Home

TerraBuilder FSX

1. Our project now consists of a single image placed in the workspace We can t really do anything with it now because the image has not been positioned and sized in the world coordinate system If we were to choose cancel at this point and try to create scenery out of this image resample exe would report compilation errors because the image doesn t have the proper parameters set yet So lets continue with defining the parameters of this image by giving it its location and size www terrabuilder com 27 Scenery Design Tutorial 1 TerraBuiiidlb d Continued Assembling the imagery mosaic in TerraBuilder FSX Next we ll define image s geographical location and size coverage by georeferencing the image in a real world geographical coordinate system This is done by specifying geographic locations of two points on the image The points on the image are usually some easily recognizable geographical landmarks such as landmark buildings intersections lighthouses etc as a matter of fact they can be ANY feature in the image as long as you can locate the same feature within image provider s viewer such as USGS Server and read off he geographical location of that feature For best georeferencing results try to pick points on the image that are diametrically opposed and as far from each other as possible that way the precision of the calculation is increased Follow these simple steps to georeference our image Landscape features such as th
2. e TerraBuilder FSX Application TerraBuilder FSX Application elements Georeferencing dialog A First point dialog The first portion of the dialog displays when the first point is being specified B Second point dialog The second portion is revealed when the second point is being specified C Selected pixel location Latitudinal vertical pixel location and the Longitudinal horizontal pixel location from the top left corner of the image of the first point D Current pixel location Latitudinal vertical pixel location and the Longitudinal horizontal pixel location from the top left corner of the image of the cursor location above the image E First point Latitude and Longitude coordinates Latitude and Longitude of the first point are entered in these boxes F Second point Latitude and Longitude coordinates Latitude and Longitude of the second point are entered in these boxes G Image being georeferenced prominent features on the image such as water towers smoke stacks or road intersections can be used as georeferencing points by entering their real world geographical coordinates obtained from the image provider Done Applies the values calculates the image location and closes the dialog Cancel Discards any values and keeps the image in the original location www terrabuilder com 18 Secs El gt FSX Scenery Design Concept TerraBuilder FSX design concept is ba
3. even though the aerial imagery may be more accurate than the FSX Here are the steps that need to be taken Q First check that the ANGLE heading of the runway is identical in FSX and imagery Making sure that your aircraft is pointing to true geographic north or using a map satellite view with North aligned to top of the screen take a screenshot of the top down view of the airport in the FSX Then if using Google Earth make sure that the orientation heading in Google Earth is true North and take a screen shot of roughly the same area Q Compare the two images by inserting them as layers in PhotoShop and making upper layer transparent If the angles of the runways are identical you are in luck If however the angles are slightly off you will need to take a measurement of this angle in Photoshop there are tools for that in PhotoShop and write it down Even a small angle deviation will manifest itself as quite a noticeable misalignment especially with aprons lighting and other linear elements of airport Q This angle will be used in Google Earth to slightly rotate the heading of the top down view prior to start of the sequential image capturing This will result in a slight misalignment of the photorealistic scenery as compared to the real life but since we are blending the edges with the landclass textures the misalignment hopefully won t be noticeable Q Next we need to precisely position the existing FSX runway with its photorealist
4. 9 x FSX Scenery Basics jx i JA Comprehensive Vs Discrete tile design These diagrams illustrate the difference between comprehensive and discrete design approaches Ordinarily in comprehensive design approach user would either download or assemble a large comprehensive scale bitmap and submit it to resample exe utility for scenery creation This approach is favored if the designer is manually editing the INF file since only one source section needs to be created However this approach introduces large errors that show up when a flat image is fitted over a large curved area such as the surface of Earth With the discrete design approach the imagery is saved in small discrete images that are adjacent to each other with small edge overlaps This task is greatly facilitated by using TerraBuilder s visual design approach freeing the designer from tedious INF formatting while introducing a high level of precision and automatization More importantly the discrete approach subdivides the area covered into smaller tiles that more easily fit over curved area and thus greatly diminish the overlap errors and gaps compared to the comprehensive approach Comprehensive i Large overlap ut ew Large gap LT With large comprehensive approach to scenery design large scale imagery introduces overlap errors when fitted to the curved surface of the Earth www terrabuilder com Discrete The coverage error is greatly reduced when us
5. Applies the changes if any and closes the dialog Cancel Discards any changed values and closes the dialog www terrabuilder com uuiedowmhs f SX e TerraBuilder FSX Application TerraBuilder FSX Application elements Image Element Properties Dialog For detailed description of these parameters please see The Resample Tool section of the Terrain and Scenery SDK Location amp Sampling tab A Image shows the file name of the selected image tile B Image Location shows and sets the latitude and longitude of the top left corner anchor of the selected image tile Editable single selection only Null Value shows clears and sets the value of the RGB color Null Value parameter Editable single selection i only Parameters 4 and 5 are not cam 2 104033 supported see SDK documentation for F z more info i droll 0 0010 36430533 Sampling Method shows clears and i 2 104033 sets the preferred sampling method of 0 001488316713 the selected image tile No selection indicates that no INF entry will be ria present and the default Gaussian will be used Works with multiple z 3 5230 X selections l l HMB 01 bmp 1 484687 Resolution amp Variation tab 1 022027 E Image Resolution shows the Longitudinal and Latitudinal resolution of the image equivalent to xDim and yDim parameters in SDK Image Variation shows and sets the temporal variation seasonal and night day textures of t
6. FSX Software Development Kit available in the Deluxe edition of FSX resample exe A console application provided by Microsoft that is used in compiling INF file script into BGL scenery file You must install the Microsoft s FSX SDK to obtain this application Scenery Image tile Image Tile Image A discrete image in BMP file format that represents an aerial picture of the scenery being created In INF file a discrete image is described as a source element Water mask WM A grayscale image in BMP format that describes the areas where the water will appear in the scenery In INF file a discrete image is described as a source element Blend mask BM A grayscale image in BMP format that describes the areas visible and invisible in the scenery Used to seamlessly blend the photorealistic scenery with FSX s In INF file a discrete image is described as a source element Project A collection of Image tiles blend masks and water masks that make up a scenery Project is saved and loaded as an INF file Georeference A process of defining the world location and size of the Image tile Default Scenery Scenery that comes with FSX Add on scenery Scenery that can be created and added to the default FSX scenery database Elevation map terrain map A set of numbers in digital format that is arranged in a grid and depicts elevation points along regular intervals Mesh Terrain Scenery A scenery that defines the topographical features of the landscape in 3 dime
7. Masks and Blend Masks Reset the order of image layering to the INF file order This will display the layering of the imagery in the order they were added in Select All SHIFT A Select None SHIFT X Select Inverse SHIFT I Select all of the image tiles Select none of the image tiles Select the unselected image tiles de select the selected ones www terrabuilder com 38 User Reference cchi n N User manual Reference TB web site Purchase opens an Open File dialog to locate and load a scenery image opens an Open File dialog to locate and load an INF project file Saves the current project into the current active INF file if present or prompts for the name of the INF file Saves the current project into the NEW INF file Note that the new INF becomes an active current INF project e U ce7 Vy E Grid Interactive m Move Pan Non interactive ey Zoom Non interactive bin Cursor style Interactive 1170 MEEEERNNNEEENMNNMNMNNNMNNNNNMNMNMNMNMNMNMNMN QN NNI Pops up a selector between 3 levels of transparency 1096 5096 and 10096 Useful when checking overlap alignment Transparency Tile Properties Georeference Add Water Mask Add Blend Mask Delete selected Lock Interactive Visibility Interactive Send to back Interactive A d Hide Unhide grid display Hiding grid display may improve display performance Move Image s mode indicator moves location of
