TS21: Missing DEM data is converted to swamps

[Guest Hunter58]

Hi,I fidling around with Terrascene 2.1 in the Chicago area.To be specific I selected the north east side of tile 193,160. Starting a rendersession with default basetextures gives me a square of marshland were there should be water. I noticed that this happens when there is no dem-data available.I tried to render again with the GeoDataFilter.FillMissingUsgsWater=true in my configfile. The result is the same. See the picture of the daytextures.How can I correct this?

[RandallR 446]

Yes, it is unnecessary for the USGS to continue to provide data beyond a certain point when the rest is all water, though this can provide a scenery maker with a little extra work. It's not actually DEM data that is missing here (Digital Elevations), but LULC (Land Use data). ;-)The missing data area of the water is being filled in by the Background Texture, which for the Base pack is swamp-bog. This is very appropriate, as most missing land data is near rivers and shores - this texture blends right in and is appropriate.The best way to generate scenery that includes a large body of water is to manually edit out the swamp texture with a decent paint program. I recommend first rendering the scenery (but not slicing) to get the images. Open up the small images in a program like Photoshop (delete the large land image). Open each image in turn, looking for the "swamp areas" in the water. Using a cloning tool, simply clone the surrounding water texture over the swamp until all is well. Then slice the scenery, using the Use existing segments setting to get your scenery.*********************************The easiest way to do this is the method I use:I use water masks in all my scenery. As the water mask replaces all water areas with reflective water, editing is especially easy. Again, render the scenery without slicing, then delete the full water mask image. Now all you have to do is edit black and white images - land is white, water is black. Wherever a black water area contains an improper white land area, simply paint or clone it black. Slice the scenery with the use existing segments setting and all the improper land areas will be covered by water.

[zfehr 1]

I have used the method described by Randall above to produce the entire west coast of the US with Terrascene and can tell you it worked with complete success. Now if we could just find an easy way to deal with those pesky Canadian and Mexican borders where USGS data ends.Zane

[RandallR 446]

Zane,It takes a little work, but it's not bad - just mix in DCW shapefile data for the Canadian and Mexican areas. Then touch up the "joints" before slicing. :-)

[Guest Hunter58]

I used your method. Easy, once you know how to do this.For now my rendering will always be in steps.Creating the elevationfileCreating the tgafiles for night water en dayediting the tga's, removing the biggiesand a slice to create a podthx

[RandallR 446]

Great! Here are a few hints about the biggies:1. The Fly!2 Editor will slice the scenery using the large images if they are there - if they are not, then TS2 will first regenerate the large image for Day, Night, and/or Water (if you have so designated) from the edited files.2. The images take up a lot of storage space, so if you don't need them, dump them. I rarely need to edit the Night images, so I immediately delete all the small night images. I then look over all of the day images - sometimes you're lucky and their will be no improper markings, but many times there will be small errors. If I have to edit any of the small images, I then delete the Day large image.3. As you know, the water mask images are the ones most likely to need editing, so I go over them last. As there is usually at least one image or more that needs editing, I then delete the large Water image.4. Before slicing, if any of the image sets are OK (Day, Night, and Water), I delete the small images of that set.The point is to get rid of all of the images you don't need - just be sure they're the correct ones. :-) I also will defrag the drive they're on before slicing, if a lot of editing was necessary.