ZGM Mapmaking Tutorial

[ZeroG 23]

Hello guys!

I will post more and more parts of the tutorial in the same speed as I create my map, making it a kind of mapmaking BLOG :)

Feel free to comment, feel motivated and be patient :)

PART 1 begins with fetching real life DEM and ends with the implementation of the satellite image as background in VISITOR 3.

PART 2 deals with the usage of shapefiles and placement of large forests.

ZGM MAP MAKING TUTORIAL PART 1 & 2

Edited January 6, 2011 by ZeroG

[beton 2]

Wow, very nice tut.

This should make the first steps much easier. Should be put into the resourcelinks.

[shezan74 11]

Gooooood work! ;)

It's time to move to Global Mapper :D

Edited November 14, 2010 by shezan74

[ZeroG 23]

Thanks, folks!

Next part will concern the usage of WORLD TOOLS ;)

[Kenwort 0]

Thanks for the great tut! Just started learning map making! :)

[Gnome_AS 10]

Excellent tutorial ZeroG! Very well written and easy to follow. Looks like your GM process is a few steps shorter than my microdem, might have to try that out sometime. :)

Well done, looking forward to your world tools info! Haven't had much time to play around with that yet, really like to see what you've come up with there.

[ZeroG 23]

Excellent tutorial ZeroG! Very well written and easy to follow. Looks like your GM process is a few steps shorter than my microdem, might have to try that out sometime. :)

Well done, looking forward to your world tools info! Haven't had much time to play around with that yet, really like to see what you've come up with there.

Thanks Gnome :) Yea, Global mapper is far better than microdem..more precise and user friendly imho.

Unluckily, I have to say that I am short on time next two weeks..but after that I'll continue with the tut.

[stormridersp 11]

GREAT JOB!

Thank you!

[bushlurker 46]

Hi ZeroG!

Brilliant tutorial!!!

Covers all the bases - including the "2 background images at once" one in Visitor... well done...

This will really help beginners come to grips with all this crazy stuff thats done before you even get to the Visitor stage!... Excellent!

Theres one small step I usually include in my workflow which is worth mentioning - mainly coz you're using Global Mapper and it is great for this...

"Rectifying".....

Directly after you've downloaded, stitched and finalised your Google Satellite image,,,

I wrote a post about this just recently, so I'll paste it in here...

You should be able to reproject to any datum plus rectify in most GIS programs... Global Mapper for sure, also probably MicroDEM - which is free. I haven't much experience with either, since I use ArcGIS - but that's heavyweight software and totally unnecessary for such a simple job - I just use it 'cause I got bought a copy a few years back for work, so I actually vaguely understand some bits of it...

Theres a Global Mapper demo available - I think you download the demo, then ask them for a "trial key" which gets you fully functional including exports... After that (if I remember correctly.....)

Load DEM - if it's already georeferenced it'll go to its real coordinates - if it's already in a projection it'll be in that...

Go change the overall projection - "UTM WGS 1984 zone xx" is probably what you want

Load the sat image - if its carrying a projection it'll be forced to display in the new one, if it isn't - it'll also be displayed in the new projection... it probably won't be georeferenced so it'll just be dumped "somewhere in the world" (Fake coordinates and display option)... You probably won't see both images on screen at once at this point - they're probably literally on opposite sides of the world... don't panic!

Re-rectify - you'll see the DEM and the image gridded and side by side - then you just zoom in and start laying control points - click a precise spot on the DEM - then the exact same spot on the image... "this spot on A corresponds with this spot on B"... Sometimes you can get away with points in all 4 corners and a couple in the middle - other times you might find yourself laying hundreds of control points... (do the corners first and take a look - just in case that's really all you need - laying unnecessary points can make things worse instead of better - fortunately you can delete point pairs anytime)... basically it'll "rubbersheet" the image to correspond precisely with the DEM.When you're done and happy - use the vector shapes tool and make a precisely square outline - place this so it frames the area you want...

Choose "Export" and choose to "use the vector shape to define the output boundaries" - it'll output bitmaps of your sat and your DEM which are now precisely overlaid - using the vector shape like a "cookiecutter"...

(only the red bits are directly relevant)...

Same deal as you describe - right down to the using a vector shape as a cookiecutter to slice out matching layers of DEM, Open Map, etc... using Global Mapper you can actually physically "rubbersheet" that Google image so it perfectly matches all your other layers - then cookiecutter it out too - then you have an actual useable and perfectly lined up Google Sat_lco image...

B

Edited November 15, 2010 by Bushlurker

[Robster 11]

Gooooood work! ;)

It's time to move to Global Mapper :D

gm RULZ !!!!

[helo 10]

Thank you very much for that work you ve done , ZeroG.

[ZeroG 23]

Thanks B! I will include your tips when I come to the satimage section :)

[shezan74 11]

gm RULZ !!!!