8. adjacent to the original loaded map This image OVERLAID over the first image By default this image is unlocked and free to move Resolution of the should share a portion of its edge with the original image so that it can be easily aligned with it image is identical to the selected image or if none selected the last one that was added 20 Click on the image that you just inserted and while holding the mouse button down move it so that its You can check the alignment by quickly hiding displaying the image on top using the visibility button or by LEFT edge and the first image s RIGHT edge are overlapping and aligned When you re happy with the specifying image s transparency When the images are properly aligned the common features should be in the alignment click the lock button to lock it in place same positions in both images Use keyboard directional buttons to nudge the image position 21 Repeat the steps 8 to 15 using the files HMB 02 BM bmp and HMB 02 WM bmp to associate the blend Note that an image tile DOES NOT need to have masks associated with it if they are not needed For instance an and water masks with this second image tile image tile in the middle of the mosaic without any water surfaces will not need any masks 22 Finally repeat the steps 18 to 21 and insert the rest of the images HMB 03 bmp and HMB 04 bmp and Before inserting a new image tile always select an existing image tile that will be the closest to the image tile that
9. altitude at which the imagery looks nice and crisp is 520 meters REMEMBER NOTE this value as you may inadvertently zoom in or out from it and you ll have to get back to that exact zoom level The idea here is to take a screenshot capture of the area Google Earth has an option for that and then move on to an adjacent area This can be accomplished fairly easily by using a mouse scrolling the area horizontally from top right corner to top left corner taking a screen capture and then repeating the process for the next adjacent area The important thing to note is that by doing it this way a small overlap area is left on sides of both images and this area will be used later to line up the images for a seamless fit The same principle applies to top down move and capture process always leaving a small area of the imagery overlap that will be used for lining up the imagery The images created this way are stored as BMP imagery and named in consecutive numbers The pattern of capture is not important as long as it is consecutive and orderly so that the assembly of the mosaic within the TerraBuilder FSX application will be easier The best patterns are usually horizontal rows started from the top left of the area of coverage and moved down to bottom right as depicted in the graphic below note the transition of direction between captures 6 and 7 and 12 and 13 While this process may feel cumbersome at first with a bit of practice it w
10. cases it may be possible to fix the bad areas using image editing software In other cases the imagery might have undesirable objects in it such as aircraft parked on aprons and taxiing on runways Likewise in such cases some image editing may be required to remove such undesirable artifacts 2 Will the seasonal and night time imagery be required This has to be carefully considered as the amount of work to accomplish this can easily balloon to unmanageable proportions If the seasonal imagery is required the original images will need 4 or more versions with seasons and night time variations Depending on the skill of the image editor this task may be quite demanding as the seasonal variations and snow coverage require subtle color changes that still have to look different from season to season Modifying image to look snowed in may as well be a challenging task 3 Are there a lot of intricate shorelines in the area covered Intricate shorelines demand a very precise and careful creation of water masks which can be quite time consuming 4 Will the scenery be used for low level bush flying or will it be viewed from larger altitudes If used for low level scenic flights the scenery is usually small in coverage but high in detail Conversely if used for high altitude flying a higher coverage but low detail lower resolution imagery can be used 5 Are there any airports and runways that will be visible in the scenery If so the position o
11. e TerraBuilder FSX Application TerraBuilder FSX Application elements Project Properties Dialog Project Info tab A Current INF shows the name of the current INF file if saved B Project Directory shows the location of the current INF file C Imagery element shows the type Current IN Colors H itio and count of the imagery elements C Program Files x86 Microsoft Games Microsoft images and masks FSXHalfMoonBayh3 inf Flight Simulator X SDKYSDKWEnvironment Kitli Terrain Project Scale shows the project SDK resample exe wide scale based on the first image added and inherited by all subsequent image elements Interface tab F amp XHalfMoonBay E Colors Enables selection of desktop background and grid colors Click on the color box to change Grid Transparency slider specifies the transparency of the grid Full left is completely transparent full right is completely opaque Total project elements Other tab G Resample exe location shows the JEU iuc location of the valid Resample exe file LOI 0 001036430533 If this file is missing or the path is 0 001488316713 invalid user is prompted to locate it This is also valid for the first time run of the application BGL file compilation cannot proceed without this parameter LOD Selector Shows and sets the range of LOD in the Destination block eR SON Gece nominate ING Apply Applies the changes if any and keeps the dialog open OK
12. section enter a value of 1640 for Min Altitude and click Apply meters This obviously needs to be adjusted 9 Enter a value of 2120 for Max Altitude and click Apply There is no visible change in the elevation map except The minimum value of 1640 meters has been determined by checking the FSX s MSL altitude of the relatively that the Bias and Scale values have been automatically re calculated flat area where we re inserting the scenery Also a height of around 480 meters was eyeballed to be about right judging from the similar mesas in the vicinity and added to Min Alt to become Max Alt The simple elevated mesh scenery we created is ready to be compiled into a scenery file usable by FSX Follow these few simple steps to invoke Microsoft s Resample exe tool that will automatically process the scenery mosaic you ve just created 10 In File menu locate and click Create BGL If a dialog prompting Save as INF file appears choose an INF file or specify a file name This will also specify the name of the BGL file 11 Click on Save File if prompted with a dialog to initiate the compilation process A small command window opens and displays the data on compilation of the BGL scenery file Depending on the size of the scenery this process may take a while When the compilation of the scenery file is finished press any key to close the window 12 The BGL file is created in the same location where the image was located You can In order to properl
13. single image placed correctly in a real world geographical coordinate system Technically our project is now a true scenery and we could compile it and use it within FSX However it would look odd because it s edges would sharply stand out against FSX s default scenery and it would look like an image laying flat on the ground Also water surfaces in the image would look flat without any water effects like the rest of the water in FSX Let s fix those problems by adding blend and water masks in the following section www terrabuilder com 28 Scenery Design Tutorial 1 TerraBuiladif 7 Ne Continued Assembling the imagery mosaic in TerraBuilder FSX Next we ll insert a blend mask so that the scenery blends better into the existing default scenery and the edges of the scenery we created aren t as prominent 8 Click anywhere on the image in the TerraBuilder FSX workspace to select it A panel full of options is displayed on the LEFT edge of the application These options are related to the image tile that is currently selected the only image tile we have loaded in our scenery 9 On the left options panel locate and click Add Blend Mask button Open Image dialog opens 10 Choose HMB 01 BM BMP file and open it The mask is now locked in place as well unable to be moved inadvertently The blend mask image is loaded and overlaid on top of our scenery image tile until it is unlocked SAVE the project remember there is no UNDO feature O
14. single project it will prompt user to specify which type of element is to be saved to INF file and or compiled to BGL file This means that a project that contains both imagery and elevation elements will have to be saved into two different INF files each containing exclusively imagery elements with water and blend masks if any or elevation elements www terrabuilder com 26 e Scenery Design Tutorial 1 TerraBuildelth A NG Assembling the imagery mosaic in TerraBuilder FSX If you haven t done so please download TBFSXTutorial01 zip file from here it contains all the necessary files for this tutorial While all the steps up to now were in preparation of the image tiles and water blending masks this part involves the actual use of TerraBuilder FSX application The image tiles and their blending and water masks that have been prepared in the previous steps can now be loaded into the application and assembled into one coherent scenery area The first step is to load the first image tile and georeferencing it This means locating the image in the real world and giving it real world dimensions Georeferencing is a simple process of defining two points in the image and giving it geographical coordinates Using this information the application will calculate the size and position of the image tile This process is needed only once because subsequent imagery tiles will be fitted by using slight overlaps on their edges The resulting scenery
15. the selected image s Image s must be unlocked before they are able to be moved Hold down SHIFT to move multiple selected images together SPACE BAR TOGGLE Pan around the project pans around the scenery project without moving the location of image s This mode is active while a SPACE BAR is pressed and held Zoom activity indicator Lights up when zooming up or down CTRL click to zoom in CTRL SHIFT click to zoom out Pointer styles click toggles between arrow and fine crosshair pointer styles Opens Tile Properties dialog and allows editing of various Image Tile parameters Enables a geo referencing operation on a single image DOESN T WORK PROPERLY CHECK BUG LOG opens an Open File dialog to locate and load a water mask BMP image The added mask is locked in its position opens an Open File dialog to locate and load a blend mask BMP image The added mask is locked in its position Permanently deletes selected Image Tile s No UNDO ability except for re loading the INF file Lock Unlock toggle Enables Disables the moving change of location of Image Elements Designed to prevent unintended or accidental movement of Image element Visible Invisible toggle temporarily shows and hides the image Useful when checking overlap alignment NOT the same as Hide Selected option in View menu Sends the selected image s to the back changes the display order revealing what was layered under them Does not change the image order Usefu
