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Tile Servers for Photoreal Scenery mapping

My HD has a folder named \Work. Underneath are two folder; \SourceData and \Output. The INF file is placed in the Work folder, along with a copy of Resample.exe. The INF just gets dragged on top of Resample.exe and out spits the BGL file, if the INF file is correctly setup.

[Source]
Type = GeoTIFF
Layer = Elevation
SourceDir = "SourceData."
SourceFile = "2NC0_gm.Tif"

[Destination]
DestDir = "Output"
DestBaseFileName = "z_2NC0"
DestFileType = BGL
CompressionQuality = 97
LOD = Auto

Most of the difficulties comes from the directories specified in the INF file, so that's why I have a seperate little work area.

We could always discuss running things from the DOS prompt... :kilroy:
 
The inf file is the only one that gets the drag & drop. You should see a DOS (er command) window pop up, showing the process and percent complete. Is all the stuff in the zip file extracted with its directories intact? The inf file is telling resample to use the photo, light map and blend mask from the same directory as the inf file, then put the result in the output subdirectory. If one of the files is spelled wrong or located elsewhere then resample will quit.
 
I get everything set the way your sample shows and after about 5 minutes of loading. . .I get this:
 
Sometimes they'll just refuse to load. It may help to check back later. The other orthoimagery may be better so it doesn't hurt to take a look at the others. Also, some of the options don't cover the area you have selected. They might be nearby, but not in the visible area.
 
Smoothie said:
Falcon if you let me know the area i'll get the .Tif file for you:wiggle:
Click to expand...
No specific area, I was just going through the tutorial and can't pull up anything that looks like what kjb shows, even with the same settings. I'm more interested in finding out why, with his settings he gets an image like he shows and I use the same settings and get an entirely grayed out US map?

Also, and this just has me very curious. . .do both of you have Global Mapper? If so is there a freeware version of this, cause as I mentioned above and no one seemed to pick up on it, but I won't ever be that serious about photoreal scenery. If that's the case, I'll use the tile servers with SBuilderX and do what I can with that. I don't intend to ever learn GMax, so anything I do is going to be default objects or the ones uploaded by other designers.

If I was going to do scenery in the likeness of Bill Womack or Holger Sandman I might consider a purchase like that because I'd be doing payware scenery, but not for small time scenery work.
 
is there any way to adjust the Clarity kjb? like up the resolution? or can we just run a sharpen over the image?:kilroy:
 
You can adjust the compression. I had it set at 80 or 85. A higher setting means less compression which might look better. You can also try sharpening the image in an editor or seeing if a higher resolution version exists. For example, the one I'm using for KSDL Scottsdale is .8 feet/pixel. The one in the example is 1m/pixel.
 
Well fellas, this obviously is something that yields better final images than what I'm working with and I may give it a shot some other time, but I have almost zero patience when I have to sit looking at a monitor waiting for something to happen on the screen, only to get gray, lol. I've tried enough different areas around the country, that if I really was considering this, it would be useless.

I'm going back to what I know works, despite the limitations.
 
The Seamless server can be very frustrating at times. And with it's wealth of data, it would be nice to be able to set and save preferences, rather than having to check and uncheck things every time you come back for more punishment, er... material.

If you know what you're looking for or even if your just trying to see what's available, then here's how I sometimes get after things. On Falcon's screen grab, left side, is a section called Downloads. Middle button on the top row will bring up a window where you can type in coordinates. I like switching to decimal degrees because that's how I work. So if in FSX I have an airport that's at 40N and 120W I'll punch in 40.1 North, -120.1 West, -119.9 East and 39.9 South and hit submit. This will bring up the results page that kjb showed in his PDF file. Hit modify request on that page and you'll get all the options available for that area, be it mesh, orthoimagery, crop analysis, whatever. But it's sometimes an easier method than wading through the main interface, waiting for it to update time after time, as you uncheck the options.

Last week the Seamless server said it couldn't find data for a particular 1 degree by 1 degree area, even though it had all the surrounding blocks. Magically, when I tried a couple of hours later the data popped up as available. Frustrating? Yes, but it's a free service (tax payers!) and I just shrug it off because the price is right.
 
I just cannot get this to work. I can't find a source for the tif files, the mesh files, and the shape files. Then the program wont work! :sleep:
I think it's a conspericy to keep certain people out.
:173go1:
 
Ok, won't go into great detail, but suffice to say I've gotten up to the resampling part and hit a wall. . .here is the inf file I setup for this image:

[Source]
Type = GeoTIFF
SourceDir = "SourceData"
Sourcefile = "OB2_Photo.tif"
Layer = Imagery
Variation = Day
SamplingMethod = Gaussian

[Destination]
DestDir = "Output"
DestBaseFileName = "Otis"
DestFileType = BGL
LOD = Auto
CompressionQuality = 80

I have a directory for Photoscenery
with subfolders "USGS" and inside that a folder for Work - SourceData - Output.

I have a copy of resample.exe in the work folder (thanks Meshman), I drop the inf file onto resample, there is a split second where the DOS window appears and then is gone and nothing results, no bgl.
 
Is the 0B2_Photo.tif file in the SourceData directory? Also, make sure the 0 is a zero and not an "O". I botched that detail originally. The SourceDir = "SourceData" line is telling resample to look there for the tif file.
 
kjb said:
Is the 0B2_Photo.tif file in the SourceData directory? Also, make sure the 0 is a zero and not an "O". I botched that detail originally. The SourceDir = "SourceData" line is telling resample to look there for the tif file.
Click to expand...

Yep, baby steps, nothing is working, but. . . .farther along than I was last night.
 
I just noticed something too that will most likely keep me from using this image. I knew there was something that didn't look right about it. . . .the image is shot at an angle, not directly down, so the proportions are exaggerated. I saw this on several other shots from the USGS site but they weren't as noticeable since they were much smaller areas, like small single rwy airports that I had been doing.

Yep, not good.
 
Ed,

You can stretch images via Skewing them (pulling corners one at a time in any direction needed) in Photoshop.


:d

I have many times. Works amazing. You can take a shot of the side of a hanger from beside it, with the perspective wacked, and skew it to a flat rectangle.



Bill
 
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