Crop Blue Edge?

[opteryx 1562]

Okay, as I understand it to fully complete your map you'll have to crop the blue edge on the map, how does one go about doing this?

I've looked at the edit-->crop option, but it doesn't tell me much and I'm afraid I could screw something up.

So if anyone know how to do it I'd appreciate some info about it.

PS: Does the blue edge affect performance on maps ingame? I get the feeling it does since custom maps with the blue edge seems more unstable than the default ArmA maps.

[DBO_ 0]

thats the blue edge that is not applied when saving the EMF ?

I thought we didnt need that if we havent converted emf to png and then imported that as a world .png throught the .pbl process ?

or does the emf come into play wheb we are creating mask and satellites ?

wiki explanation.

Quote[/b] ]Export of project printout

* Dialogue Project > Export Map As Image...

* Choose EMF as file type! It is impossible to export image in big resolution as BMP. Resolution should be the same as target satellite image PLUS the size of "blue edge" ', visible on left and bottom side of the map in Visitor. On Sara, it was 20480x20480, for OFP maps, this would be 12800x12800. Blue edge will be cut out, it needs to added because output of whole map in same resolution as texture is needed.

Size of "blue edge" is the size of one elevation cell in pixels of satellite texture:

* See, what is the terrain square size.

* Calculate, how many pixels of satellite texture are present on an elevation cell:

/[number of cells in row or column]

* On Sahrani, terrain grid cell is 10x10 px, thus the size of image you will need to export is 20490x20490 px.

Conversion of EMF to PNG

There is no way of opening a completed EMF file as big of size as Sahrani. A custom tool was then created for converting EMF to PNG. In the Visitor folder, there is tiny executable named EmfToPng.exe, this tool will do the converting to EMF for you

But if we save as pbl way the blue edge will be included and we dont needed it lol . i see your problem but i think it only applies if you are not creating your own satellites and mask but using visitor do do everything from import an .xyz through to wrp.

i hope so anyway cause i never cropped any blue edge and all mine are stable and everything is where it should be.

[Edge 2]

Export ot EMF is used just as reference to make satellite texture.

The idea is this: If I export EMF (and subsequently PNG) of the same resolution as satellite texture, I would be able to put it there and use it as reference painting vicinity of the objects in map etc.

The problem is this: Several additional pixels appear in the image (in our settings, it usually ends up blue, but if you turn off terrain and contours, it can be invisible).

Be aware that method from tutorial sometimes works, but sometimes not. We recently tried to fix the issue, but despite our effort, raw Visitor output still does not fully fit to object positions.

ofp2 is right, you don't need to bother with this until EmfToPng.exe is released and you would like to use image of Visitor's workspace as reference for editing of satellite texture. Hope this helped.

[opteryx 1562]

Eh uhum.. So I just use PNG grayscale maps for terrain, no need to worry about the blue edge then??

Anyway I though it was related to this:

When I run my custom maps on high view distance (above 7600 meter) I get these artifacts on the terrain and ArmA laggs down to a complete halt until it crashes, I've had some other people testing it and they get the same thing, one guy suggested that ArmA runs out of memory because it draws to many images, just though I'd check if this was somehow related to the blue edge.

[Edge 2]

Strange... Please, can you post how big your sat. texture is, how you cut it and what is your Satellite Grid value?

[opteryx 1562]

PNG Height map = 2048 px

SatMap/Mask_LCO = 20480 px

Terrain Cell Size = 15.0 meter

Satellite Grid/Segment = 48

Terrain Size = 30720.0 x 30720.0 meter

Data\Layers folder contains 3698 PAA images (that's both the Sat and Mask)

-edit-

I just tried to start the map and got this error:

I think this is the same error I get when it starts to degrade and crash ingame (can't remember what it said last time, but I'm pretty sure it's the same error).

[DBO_ 0]

Looked at this myself when wanting an odd size Terrain Cell .

texture layers (in sample map = 40x40)

i don`t see any refference anywhere to this and landgrid size but i assume that in the sample map each pixel is 2meters and the terrain cell size is 20 meters ,thus giving a 40x40 texture layer.

i don`t see an option for such custom sizes as 15.0 terrain cells ?

15.0 with 20480 = 1.50 meters per pixel which would need a texture layer setting of 1.50 x 15 = 22.5x22.5 the nearest setting is 15.0x15.0m or 30x30m (when i apply opteryx settings in a v3 map)

at least i see it that way through my v3 glasses .

probably wrong but at least someone can point where i am going wrong here . ?

Edit btw i am talking about where it says above 40x40 active. if you click this edit it gives you options (varied depending on map size ). i also notice in the new config there is no Gris size = 40 ( or 50 for ofp).