16. their associated blend and water masks Image HMB_03 bmp should be to the bottom of the you re about to insert The new image tile will be overlaid on top of the selected one ready to be aligned HMB 02 bmp and image HMB 04 bmp should be to the left of HMB 03 bmp image SAVE the project remember there is no UNDO feature That s it that s all it takes to assemble a simple scenery mosaic in TerraBuilder FSX Next we will compile this project into a BGL file and view our creation in Microsoft Flight Simulator X While the full functionality is available to non registered users the scenery compiled with the unregistered version will contain only the first image tile and its masks Valid only if the images are all of the same scale in other words captured at the same zoom level in other OTHER words a width of 100 pixels in one image covers the same distance as a width of 100 pixels in the next image www terrabuilder com 30 Scenery Design Tutorial 1 TerraBuildalht 4 Continued Assembling the imagery mosaic in TerraBuilder FSX The simple scenery we created is ready to be compiled into a scenery file usable by FSX Follow these few simple steps to invoke Microsoft s Resample exe tool that will automatically process the scenery mosaic you ve just created the compilation is completely automated there is no interaction necessary If a dialog prompting Save as INF file appears choose an INF file or specify a file name Thi
17. 0 Nov 17 2012 1 01 00 March 5 2013 1 01 01 March 7 2013 1 01 02 March 9 2013 1 02 00 March 18 2013 Initial release Introduced Elevation Mesh support Maintenance release minor UI fixes Fixed multi source INF generation Added support for LOD in Destination block Fixed grid toggle www terrabuilder com A Contents oy Introduction TerraBuilder FSX Requirements FSX Scenery Basics TerraBuilder FSX terminology What TerraBuilder FSX can t do Comprehensive vs Discrete tile design TerraBuilder FSX features TerraBuilder FSX Application TerraBuilder FSX Application elements Overview TerraBuilder FSX Application elements Project Properties Dialog TerraBuilder FSX Application elements Image Element Properties Dialog TerraBuilder FSX Application elements Elevation Element Properties Dialog TerraBuilder FSX Application elements Image Element Options panel TerraBuilder FSX Application elements Georeferencing Dialog FSX Scenery Design Concept Determining the scope and coverage of the scenery Acquiring the imagery from the imagery provider Optional Creating alternate imagery seasons night time Optional Creating blending and water masks Creating custom elevated mesh scenery Scenery Design Tutorial Tutorial 1 Photorealistic Scenery design Tutorial 2 Elevated Mesh Scenery design Advanced Features Design Tips and Tricks Combining the default FSX scenery elements with the
18. PhotoRealistic scenery Working with water and blend masks User Reference www terrabuilder com Sen Bj I TahinevelUleiitela Seen A The purpose of the TerraBuilder FSX application is to aid in creation of high resolution photo realistic and mesh terrain elevation scenery for Microsoft s Flight Simulator X This is achieved by importing pre saved scenery images tiles and assembling them together into one large scenery with high resolution coverage From our extensive experience in creating photo realistic and mesh terrain scenery we found this approach to be easier and less complicated than importing one extremely large image and creating a scenery out of it The reason for this is that it is extremely cumbersome to deal with a single huge image in image editing software such as Adobe PhotoShop which requires large memory swapping capabilities long loading saving times and choppy and cumbersome navigation to image sections zooming and panning Moreover an image that is broken down to smaller components as a mosaic can be more easily fitted over the spherical surface reducing or eliminating the need for WGS correction The only drawback to such an approach is the tiresome and labor intensive process of aligning a mosaic of images so that they seamlessly fit each other Hence the TerraBuilder FSX application was created to aid in this and other tasks TerraBuilder FSX is essentially a tool that aids a scenery designer in assemb
19. Please respect and adhere to the copyrights of the image provider While some image providers most notably governmental agencies such as USGS provide image coverage free of charge and do not place restrictions on their use most image providers have a copyright placed on the imagery they provide That usually means that the imagery can be used for personal use only limiting you from financially benefiting from your creations If you d like to create commercial photo realistic sceneries with an intent of selling them you must check if you are allowed to do so according to the terms and conditions of the image providers Most image providers are in the business of selling the imagery if it is to be used for commercial purposes so if you want to financially benefit from your work you will have to obtain purchase a license to use the imagery in that manner Also please note that TerraBuilder Inc does NOT claim any copyright or implied ownership or license on the sceneries created using its software Therefore the designer is free to use scenery as they see fit without any restrictions with respect to the TerraBuilder Inc and the design software we produce TerraBuilder Inc shall not be held responsible in any way if the scenery software designed using its application is used without permission maliciously or in any other unlawful or otherwise inappropriate way www terrabuilder com Sesh Bi Version Tracker Version 1 00 0
20. ach water and blend masks to them You can save it to INF file edit compile to BGL FSX scenery and re load this project for further editing Some projects may balloon to a size that may become unmanageable due to its sheer expanse Such projects are easily broken down to smaller collections of projects using Save as functionality L With an un registered free version you can do all of the above however if a project is saved to INF or compiled to BGL only the FIRST image along with its masks if any will be saved compiled www terrabuilder com 4 e TerraBuilder FSX requirements TerraBuilddth UO TerraBuilder FSX will run on PCs using Windows XP Windows Vista or Windows operating systems LJ TerraBuilder FSX does not require any special hardware to run although a good video card and a lot of free memory will certainly help in the operation of the software as with any other application L TerraBuilder FSX also needs rersample exe application which is available with the properly installed and activated FSX SDK FSX SDK comes only with Deluxe version of FSX although there may be a way to install it using the ordinary version of FSX Also while this is not critical to TerraBuilder FSX software please note that there are several service packs and upgrades of FSX SDK that need to be installed Please consult www fsdeveloper com site for all the latest info on installing the FSX SDK L A fair amount of image editing is requi
21. age scenery element of the area and use it only as a guide for alignment of the elevated mesh scenery www terrabuilder com 32 Scenery Design Tutorial 2 TerraBuiiaidit d Continued Creating the elevation mesh scenery in TerraBuilder FSX 6 Move the cursor to an upper right corner of the image and click on it In the edit boxes on the Georeference The best georeferencing results are achieved when the 2 georeferencing locations are diametrically opposed dialog enter the following values using the keyboard 37 000 110 14 7 On the Georeference dialog click Done The image is now properly located and sized in the real world Entering the positions of 2 points on the image and their corresponding Latitude Longitude locations provides coordinates The image is now locked in place as well unable to be moved inadvertently until it is unlocked all the information needed for the scenery to be properly located and sized in the real world SAVE the project remember there is no UNDO feature 8 Next elevation ranges need to be defined Click on the elevation map to select it and from the LEFT menu click By default TerraBuilder FSX assigns elevations of this elevation map according to the grayscale levels in the on Tile Properties button Tile Properties dialog opens Select middle tab Resolution amp Variation In the Elevation image Our test image has a full range pure black to pure white so the elevation range spans from 0 to 32767 Scaling
22. arent overlapping until you reach the other end The other end of the runway must be precisely aligned as well Use the georeferencing operation on the other end of the runway with the P2 point and some other georeference marker from the imagery for the other point as described in georeferencing section Q The georeferencing operation on this end image of the runway is likely to introduce a slight positional shift Re adjust the overlap of the rest of the imagery that is in between of the starting and ending images by moving them by slight amounts If you take your time and spread this shift error over all of the in between imagery the per image misalignment will be barely noticeable For instance if the whole runway was covered by 12 images from start to end and if the end runway image shifted by 10 pixels after being georeferenced so that it precisely fits the end of the runway in FSX then adjusting 10 images in between by one pixel would perfectly adjust the alignment An error of one pixel between image alignments would be barely noticeable UY A compilation of runway only segment is recommended to be used as a fit check against the default runway in FS before proceeding with the insertion and alignment of the rest of the imagery that surrounds the runway That way any additional adjustments may be made on a minimal number of imagery tiles The main idea here is to make sure the PhotoRealistic imagery fits perfectly to the scenery in FSX LJ T
