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agtim

High precision elevation mesh for Seattle using NASA SR...

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Guest fu3

Thanks, Andre ;-)Yes, I fudged around and reloaded and it disappeared. In hindsight, I did pretty much what you recommended!These changes have made the Cascades backcountry come alive IMO. I'm really enjoying just pottering around the lakes and mountains (as you can see by my screenshots recently..).BTW, I'm having trouble getting the yellow parts just right. At the moment I use trial and error but it would be lovely to just export a tile of scenery and match that up. Is this possible? Using the exported terrain maps is somewhat confusing, especially with low difference in altitudes. A picture would paint a thousand... metres of flattened airstrip :-lolYou will notice that I took tonight off from landscaping to do a floatplane version of the Staggerwing. I reckon I'm getting this 3D model thaing down-pat now :-lolThanks again for your efforts :-waveRegards,Jon Point

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Hi Jon,When I do airport flatening the I use L3Map6x5.exe it's in the geostools.zip at the avsim library, my last upload.enter the tile you want and generate.cut a 512x512 part of the upper left corner, reduce by 50% then you get the wanted tile as 256x256 tga picture.paint using Layers as e.g. with GIMPsecond methode:use Genquadrant, open L0xxyy.bin you want then you can save the original texture using the green diskette button at the right. This will generate L0.tga a 16MB file ! 4096x4096 you will have to reduce this to 256x256. :-waveAndre

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Guest fu3

Thanks, Andre ;-)I was wondering whether or not we can modify the ground under lakes and rivers???After a few nights pottering around in the Staggerwing floatie, I have noticed a slight issue with water edges - many are now too shallow to allow one to get real close. Now, the fact that the SD17S(!) is not amphibious makes it impossible to taxi onto land, so I'd like to be able to tie-up to a jetty (like at Pillar Point in Sanfran) but, try as I might, I rarely get very close to the edge before I hit 'rock bottom'.Interestingly, Forest Falls is now better, with much of the lake usable, where before it had shallow parts everywhere. Unfortunately, I can't get near the jetty :-(Where is this all going? Well, whilst I'm having fun doing my backcountry strips, I've decided to do a couple of floatplane packages and it would be nice to be able to ensure I had clearance underneath! Bumping Lake is one I'd like to do (a small eco-tourist development with a few log cabins, some mountain bikers and horseriders etc - and of course, a couple of HUGE bears, running around scaring people :-lol ).I assume that if I 'level' a piece of terrain, it instantly becomes 'urbanised' (i.e. dry and hard - not good for floatplanes). Is there a way? I don't care if it makes the lakes bottomless or 40ft deep - I'm not concerned about the accuracy of lake-bottom terrain at all! PS Do we have any other takers for modifying Seattle strips? I have only done Ranger Creek and Lewis Valley but was going to attack Easton State next, if nobody else is doing it.Regards,Jon Point

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Hi Jon,Water or urbanised has nothing todo with elevation but with classification maps only. As long your plane is in a blue area you can move even on a mountain - like a big wavw you must apply full power, but you can move on it. Classification shares the same grid as elevation (it's the last 2 bits of the elevation field - so the values for it can just be 0, 1, 2 or 3). 1 such pixel is valid for a texture area of 16x16 pixels = 64mx64m ! Lake shore will never fit exactly.Use FLED to check and modify classification - yes FLED can this :-)Choose show classification this can help to prepare airports too.watch the pattern and compare it with the cl5 mapClick on classification wich change it (blue becomes green only). You will just see blue, green and transparent = red. This function looks unfinished but in certain cases it can help to locate places. After modification you must save before exit FLED. Later when you check the tile with GeoTilsViever you can see the modification. If you cant click from gree to blue then first paint the lake over his size with blue import classification with GeoTilesViever then change to FLED and edit with the mouse clicks.Actually I don't modify Seattle strips. :-wave agtim

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Guest fu3

Andre,"Actually I don't modify Seattle strips."Yes, but I don't have the Swiss region any more :-violinRegards,Jon Point

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Switzerland region is still unfinisht, built one more airport last week :-wave agtim

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Hi Jon,Because of the coarser fit, the classification will never match the scenery map exactly. If you want to tie up at the jetty, you may have to fudge the classification on the landward side. Or build a longer jetty! :-hah BTW, love the reflective effect in the side view of the Staggerwing. Care to share the secret? Or is all just plain old skill, craftsmanship and dexterity?CheersBruce H

