LOD8 Calculator EDIT

[Guest]

Does anybody have one available to set the bounds a little easier? Im using terrascene and resample.(Big Waa Noise)Cas

[rhumbaflappy 113]

ftp://205.252.89.41/dynamic/9d/9d1e7b13c8.../lodcalc102.ziphttp://webpages.charter.net/ludowr/TDFCalc2.ziphttp://webpages.charter.net/ludowr/tdfcalc3.zipI can see a use for a new calculator, perhaps even based on FSUIPC input for TerraScene users.Dick

[Guest]

Perfect. I knew it was around as I had seen it. I've posted screen shots of Terrascene scenery in FS2002 last year and was wondering when this would catch on.Cas

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Cas.I guess the timing just wasn't right last year. :)These things seem to percolate at their own rate. Christian Stock was 1-2 years ahead of everyone with landclass, photoreal, the new TDF polys and lines... everyone is just starting to catch up with him. It happens.I'm intrigued by the possibilities of using the slices as templates for VTP and LWM scenery. If done right, Terrascene/resample gives you amazing accuracy of roads, water, land-usage... and sliced by resample into the LOD13 format for grabbing points for LWMs and VTPs. If you use a generic solid color for the textures, it's easy to translate the colors to a landclass from the slice... and that's what VTP2 polys are all about... painting landclass polys onto the scenery. I'm not up to speed, yet, but I can get Terrascene 2.1, resample, FSTexConvert, and imagetool all working together to give me an LOD8 area ( 1024 textures ) in about 1.5 hours playing around. And the accuracy seems to be dead-on.Now I just need about 300 hours to make all the TDF BGLs!With VTPs, we'd just use the default textures, and save about 43k per slice... times 6 sets for nights and seasons, equals a disk savings of about 265Mb, per LOD8 Cell!But right now, with hardly any tooling, it may be too labor intensive.Let's see... 1024 slices at 4 coded to BGLC per hour...:-eek Dick

[Guest]

The default texture placement is done, has been done. That's one hump we are over. Concentrate on using the Roads and water mask from Terrascene.Cas

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Cas.The bitmap of an LOD8 Area could be copied, and trimmed to the LOD8 bounds as well as possible. The resulting, trimmed bitmap could then be resized to 8160x8160 ( not 8192x8192 ). The trimming and resizing might add some distortion to the process, but it will certainly be better than the default roads, etc...The span of VTP Method Points is 4080 to 12240... so just add 4080 to any of the reworked bitmap's points, and that's a valid VTP2 Point number. A new macro could be made to take care of the addition of 4080 to the Points.Or slew over Terrascene-resample scenery and grab the points via TDFCalc3... that's why I made it.The rules for VTP2 points aren't that bad. Use the first point with a width of 1, then repeat that point with the desired width, then mark points at turns of direction, or changes of width, then end with the final point, then repeat the final point with a width of zero. A point can be started outside the Cell, and that makes a clean break at the edges.Seeing as all the lines are within the same cell, there's no problems with cell order. The layer of 31 is minor roads, and 32 is major roads, streams are 16, shorelines are 8. The replace switch in the layer statement will exclude any other lines of that layer, so that use needs to be minded, and may need some creative use. One way is to make all your custom layers different than the default numbers, and then 'visit' each LOD13 area with a tiny, transparent chunk of poly, to eliminate an offending layer on an LOD13 by LOD13 basis... the replacement ( exclusion ), should probably be done before anything else is written to the entire LOD8 cell, and a special macro could be written to take the repetition out of that chore.Another way is to work from top-left to bottom right in the cell, and use the replace 'switch' on the first line, and watch that you don't exclude your own work as you progress. That would cut down on the POLY overhead... but I don't know if that is going to be a problem.-----------------LWM masking is very straight forward, and is done on an LOD13 basis, so the points can be 'grabbed' from the CUSTOM slices ( used as a template ). It seems a '0' LWM point is treated the same as a '1'... the default LWMs use 1-255, not 0-255. I haven't had a problem with this yet.-----------------VTP2 polys of landclass values can add smaller areas of interest and detail ( maybe that hill is actually wooded? no problem ). Cities and towns could be VTP2s using landclass numbers and the autogen and seasons are added automatically... or a different, plainer texture used, if you want to place objects for buildings and trees.-----------------Cities could also be derived from Terrascene-resample slices... use a grass or concrete texture, and add autogens for buildings and trees. They can be placed in small 'blocks' using a landclass bgl with transparent values for the backdrop, and #252 for seasonal CUSTOM tiles. Landcalc can get the numbers, and give the source coordinates for a 257x257 landclass source. That's exactly why I made it.-----------------All this is possible now. It just takes the labor to do it.Roads should be pretty easy. Streams could be unflattened LWMs, instead of the lines of the default. Watermasking will involve 1024 LOD13 areas in an LOD8 Cell, and then the shorelines will need to be removed ( and replaced ). Some areas will need re-meshing with transparent 'flattens'.----------------By comparison, the Terrascene 'photoreals' are fairly easy, once the textures are decided on. The drawback is the huge amount of textures, multiplied by seasons and night. But the sim handles them well! It's just a storage problem ( and a problem for anyone wishing to share the scenery ). They will need some flattening and remeshing in spots, and they will need autogens.-----------------Either way, the end result is a highly detailed, and accurate rendition of an LOD8 area ( roughly 25x25 miles at my latitude )... and that's a lot of custom scenery. At least a little bigger than "Oshgosh" or "Niagara". :)Dick