23. can be determined in advance Images in TerraBuilder FSX are always assumed to be oriented to true north and CANNOT be rotated TerraBuilder FSX has a limitation of being able to load imagery only in BMP file format no GeoTIFF or TIFF files which are supported by resample exe This limitation may be removed in the future versions depending on the necessity of the feature TerraBuilder FSX has another limitation of an image size of 2880x2880 pixels This is due to the limitation of the internal architecture of the graphical layer used to build the application This limitation however is an abstract one as most screen captures of the imagery tend to be of the screen resolution which does not usually go beyond 1920x1200 pixels Also there is no observable theoretical limitation to the number of tiles that can be used in a scenery project so the per image size limitation becomes a non issue in practice The apparent size limitation also brings up another important aspect of scenery design Difficulty of projecting large flat image on the curved surface The problem is that the large flat imagery will inherently display errors in alignment when projected onto the curved surface of the Earth In order to minimize these errors it is advantageous to subdivide large image into smaller discrete chunks which will fit onto the curved surface with smaller alignment errors a concept explained in detail in the following section www terrabuilder com
24. e small cape are used to easily locate a specific feature in the image and its corresponding geographic location The geographic coordinates were read off the imagery provider application in this case USGS Server and are used here Move the cursor to a upper left area of the image and locate a small cape as in the picture to the right Click on it In the edit boxes on the Georeference dialog enter the following values using the keyboard 37 524220 122 517874 5 On the Georeference dialog click Next Another part of the Georeference Dialog displays on the bottom 6 Move the cursor to a bottom right area of the image and locate a small circle near the middle of The best georeferencing results are achieved when the 2 georeferencing locations are diametrically the runway as in the picture to the right Click on it In the edit boxes on the Georeference dialog opposed enter the following values using the keyboard 37 513918 122 499973 7 On the Georeference dialog click Done The image is now properly located and sized in the real Entering the positions of 2 points on the image and their corresponding Latitude Longitude locations world coordinates The image is now locked in place as well unable to be moved inadvertently provides all the information needed for the scenery to be properly located and sized in the real world until it is unlocked SAVE the project remember there is no UNDO feature Our project now consists of a
25. entiate between image and mask types For more information refer to the Terrain and Scenery SDK documentation D Index Lists the true index of the image regardless of its display priority on the desktop Index of the image is essentially the order in which the image was added to the project Index number is used in attaching the masks E Transparency pop out Reveals a small menu where the values of the image transparency can be changed This is used to aid in aligning the imagery F Tile Properties Invokes an Image Element properties dialog G Georeference Invokes a georeferencing process on the Image Tile H Add Water Mask Opens a dialog to choose a water mask Add Blend Mask Opens a dialog to choose a blend mask J Delete selected Deletes the selected image s Careful there is no UNDO operation K Lock Locks the position of the image so that it cannot be geospatially moved This is done when the image tile has been georeferenced or properly aligned to prevent unintended dislocation of the image tile L Visibility Temporarily shows and hides the image Useful when checking overlap alignment NOT the same as Hide Selected option in M Send to back Sends the selected image s to the back changes the display order revealing what was layered under them Does not change the image order Useful when working with masks or in multi resolution mosaics www terrabuilder com 17 TOM S X
26. er FSX Application elements Overview Main Menu toolbar Controls the general application operations loading saving compiling selecting viewing Application toolbar Contains options for interacting with the scenery project elements grid cursor shape panning moving zooming Width 1036 Height 727 HMB_01 bmp Image Element Options panel Type BMI MB 01 bmr Lists the parameters and operation options for a single Image Layer ir Element Channel Mone Index Coordinate Display bar STANS Shows the real time geographical coordinates of the cursor 0 960978 Zoom Factor readout Shows the level of the magnification with 1 1 pixel being 1 ias TUN REPE Project Properties dialog Contains editable parameters pertaining to the overall scenery project FSX HalfMoonBay Tile Properties dialog Contains editable parameters of the individual Image element Work area A desktop area where a scenery project mosaic is assembled Coordinate Display Format toggle Toggles between decimal degrees and Degree Minute Second lo 0 001036430533 coordinate display format 0 001488316713 Active Tile indicator Indicates which Image Tile among the selected ones is active Grid Dynamic grid overlaid on top of the imagery showing the latitudinal and longitudinal lines Selector frame Denotes that the image tile is selected but not necessarily active www terrabuilder com yoyo f SX
27. ering option applied to the selection mask of the area and is beyond the scope of this discussion LJ Water mask is a grayscale image in a BMP file format which defines what portion of the parent image will be shown as dry land and what part will be covered with water This is extremely important segment of the scenery because if not included or designed improperly a sharp transition between default water coverage and added scenery will be visible and look extremely unnatural The water mask is created in an image editing software by tracing the water areas lakes and sea ocean shorelines over the parent imagery and filling the water areas with black and land with white making sure in the process that the transition between the visible and invisible is sharp as opposed to gradual with blend masks because the shorelines usually have a sharp line where water and land meet Likewise the technical details of creation of water masks are beyond the scope of this discussion www terrabuilder com 24 m 5 FSX Scenery Design Concept TerraBuildatf 5 A Ni 5 Creating elevated mesh scenery TerraBuilder FSX allows for the import and compiling of RAW files which can be used to define an elevated mesh topography RAW files are the simplest kinds of files consisting of pure numbers without any information usually contained in file HEADERS on how those numbers are arranged or how many of them there are Those numbers can be of any bit dep
28. expected behavior LJ Because of the above behavior the default value of the SCALE parameter is set to 0 5 In other words any RAW map with a full range of grays from pure black to pure white inserted into TBFSX will have default Scale value of 0 5 and Bias of 0 which will translate into an altitude range of 0 meters minimum to 32767 meters maximum These altitude ranges can then be adjusted either directly which will recalculate Scale and Bias parameters or by adjusting the Scale and Bias parameters which will re calculate minimum and maximum altitude values Q When SAVING the RAW file format in PhotoShop or other image editor specify Header size as 0 and select Byte Order as IBM PC Q The dimensions of the bitmap will also have to be noted or remembered because the RAW format doesn t contain any info on how wide and high the image was Usually the width or height dimension can be calculated by specifying other dimensions and knowing how large the actual file is and how many numbers of certain size 16 bit to be precise are expected Therefore when importing a RAW file into TerraBuilder FSX user will be prompted to enter the width of the RAW image LJ Another shortcoming of the resample exe utility is that it does not allow for mixing of the imagery and elevation elements in the INF file the INF file containing both types will fail to compile using resample exe utility Since TerraBuilder FSX allows for mixing of both types in a
29. f the scenery might have to be adjusted to closely match the position of the default FSX airport This might not match the real life position but it is far easier to match the scenery to the existing airport runway than to remove the default runway and re build it to match the scenery The default runway angle sometimes does not match the angle in the imagery so the imagery might have to be slightly rotated to get the exact match See section 7 for more info www terrabuilder com 20 ze wh Bi gt FSX Scenery Design Concept 2 Acquiring the imagery from the imagery provider The next step in the scenery design is the acquisition of the imagery itself Let s use Google Earth as an example of image provider in this case First with the area of interest selected basically deciding what exactly will the scenery cover we will decide on the resolution of the imagery This is a simple task of deciding how much of the detail will be visible in the scenery Will the user be able to spot their own house from the air or just general landscape features Usually a good high resolution scenery is where individual vehicles can be spotted on the road and to get to that level of resolution in Google Earth simply zoom in on the area you d like to create in the scenery A good way of determining and remembering the resolution in Google Earth is the altitude readout the lower the altitude the higher the resolution of the imagery is Let s assume that an
30. hat is essentially it This technique can be applied to any existing FSX scenery object For example the similar technique could be used if a large default FSX bridge needed to be fitted into your scenery With some care and due attention to detail it is possible to achieve a high degree of accuracy in blending the existing FSX scenery objects and underlying PhotoRealistic scenery www terrabuilder com 36 t3 Design tips and tricks TerraBuiiadlf Working with water and blend masks Tips for working with water and blend masks Q When you use water masks the parts of the imagery covered by the DARK areas of the mask will still be visible but COVERED with water effects This is useful when a shallow water needs to be shown with features on the bottom for example coral reefs Q In order to make default water show everywhere in your scenery water maps and blend maps should be identical If you want to show some underwater features of your scenery for example underwater coral in shallow waters make the blending mask extents farther out from the shore and line up water mask exactly to the water land boundary This works especially well in the tropical islands areas where FSX water effects will be rendered over the imagery of shallow waters blending with default water some distance away www terrabuilder com 37 User Reference TorraBuiidi 9 N C gNNMNMNMNMNMNMNMNMNggggscc9k NdgdgdNNM Insert Map CTRL M Insert Ele
