So the big question - just in case I missed it! 

Where/when can I download this? I'm building a C42 home cockpit at present so there's going to be a lot of UK VFR going on and this would really ice the cake!

Could I also confirm whether your autogen would work on top of photoreal scenery (I use the excellent Zonephoto stuff)?

Thanks again

54 minutes ago, rictus said:

Where/when can I download this?

The landclass textures you see in the post are some way off being ready for use in a product and I have a lot of issues to iron out (Mostly with performance), but I will hopefully be releasing a payware upgrade for the British Isles that updates the autogen, vegetation, roads and obstacles. It's not just an autogen artwork replacement, but one that actually places autogen based on the location and type of the real buildings (e.g. Where you'd see terraced houses, you see'll them in the sim), so it just so happens that it works very nicely with photoscenery: (Some WIP shots with orthos, however lots is still missing)

 

However my goal for 1st release is for this to be just a drop-in scenery that will upgrade the base scenery with better autogen, objects and forests. The fact that it works nicely with photoscenery is just a bonus :)

That sounds great - as a photoreal user, well-placed autogen would be the big bit I'd want :)

Will Ireland be included Tony?

9 minutes ago, propsfan said:

Will Ireland be included Tony?

Yes, my plan is to cover the British Isles in some form. Ireland (Both the republic and north) really lacks any good open-data, so I need to be a bit more creative here. I have a fairly good source for forests and basic landuse but it won't be as accurately placed as it is in GB, but should still look better than OSM or the default scenery. I'll try and grab some screenshots later.

Looking better and better Tony!

Haven't felt so impatient about an add-on in ages!!

Hi Tony, the images are incredible! Better than ORBX I'd say. But I didn't quite understand how it works.

When you say: "The landclass scenery is placed to go with the roads instead of letting the roads go through it.", how is it done? I mean, there are infinite possible poligonal shapes created by intersecting roads, so from what I understand, what you're doing is "cutting" part of a landclass texture so that the roads enclose it. Is that right?

Also, how are landclass tiles lined up with the roads? I mean, if 3 roads form a triangle, with which road will the tile be lined up with?

 

Sort of yes, but the approach is a little different than say with FSX. In FSX, the entire world is divided into 1200m grids, and each of these is assigned a texture that I believe always faces in one direction (so they can tile). If there is a road then the road simply goes right through the texture or houses, etc and things like forests are placed onto these textures. So yes, I use the road system and other information to cut out the polygonal tiles, I also rotate them so that things like car-parks, football fields etc will seemingly go along with the road (just like autogen). For farmland, the roads are cut out of the polygonal shapes and then the polygon will be surrounded with either a hedge or some other texture so it doesn't look like a hard edge finish. (I also put "do not cross" points in the textures so my mesh generator will shift the texture around so it doesn't collide with anything). The more detailed and accurate the polygons the better it looks, but the mesh triangle count can suffer, so there has to be a balance somewhere. The important thing is to mix it with the good stuff X-Plane already does like roads, mountains and autogen to try and get the best of both worlds.

It's still very much experimental so I'm very happy to hear feedback and ideas. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

42 minutes ago, tonywob said:

It's still very much experimental so I'm very happy to hear feedback and ideas.

As far as feedback goes, it sounds absolutely great. As much as I enjoy that the best and most essential upgrades in X-Plane are currently freeware/donationware, the sheer amount of dedication that you're poured into what is ultimately a labour of love means that I'm fully supportive of a payware release of such a product. Although I rarely fly in the UK, I'll be in line to buy such a product simply as support!

Those screenshots indeed look much better than FTX...

Having spent most of yesterday building UK ortho tiles this would be a very welcome add-on for X Plane for a mostly UK flyer. The first couple of tiles I made were superb, but then the next few seem to have more inconsistent quality making even the small area I covered a less than optimal experience; maybe even worse overall than the old Horizon based scenery.

To have the whole UK covered in quality landclass style scenery as shown above would be fantastic, and just what X Plane needs IMO. The DIY nature of XP is great in some respects, but mighty frustrating in others, especially with the highly variable nature of the photo data available. You can get lucky for your home patch, or an area you wish to fly, but you equally can end up with garbage and disappointment, and I really can't stomach the default stuff.

So good luck with this project. I hope you overcome the issues, as you will have a customer here if you decide to sell it.

How would it sit with areas of ortho? It would be nice to keep the good, or home areas if the transition is not to harsh.

Just not to fool anyone, the screenshots on page 3 are with orthos, the ones on page 1 aren't. My point was to highlight that autogen can actually be accurate and a great compliment to both photoimagery and scenery without. When I have mentioned autogen in the past in W2XP topics it never gets a popular reaction because it's autogen. I

36 minutes ago, Novation said:

The first couple of tiles I made were superb, but then the next few seem to have more inconsistent quality making even the small area I covered a less than optimal experience; maybe even worse overall than the old Horizon based scenery.

Have you tried Bing. Really good quality throughout the UK and much more consistent than Google.

38 minutes ago, Novation said:

How would it sit with areas of ortho? It would be nice to keep the good, or home areas if the transition is not to harsh.

See screenshots on page 3, they're with orthos. The ones on page 1 are without and was my initial test of creating landclass scenery.

10 minutes ago, tonywob said:

Just not to fool anyone, the screenshots on page 3 are with orthos, the ones on page 1 aren't. My point was to highlight that autogen can actually be accurate and a great compliment to both photoimagery and scenery without. When I have mentioned autogen in the past in W2XP topics it never gets a popular reaction because it's autogen. I

Have you tried Bing. Really good quality throughout the UK and much more consistent than Google.

See screenshots on page 3, they're with orthos. The ones on page 1 are without and was my initial test of creating landclass scenery.

Hi Tony. Yes I'm using Bing (BI) but I'm seeing some very odd coloured areas, such as Penzance in Cornwall, which is pink, and some very washed out places, especially in the shadows in other areas. It really is a mixed bag as to what you get it seems.

The LC v Orthos seems good then? Its the edges or transitions between the two that I was concerned about; going from an area of landcass to Ortho over the same landmass. If the transition is smooth that would be great.

As someone who just can't get over the distractions of Orthos (baked in shadows, stationary cars etc.) the land class textures are a real attraction for me. I can totally understand that they take a lot of work but they are definitely part of your future development plans Tony? If so I might hold off on the GB upgrade until they're included, unless you're thinking of getting the autogen upgrades out the door first with the land class as a separate add-on?

Also with the autopen upgrades, will you be able / waiting to take advantage of the new height tags coming for XP11? I think that's going to make a big difference to the realism of the autogen.

3 hours ago, scotchegg said:

As someone who just can't get over the distractions of Orthos (baked in shadows, stationary cars etc.) the land class textures are a real attraction for me. I can totally understand that they take a lot of work but they are definitely part of your future development plans Tony? If so I might hold off on the GB upgrade until they're included, unless you're thinking of getting the autogen upgrades out the door first with the land class as a separate add-on?

Also with the autopen upgrades, will you be able / waiting to take advantage of the new height tags coming for XP11? I think that's going to make a big difference to the realism of the autogen.

+1

Focusing on landclass and autogen appears a great way to go in the future for sure, as it indeed looks truely convincing all over the place and quite immersive when it comes down to the task of representing the "outside world" in a realistic way within the realms of XPlane!