Anyone using TerraScene immages

[Guest Richard Hill]

Could someone tell me if they resized their TGA to a multiple of 256 or converted it as is?Richard Hill

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Richard.If you're going to use resample, just convert the TARGA image to a 24-bit windows bitmap. The Bounds that you need are in the Terrascene TXT file.Here's an INF I used:; Delavan LOD8[source]Type = CUSTOMSourceDir = "."SourceFile = "Delavan.bmp"Lat = 42.9167Lon = -89.0831CellXdimensionDeg = 5.8497191011235955056179775280899e-5CellYdimensionDeg = 4.3136645962732919254658385093168e-5NumOfCellsPerLine = 9968NumOfLines = 9660; X span = ( (89.0831) - (88.5) ) = 0.5831; CellXdimensionDeg = ( 0.5831 / 9968 ) = 5.8497191011235955056179775280899e-5; Y span = ( 42.9167 - 42.5 ) = 0.4167; CellYdimensionDeg = (0.4167/ 9660 ) = 4.3136645962732919254658385093168e-5[Destination]DestDir = "."DestBaseFileName = "Delavan"UseSourceDimensions = 0NorthLat = 42.890625SouthLat = 42.5390625EastLong = -88.59375WestLong = -89.0625; textures.lowerLeft.latitude=42.5; textures.lowerLeft.longitude=-89.0831; textures.upperRight.latitude=42.9167; textures.upperRight.longitude=-88.5; NorthLat = 42.890625; SouthLat = 42.5390625; EastLong = -88.125; WestLong = -88.59375The lines preceeded by a colon ( ; ), are comment lines. Under the SOURCE heading, the Lat and Lon were taken right from the Terrascene TXT file... they are the image's NW corner ( textures.upperRight.latitude=42.9167 AND textures.lowerLeft.latitude=42.5 ).The spans were calculated by using the image size ( 9968x9660 ).The Destination bounds, were derived by using Richard Marklew's great LODCalc. I use that tool nearly every day.--------------------You'll want to use the OLD resample from Microsoft, or you'll get a blurry mess. Resizing the image will also degrade the image... let resample do it.Also, you did alter Terrascene's "C:Program FilesTerraSceneprojectsYourProject.tsp" file to read: 'Proj.imageResolution=4.8' ??? Not required, but that gives your TARGA image the same 4.8 resolution as FS2002, for really crisp textures. ( For "YourProject.tsp", substitute the name of your project ).Dick

[Guest Richard Hill]

Dick;Thanks again for the reply!Yes I set my TSP to 4.8, I am building 1/4 tiles, a whole tile is just too big to work with. I had to edit some lake areas and roads not much though.I hope someone will develop a tool as mentioned before that would do all the work like TerraScene. I always wonder why Microsoft quit making a user friendly Scenery designer after FS4. lots of programs out there Freeware and Payware, but none that have the capabilities or ease of use to allow all areas of Scenery design. Oh well no harm in dreaming.Again thanks Dick;Richard L Hill

[Guest Richard Hill]

Dick;I downloaded the LODCalc and have ran it but fail to get a W for western for my area, it keeps coming up E. Is the .Ini it produced useful?I have printed out the documrntation from the FSDK for FS2000and will try and figure out what the Ini file you sent me is all about. Right now it is all Greek to me but maby I can figure it all out..Thanks again;Richard L Hill

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Richard.LODCalc sometimes "hangs" on the eastern hemishpere. I think the fix is to click on the E, then reclick on the W.Dick

[Guest Richard Hill]

Dick;I am sad to say I don't get it! If you have the time an would, will you email me, or post for TerraScene users steps and notations from taking the TerraScene file to producing the BGL. I was going to give TerraBuilder a try but can not convert to 256 color. I have Paint Shop Pro, but with 512 MB ram it saya file is too large. I also have PhotoShop 6.0 but can not figure how to convert the 24 bit to 8 bit.I also wonder if I should stick to quarter tile or do one tile at a time. And sugestions or help would be greatly appreciated.richardlhll@wmconnect.comRichard L Hill

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Richard.I think you already have the clue here. Maybe your area is too big for your system to handle. Terrascene has a "snap to grid" button that can be unchecked to allow selecting any size you want... and resample or terrabuilder cares very little what size the image covers. Terrascene also allows manually entering bounds. Resample will use a 24-bit image for CUSTOM... you just need to save the TARGA image as a windows bitmap. You probably need to review the Terrabuilder documentation, to see just what is required for that program, but I'm pretty sure it needs a 24-bit image.Dick

[Guest Richard Hill]

Dick;OH well I will give up for now. I tried Terrabuilder three times and got the same message, that the image was not 265 color, it 1s right, it is 16 million+. I see that they are still working on a tutorial for Terabuilder, if it ever happens and i can get it to work, I would gladly pay for the pro version. I just get tired of programs that I can not figure out. Guess us old men have to destroy more brain cells....Thanks for your help anyway;Richard L Hill

[PanosG 2]

You must use PhotoTerrain Wizard! for 24b bmp files.Panos Georgotas

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Hello Richard,As Panos, says, you are not using the correct wizard in TerraBuilder.There are 2 wizards: - the older PhotoWizard, PLEASE DO NOT USE! - the newer PhotoTerrain, which you should use to make terrain.TerraBuilder is a front-end for resample.exe, the Microsoft tool for creating terrain. This tool, that is, resample.exe, requires an RGB image, NOT a 256 color image.Once you use PhotoTerrain, everything will work correctly. Please give it another try.Best regards.Luis

[Guest Richard Hill]

Luis;I gave it another try, but got a message program not responding during the third step.Must the BMP be *256 pixel, or is this corrected when 4.8 pixel is selected? I was thinking I read somewhere that a multiple of 256 was required.Richard Hill

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Hello Richard,There are 3 things to keep in mind: - color depth. This is simply the amount of colors in the image. Common color depths are RGB (also know as 24 bit color or 16 million colors) and 256 color (also known as 8 bit color or indexed color.) You need an RGB image for the TerraBuilder process, because that is what resample.exe requires; - image resolution. Resample.exe requires images that are approximately 4.8 meters per pixel. This is not altogether true, but we have been going with this rule ever since it was discovered that we could modify terrain and change ground textures. If your image does not have the required resolution, resample.exe will change it so as to obtain the correct resolution; - image dimensions. It does not matter how large your image may be, except that it must fill the corresponding LOD13 areas. Otherwise,this is not really important, unless your image is so large that you are running out of memory during the resample process.What do you mean by the third step? Is that when you must specify the location for your scenery and texture folders? If so, please do not do anything in this step, but simply go on to the next step.Images do not need to be a multiple of 256 pixels in the terrain creation process. That rule is only valid for textures for scenery objects and aircraft. In fact, the rule is that they must be a power of 2, up to a maximum image dimension of 1024 x 1024.Once you have resampled your image succesfully, the result will be a series of "slices". This is simply your original image cut up into the requisite ground textures. Ground textures in Flight Simulator have dimensions of 256 x 256 pixels.If you get an error message, please report the exact text of the message and precisely what you did before you got it. I am sure that we can get you making scenery, as the process is extremely simple and uncomplicated.Best regards.Luis

[nudata 10]

I use a converter program that resizes and converts textures of any size. Written for this process by Frank Betts - I think??. Frank ???? I think.Send me your email adr and I will send to you. DOS command line program input .TGA and outputs .bmpDick

[Guest Richard Hill]

Dick;My email address is in reply #5. I have managed to figure a way to convert them, rather lengthly but it works. I load it with Photoshop, then save it as a JPG, then open it with Paint Shop Pro and convert it. I sometimes have problems receiving attached emails but, you can give it a try. I think what we need is for members like you and others who use and have sucess with TerraScene, and are willing to take the time to help others, email each other and build a good, easy to follow tutorial. It would be great if both methods TerraBuilder and FSSDK methods could be developed. I think FS2002 is a fantastis and enjoyable program, but easy to use tools for users in general are next to none.Again thanks for taking the time to reply.Richard L Hill

[nudata 10]

Program is on its way.While I like the Terrascene textures for roads I find the lack of autogen and somewhat less clarity to be a drawback. Also, I have converted several FS2002 textures to work with Terrascene since I feel that the FS2002 textures look better. Croplands look better with the Terrascene textures since those of FS2002 produce a very obvious repeating pattern. To me Terrascene/Terrabuilder are nice for small areas where you can apply autogen yourself. Hoever, larger areas seem to be best served by the normal FS2002 textures. Looks like we might get road and coastline tools early next year from developers. The we have the best of both processes.Dick