31. he selected image tile No selection indicates default Day setting All indicates both day and night not darkened at night Works with multiple selections Apply Applies the changes if any and keeps the dialog open Seal amp Masks tab Image Extents shows the latitudinal and longitudinal extents of the image Non editable Image Masks shows the indexes of the water and blend masks if any Non editable www terrabuilder com OK Applies the changes if any and closes the dialog Cancel Discards any changed values and closes the dialog e TerraBuilder FSX Application TerreBuiiadlf De TerraBuilder FSX Application elements Elevation Element Properties Dialog For detailed description of these parameters please see The Resample Tool section of the Terrain and Scenery SDK Location amp Sampling tab A Image shows the file name of the selected image tile B Image Location shows and sets the latitude and longitude of the top left corner anchor of the selected image tile Editable single selection only Null Value shows clears and sets the value of the RGB color Null Value parameter Editable single selection only Parameters 4 and 5 are not I 0 999173 supported see SDK documentation for 3 more info 0 000030257186 Sampling Method shows clears and 45 010366 sets the preferred sampling method of 0 000029946524 the selected image tile No selection 44 999557 indicates
32. ic representation that will come under it To do this we need to georeference the photo imagery with a high degree of precision Q First in FSX using slew mode determine geographic coordinates of the beginning and the end of the runway along its centerline To make georeferencing easier use an easily distinguishable part of the runway that is shared with both FSX runway and imagery runway such as the apron runway border at the centerline Note those values as latitude longitude pairs P1 and P2 L Next start your mosaic assembly by taking sequential image screen captures of the runway Start with one end of the runway and insert this image into TerraBuilder FSX as a starting point of your project www terrabuilder com 35 t3 Design tips and tricks reco emi F Va Continued Combining the default FSX scenery elements with the PhotoRealistic scenery UY Georeference this first image by using the P1 value that you noted in the previous step Use some other georeference marker from the imagery for the other point as described in georeferencing section This will ensure that the position of the beginning of the runway will precisely correspond to FSX location It would be nice if both points P1 and P2 beginning and the end of the runway could be used for georeferencing however chances are that the whole runway won t fit into a single image Q Progressively insert the rest of the runway imagery adjusting for a precise fit by using transp
33. ill be possible to quickly capture large areas of high resolution landscape www terrabuilder com 21 5 FSX Scenery Design Concept TerraBuildetto 2 2 Continued Acquiring the imagery from the imagery provider The resolution of the screen captures will be determined by the size of the screen display The size of the capture can be anything up to 2880 x 2880 pixels a limitation of the graphics library used in creating the TerraBuilder FSX application Once created it is a good idea to assemble them in the PhotoShop file with each capture on a different layer That way it is easy to review them and sequentially save them in BMP format numbered in the same sequence they were taken More tips on imagery acquisition If applicable as in Google Earth make sure the terrain height topography rendering is turned off all we want for this purpose is the flat image without any distortions If applicable make sure that water effects and lighting effects are turned off as well Make sure that the view is straight top down not an oblique view which will obviously introduce distortions Finally make absolutely sure that the straight top down view is oriented with true North straight up FSX assumes that the imagery is always upright pointing to the true north OOOO An exception to this is if the scenery is to be aligned to the already existing airport In that case a slight deviation form the true north alignment is
34. ing smaller discrete tile sizes The larger tile granularity allows for more accurate fit over the curved surface The overlap errors are ona smaller scale and therefore less pronounced and easily blended by using overlapping tiles 10 x FSX Scenery Basics rerraBuiladltf d TerraBuilder FSX features If you are already familiar with FSX scenery design you will find some of the highly advanced TerraBuilder FSX features very useful While the knowledge of FSX scenery design and FSX Software Development Kit SDK terminology will be highly useful it is not necessary to be familiar with all its nuances TerraBuilder FSX has been developed with simplicity and the ease of use in mind from the beginning However some basic geography concepts are essential for proper understanding and the use of this application These concepts will not be covered in this document and it will be assumed that the user is familiar with them from the outset So let s list some of the main features of TerraBuilder FSX Complete freedom in inserting and adjustment of imagery tiles you can easily select and move imagery tile to adjust for the position and fit Easy to use simple and intuitive interface easily pan zoom in and zoom out of the area worked on select tiles and adjust parameters using clear and simple dialogs There are no proprietary project file formats TB FSX directly reads and writes FSX SDK INF files which are simple text files viewable in N
35. ing the tiles captured from various sources and assembled together to form a single cohesive landscape Q In addition the tiles can be associated with special textures that define where the landscape fades out and where the underlying default scenery will show through These special textures are called Blend Masks U Also the tiles can be associated with special textures that define where landscape contains water surface which will then be rendered as water by the FSX rendering engine These special textures are called Water Masks Q Finally the seasonal version can be created depending on the climate of the area and have it associated to the month of the year when the seasonal variation is applicable www terrabuilder com 6 X FSX Scenery Basics TerraBuitadli d Mesh terrain elevation scenery creation Q The default world of Flight Simulator X is covered with a fairly accurate global topographic mesh terrain This default topography however may contain omissions errors or is sometimes simply not accurate enough to depict local variations and details that may be important to a user with a specific area of interest L Flight Simulator X allows for addition and modification of the default topography by allowing user to create mesh terrain add on files which will then be incorporated together with the default topography These add on topography files override and take precedence over the default terrain Several var
36. ing the edges of adjacent scenery for a completely seamless fit This setting is temporary not saved in INF file and not reflected in the compiled scenery it is used only as an aligning aid within TerraBuilder FSX application This operation can be applied to a set of selected images Quick Viewing Hiding of the image tiles You can check the alignment by quickly hiding displaying the image on top using the visibility button or by specifying image s transparency When the images are properly aligned the common features should be in the same positions in both images If they are not aligned properly there will be an offset between the features in two overlapping images Use keyboard directional buttons to nudge the image position Image layering You can layer the imagery according to its type For example you can select all water mask images by using View View Filter option and use send to back or hide selected option Then use View View Filter again to select imagery only and use send to back This will leave you with all the imagery displayed with all the blend masks on top of imagery Combining multiple resolution imagery of You can insert both low and high resolution imagery of the same area in the same project and compile it within the single scenery package LOD Auto directive default in TerraBuilder FSX the same area will take care of the proper switching of the resolutions in the FSX Inserting multiple INF projects TerraBuilder FSX allow
37. ious formats are accepted as topography sources and the processing is accomplished by using FS SDK s resample exe in a process similar to Photo Scenery design Q The sources of topography data are usually governmental agencies that provide it for free as GIS data sets It is relatively easy to obtain and create INF file for well known elevation data formats and compile it as a FSX terrain scenery However editing such data sets to correct data gaps errors and omissions can sometimes be cumbersome or impossible TerraBuilder FSX goes a step further in allowing user to create their OWN terrain maps and easily compile it into mesh scenery This is accomplished by creating grayscale bitmaps and saving them in RAW format a task easily accomplished in PhotoShop image editing software LJ This approach can be used to create landscape details that were omitted in the original topography or were added or removed www terrabuilder com 7 XL FSX Scenery Basics TerraBuiiidlt d TerraBuilder FSX Terminology Term Description FSX Abbreviation stands for Flight simulator X the latest in the family of Microsoft s flight simulator titles BGL A proprietary Microsoft file format used to store information about scenery used in Microsoft s Flight Simulator series INF A text based file format used to describe the components of the scenery and how and where to create it SDK Abbreviation which stands for Software Development Kit refers to the
