Photoreal ground

[NZ255]

I found this site with some hi-def color aerial shots of some parts of NZ. How hard or more to the point, what is involved in turning photos into photoreal ground textures for FS?

Nick

[NZ255]

Something like this perhaps?: Sbuilder

[toprob]

These are the images I've used for Real NZ Wellington, Marlborough and Auckland.

To answer your question: FSX = easy, FS2004 = hard.

You really just need to use the SDK tool Resample to turn them into photo scenery. The trick is to get them lined up correctly -- they are NZTM projection, whereas FS uses WGS84. The images are geotiffs, so if you have some way to reproject them then they'll drop straight into FSX via Resample, but FS2004 resample doesn't use geotiffs. Also FSX will use the full resolution, whereas FS2004 requires the resolution to be halved.

For FS2004 I used to use a tool called Terrabuilder, which is a great front-end for resample, but for FSX I just use the SDK -- it is simple and elegant.

You'll also need some sort of graphics software (or other method, such as GIS, I guess) to build a water mask.

I suggest you take a look at the SDK.

[NZ255]

We've discovered your secret huh?

Do you have to pay a commission to use them if you sell them as payware then?

OK....might have to look at buying FSX then....

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (NZ255 @ Sep 26 2008, 12:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We've discovered your secret huh?
Do you have to pay a commission to use them if you sell them as payware then?
OK....might have to look at buying FSX then....

SECRET .. haaahhhaahahahahah .. FS9/2004 .... oh boy ... your in for some fun .... put in PC and push .... .. which button .. thats a dying source for a start , other the resolution people keep striving for , these/this site has not been updated for so long , questions me to think ... oh yeah .... government department

[toprob]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Sep 27 2008, 01:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

SECRET .. haaahhhaahahahahah .. FS9/2004 .... oh boy ... your in for some fun .... put in PC and push .... .. which button .. thats a dying source for a start , other the resolution people keep striving for , these/this site has not been updated for so long , questions me to think ... oh yeah .... government department

Yeah, LINZ no longer supply this imagery. The replacement is 'Kiwimage', which is a military/local govt collaborative project, so I'm not holding my breath for their first images to appear. However I have registered my interest, and this may lead to something long-term. Their imagery is planned for about a metre resolution, but I've already been told that this resolution will be available to local councils and military only -- a lower resolution, probably the same as the existing LINZ stuff may be available to the rest of us. I wouldn't really expect anything different with the military involved -- they have no need, want or desire to share their resources with anybody, unless they have to, and because Kiwimage is a resource-sharing system, they need to share with the councils who own their local aerials.

Buying images is really out of the question. The 'going rate' puts the price of a project like Real NZ Auckland at about $300,000. It may be possible to get a bulk price, but nobody is going to let me have this type of thing for $5,000, which is the very most anyone could justify based on the local FS market.

The ideal solution would be something like the Great Britain Millennium Map Project, where the whole country was licensed for use in FS as the UK VFR scenery.

In the meantime, I may move away from photo scenery, and stick with airports.

[Charl]

These days, if you really want photoreal, you can go get your own with one of the freebie utilities available, like maps2bgl.
Some of the imagery is patchy obviously, but you can get some gorgeous effects in certain parts of the world.
No autogen either, so perhaps limited to 5,000ft background flyovers.
Airports are another thing entirely, and lots of room for creativity there.
My ideal airport download looks very much like the free Zurich scenery(although it is perhaps a little demanding on system resources).
It has amazing attention to detail and amazing WOW effect as you approach or depart over the localised airport photoreal.

[PiperDriver]

Imagine doing all of NZ in photo real

[chickenman]

At least the NZTM imagery doesn't suffer from the NZMG rotation issues as NZTM is based on a geoid that coincides with WGS84.

It is possible to purchase large tracts of colour aeiral photography but it is typically quite expensive. We purchased all of Otago in full colour for work - georeferenced orthorectified at 1.0m resolution from historic stock and it cost us an arm and a leg, not quite $300K though. It helps using 6 y old data and having it resampled up from the original resolution.

LINZ has decided it is not in their core function to make this imagery available and have put their efforts into the new topo maps being produced (now 7 years overdue). The only real issue with the kiwimage replacement is that it appears that the priority will be placed on the 'non visible' spectrums as the viability of satellite based photography is very limited in NZ due to high cloud cover and low sun angles. I would be very suprised to see readily available imagery from kiwimage in under 5 years. One of the other issues is that it is dependent on a lot of inter-governmental department cooperation - historically difficult in NZ.

cman

[NZ255]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Sep 27 2008, 01:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

SECRET .. haaahhhaahahahahah .. FS9/2004 .... oh boy ... your in for some fun .... put in PC and push .... .. which button .. thats a dying source for a start , other the resolution people keep striving for , these/this site has not been updated for so long , questions me to think ... oh yeah .... government department

No....
i meant secret about where Rob gets the photos from.

[toprob]

QUOTE (NZ255 @ Sep 27 2008, 12:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No....
i meant secret about where Rob gets the photos from.

Yeah, I figured that... It was never much of a secret, one of the conditions of using the images is that I acknowledge the Crown copyright.
By the way, no, I don't pay for this, but I did need to sign an agreement. I do have a very valuable piece of paper giving me permission!
Freeware is different, LINZ images can be used without restriction in FS provided you acknowledge the source.

[NZ255]

QUOTE (toprob @ Sep 27 2008, 01:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, I figured that... It was never much of a secret, one of the conditions of using the images is that I acknowledge the Crown copyright.
By the way, no, I don't pay for this, but I did need to sign an agreement. I do have a very valuable piece of paper giving me permission!
Freeware is different, LINZ images can be used without restriction in FS provided you acknowledge the source.

I notice you go where the photo's are....there's not much more available on that site...thought about where you're next project will be? (sorry if sounded a bit smart a$$)

[NZ255]

OK didn't see the need to start a new thread because it still has to do with photoreal ground

To make a FS2002 style ground poly and have to work nicely in FS9 I have to have a SDK? correct?

Is the actual file I need the MakeMDL? I found some SDK's on this site included is a FS2002 MakeMDL file (about 1/3 down the page), will this do the jib?

Nick

[toprob]

QUOTE (NZ255 @ Sep 27 2008, 06:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I notice you go where the photo's are....there's not much more available on that site...thought about where you're next project will be? (sorry if sounded a bit smart a$$)

Just airports, I suspect.

QUOTE (NZ255 @ Sep 27 2008, 08:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

OK didn't see the need to start a new thread because it still has to do with photoreal ground

To make a FS2002 style ground poly and have to work nicely in FS9 I have to have a SDK? correct?

Is the actual file I need the MakeMDL? I found some SDK's on this site included is a FS2002 MakeMDL file (about 1/3 down the page), will this do the jib?

Nick

I wouldn't think so -- you really need to own FS2002 Deluxe, as that's the only place to legally obtain the necessary files. You may find it on TradeMe sometime, but it is getting quite rare.

[NZ255]

Anyone got one lying around?

Flight Simulator 2002: Professional Edition

[NZ255]

Could be a potential workaround here:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1964

[Charl]

QUOTE (NZ255 @ Sep 27 2008, 10:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Anyone got one lying around?
Flight Simulator 2002: Professional Edition

Incoming
Check your PM

[ashton]

hi there

i have looked into 2 programs

fsearthtiles just google it .it has been realy good have bits of waihi in photo real at 0.5m or google earth size.one problem is that google will block you after downloading about 1200 tiles.so you will have to find a different server like yahoo or other .

the other is tileproxy
it is good and loads the imagery into the sim as you wait during main loading into sim .can be a long wait too. but i would use fsearthtiles instead

got to fly

ashton b

[NZ255]

Yeah I use FS Earth Tiles but the Google images aren't that great.

With regards to Google blocking you; there's a way around this problem. Make sure in the FSEarthTiles.ini file that the Service 1 (Google) has this in the 'ServerVariations' ServerVariations = khm0,khm1,khm2,khm3

Then when it stops loading, click on the 'web' button and scroll down to the bottom. There will be a code to type in and after you press enter it will load again.

Nick

[Kelburn]

Hey, with FSEarthtiles where could I find a .ini cause I'm not good at that. (I can't seem to find one through google etc.)