• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

Sources for photoreal

seippg

seippg

Messages
238
Country
unitedstates
I'm trying to get some good photoreal for eastern North Carolina. Most of the sources with SBuilderX return no results at higher resolutions than 3. Are there other datasources available for SBuilderX?

Thanks.
 
Hello:

Do you mean that the SBuilderX 'view background' feature will not display aerial imagery tiles for the area of interest except at "Zoom" level 3 or less ?

If so, have you installed the most current tileserver DLL for your (32-Bit or 64-bit) version of SBuilderX ?

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
Yes, I just installed it yesterday on a Windows 7 machine. It works...I've had a few CTDs, but it's working. I have gotten one to zoom in further but it wasn't too good. Nokia and Google aren't giving me anything close up.
 
FYI: Although manually entering the "Go To Position" coordinates and/or using SBuilder when 'connected' to a live FS flight session via FSUIPC can certainly help in many cases, IMHO, it is preferable to also change the Geographic coordinates of that default "start location" in the SBuilder "initialization" file, as that helps SBuilder to 'manually' zoom / pan / scroll properly when working with displayed scenery content within its work-space.

Otherwise, the Geographic extent to which one is able to successfully 'manually' zoom / pan / scroll is limited when working with displayed scenery content within SBuilder's work-space, and the requested area one attempts to visualize may not stay in view, as the work-space "background" keeps shifting back to a position closer to the default Geographic coordinates for a "central start location" specified within the SBuilder.Ini file. ;)


To do this, one must edit the pertinent lines in the SBuilder.Ini file to set the center of the Map background at the Geographic center of your own project area rather than the default one in Portugal via: :idea:

SBuilder Menu > Edit > Preferences > click [INI File] button < file opens in Windows NotePad >

[Main]
LonIniCenter=-9.136076 <-- Your project's central Longitude goes here
LatIniCenter= 38.7813203 <-- Your project's central Latitude goes here
DecimalDegrees=True
MeasuringMeters=True
BGLFolder=C:\MyPrograms\SBuilderX314\Scenery <-- Your project's compiled BGL 'active' \Scenery folder path goes here
OriginalTerrainCFG=False


1.) When configuration of your SBuilderX project is completed via editing "SBuilder.ini" in Windows NotePad:

.....a.) In Windows NotePad Menu > File > Save As... > "Save as type" field, set to "All Files (*.*)" (do not click OK yet)

.....b.) In NotePad Menu > File > Save As... > "Save In" field, browse to [SBuilderX install path] folder; double-click to select it


2.) Back in NotePad Menu > File > Save As... browse dialog, click "OK"

.....a.) When prompted to over-write Sbuilder.ini, click "YES" to save your edits to that file.


3.) Exit and re-start SBuilderX (...or the above changes will not yet take effect)


If this does not work for you, feel free to post coordinates for an example "problem" area that you have observed using either Google or Nokia tileservers in SBuilderX. :pushpin:


Hope this helps ! :)

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
Ok, here's an example. Wilmington, NC at 34.2711389, -77.9028889.

Nokia is blank and Google shows down to 11 and is blank at closer in. I did get a level 17 from Virtual Earth that is clear but fairly colorless. Is there a way to fix the color?
 
Hello:

I get the same display anomaly as you described above with the 12/29/2016 "GoogleServer.dll"; perhaps it its again time for rhumbaflappy to so kindly provide us with yet another updated tile server DLL ? :scratchch


FYI: Much of the Nokia Imagery sub-licensed to Virtual Earth (and previously to Yahoo) is licensed from Digital Globe, which is a major source of imagery to both Google and ArcGIS Imagery (previously named "ESRI World Imagery".

ArcGIS Imagery now has a color-corrected version of the same ZOOM level-17 imagery ...that Virtual Earth shows. ;)

To further color correct aerial imagery tiles for the color palette of your preferred scenery area in FSX / P3D, one must use a graphics application on a COPY of the 1-piece L[filename].BMP written to disk along with a matching named L[filename].TXT geo-referencing file and a "Photo01.INF" file by SBuilderX after an initial selected tile "Photo01.BGL" is compiled by FS SDK Resample.

Be careful not to change any of the pixel ROW and/or Column totals for the source image. :alert:


If you would like further information on this latter process, feel free to inquire further here. :)

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
Okay, thanks. I'll look at color correcting the .bmp. So, to get it to compile after I'm done do I load it as background and then select it and compile?

I'll say that color correcting it will be a challenge.
 
seippg said:
Okay, thanks. I'll look at color correcting the .bmp. So, to get it to compile after I'm done do I load it as background and then select it and compile?
Click to expand...

In SBuilderX, when a group of selected tiles is compiled to BGL by FS SDK Resample, SBuilderX outputs into this folder:

[SBuilderX314 install path]\Tools\Work

...the 1-piece L[filename].BMP along with a matching named L[filename].TXT geo-referencing file and a "Photo01.INF" file when a "Photo01.BGL" is compiled by FS SDK Resample.


CAVEAT: Because SBuilderX will automatically (and without warning !) over-write the last output file set consisting of a 1-piece L[filename].BMP along with a matching named L[filename].TXT geo-referencing file and a "Photo01.INF" file in:

[SBuilderX314 install path]\Tools\Work

...with any new ones created during any subsequent 'new' BGL compilation procedure, one should immediately move the current file set into a new working sub-folder location to protect them. :alert:


Then, save as a ZIP file, that original file set output by SBuilderX from which any copies will be derived.


You will then be editing the copy of ex: that original 1-piece L[filename].BMP.

