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Guest flying_eddie

Ansolute Newbie Question

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Guest flying_eddie

Hi there,since Sicilia in Italy is a beautyful island, I would like to optimize the mesh and after that give the mesh a more realistic texture (photo realistic if possible).After hours of reading and searching and reading again, I can't realy find a point to start with. A tutorial would be great for getting started and learn stuff by doing.I found elevation tiles here: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/topo/gltiles.htmlCan I use those data? If yes, what do I need to do after downloading them?I heard about the Microsoft Resample program. Can I use the above mentioned data with this program?Any help is very appreciated.Best regardsGerhard, EDDM

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Hallo Gerhard,the Beginner's Guide to Scenery Design, in the Scenery Design subforum, has a brief section on Altitude Mesh design.For most of Europe the best available free mesh data are the Shuttle Radar (SRTM) 90-m data, available here: ftp://e0srp01u.ecs.nasa.gov/srtm/version2/ . Read the documentation first then download the tiles for your area of interest from the SRTM3 Eurasia folder.The other option is to use the same data as processed by CGIAR: http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/index.asp The difference is that they are in larger blocks and that the missing (void) data are already interpolated.Also, when using SRTM data you always want to check Jonathan de Ferranti's site in case he has uploaded a manually improved version of the tile(s) you're interested in: http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/dem3.htmlTo process the data into FS bgl mesh format Emerson's FSDEM is probably the easiest tool to use: http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID...04sd&DLID=51976 whereas my mesh tool of choice is Jim Keir's Slartibartfast: http://www.jimkeir.co.uk/FlightSim/index.htmlWhile there's no tutorial available other than the read-me files of the utilities you should check out Steve Greenwood's web pages to understand the pros and pitfalls of developing and using FS terrain mesh: http://home.earthlink.net/~smgreenwood/welcome.shtmlLast but not least, always carefully check your compiled mesh file, not just in the sim but also with the available mesh viewers like the FS2004 Terrain SDK TMFViewer - http://www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimul...sdk.asp#terrain - or Jim's LWMViewer. Those utilities will help you spot problem areas right away.Good luck!Cheers, Holger

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Guest flying_eddie

Hi Holger,thank you so much for this very detailed info. In the meantime I proceeded with trial and error too and I figure more and more. I am planning to write a manual after I got my other projects done. Just an hour ago I finished the "Land Classification Visual Reference" and uploaded the package already. It was very time consuming to write this reference. It could be of your interest - it should be available here at avsim.com maybe tomorrow.Thank you again and best regards.Greetings, Gerhard

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Hello Gerhard,very nice work on the visual reference! Thanks for sharing.I like that you picked a sloped area for your images because it shows the auto-switching of some of the textures on steeper terrain.As you mentioned in the PDF file your test area is Spain, that is Region A (Europe). Some of the textures are unique to that region. The equivalent visual reference for Region B, which is the fallback region for classes undefined in other regions, is PolyView by James N. Bertelson: http://library.avsim.net/search.php?Search...view&CatID=rootIn FSX the general system of regions and classes has been maintained but the textures are 100% new and there are few more classes and a bunch more regions. I'm working on a spreadsheet and visual reference for FSX, which should be ready for uploading in a couple of weeks.Cheers, Holger

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Guest flying_eddie

Hi Holger,thanks for your feedback. I am glad you like the visual reference.Right now I almost finished a tutorial about a very easy and entertaining way to modifiy the Land Classifications step by step. I think the concept should work even with FSX with some modifications on the procedure. I will upload the tutorial in the next days. I hope you and maybe somebody else will like it ;-)Greetings and easy landingsGerhard

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