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FSXA Something about mesh

T

Tejal Bernardo

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Country
spain
I've making islands, I get the mesh with global mapper, geotiff, 32 bit if I remember well, I am happy with the output, but I see things don't match very well, the lowest zone of the island look good, but there where there is a cliff this look pretty bad, this is my resample txt file.

[Source]
Type = GeoTIFF
Layer = Elevation
SourceDir = "sourcedata"
SourceFile = "juan_fernandez.Tif"

[Destination]
DestDir = "output"
DestBaseFileName = "juan_fernandez_Elevations"
DestFileType = BGL
FractionsBits = 3
CompressionQuality = 75

fraction bit is to avoid the "terracin"effect and compression quality for smooth a little the profile of the island.
An observation too, I put a vector road, and this road ended just in the beach level, in fsx this could be 4 mts height, or something so, some advice how to improve the resample txt file,.
In the picture can't be appreciated very well but there are zones which look like cut by a kniffe, very annoying, disgusting because the rest of the island look pretty well, must be something I'm missing. thanks in advance.( and sorry for this poor english)
 

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Bernardo,

A few questions first,

What is the DEM source data resolution?
Are you using water flatten polys to define the ocean?
If yes, is your shoreline positioned correctly?

_w-b
 
I get the data from SRTM (3-arc resolution data),for export I choose 32 bit (floating point samples) the other choice is Elevation 16 bits. sorry but I have no idea about this things, I do this because I notice it's easy to get elevation data in this way :p, I use fsxKml for make the island and the excludes, Hidropolygon generic ocean perennial, As you can see all very simple, it's because this is so annoying, there is something in the recipe that must fault. and yes I've thought of the drawing of the island that could not match with the mesh :cool:, I use google earth for that pourpose. don't know, the cliff emerge abruptly from the shoreline but sometimes it's no just in the shoreline could be a hundred of meters from the coast. but those walls are the same. thanks for reply.
 
Perhaps I should have added that at a preset grade (slope) value, FSX will represent the terrain as rock. That preset value is in Terrain.cfg.

_w-b
 
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Thanks Wally bob, what I can see is that there is very little information about the mesh, the sdk talk very little about the matter, should be a clear process to make the mesh for fsx, and so in other aspects of fsx, well we can do our best.:o , I almost get the process work but as said before there is somethng I missed, could be better. anyway it's no so bad, before the runway area was completerly flat. greetings.
 
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SRTM data is low resolution and can have errors in places of steep terrain. This maybe compounding your results in addition to classification to rock by Terrain.cfg.

There is really not much that can be done on the compiling side with mesh which is why not much is mentioned in the SDK. FSX Mesh results are mostly determined by the input data but that can be edited by other software.

Search for posts by HolgerSandmann, an expert on mesh.

_w-b
 
Yes I agree, that was the primary idea, if the mesh could be manipulated via text file for resample and tweaked in someway, If I remember well someone said that srtm managed badly those vertical height and his datas, or something so :(, the thing is that I can see how the mesh work well but are those areas which not look very well, thanks for your interest and regards.
 
Well, I think getting the mesh from 16 bits geotiff, and spacing as 4 meters avoid the terracing effect), is enough for the fsx mesh, I saw better outputs, but the coast line is where I see problems, imposible to correct them.I'm starting to think that the google earth and srtm dates not match. could be that :confused:
 

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I assume you are referring to Google Earth photo. Things to check/do:

Is the Google Earth photo source in WGS84 projection? SRTM is WGS84.
Turn off the FSX base scenery layer to eliminate any FSX inaccuracies.
Turn off any third party mesh for the area.
Don't use any flatten/water polys you may have created, only use your mesh and photo.
What are your results now?

_w-b
 
hi, Wally Bob, all okay but what this mean ? "..Turn off the FSX base scenery layer to eliminate any FSX inaccuracies"
and..."Don't use any flatten/water polys you may have created, only use your mesh and photo", I guess you say orthophoto,no, I not use photorrealism, only landclass, and I must use the hydropolygon to make the island. normally hydropolygon generic ocean perennial.
what I can see, is in some areas the coast is cut or don't fit very well, so I have souspicious that the hydropolygon is making this.(sorry for this poor english) regards.
Edit: I have to see that of projection, I have made a few of islands and I could see that his location no match at all with that of fsx. like one mile of diference in his locations, have this something to do with all this
 
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As usual with these problems, you should zip the source files, or give a download link, so others can actually see the problem on their computers.

