and if you use the elevation files from viewfinderpanoramas, I think it uses the same height data. However HD Mesh is actually more than just a blank mesh, it also contains the texture placement on the mesh and forests, autogen and roads. The mesh that Orpho4XP produces is an empty (no landclass) mesh intended only for the photo-imagery, but can be very detailed if it has good data to work with.

[captain420 3,099]

tonywob, thanks for the explanation. Now only if I can get this program to run on Windows 7.

 

I am stuck at this step in the instructions.

 

2. At the Python prompt issue import requests, overpy, numpy, tk.

You should only obtain a new command prompt and no error messages.

3. Do the same with the command from PIL import ImageTk.

Here again you shouldn't obtain anything more than a new command prompt.

 

Can someone tell me exactly how I do this in Windows 7?

 

Also when checking my netpbm bin directory. I don't have pamundice.exe, where can I find this? According to the instructions it mentions this:

 

If you additionally wish to be able to build automatically transparency masks for

coastlines (or so-called sea equiv user-dened regions), you should succeed in at least one

of the following two tests :

6. Netpbm is present on your computer and possesses the executable pamundice

 

And lastly, I have installed gimp 2.8.14, but when typing in the gimp command, i get this:

 

E:\Applications\Ortho4XP\Utils>gimp-2.8.exe -i -c -b '(blurX.scm "test.png" 16 "

result.png")' -b '(gimp-quit 0)'

 

E:\Applications\Ortho4XP\Utils>

 

In the Gimp Console Window it says batch command executed successfully twice, but however, when looking for the result.png file, it's nowhere to be found.

 

I also noticed when looking inside the Ortho4XP/install/Win64/ directory that the GDAL and numpy have a 'win_amd64' in their filenames. Will these files work for me because I'm on an Intel i7 and not AMD.

 

I am using Python 2.7 and 3.5 on my system. Hope this is fine. Would hate to install another Python version.