38. l when working with masks or in multi resolution mosaics www terrabuilder com 39
39. ling pre saved image tiles in BMP and RAW file format into a single coherent scenery enabling user designer to match and assemble the imagery mosaic to a high degree of accuracy The collection of images are saved in the Microsoft Flight Simulators SDK INF format and can be later re loaded for editing and scenery compilation The use of INF file format eliminates the need for a proprietary middle man file format and enables user familiar with the INF file format to quickly scan and edit the script in any text file editor TerraBuilder FSX also acts as a front end to the resample exe application which comes as a part of the FSX SDK and is an essential tool in creating scenery files for MS FSX Registered vs Unregistered TerraBuilder FSX comes as a free download but with limited functionality You can purchase and register the software from within the application or from the TerraBuilder s web site both of which will direct you to a safe and secure PayPal payment processing Once the payment is confirmed TerraBuilder will send you a personal key code to activate the software This will NOT happen instantaneously The processing of the registration may take up to 24 hours LJ With a registered paid version you can create a scenery project with unlimited imagery elements up to 2880 x 2880 pixels in size the application is able to handle as many imagery elements as it is practically allowable with respect to the graphics hardware and memory and att
40. ll the dark areas defined in the mask image with FSX default water Next we ll expand the scenery by adding a few more image tiles and associated blend and water masks www terrabuilder com 29 Scenery Design Tutorial 1 TerraBuiladif A Continued Assembling the imagery mosaic in TerraBuilder FSX Inserting additional imagery While the scenery that was created in the preceding steps looks pretty in FSX it is rather limited in coverage This coverage can be expanded by inserting additional adjacent tiles and placing them next to the preceding tile The tiles are aligned with a slight overlay so that the alignment is more easily verified Once the first tile has been inserted there is no need to georeference subsequent tiles since the starting point and scale of the scenery have been established The subsequent tiles that are inserted inherit the scale size of the first tile and all they need is to be aligned to the rest of the mosaic 16 Use View View Filter Imagery Only option from the Main Toolbar This will hide the blend and water masks so that they are not in the way while work is done on imagery tiles 17 Click anywhere on the image in the TerraBuilder FSX workspace to select it 18 From the File menu located on the Main Toolbar find and click on the Insert Map option 19 Choose a HMB_02 bmp and open it The texture map will open and display in TerraBuilder FSX It is assumed that the map loaded comes in the sequence and is
41. m elevation map can be created and used to add topography features or remove default topography features TBFSX reads any RAW file up to 2880x2880 pixels in size so if the DEM or GEOTiff files can be exported to RAW format the original topography can be edited 6 Assembling the imagery mosaic in TerraBuilder FSX Covered in Section 6 Tutorial This is where the fun part begins creating the scenery out of the imagery tiles you prepared 7 Compiling imagery into a scenery file BGL Covered in Section 6 Tutorial This process is a simple click of a button TerraBuilder FSX creates a script which invokes FSX s resample exe application which in turn creates the scenery file ready for use in FSX www terrabuilder com 19 Al e FSX Scenery Design Concept 1 Determining the scope and coverage of the scenery The first and the most essential step in starting the process of photorealistic scenery design is determining exactly what will be the intent of the scenery and deciding on the best possible approach to realize that intent Here are a few simple questions that the designer needs to ask before embarking on the design 1 Is there an imagery available for the desired scenery and if so what quality is it Sometimes the imagery available may be of low quality with unfavorable lighting angles long shadows and high contrast relief missing coverage areas differing coverage areas with visible transitions and so on In such
42. nsions www terrabuilder com 8 x FSX Scenery Basics TerraBuiladitf d What TerraBuilder FSX can t do TerraBuilder FSX application will not automatically locate download and slice the imagery this task is left up to the user Some scenery design applications in the past have provided user with a one click photorealistic scenery design creation by automatically downloading coverage imagery from specified imagery servers These applications proved to be short lived as the proper flight simulator scenery design involves many intricate steps and requires a high degree of image editing skill Scenery creation is more of an artistic than an analytic skill and as such cannot be automated if the high quality product is desired in the end A proper Flight Simulator scenery must include several layers of imagery so that all environmental aspects of the landscape can be properly depicted The layers of the imagery include LJ Seasonal variations usually 5 versions of the same image spring summer fall winter and hard winter OY Night time illumination QO Water area definitions LJ Blending area definitions Depending on the location of the scenery some of those layers will not be necessary For instance a scenery area covering a desert landscape will not require seasonal variations possibly no water mask and not even night time illumination Care should be taken when choosing which area will be covered so that the scope of the entire project
43. o enhance or diminish colors that would be present absent during the specific seasons www terrabuilder com 23 5 FSX Scenery Design Concept TerraBuiladf 9 4 Creating blending and water masks As with creating the seasonal variation textures the task of creating blending and water masks is extremely important step in production of high quality photo realistic scenery Blending and water masks are a simple grayscale images in BMP file format which define areas with different properties in the parent image file Each image tile can have both water and blend masks or only water or blend or none depending on its position and type of landscape it represents Water and blend masks are of the same size as the parent image tile LJ Blend mask is a grayscale image in a BMP file format which defines what portion of the parent image will be hidden and what portion will be visible This is extremely useful in fitting the photorealistic scenery over the default scenery by blending the edges of the photorealistic scenery gradually for a smooth transition otherwise the sharp differences in the terrain type would be obvious The blend mask is created in an image editing software by tracing the transition limits over the parent imagery and filling the visible areas with white and invisible with black making sure in the process that the transition between the visible and invisible is gradual with shades of grey This is done with feath
44. otepad or similar applications Integrated resample exe functionality TB FSX will automatically prepare and execute a script that will create a BGL file directly from your project Support for elevated mesh scenery through RAW image format editable in image editing software such as PhotoShop Ability to create disjointed coverage Ability to mix high resolution and low resolution imagery for the same area Group selection and moving of imagery tiles Easy two point calibration of the imagery only the first image of the project needs to be calibrated and all the rest of the images are then fitted by slight overlapping Complete set of editable image tile properties Complete control of the water blend masks with proper display of the visible and invisible areas As you design your masks you can check what parts will be visible and what parts will be masked Ability to assign temporal tags to the imagery seasonal variations Imagery filters you can view your project by the type of imagery you are using imagery masks seasons etc Loading several INF projects into a single project or separating a large INF project into several smaller ones One step scenery creation compiling and creating the scenery file is as easy as clicking on a button All the scripting and set up is taken care of automatically Control over the User Interface look and feel DOOOOO OOOOOOOOOUD WARNING TerraBuilder FSX does not have UNDO functionality so as you a
45. otorealistic scenery creation Using the same approach we ll now create a small elevated terrain mesh scenery The source of this scenery is the RAW type file contained in the tutorial package that can be downloaded from the above link This file was created using Adobe PhotoShop CS3 The creation of such file is a simple process of creating a blank 16 bit grayscale image and then drawing black and white altitude map into it using Photoshop s extensive set of drawing tools The details of creating RAW type imagery are beyond the scope of this tutorial and thus not covered The RAW file represents a mesa type rock structure found in the North America s western desert areas These mesas are small enough to be missed by the resolution of the default terrain but large enough to be worthy of representation in the scenery since they are quite spectacular features of the landscape We ll create one and place it in the general area just to illustrate the scenery creation process rather than to accurately represent the local scenery So let s design a simple mesh terrain scenery for FSX Here s the procedure step by step WARNING TerraBuilder FSX does not have UNDO functionality so as you are working on a project SAVE your work often 1 Start the TerraBuilder FSX application Application opens with the splash screen in the work area 2 From the File menu located on the Main Toolbar find and click on the nsert Elevation option 3 Navigate to where
46. oud filter and faded on the edges An example of a geometric shape pyramid using nothing but gradient fills C Aquick example of channels causeways holes and bumps illustrating both holes and bumps in one map D An example of a canyon or gorge built as a negative elevation A hand made volcano with eroded slope made using a fading transparent brush F An example of how a road overpass and underpass can be built Overpass goes above underpass which digs in slightly into the flat terrain Obviously a 3D bridge object would be inserted here w m www terrabuilder com 25 sm nj A e FSX Scenery Design Concept 5 Creating elevated mesh scenery continued LJ FSX actually recognizes SIGNED elevation values ranging from 32767 to 32767 again more than enough to represent deepest gorges and tallest mountains When using PhotoShop however RAW files are saved in UNSIGNED binary format so FSX will interpret a value of 32768 as 32767 or it will roll over the value Therefore it is important to avoid elevations above the value of 32767 meters and obviously there is no need for such elevations on Earth Using the Elevation Element Properties dialog TerraBuilder FSX allows for precise specification of the minimum and maximum extents of the altitude range using the Bias and Scale parameters and has an indicator of this rollover the invalid value for the Maximum Altitude will turn red to warn of this somewhat un
47. re working on a project SAVE your work often www terrabuilder com 11 S l e TerraBuilder FSX Application Navigating in TerraBuilder FSX Selecting Image tile s Making a selected image active Panning Zooming In Zooming Out Locking Move selected image tile Move multiple image tiles Move single or multiple image tiles by a small amount Select a single image within a multiple selection Viewing Hiding tiles Changing layering order of the image tiles To select a single image tile click on it To select multiple image tiles hold down SHIFT and click on the images Every image tile that is selected has a white frame around it Hold down SHIFT and click on an already selected image from a multiple selection to make that image selected and active A single selected image is active by default To pan around the project hold down the SPACE bar on the keyboard and left click and hold anywhere on the project area Move the mouse while holding the mouse button and SPACE bar down to pan around the project When panning is active cursor will change into a hand symbol To zoom in on an image hold down CTRL keyboard button and left click on the specific point you d like to zoom in on Zooming in will be limited to about 3X the magnification To zoom out hold down CTRL and SHIFT keyboard buttons and left click on the specific point you d like to zoom out on Zooming out is unlimited If you lose the sight yo
48. red in order to create professional looking PhotoRealistic sceneries so a good knowledge and ownership of high end image editing software such as Adobe PhotoShop is highly recommended Q For elevated scenery creation a high end image editing software capable of creating 16 bit grayscale bitmaps and saving them in RAW file format such as a recent version of Adobe PhotoShop will be absolutely necessary www terrabuilder com 5 X FSX Scenery Basics TerraBuitadli d Photo Realistic scenery creation Q The default world of Flight Simulator X is largely made of a grid of generic landscape images with many landscape types coming in many different variations These landscape images are arranged like tiles and cover the entire surface of the virtual Earth Different types of landscape seamlessly blend into each other avoiding otherwise very prominent sharp edge effect L Flight Simulator X allows for layers of landscape image tiles to be placed on top of this default layer allowing users to enhance the look of the localized scenery area with high altitude high resolution aerial imagery This is the preferred way of depicting the landscape however due to the sheer size required it would be impossible to cover the entire globe with the high resolution imagery Q Itis however possible to create smaller localized depending on the resolution coverage that is of particular interest to user client community Such scenery can be created us
49. s for loading of multiple INF files into one project and then compiling this project into a single scenery package This is useful for example with sceneries with seasonal variations You can create a summer INF file then clone it as a winter INF file by replacing the imagery while keeping the location and repeat this for all seasons and perhaps night time version Then you can load all the temporal variation INF files and compile them into a single scenery package www terrabuilder com 34 Design tips and tricks Terre amp uiiadith Pa Combining the default FSX scenery elements with the PhotoRealistic scenery Tips for designing the airport scenery while keeping the current FSX airport One of the best things about the FSX is that itis LAYERED allowing end user to make improvements on certain scenery elements while keeping others that came with stock scenery in place The case in point is the addition of a high resolution photorealistic coverage for an airport The idea is to keep the default FSX airport elements runway lighting aprons buildings but enhance it by replacing the default underlying generic landclass scenery with high resolution localized photorealistic texture The chances are the FSX airport might be slightly misaligned from what aerial imagery shows In this case we will NOT move the airport which is complicated and may even require a complete airport re work but make scenery perfectly fit to the existing airport
50. s will also specify the 23 In File menu locate and click Create BGL name of the BGL file 24 Click on Save File if prompted with a dialog to initiate the compilation process A small command window opens and displays the data on compilation of the BGL scenery file Depending on the size of the scenery this process may take a while When the compilation of the scenery file is finished press any key to close the window 25 The BGL file is created in the same location where the image was located You can move it to Addon In order to properly see it you will need to move your aircraft to the location of your new scenery Also make sure Scenery folder in FSX to test it immediately in Flight Simulator X or TMFileViewer application included with that the Addon Scenery is active in FSX s Scenery Library which it should be by default otherwise it will not show the FSX SDK up Congratulations You are now ready to try your hand at creating PhotoRealistic sceneries of your favorite areas of the world Check out the following sections for insight into more advanced features of the TerraBuilder FSX and scenery design tips and tricks www terrabuilder com 31 e Scenery Design Tutorial 2 TerraBuiladif j A Creating the elevation mesh scenery in TerraBuilder FSX If you haven t done so please download TBFSXTutorial02 zip file from here it contains all the necessary files for this tutorial The previous tutorial introduced the basics of ph
51. sed on the following steps 1 Determining the scope and coverage of the scenery The very first step is to determine what exactly will be represented in the scenery and deciding on the best possible approach to accomplish this 2 Acquiring the imagery from the imagery provider This process consists of going to an imagery provider site Such as USGS Server TerraServer WorldWind finding the appropriate imagery and the desired level of zoom and manually capturing and saving the image in the BMP image file format This might be the most time consuming process and it needs a careful planning and approach explained later However once mastered it can go pretty quick it is possible to design a decent sized scenery in under an hour 3 Optional Creating alternate imagery seasons night time This process usually consists of duplicating the main image and adjusting coloring in image editing software to reflect the desired season or time of day night time 4 Optional Creating blending and water masks This process usually consists of duplicating the main image and using it as a template to create areas in the image where there is water surface and painting it white while leaving dry land black With blending masks the process is similar where the areas that will be visible are painted white while the invisible areas are left black 5 Creating elevated mesh scenery This process is used to change topography of the default scenery A custo
52. th or precision but in our case TBFSX will consider them to be in the UNSIGNED INTEGER format of 16 bits in length UINT16 value for the SampleType parameter in the INF file This format allows for a numerical range from 0 to 65535 which is plenty of precision for the purposes of designing Earth topography which ranges from 0 to 8848m ASL The RAW files can be created using a high quality image editor application such as PhotoShop To create a custom elevated mesh topography map simply create a new bitmap of any size up to 2880x2880 pixels and specify color mode as grayscale and 16 bit these settings can be found in the PhotoShop s New Image dialog but can also be set after an image has been created or opened After the image is created any of the image editor s drawing tools and filters can be used to create grayscale image that represents topography which means an image that consists of pure black pure white and all the shades of grey in between with one simple rule The brighter the image pixel is the higher the elevation will be The actual elevation extents will be defined in the TerraBuilder FSX application for example the same image can be used to define a hill 30 meters in height or a mountain 3000 meters in height Using the tools and techniques available in image editing software it is possible to create a wide variety of topographical features as in the examples below A Asample of a hilly uneven terrain created with a cl
53. that no INF entry will be present and the default Gaussian will be used Works with multiple selections 0 996253 Value not set en 0 987954 Resolution amp Variation tab wer E Image Resolution shows the 1640 Longitudinal and Latitudinal resolution Sampling Met of the image equivalent to xDim and 0 007324330510 yDim parameters in SDK Elevation Scaling shows and sets 1640 the Scale and Bias parameters that control the elevation extents of the a amp Masks tab Image Extents shows the latitudinal and longitudinal extents of the image Non editable Elevation Map display switches elevation map between normal and shaded display style This option is non persistent it will not be saved in INF file Apply Applies the changes if any and keeps the dialog open OK Applies the changes if any and closes the dialog Cancel Discards any changed values and closes the dialog www terrabuilder com Ses AY e TerraBuilder FSX Application TerraBuilder FSX Application elements Image Element Options panel For detailed description of some of these parameters please see The Resample Tool section of the Terrain and Scenery SDK A Image Latitude and Longitude shows the real world position of the upper left corner of the image anchor B Image width and height shows the physical pixel size of the image C Type Layer Channel Lists the parameter of the image Used to differ