[Edge 2]

Opteryx, could you try increasing Texture Layer Size to 60x60 meters? Should work better, too low Texture Layer size (=mapping of more detailed texture squares on terrain in the scene) can hurt the performance or destabilize the engine.

Ofp2, explanation of all these values will follow as promised.

[opteryx 1562]

Opteryx, could you try increasing Terrain Cell Size to 60x60 meters? Should work better, too low Terrain Cell size (=mapping of more detailed texture squares on terrain in the scene) can hurt the performance or destabilize the engine.

Wouldn't that make the terrain highly un-detailed?

Biki says:

Quote[/b] ]Settings for Sahrani are 2048x2048 cells, 10 m/cell size, terrain size 20480^2 square meters.

So that means my cells are actually bigger than Sara??

-edit-

Wait, Cell Size = the size of each chopped up PAA in data\layers?! not the interval between the grid-vertices-terrain-3d-elevation-actual-form-of-the-ground-thingies??

I think I get it now, will test right away.

[Edge 2]

Sorry, I meant the Texture Layer, of course.

(edited my previous post to not to confuse anybody else)

[opteryx 1562]

Oh yeah, I was somewhat confused yesterday due to insomnia.

I tried to change the Texture Layer size to 60 and it seems like the mco texture has kicked in or something (ground textures looks way better now), but I get even more problems now, in buldozer and ArmA I get these artifacts at even lower view distance:

Game crashes even faster now.

God I love Visitor 3

Such a nice and user friendly program

[DBO_ 0]

lol from bad to worse there opteryx.

For a test did you try 10 meter grid size like sahrani and make texture layers 40x40 ?

PNG Height map = 2048 px

SatMap/Mask_LCO = 20480 px

that can still remain same so no big hassle to test huh ?

i am not sure how you come to the conclusion your heightmap has cells of 15 meters ?

my xyz for example is for ofp and i made for wrp which used 50 meter cells so when i configure in v3 to 50 meter cells all is well.

also are you not getting any errors in arma .rpt suchas unkown shader or whichever it is for island cells with no texture ?

[opteryx 1562]

Okay, set it EXACTLY like Sara now and it's going very smooth without bugs

Oh and yeah, I forgot to add:

[Commando84 0]

hahha nice read, and very nice pic of one of the mythbuster dudes!!! Btw if i would like to edit the sample map how do i make more house object available in the artificial objects creation window?

[opteryx 1562]

Quote[/b] ]hahha nice read, and very nice pic of one of the mythbuster dudes!!!

Why thank you! The Hyneman is such a handsome stud

( I mean that in a very VERY non sexual way!!! )

Quote[/b] ]Btw if i would like to edit the sample map how do i make more house object available in the artificial objects creation window?

You do this:

Step 1: Go to your BIS addons folder and find the stuff you'd like have, like the buildings.pbo.

Step 2: Un-pbo it.

Step 3: Make a folder in P drive called ca.

Step 4: Stuff your un-pbo'ed buildings folder in ca.

Step 5: In Visitor, go to Tools--->Artificial Objects--->Add/Browse

Step 6: Now navigate from here to your ca\buildings folder and select the buildings you'd like to add and open (note: you many not be able to select more than eight or so objects at a time for some stupid and highly unpractical reason..)

Step 7: Then press OK in Artificial Objects Definition and you should be good to go!

Or!!!!! Wait a sec and I'll upload my own extended version of Rahmadi.

[Commando84 0]

oh sweet im gonna see if i get anywhere, but im gonna have to sleep really soon too anyways so what do i need , buildings and plants? I know the roads wont work or something i heard but i could always start a island and then add roads later

[opteryx 1562]

-edit-

NEW VERSION

Caution: Users may expirience severe disappointment, also malplaced objects and funny lookin' textures.

[Commando84 0]

omg opteryx that looks incredible! The whole island got a much cousier and cute feel to it

i got a little idea for the island i wanna try out with making it into a drug cartel hub or something similar

ok opteryx i tried loading your island in Arma to get a closer view but it didnt show up in island chooser

[opteryx 1562]

ok opteryx i tried loading your island in Arma to get a closer view but it didnt show up in island chooser

Oh that's strange, I just had another guy test it and it worked perfectly fine for him.

Hmmmm I'll see what I can do about it.

-edit-

You sure it doesn't show up like this?

-edit-

You sure you unrar'ed the pbo LOL? Works for everyone else that tries it.

[opteryx 1562]

Moderator please lock this topic, getting way off topic.

[Placebo 29]

As requested