Although I have used various PSP versions over the years (PSP was- and still is for some FS developers- a favorite graphics application), I now only use Corel PhotoPaint and CorelDraw.
BTW: You could use the free (old) JASC PaintShop Pro version 5 in Windows-7 64-Bit for this task, believe it or not !
This would require more study to see what methods PSPx2 is using; I would 'Google' that topic further.
I suggest following parallel concepts in PSP that correlate with methods used in GIMP by the Tiberius et al tutorial cited here:
And of course GIMP is free to use also.
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/th...-photo-scenery-achievable.440912/#post-780261:
If there was no Hydro polygon underneath to display default Water Class, default Land Class would show instead.
[EDITED]
Those "Class" attributes pertain more to the texture image patterns that will be seen on the ground.
More specific to your question, however, is the fact that the Land-Water "Mask" is intended to be a 1-Bit Gray-scale containing only (2) "colors": White (RGB 255,255,255) for land, and Black (RGB 0,0,0).
[EDITED]
NOTE: Final output source file format for TIFF Masks must actually be 8-Bit gray-scale; see:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/th...-scenery-achievable.440912/page-4#post-789447
[END_EDIT]
Where that Black value (RGB 0,0,0) is applied, a default FS "Hydro" attribute will be seen on top of a Water Class texture if there is a "hydro" polygon underneath the custom photo-real aerial imagery ...that is allowed to show through by the Blend Mask.
Default FSX "hydro" attributes involve the "LivingWater.DLL", and attributes of wave-like patterns implemented via special raster files, specular attributes, as well as floating / bobbing and splashing of certain SimObjects.
These "hydro" attributes can be 'enabled' via CVX vector polygons and/or raster methods involving use of certain gray-scale "color" values in Land-Water masks or Blend Masks with default or custom land class scenery.
These "hydro" attributes are all distinct from shoreline "wave" Effects (wavecontroller *.Fx files) which are separately implemented via CVX vector poly-lines with associated Effect (*.Fx) files defined in Terrain.Cfg.
Where that White value (RGB 255,255,255) is applied, a default Land Class texture will be seen on top of the ground:
* if there is NOT a Hydro polygon underneath the custom photo-real aerial imagery
...and:
* if that default Land Class texture is allowed to show through by the Blend Mask.
[END_EDIT]
SBuilderX Menu > Help > {Search Tab} query string: Seasons
For larger image files one may need to use a 64-bit version to efficiently use masks, edge detection, etc., or to implement consistent color matching ...as this would otherwise be difficult if one worked with "partial image tile loading".
However, be aware that most aerial imagery presented as Zoom level 19 / 20 /21 may only be a digitally enlarged "MIPMAP" copy of the Zoom level 18 aerial imagery, and one may achieve a better result manually sharpening and adjusting graphical attributes for Zoom level 18 images in a graphics application than by using downloaded "fake" Zoom level 19 / 20 /21 images.
There is "some" true Zoom level 19 / 20 / 21 images on tile servers for certain Geographic areas, but one must always examine those zoom level images carefully to see if they are truly sharper, and to thereby avoid wasting system resources in the graphics application, SDK Resample task session, and USERVA within FSX / P3D on "empty magnification" images, when a lower resolution image could have been enhanced with less pixel burden.
[EDITED]
PS: You may wish to also review the info in this thread, which in addition to addressing color-matching, discusses other graphic tools for preparing aerial imagery to be used in FSX / P3D, and mentions a reported 'freely available' version of Adobe PhotoShop:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/different-seasons.440791/#post-778855
[END_EDIT]
I will be traveling today, so my time will be rather limited until my return to a "real computer" tonight.
GaryGB
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