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Night Texture

Em00119

Em00119

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72
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us-washington
Hi guys,
I'm fairly comfortable the SBX, using it for nearly 2 months. Im also using Photoshop to alter my bmp files. I do have a question that Ive been unable to find the right answer.

I'm trying to get my compiled photoscenery to look like a night texture. Obviously at night the scenery is really bright. Do I need to alter the original bmp file and save it as another once the changes I like have been made....and then compile?

Ive created a tiff to narrow down the scenery to where I want it to show also.

Thanks
Eric
 
This is one of those things that is a cinch once you've done it a few times, but makes absolutely no sense if you read someone's description of how to do it, lol.

I've had it explained to me and I even found a tutorial about it, but discovered that there are steps missing that, if you haven't done it before, you'd wonder how it got from step3 to step4. Hopefully, if I figure it out, I'm going to do a tutorial with every single step illustrated as I go, lol.

Even after I did one that I thought was correct and compiled it (I watched the compile window to see if the night texture was included and it was), I let the sim run through from dusk til dawn and the night texture never kicked in.

Seasonal texture variations are another frustration of mine, but that's a whole other story, lol. I'll keep an eye on this thread to see if anyone comes through with an understandable answer.
 
I figured it out..took nearly 4 hours though.
I took my original map bmp and opened it with photoshop. Selected the "level" feature under images in the tool bar and moved the slider making the image darker...took me a few tries to get the results I wanted. I then saved the image with the same file name but added "night."

Before compilying, I selected my new file to be used at night, by right-clicking and selecting properties. Then I compiled it and got the results I was looking for.

Here are a before and after shots.

This project is of Monterey Pennisula in the beggining stages..should be done within a few months for upload

Eric
 
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What I have done is taken some of the default night textures and used as a pattern. then I place them as a layer over my darkened photo. That way, you can create an effect of lights shining. Other designers have built lights of their own and duplicated them or placed them over their photo. If you are doing mostly an airport, there aren't that many lights anyway other than ramp lights.

scott s.
.
 
Scott what do you mean by Pattern? Is this a feature of Photoshop?

Im not a real big fan of Photoscenery when Im flying FSX. What Im trying to do is only add the photoscenery within the airport boundry only mainly the terrain between the runways is what Im trying to duplicate.. Ive sucessfuly added the mask tiff and once the scenery is completed with ADE I will go back and erase the remaining photoscenery around the edges of the airport.
 
I use GIMP, but assume photoshop has an equal capability.

For a pattern, I can create a 128x128 or 256x256 image that is mostly dark with some bright "lights shining" spots. I place these in a layer or layers above the base photo, and trim and move around as needed so that the lights are over buildings or roads. Then I merge the layers into the base photo to create a composite. I use transparency to control how much the light pattern influences the base photo (let some of the base photo "show through")

You could also create a small 16x16 image with a single light, and GIMP offers a brush option that can stroke a pattern (image) rather than a color and do it that way.

Here is what it looks like in GIMP:



where I move the patterns around.

scott s.
.
 
I'm trying to do what you say but, SBuilderX doesn't compile the photoscenery.

I get the bmp map to photoshop, edit it, add night at the end of the name.
Select the map in SBuilderX, right click, and add the bmp at the bottom, where it says night.
Select the map and compile, but, nothing compiles, I get the compiler window (MSDOS) for a second and then there's nothing in the bgl folder.

What am I missing/doing wrong??

Thanks!
 
Hey guys help me please.

What should the format of the night map be? And also, I can not find where to choose the night texture inside SbuilderX.

Thanks in advance :)
 
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