Tutorial: replicating terrain with satellite data.

[hypno toad 0]

I just figured out a way to do it today, so I figured I would share it with other people.

I am not totally sure if this is the correct way to do and If I am doing something fatally wrong, please let me know

What you need:

Wilbur

http://www.ridgenet.net/~jslayton/software.html

3DEM

http://www.visualizationsoftware.com/3dem.html

Google Earth (optional) It is for measuring your island, to see the actual size. Use the ruler tool.

Visitor 3 (no shit)

Also, you will need to bookmark this website.

http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/SELECTION/inputCoord.asp

Alternatively, you may use Opteryx's method of obtaining data.

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....t=71399

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O.K. Go to that URL I gave you, and on the grid, select the area that you want to replicate, preferably an island somewhere. They are fast downloads, and they are islands, so it makes a good map. I am sure there are plenty of them, so there is no hurry.

After you select the grid area, hit search, it should bring up an enlarged picture of the area you have just selected. Say download (http).

Once your download has finished, extract the .TIF file to somewhere.

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Now, fire up 3DEM, and it will prompt you with what file type you want. Select "GeoTiff DEM(.tif)" and find the file you have just extracted. Now open it.

First thing you should do is go to

"operation - resize overhead view"

Adjust the bar until you are at 2056, that is an appropriate size.

It will load for a second, and then you will have an enlarged image, You will notice there is a box, that looks like it has a slice taken out of it. if you click and hold the corner of the box, you can enlarge it.

Here is my 3DEM island.

Enlarge and drag it around the island(s), make sure it is as straight as you can, too.

Now that you have the box around the area you want to keep, go up to "file - SaveTerragen terrain" and click on "selected area"

Give it a name, and save it somewhere that you can find later.

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Now fire up Wilbur.exe

Say "file- open", set the file type to terragen file, and then open the file you saved in 3DEM.

You may notice that the height map may have weird blocks on it, iif it does, use the blur tool to flatten them into the rest of the terrain.

Save the file as a PNG.

Go in visitor, and do your stuff with the PNG image.

I have noticed since you cannot resize the resolution, the edges of the islands will be a bit rough, but it is a small price to pay for Incredibly realistic terrain.

Anyways, I hope this helps, in case you didn't know how to do this.

[Daniel 0]

Brilliant!! Gonna have a crack at this today.

[AtStWalker 0]

Quote[/b] ]

What you need:

Wilbur http://wilbur.redtree.com/download.htm

Wilbur - A terrain/height field generator for Windows 95/NT.

www.ridgenet.net/~jslayton/software.html

Wilbur is a Windows utility which indexes the files on your disk and can then quickly find files based on a variety of criteria including content.

wilbur.redtree.com/

By Google ^^

Ur link is wrong.. that's THE wilbur IMHO

http://www.ridgenet.net/~jslayton/software.html

[hypno toad 0]

Sorry about that, I forgot what the website looks like XD

Thanks for correcting me.

[hypno toad 0]

Comment dammit :P

[phaeden 0]

This is truly life changing!

I am going to name my 7th born son Hypno Toad!

Ok, seriously, thank for posting this information. When people post tutorials, there is not a real demand for comment or response. It is appreciated by the community but usually silently. This is not a bad thing really - it just means that your tutorial makes sense and is easy to follow.

There are also other ways to get that data. Finding, converting, and using 10m DEM data is the most accurate, but also the biggest pain in the ass.

With all these tools and island potential, I am grateful that people make tutorials and work to understand the programs themselves.

Cheers!

[hypno toad 0]

I just like comments because they reassure me, when nobody comments I just think nobody has taken the time to read or try it.

Hopefully now we will see some truly detailed terrain coming out.

P.S.:

Try to find pictures that are at least behind the arctic and antarctic circles, if you go that close to the arctic, the islands will be miss shapen.

[phaeden 0]

You're right. It is hard when noone responds.

I appreciate your work.

Thank you.

[jerryhopper 286]

This is a truely amazing tutorial for the community, and im positive that many people that are trying to make an island, will be VERY gratefull for this information.

keep up the good work!

[Rommel 2]

Anyone have a really good terrain.pbl configuration to make these height maps not extremely exaggerated when put into Visitor.

Even if you don't think its good could Hypno Toad please post his terrain.pbl config.

[Nikopol 3]

Thx a lot mate!

I have a slight problem using your method.

The PNG image i end up with in wilbur is 257*257.

But i need a Width 512 pixels, Height 512 pixels in visitor.

is there a way to modify the scale of the selecting rectangle in 3DEm to save .ter in 512x512?

Edit: nevermind. find the answer: just resize it with photoshop

[cobra@pulse 0]

Good tutorial buffy, just gonna give it a go.

Problem though, save my terrain in Wilbur, its 1025x1025 try to resize it in photoshop but its locked and I can't do it, can resize but then it doesn't let me re-save it as a PNG. What the hell?

[ProwlerWolf 0]

You can do my cheap method and open up the png in photoshop then do a Print Screen and paste/cutout in a new photoshop file. Then from there you can resize and save it as a PNG. Just make sure you reopen it and save it in Wilbur and that when you cut it you don't have any extra edges in your PNG before you save it. That should fix your sizing.

EDIT: But in all honesty I haven't had any noticeable problems with 257x257 images in Visitor apart from the edges being just 1 pixel too long and not getting a texture. But professionally it would be wise to avoid that as you might get texture misalignment.

Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any of this. Hope I am helpful.

[hypno toad 0]

I can' really help you guys when it comes to the mechanics of visitor.

I am still very new to it, and have had next to no practice.

[hypno toad 0]

Just wanted to show off my new heightmap.. Hopefully I can get visitor working. I believe this is 250 000 kilometers (2) of the Nevada desert, which I think includes Las Vegas and the Colorado river.

It is also resized to a resolution of 2048x2048 (it was 6000 or something before), so I shouldn't have any jaggy terrain.