54. tolerable for the sake of alignment with the default scenery See section 7 for more info www terrabuilder com 22 9 e FSX Scenery Design Concept 3 Creating alternate imagery seasons night time The task of creating alternate seasonal temporal imagery is an important step in production of high quality photo realistic scenery It is important for the user to feel the suspension of disbelief while flying over the created scenery and that feeling will certainly be augmented by the properly designed and implemented seasonal variations of your scenery It would be highly distracting for the end user to use a photo realistic scenery which does NOT contain seasonal variations while the default scenery around it has them The photorealistic scenery would in that case look awfully out of place with for example summer areas in the middle of snow covered default scenery The best way to ascertain the extent of work needed on the seasonal imagery is to look at the same area of coverage within default textures during all seasons Some areas of the world change very little if at all during seasons so the seasonal image variations may not be needed at all The actual creation of seasonal variations and night time versions of the photorealistic imagery is usually done in a photo editing software such as Adobe PhotoShop and is beyond the scope of this user manual It requires a bit of experience and skill in adjusting specific color bands t
55. ur imagery while zooming out use View Fit on screen menu option to re center the imagery in the desktop area Locking is very useful when an image has been aligned or georeferenced in the proper position In that case it is a very good idea to lock the location of the image tile using the lock button ty To move single image click on the image tile and select it If it is locked unlock it Left click and hold and move the mouse to move the image tile To move multiple images select image tiles by holding down SHIFT and left clicking on them Unlock them all if locked Hold down SHIFT while left clicking on any one of the images and drag All of the selected images will move To fine tune the position of the image tile s select image tile s by holding down SHIFT and left clicking on them Use keyboard directional arrow buttons to move the image tile s by one pixel increments in up down left and right directions Within the multiple selection of image tiles hold down SHIFT and click on the image This will make the selected image tile active as well as selected You can hide unhide selected image tile s by using Main menu s View options See Reference Section 9 for more info To view or select image tile s that may be partially or completely overlaid by other image tiles you can push down the image tile by using send to back button a www terrabuilder com 12 cyt f pe ak TerraBuilder FSX Application TerraBuild
56. ur scenery is starting to look a little nicer no longer with the sharp edges but with a gradual transition from the default to the PhotoRealistic scenery However it still lacks an effect of water over a small lake in the middle of the scenery we created So let s follow these few easy steps and add a water mask to define the water area over the lake 11 Click anywhere on the blend mask in the TerraBuilder FSX workspace to select it Since the blend mask is now overlaid on top of the image tile it will be the one that gets selected 12 Click on the down button to push the blend mask below the image tile Itis also possible to view Imagery only so that only the image tiles are selectable and the rest of the elements blend and water masks are hidden 13 Click on the image tile to select it Image element is framed with the white border denoting selected state 14 On the left options panel locate and click Add Water Mask button Open Image dialog opens 15 Choose HMB 01 WM BMP file and open it The mask is now locked in place as well unable to be moved The water mask image is loaded and overlaid on top of our scenery image tile inadvertently until itis unlocked SAVE the project remember there is no UNDO feature Our scenery project now consists of a single imagery tile a blend mask a file that will hide and gradually show the edges of the image so that it blends nicely with the default surroundings and a water mask a file that will fi
57. vation Load INF CTRL L Save INF CTRL S Save INF as Create BGL CTRL B Project Properties Reset Exit opens an Open File dialog to locate and load a scenery image of the BMP type opens an Open File dialog to locate and load a scenery image of the RAW type opens an Open File dialog to locate and load an INF project file Saves the current project into the current active INF file if present or prompts for the name of the INF file Saves the current project into the NEW INF file Note that the new INF becomes an active current INF project Uses the current INF to compile a BGL scenery file If changes have been made to the project it prompts for the INF file to save the changes Invokes the Project Properties Dialog Clears all the imagery and re sets the project to a blank default If changes have been made prompts to save project to INF file Exits the application If changes were made to a project if any prompts to save project to INF file Fit on screen Actual pixels Hide All Hide Selected Unhide All View Filter Reset Order Zooms and centers the scenery so that all of it fits on the work desktop Zoom the scenery to the 1 1 ratio true size Centers on the middle of the scenery Hide all image tiles Hide only the selected image tiles Show all image tiles Invokes the view filter menu The options on this menu allow filtering the display of the imagery according to its types Imagery Water
58. will be extremely accurately positioned assuming the fitting of the overlaps was done as accurately as possible If this was not the case a cumulative imprecision will cause the scenery to drift with each progressive image tile resulting in a progressively larger positional error This imprecision will manifest through the misalignment with the default scenery So let s start using the TerraBuilder FSX application by assembling a simple photorealistic scenery Here s the procedure step by step WARNING TerraBuilder FSX does not have UNDO functionality so as you are working on a project SAVE your work often 1 Start the TerraBuilder FSX application Application opens with the splash screen in the work area 2 From the File menu located on the Main Toolbar find and click on the nsert Map option 3 Navigate to where you ve unzipped the tutorial imagery choose a HMB 01 bmp image and open it The texture The very first image loaded will by default be placed at the origin of the coordinate system N0 00 00 map will open and display in TerraBuilder FSX Also since this is a new project a Georeference Dialog will be E0 00 00 and will be used as a keystone starting point of the whole scenery Georeferencing will allow us to displayed automatically This dialog will allow us to place and size this image in the real world space place and size it in the real world and all the rest of the images will use this first image to orient themselves
59. y see it you will need to move your aircraft to the location of your new scenery Also make sure that the Addon Scenery move it to Addon Scenery folder in FSX to test it immediately in Flight Simulator X or is active in FSX s Scenery Library which it should be by default otherwise it will not show up TMFile Viewer application included with the FSX SDK www terrabuilder com 33 y Advanced Features TerraBuilde f LECHE ENSE Making operations on multiple imagery TerraBuilder FSX allows most of the properties of the image tile to be applied to a multiple selection of image tiles Simply multiple select image tiles you d like to affect make any one of the selected tiles active and apply the setting The setting will be applied to all of the selected tiles Aligning Major part of the scenery creation in TerraBuilder FSX is the assembly of the scenery mosaic from the adjacent image tiles Aligning the adjacent imagery tiles by precisely overlapping the edges will produce a seamless coherent scenery Move the scenery tiles by unlocking them and dragging them into position using the mouse and then fine tune the position using the keyboard arrow keys to nudge them precisely so that they overlap without any offset Use the Transparency and Quick Viewing Hiding features described below to check if there is any offset Transparency You can set image tile s transparency to a setting of 1096 50 and 100 default This is very useful in align
60. you ve unzipped the tutorial imagery choose a MESA 01 raw image and open it Before the Since RAW files are literally raw numbers there is no information on dimensions or the types of the numbers RAW texture can be loaded TerraBuilder FSX asks for its width The image we re using is 500x500 pixels in size contained in the file usually specified in file headers Height of the image will be calculated based on the value Enter 500 and click OK The texture map will open and display in TerraBuilder FSX of the width and the size of the file 4 Also since this is a new project a Georeference Dialog will be displayed automatically This dialog will allow us to The very first image loaded will by default be placed at the origin of the coordinate system N0 00 00 place and size this image in the real world space E0 00 00 and will be used as a keystone starting point of the whole scenery Georeferencing will allow us to place and size it in the real world and all the rest of the images will use this first image to orient themselves 5 Move the cursor to a lower left corner of the image and click on it In the edit boxes on the Georeference dialog For the purpose of this tutorial and for the sake of illustration we ll insert this elevated mesh scenery in a enter the following values using the keyboard 36 986 110 154 and click Next general area not really checking if this geological feature really exists A proper approach would be to load an im

TerraBuilder FSX

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents