Replacing a default Island with a photoreal version

[falcon409]

I was successful in doing this about three years ago when I did Tangier Island, however I've slept since then and I never write anything down. Now I'm doing Kelleys Island and I cannot remember how it's done. Any suggestions that might trigger some brain cells in as simple an explanation as may be possible?

 

[Rotornut44]

Ok. Here's a very abridged tutorial..

Getting the Imagery
If you're using SBuilderX to download the imagery, load a tile server and figure out what resolution is available, and which you want. Google API3, Virtual Earth, and ArcGisImagery are the 3 main imagery servers.

Zoom = 15 on the main map with Zoom = 18 selected in the Add From Background popup is what I typically would use for 30cm/px. This makes the BMP a little smaller in dimensions, so there is less of a chance of it failing to build the BMP as compared to if you were to use Zoom 14 on the main map instead, paired with Zoom = 18 on the popup. You can also click and drag on the popup map to make your export area smaller if you don't need to export the entire view.

These zooms are for the popup window:
Zoom = 17 would be 60cm/px.
Zoom = 16 would be 1.2m/px.
So on, so on.

Choose the export area and click OK. If the tile server hangs on downloading a few remaining tiles, close out of the popup window, turn the background imagery off then back on and try again.
Before you export, navigate to your SBuilderX directory, then into Tools\Work. Here you will find a newly generated BMP and TXT file, cut them to wherever your current project directory is. Don't close the Work folder yet..
Go back into SBuilderX, select the edge of the imagery and hit the green export icon at the top. Click Compile and an .inf file should be generated in the Work folder. Copy that to where you placed your other two files.
You can now close the Work folder and SBuilderX.

Creating Additional Masks
You will need 2-3 additional image files, depending on the project: LightMap (filename_LM.bmp), Blendmask (filename_B.tif), Watermask (filename_W.tif). The Blendmask, you should always use. The Watermask is optional and doesn't need to be created unless you need to add water to the imagery (Which, in your case, for an island, you would).

LightMap
Import your exported BMP into a photo editor of your choice. Create a new layer and fill with solid black (#000000). Decrease the black layer's Opacity to 95%. Merge the layers and export it alongside your original BMP. This will give you a basic night texture. You can paint in light spots to it if you wish.

Blendmask
Import your exported BMP into a photo editor of your choice. Create a new layer. On the new later, use a soft-edge brush to draw out a border in black (#000000) where you want your imagery to blend with default. Make sure the area outside of the inner feather is fully black. Create a new layer under the blendmask layer and fill it with solid white (#ffffff). Merge all the layers together so that the inner area is white and feathers to black. White will be visible, Black will be transparent.

Convert it to Grayscale and export as a .tif.

Watermask
Import your exported BMP into a photo editor of your choice. Create a new layer. Use the lasso tool to trace out any water in the imagery. Areas of water should be solid black. No feather on the lasso tool. Once you have all the water painted black on the new layer, do the same as before, put a white layer under and merge together. White will define no water, black will define water.

Convert it to Grayscale and export as a .tif.

Setting up your INF
Copy the below to a new .inf file. Do not overwrite the one that was generated!

//Example photoreal inf by Emerald Scenery Design
//Please delete all comments before running this file through resample.exe


[Source]
Type = MultiSource
NumberOfSources = 4            //The total number of imagery sources listed below.

[Source1]
Type = BMP
Layer = Imagery
SourceDir = "."
SourceFile = "imagery.bmp"
Variation = Day                //This line tells resample.exe at what time of year to display this imagery. If using multiple seasonal images, change this from "Day" to the months of the year that the texture should be displayed in, seperated by commas.
Channel_BlendMask = 3.0            //This line tells resample.exe at which source your blendmask is located. If you are not using a blendmask, delete this line.
Channel_Landwatermask = 4.0        //This line tells resample.exe at which source your watermask is located. If you are not using a watermask, delete this line.
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
ulyMap = -7.29300103973038
ulxMap =  157.574157714844
xDim =  5.36441802979309E-06
yDim =  5.32062181894475E-06

[Source2]
Type = BMP
Layer = Imagery
SourceDir = "."
SourceFile = "imagery_LM.bmp"
Variation = Night            //This line tells resample.exe at what time of year to display this imagery. If using multiple seasonal images, add the months in which this texture should be displayed, seperated by commas, after "Night." "Night" must remain in this line.
Channel_BlendMask = 3.0
Channel_Landwatermask = 4.0
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
ulyMap = -7.29300103973038
ulxMap =  157.574157714844
xDim =  5.36441802979309E-06
yDim =  5.32062181894475E-06

[Source3]                //This entry tells resample.exe that you have a blendmask. If you have not created one yet, delete this entry and subtract one from "NumberOfSources = #" above.
Type = TIFF
Layer = None
SourceDir = "."
SourceFile = "imagery_B.tif"
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
ulyMap = -7.29300103973038
ulxMap =  157.574157714844
xDim =  5.36441802979309E-06
yDim =  5.32062181894475E-06

[Source4]                //This entry tells resample.exe that you have a watermask. If you have not created one yet, delete this entry and subtract one from "NumberOfSources = #" above.
Type = TIFF
Layer = None
SourceDir = "."
SourceFile = "imagery_W.tif"
SamplingMethod = Gaussian
ulyMap = -7.29300103973038
ulxMap =  157.574157714844
xDim =  5.36441802979309E-06
yDim =  5.32062181894475E-06


[Destination]
DestDir = "."
DestBaseFileName = "yourbglname"
DestFileType = BGL
LOD = Auto                // This will automatically create the appropriate LODs for you imagery. This means the texture resolution will decrease as you fly higher, saving memory.
UseSourceDimensions = 1
CompressionQuality = 85            //Leaving this at 85 gives you the best balance of quality to compression.

Open up the .inf that SBuilderX generated and copy the following (similar) lines from it:

ulyMap = -7.29300103973038
ulxMap =  157.574157714844
xDim =  5.36441802979309E-06
yDim =  5.32062181894475E-06

Replace the 4 similar blocks in my template above with the block you just copied from the SBX generated .inf.

Save the inf and drag it over resample.exe to compile.

There you have it..

 

[falcon409]

Thank you for the reply, all excellent info but it doesn't address the title of the thread. I'm way past all of that. . .most, actually all of which I have been doing for years now. What I need help with is how to remove the default Island and then replace it with the satellite imagery of the Island. Currently portions of the default Island show around the edges of the photoreal image. . .there is a way to do that and as I mentioned above I was able to do it once years ago but I no longer remember the process.

 

[Rotornut44]

The way you have it worded makes it sound like you were trying to put photoreal textures over the default textures.

But I take it that you're talking about vector work instead (Also sometimes called a hydro)? Which is what you would do to get the shorelines to match up with your photoreal image.

In that case..

You need to make an exclude that fills a QMID grid in SBX. QMID7 is what FSX/P3D uses by default, but that covers quite a large area, so look for a QMID that covers just your island.
The best exclude to use is Exclude_All_Terrain_Items. This will remove all water, gps water, shorelines, roads, utility lines, airport backgrounds (flattens) & etc within the QMID.
Alternatively, you can make multiple excludes for just the items you wish to exclude. You should at least exclude water polygons, water polygons (gps) and shorelines.

Compile those excludes into a BGL.

In another project, you need to fill that QMID square once again, but set it to Hydro_Default_Perennial. Then you just need to load up the imagery you used and trace out the island. Right click it with the polygon tool, select set as hole and click on the edge of your water polygon. It should turn into a hole. Once you compile it, the island will be land again and the DEM will show up as it should.

A more detailed step-by-step explanation, if needed:

---

Hopefully this is what you were getting at. I'm not sure what else it would be.

 

[falcon409]

Exactly what I was getting at actually. Many thanks!

 

[falcon409]

Well, close but not exactly:

89D-001 by Ed Wells, on Flickr

89D-002 by Ed Wells, on Flickr

 

[Rotornut44]

It looks like you didn't set an elevation on the water poly. You need to figure out the elevation of the default water in meters and put that in for the poly elevation in SBX.

You can probably use something like ORBX BOB to do that.

 

[falcon409]

Yep, that did the trick. Many thanks for all your help. I'll post another pic of the finished product in the morning.

 

[falcon409]

Two final images:

89D-3 by Ed Wells, on Flickr

89D-4 by Ed Wells, on Flickr

Thanks again for the help!