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Guest fu3

Hi Bruce,I realise about the coarse fit, but look how steep I got the river gully behind the Ranger Creek strip. If I can get that steepness at the water's edge (or near it, with judicious placement of models), I'll be happy! I can always build a looooong jetty ;-)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/160815.jpgAs to the 'reflective effect', which view were you referring to? Don't confuse what the 3D program gives:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/160816.jpgWith what you get in FU3! The shaders etc in FU3 are DX8 vintage :-(http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/160817.jpgIt IS possible to employ some effect in textures, however, one must be careful not to overdo it - or the paint only looks believable at midday on a bright, sunny day ;-) Here's an example:The cowl shading looks great on a sunny day.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/160819.jpgBut loses effect somewhat with the sun at a different angle.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/160820.jpgWe just have to compromise :-waveRegards,Jon Point

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Hi Jon,Didn't take long to build that jetty! Re the reflections.... in your "Thanks Andre" posting, (the sentiment of which I most heartily agree with) you had some left / right shots of the Staggerwing, and the wings looked like that had been done in two pack (very cool :-kewl)I don't think I have seen another model in FU with the same level of "real life" toning. Is that a DX effect, or something you have built into the view? Great job anyway.I can see I'll have to get some scenery to you, and keep you busy in Oz for a while. :-) Cheers,Bruce H

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Guest fu3

Bruce,The jetty is the outer part of Berkely Pier, done for Chris Low's 'Sanfran 2006' package set. Whilst not a 5-minute job, it took an evening or so ;-)The internal side views in the D17S are made from photos - hence the 'reflections'. Tom (Staggerwing) Beech knows someone with a G17S in the US and can get access for photos - of which I have a few... I am hoping that he can get some more 'quarter view' shots for me to complete the plane with but I'll be releasing it without quarter views for now ;-)As to Oz scenery, I'm practising levelling airports and lake edges in Seattle right now, using the new elevation files. This will be necessary for OZ too. Just one question, what image resolution are you using for the terrain? I have been playing with a few packages in MSFS (shhhh) and I'm really disappointed by some of the ground textures. Sydney is just a blur :-( In the US, there seems to be a mix of 4, 5, 10 and 30m resolution - making some areas as bad as OT (IMO). I mean, for GA usage (what this sim is great for), one generally sees the ground from zero to about 10kft, no more. The more interesting parts are the climbouts and approaches, with 4m/pixel looking pretty plain under 1500ft, but usable. My trial of X-Plane ended when I realised that all those great screenshots were taken at 10kft+. On approach to SFO, the only details I could pick out were the airport and a few surrounding models :-erksMeanwhile, I'll go back to cleaning-up my edges and putting water back into the rivers. Now, if one overshoots Harvey to the north, if you manage to plough through the trees along the river, you'll fall into it!Regards,Jon Point

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G'day...So it's a photo eh? And here was me thinking it was all skill, dexterity and craftsmanship... :-roll Still, a great job.The base Oz scenery is 25m/pixel. That's 'cos when I started the project, there was nothing around (that I didn't have to swap the house, car and dog for) that I could use. I don't think there is anything yet, except Google has come online and some parts are OK. So, I said to myself, "darn the torpedoes, full steam ahead" because anything was better than nothing (kind of). The idea is to upgrade the scenery to what ever is better as it becomes available, especially around strips. That can be done without affecting elevation or model placement.At the moment Gold Coast, Lismore are not too bad, Coffs will be done soon (I hope). Most of the flattening will be done, and classification pretty much complete shortly.All that's left to do is err...., the hard parts (everything else) :-( So... WYSINTG, but...... by the time a few models get thrown around (read "strategically placed") I'm hoping it won't look to bad.A couple of low res shots from around Coffs Harbour attached.CheersBruce Hhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/160919.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/160920.jpg

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Guest fu3

Bruce,Yeah, nice photos, Tom ;-)As to the scenery, your right - it looks quite passable (and much better than a lot of MSFS' Oz :-erks :-erks ), as long as we can upgrade it fairly easily. I assumed that redoing ground textures was a 'start again' solution, but if you can just do bits as needed, I'd start with the loosest setup possible, and concentrate on getting the terrain mesh right. Shows you what I (don't) know :-lolYou see, while you've learned to create complete landscapes, my head has been buried in, well, other things :-rollIn fact, I desided to do the Staggerwing to get back into FU3, and now I'm playing with models and - gulp - landscapes...I'm sure I'll get carried away with some bizarre project again - like 54 different trees, 18 wind generators, an FBO that uses 344 polygons - or planting 4,000 trees on the tops of the Cascades (looked fantastic but killed framerates stone dead) but for now, I'll just get the Staggerwing finished. Actually, I'm putting off redoing the cockpit for a couple of days 'coz I need a good 3-4 hours to do it ;-)Regards,Jon Point

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Hi Jon,The 25m/pix is not too bad, although some areas are better (or worse) than others. The scenery set I'm working from was obviously taken over a length of time, with different seasons, bushfire smoke obscuring the view occasionally (but adds a little "realism").The lo-res shots around Coffs are pretty typical of the overall set. I note our beloved Premier has announced a wind farm on the Southern Highlands. Now there's a project for you! ;-) Cheers,Bruce H

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