My spare time is free so i'm making tools and maps for free...

i'm not sure i want pay 349 USD for making free maps with GM :eek:

[Guest]

I love tutorials :D

Release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

ZGM Map making tutorial part I

I also added a link to part I of your tutorials to our Arma editing FAQ.

(something I need to re-work as well, its a bit messy in there :D )

[konrad1 10]

nice tut can you also one how to place object rees textures etc.

[tupolov 520]

Good tut, but as others found you can't export from GM without a license (will try asking for a trial license...)

Similarly, you can't get beyond zoom level 12 with the Universal Map Download Tool unless you buy it.

Would be great if someone has a similar tutorial but with free tools?

Thanks though! The tut is clear and shows the steps necessary.

[ZeroG 23]

Good tut, but as others found you can't export from GM without a license (will try asking for a trial license...)

Similarly, you can't get beyond zoom level 12 with the Universal Map Download Tool unless you buy it.

Would be great if someone has a similar tutorial but with free tools?

Thanks though! The tut is clear and shows the steps necessary.

As far as I know, Microdem is a similar program...it is just not so easy to use as Global Mapper.

As I said, you dont really need a too high detailed map for background mask in Visitor 3 as you cannot place so many objects as in RL! It is just to get an Idea where every road is and woods are located in RL. I guess slopes, forests and roads are the only things you will really recognize from an area you are living in, as the available buildings are not the same as in anyones home town.

For the satmap to be drawn in game, you rather should paste on your own textures onto the low detail RL-map with programs like PS, as even 18x zoom is not high enough to make it goodlooking in game!

All you need in the end is the near 100% match between satellite background mask and the heightmap.

Have you checked: maybe there are older versions of GM available that are cheaper?

[Alex72 1]

ZeroG: Very nice tutorial. Good work and thanks. :)

Konrad1: If you read what OP says you see he makes the tutorials as he makes the map which should mean what you ask for comes later. Patience please. ;)

[Nielsen 10]

This is a great initiative!

Something like this might actually inspire people like me to delve into mapmaking.

Two thumbs up!

[stormridersp 11]

I have one question:

Following your tutorial part I, I figure that we´ve created an 1:1 map.

But what if I want to create instead, an 1:2 or 1:3 map, that means, 10km ingame represents 20km in reality. What should I do?

Edited November 15, 2010 by stormridersp
not fixed

[bushlurker 46]

@stormridersp

Follow the procedure as described, but when you come to make the square vector shape to use as a "cookiecutter", don't bother inputting the coordinates for the corners - just make an exact square big enough to frame exactly the area you want - export the results as appropriate bitmaps, then resize in photoshop or the gimp...

... always try to downsize as you resize, rather than have to scale up...

B

[stormridersp 11]

I´m currently trying it with L3DT, there I can export and resize to png.

But one question remains, when we are setting in GM the area for cropping and then to export, we can set the resolution, which we do to 10. Whats that means exactly?

When it comes to L3DT, I then change the horizontal scale to 5 (to squeeze it in half) then export as png to 4096.

Is it right so far?

Is there anything else I should edit for to work out just right, like for example, terrain.pbl or...

thanks mate

[bushlurker 46]

I guess I should download the demo of GM and take a look - it's ages since I used it...

I vaguely remember MicroDEM as being able to do most of this stuff too, and its free...

when we are setting in GM the area for cropping and then to export, we can set the resolution, which we do to 10. Whats that means exactly?

Looking at the tutorial pictures, looks like that just sets the "meters per pixel" value - smaller values will give you a larger sized output...

If you're not too fussed about exact 1:1 or precise scaling then you don't need to worry too greatly about things - you just define your square vector shape to be a size that exactly frames the area of the DEM you're interested in - export it using "export bounds = selected vector shape" which will crop out just that exact square you're interested in...

L3DT is ideal - load it in there and resize to 4096, or 2048 or 1024... (theres an XYZ plugin available for L3DT on its website)... if you export from L3DT as XYZ you can import directly to Visitor without a .pbl file - just set your maximum and minimum heights first in L3DT...

*edit*

Just looked at the GM 12 demo - still looks and works much the same... one interesting thing I spotted is that ASTER is available directly from the server within GM itself... If you define your Area Of Interest square with corner lat/long coords - as per the tutorial - (so GM knows where in the world you're looking at) - centre that on screen, then go to the "online sources" (wee globe icon), you can say "gimme ASTER DEMs for the area I've currently got onscreen - it'll download the relevant ASTER DEM, then all you need to do is hit "export"... except in the demo - you can't... bummer!

B

Edited November 15, 2010 by Bushlurker
additional info

[stormridersp 11]

Nice call there mate!!! The XYZ plugin for L3DT is MUST!

The good thing about L3DT is that it is flexible enough to allow 3d heightmap editing with heaps of features.

[wobbleyheadedbob 10]

Havent had a chance to read the tutorial yet but I look forward to doing so. Nice one!!!:bounce3: