https://blackshark.ai/blackshark-ai-launches-globe-plugin-for-unreal-engine-making-the-whole-world-available-in-3d-to-anyone/

The Globe Plugin unlocks blackshark.ai’s SYNTH3D replica of the entire Earth for Unreal Engine 5 and is now available to anyone on Epic Games’Unreal Engine Marketplace.

San Francisco, Orlando, November 30, 2022. blackshark.ai, the developer of a 3D Digital Twin of Earth, announced the launch of a long-awaited plugin for the Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5 during I/ITSEC, now available on the Unreal Engine Marketplace to the public. The blackshark.ai Globe Plugin will stream blackshark.ai’s SYNTH3D data, containing synthetically reconstructed 3D terrain, ground textures, buildings, infrastructure, and vegetation of the entire globe based on Maxar’s satellite imagery. The freely available plugin will allow users to generate their own applications in Unreal Engine for any kind of gaming, training, simulation, and visualization projects based on the real world.

 

"blackshark.ai, best known for its global scale 3D reconstruction technology used in Microsoft Flight Simulator, applies artificial intelligence onto 2D satellite and aerial imagery to derive semantic object classification information and metadata to create a blueprint of the world that is then automatically transformed in photorealistic 3D. “Applications for these synthetic environments are infinite,” says Michael Putz, CEO of blackshark.ai. “While using the real world as a backdrop for gaming is one of them, most of our customers use blackshark.ai environments for all kinds of simulation applications, be it in the context of autonomous driving, humanitarian relief, city planning, or government efforts.”

Edited December 2, 20223 yr by turbomax

I heard there is another flight sim using this technology...

said this before, LR has missed the chance to bring better scenery for XP12 using other technologies.

I agree with the Colonel, why would you want X-Plane to be a replica of the other sim?

Mind you, I have nothing against nice, realistic scenery, in my opinion it is an important part of the immersion.

1 hour ago, Colonel X said:

I heard there is another flight sim using this technology...

Not according to this

https://blackshark.ai/blackshark-ai-receives-epic-mega-grant/

unreal is the first engine they will support.

No download links that I can see yet tho.

13 minutes ago, mSparks said:

Not according to this

https://blackshark.ai/blackshark-ai-receives-epic-mega-grant/

unreal is the first engine they will support.

No download links that I can see yet tho.

ay?

https://blackshark.ai/#FlightSimulator

7 minutes ago, UKflyer said:

ay?

https://blackshark.ai/#FlightSimulator

From above

Quote

General availability in the Unreal Engine Marketplace is planned for early 2022.

The plugin will be free and a demo version on the Unreal Engine Marketplace will contain certain example cities and areas including terrain, buildings and vegetation. Larger scale semantic 3D maps and synthetic training environments will be available on a yearly subscription model, with license fees depending on the size of the area of interest (city-scale up to the whole globe) and number of included data layers (terrain, buildings, vegetation, waterbodies, roads, etc.).

Can I be the first to say "no thanks". We know the data quality based on the MSFS building footprints they provided.

https://github.com/microsoft/GlobalMLBuildingFootprints

Edited December 2, 20223 yr by mSparks

No download links afaict, just a form to fill in if you want a demo

https://blackshark.ai/blackshark-globe-for-unreal/

34 minutes ago, mSparks said:

Not according to this

https://blackshark.ai/blackshark-ai-receives-epic-mega-grant/

unreal is the first engine they will support.

Think of this in the scope of UML, technology agnostic. But the actual features covered in the press-release are already in use by other sim platform for years. Albeit not in the shape of an Unreal Engine plug-in and not using Maxar satellite imagery. But that's just another means to deliver a similar outcome.

So bottom line, in our sims we are looking for features to aid in the neverending quest of increasing the immersive experience. and this particular feature is not exclusive to Unreal Engine.

We are still talking about input data - semantic 3d maps - Synthetic environments. They are using the same presention material for both Flight simulator and Unreal Engine.

Unreal Engine;

Flight sim

I mean Blackshark seems to treat them very similar. So I think it's safe to trust their words🙂

Edited December 2, 20223 yr by SAS443

2 minutes ago, SAS443 said:

I mean Blackshark seems to treat them very similar. So I think it's safe to trust their words🙂

Well yeah, pretty clear where Microsoft got their presentation material from

Have you tried google earth recently?

46 minutes ago, mSparks said:

Not according to this

https://blackshark.ai/blackshark-ai-receives-epic-mega-grant/

unreal is the first engine they will support.

No download links that I can see yet tho.

MSFS is built off Blackshark.ai technology.  It's a fact. They have now taken that and expanded it to the Unreal engine...  Not sure what you are arguing? 

Quote

blackshark.ai, best known for its global scale 3D reconstruction technology used in Microsoft Flight Simulator, applies artificial intelligence onto 2D satellite and aerial imagery to derive semantic object classification information and metadata to create a blueprint of the world that is then automatically transformed in photorealistic 3D. “Applications for these synthetic environments are infinite,” says Michael Putz, CEO of blackshark.ai. “While using the real world as a backdrop for gaming is one of them, most of our customers use blackshark.ai environments for all kinds of simulation applications, be it in the context of autonomous driving, humanitarian relief, city planning, or government efforts.”

 

Edited December 2, 20223 yr by psolk

Just now, psolk said:

Not sure what you are arguing? 

That what is in MSFS vs what isn't yet available in Unreal are not the same things.

And what is in MSFS is already in XP12

https://simheaven.com/

59 minutes ago, soaring_penguin said:

... why would you want X-Plane to be a replica of the other sim?

Indeed, why the he.. should X-Plane be a replica of MSFS? MSFS also isn't a replica of X-Plane. It doesn't have different friction on different runway condictions, it has an extremely weak failure simulation, it doesn't have hypoxia, it doesn't have snow free roads in winter, it doesn't have snow covered cars on parking lots in winter but cars driving on the roads not covered with snow, it doesn't have scenery clutter covered with snow in winter, it doesn't have wake turbulences, it doesn't have birdstrikes, it doesn't have damaged flaps at overspeed, it doesn't have microbursts, it doesn't have bad flight characteristics in icing conditions (falling from the sky), it doesn't have knife edge flying, it isn't used by the NASA and plane manufacturers for design/testing of aircraft, it doesn't have ... to be continued.

1 minute ago, mSparks said:

That what is in MSFS vs what isn't yet available in Unreal are not the same things.

And what is in MSFS is already in XP12

https://simheaven.com/

It's the same Synth3D, Unreal Engine is the first time it has been publicly available to anyone as it has been available to MSFS for years...  It's the same technology.  

2 minutes ago, mSparks said:

That what is in MSFS vs what isn't yet available in Unreal are not the same things.

And what is in MSFS is already in XP12

https://simheaven.com/

I thought the simheaven sceneries were only based on OSM data ? Did they change their data generation technology recently ?