CUSTOM Landclass

[rhumbaflappy 113]

I had suspected that CUSTOM ( photoreal ) slices could be used in a landclass.The new SDK docs list landclass #253 as CUSTOM ( no seasons ). Producing a .bin file with a hex editor, you can specify one byte as custom... There is a problem, however. It seems the smallest area you can place is 4 LOD13 quads... not one. If you have one custom byte, 4 textures will still be needed. I don't know why.Here's my inf file:

========================================[Destination]WithSeasons = 1NorthLat =   45.0000SouthLat =   42.1875WestLong =  -90.0000EastLong =  -86.2500DestDir =.DestBaseFileName = "Delavan" [Source]Type = ClassU8SourceDir =.SourceFile = "Delavan.bin"Lat =   45.0000Lon =  -90.0000NumOfCellsPerLine =  256NumOfLines =  256CellXdimensionDeg = 0.0146484375CellYdimensionDeg = 0.010986328125ScaleinMeters = 1.0==================================

The Delavan.bin file is 256x256 with the byte 96x, 215y set to #253.The textures are named:003100023031330Su.bmp003100023031331Su.bmp003100023031332Su.bmp003100023031333Su.bmp( filling the LOD12 quad )The textures are 8-bit mipped with alpha. The alpha is real water, not colored land, just like a photoreal texture.So as Bob Bernstein said, its all getting mixed together. :)In a day or 2, I'll try to explain how to derive the custom names... each name of the custom texture describes it's LOD13 position on the planet. I haven't worked the math out completely, but it will be a start. It involves binary numbers and some logic.So there is another way to place custom textures. And the landclass # 254 allows large areas to be bypassed, while #253 and #252 ( with seasons ) allow more control over the placement, instead of doing a whole rectangular area with normal photoreal.VTP Method1 polygons can also place a custom texture, but the alpha is transparent, not water.

[Guest]

Dick, real interesting, but I'm not sure what the potential is for this over simple custom textures...B

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Bob.There may not be much use for this! But I was thinking that resampler has an annoying habit of not always giving us what we want, as far as photoreal. ( Now it will give us a black border, as I understand. )Perhaps this is an alternate way of laying photoreal tiles. It's certainly an alternate way of using landclass... mixing custom tiles with the default, and the shape of the actual landclass may be somewhat irregular, thanks to the discovery of using #254 ( transparent ).But it does tie together the use of landclass, photoreal, and the VTP polygons. And it's another way to skin a cat.Dick

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

On the contrary, Dick, I think that this is a fascinating and very comprehensive solution to custom texturing.Often, photoreal scenery is all too visible compared to the surrounding default textures, and appears as a glaring square inlay. With your proposed method, the custom textures can be laid in with irregular borders that potentially will look better.In addition, it will be possible to inlay higher resolution pieces in the custom textures (such as parks or public gardens - for example, a 1 meter per pixel Central Park in NYC) without any frame rate loss. And allowing real water to show through in case on lakes or ponds.At the moment, scenery creators will benefit from simple instructions like your tutorial and macros. Thank you very much for that.Best regards.Luis

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Luis.The LOD13 areas will still be straight-edged. But now that we have the info we need, a photoreal or landclass area can be edged with VTPMethod1 polys to blend-in, as Method1 allows the alpha channel to be transparent instead of water.Also, you may have noticed files named like "010A2M11.bmp" that reside with the default groundtile textures. These are edge masks for landclass. I haven't tried to use them ( by renaming them to match custom landclass textures ) but they might work, and autogen is a whole other possibility.The point is, whereas we had only 1 way ( and sometimes no way ) to do things, we now have several ways.In fact, psuedo-photoreal may be created by using a VTP Method2 polygons/lines, by using a photo as a placement guide. Or VTP Method1, using the actual re-worked photo. Water would need to be added as a LWM poly, but the whole thing could exist in the same BGL, and be as big or little an area as desired. I like the idea of using default textures and autogen ( for Method2 ), as it really cuts down on the size needed for the package.Dick