When you are finished editing that copy of the 1-piece L[filename].BMP, be certain that it has the exact same name as the original from which it was derived.

That should allow you to use the same original "Photo01.INF" file output by SBuilderX with the edited 1-piece L[filename].BMP.


FYI: Many FS developers will modify a COPY of the original "Photo01.INF" file output by SBuilderX 1-piece along with the original L[filename].BMP with a matching named L[filename].TXT geo-referencing file, to utilize different source filenames, Resample parameter values, and often, to expand the feature set for the resulting compiled BGL to incorporate a Water mask and/or Blend Mask ...within a more complex "multi-source" INF file format. :idea:


NOTE: The GIS "projection" of a downloaded aerial imagery tile set is also internally changed by SBuilderX during output to:

[SBuilderX314 install path]\Tools\Work

...from the 'comparatively non-distorted' default aerial imagery tile server projection of "Spherical Web Mercator" (aka “EPSG:3857”), into a 'comparatively distorted' Geographic (Lat-Lon) / WGS84 projection as required by FSX / P3D Resample.


For this reason, SBuilderX may NOT re-utilize the edited the original L[filename].BMP via "Add Map From Disk", as any such source files must be in the 'comparatively non-distorted' default aerial imagery tile server projection of "Spherical Web Mercator" (aka “EPSG:3857”) ...for display as a background map in the SBuilderX work-space.


To manually convert that file set from Geographic (Lat-Lon) / WGS84 projection back into "Spherical Web Mercator" (aka “EPSG:3857”) for display as a background map in the SBuilderX work-space via "Add Map From Disk", would require additional processing via a GIS application, and would require that SBuilderX replace all those files with new ones via a BGL compilation process ...once again output into:

[SBuilderX314 install path]\Tools\Work


But, that is an entire learning process unto itself, so it may be best to work locally with the copied file set inside a sub-folder, by simply copying FSX / P3D SDK Resample into that same sub-folder; then drag-and-drop the INF file onto Resample to start processing.


When you are ready to test your edits, put the existing / last compiled BGL inside a ZIP file ...and delete the original; otherwise Resample may refuse to create a new BGL under the same name. ;)

seippg said:
I'll say that color correcting it will be a challenge.
Click to expand...

Regarding the aerial imagery local FS / P3D color palette matching / color correction process, there are tutorials and pulgins that may make this process easier:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/how-to-quickly-color-correct-raw-sattelite-images.18417/

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/th...lor-correct-raw-sattelite-images.18417/page-2

https://www.google.com/#q=site:www.fsdeveloper.com+color+correction


BTW: What graphics application do you plan to use for the color correction process etc. ?


Hope this info helps a bit more ! :)

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
GaryGB said:
BTW: What graphics application do you plan to use for the color correction process etc. ?
Click to expand...

I have the latest Photoshop (CC) 64-bit. I don't have the 32-bit version so I don't think I can use "Metrix". So, if I read your post right, I can edit the .bgl file but it will create a slightly distorted photoreal due to conversion of coordinate systems. I'll read through those other threads to see what I can pick up. Thanks, again, for your help.

Gregg
 
Just to clarify:

You would be editing the BMP file, not the BGL file, as we are thus far not able to 'edit' Resample compiled BGL files. ;)


I mentioned the Geographic (Lat-Lon) / WGS84 "projection" of the BMP file after output by SBuilderX to explain how and why it has changed, and to explain that you would do best to focus on working with that BMP file outside SBuilderX after it has been output, instead of trying to re-project it back into "Spherical Web Mercator" for ongoing use inside the SBuilderX work-space.

Also, I only mentioned the general appearance of the aerial imagery BMP as either 'non-distorted' or 'distorted', so you would understand that the "distortion" (usually around 1-to-3 degrees counter-rotation and vertical compression of the image) you may see during editing in your graphics application is 'normal' for imagery projected in Geographic (Lat-Lon) / WGS84 "projection" ...by comparison to how it would appear projected in "Spherical Web Mercator" within the SBuilderX work-space when viewed as a background "map" of tiles.


The FS rendering engine will rotate and stretch the aerial imagery stored within the BGL when it drapes those aerial imagery textures onto the terrain at run time ...so that they look 'non-distorted'. :wizard:


FYI: The aerial imagery source file set will still be compiled to a BGL via FSX / P3D SDK Resample compiler, regardless of whether it is launched semi-automatically via the SBuilderX menus and dialog boxes, or whether it is launched 'manually' within a sub-folder elsewhere as described above using a Drag-and-Drop of the INF file onto Resample itself.


BTW: If you are concerned about creating other terrain scenery content for use with the selected aerial imagery tile set and want to be able to load that same SBuilderX work-space background aerial imagery tile set as a 'map' repeatedly over multiple work sessions, be sure to save your SBuilderX project as SBP and SBX files, along with a SBuilder.INI file, then be sure they are kept separate from other projects, and put them into the appropriate SBuilderX folders before starting SBuilderX and loading them for a specific project work session. :idea:


IMHO, Metrix is not 'required' for color correction tasks, and one typically will quickly find certain settings to be used in ones graphics application for most downloaded local aerial imagery tiles, that will be 'adequate' for color saturation / color balance / contrast / brightness / gamma etc. to be sufficiently 'compatible' with surrounding default or 3rd party scenery textures.

Just make sure you work on copies of your original BMP output by SBuilderX until you are pleased with a final "corrected" BMP file. :pushpin:


Hope this makes for a clearer understanding of the tasks and processes involved. :)

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top