Dick
 
Thanks, oh, well if anyone is interested enough I would have not any problem to upload :), it's just almost as a comment, I don't know if could be fixed, those coast line as cliffs spoil a little the scenery, what I can do is to post more photographs.The scenery isn't any important project, is just an island with which I am experimenting a little.
 

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The features in FSX can be a mile off as you note. You got me curious so I looked at the default FSX Robinson Crusoe Island for the first time. The shape poorly represents the real island. The shore line is often misplaced. I have payware SRTM mesh and found it to be very a reasonable rendering. When FSX base scenery is used, (Layer 0305) the misplaced shorelines cause cliffs worse than your screen shots so you are closer to real life than FSX default. Your cliffs are due to not having the shorelines exactly in the right places. This could be due to an improper calibration of your Google Earth photo you are using for a design back drop.

In your SDK folder there is a program called TmfViewer. Use it to look at your mesh and all of your created cvx---.bgl files. Change the values of the elevation color ramp (click view) to better see the shore line mesh elevation from the sea level. Check this against where you put your hydro-poly and shorelines. Now you will see the placement errors causing the cliffs.

_w-b
 
Hi, thanks for the ideas, I didn't think of Tmfviewer, and yes,to deactivate the default fsx scenery layer is a good idea too :), I use google earth for landclass and the kml file for the island profile only, to design the coastline. Looking to the mesh in Tmfviewer; I see that the values near of what I can appreciate as coastline are all 4 or 5, What must be blue, is green, could be that the problem? could be that the mesh from global mapper must be calibrated regarding the height from sea level, some kind of filter that eliminate those 4 or 5 meters .( something so I've been thinking all the time), I almost sure that this must be the solution. I hope you understand my idea and my english, sorry :(:D
 

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I've been looking around, I was thinking of a easy solution for improve those mesh, with the text files and resampling.Looking at Global Mapper I think it's too much for a virtual Cessna pilot :o, my God, too much professional that sofware.they talking of edit geotiff in photoshop, or adjust in exportation, but I don't have much more information, and the Sdk the same, they talk but I don't hear. anyway I have a few conclusions
In someway tha data mismatch with Fsx, and second I think scaling down the island could do the trick.:confused::cool:
 
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There is an altitude offset parameter that can be used in your mesh INI file, it is covered in the SDK docs. There are other free sources for SRTM data, try a different data source as there should not be that kind of variation when looking at the sea surface as seen in your screen shot.

rhumbaflappy said:
As usual with these problems, you should zip the source files, or give a download link, so others can actually see the problem on their computers.
Click to expand...

That advice will greatly help others see exactly what the problem is. Words and pictures often fall short.

_w-b
 
Another observation. The north coast haven't issues, is just this part of the coast ( southwest part), near the airport where the shoreline have that look of piece of cake. :p,
 
If you want to remove the vertical drop, change the water. FSX is reading the mesh file and shows the data up until it gets to the water that says "ELEVATION=0" and things drop off. Add most any mesh (even 90m) into FSX and it will show the limitations of the default terrain, which I thinks is probably LOD=6?

I would also change the .INF file and remove the line for FractionBits and change the compression up to around 95.
 
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Hi, I've read people talking about different types of water, but I don know the meaning of all that (what mean Legacy_LandWaterMask_Water_noFlatten ?) I thought about that too. Anyway I think it's difficult to fix this issue. the mesh not match definetively on that area. but if in someway one could smooth those cliffs, would be better:rolleyes:, sorry , but I can't understand tha last sentence..." Add most any mesh (even 90m) into FSX and it will show the limitations of the default terrain, which I thinks is probably LOD=6?". thanks for reply.
Edit: But Fractionbits is for the terracing effect, which is always present.
 
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