Flight sim-style texture resources?
by Russell Fincher · in General Discussion · 12/29/2010 (12:21 am) · 8 replies
Does anyone have any experience with creating assets for flight sims? Particularly, I'm wondering where developers get textures for terrain intended to be seen from high up. Textures that can legally be used in a game for sale, of course. Any insight is appreciated.
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Art Lead at Sickhead Games, focused on dev tools and prototyping, instructor/advisor at several Dallas colleges and universities, Associate Developer with GarageGames, champion of avant-garde game art at uncommonassembly.com.
#2
12/30/2010 (6:04 pm)
see http://www.geoeye.com. This is where you get these textures, however it is pricey. Top quality, but as said, it comes with it's price. The latest ubisoft wanna-be a flightsim HAWXS 2 uses geoeye data as well.
#3
01/05/2011 (12:24 am)
@Andy: Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, for this project, pricey is out of the question. I've been doing a lot of research, and it looks like Vue may be the solution for me. I should have picked up this program years ago, anyway. Now I just need to figure out which of the 6 versions of Vue 9.0 is right for me. :S
#4
This is from gc2, it exports 4096x4096 textures and can do tilable terrain blocks
01/05/2011 (7:55 pm)
Russel, is it lifelike detail you are looking for, ie having the top down view of buildings etc on it ? if not you could also look at geocontrolThis is from gc2, it exports 4096x4096 textures and can do tilable terrain blocks
#5
I'm also just tired of transferring terrain models through heightmaps. It never works out. The height comes in as a multiple of what you need, there are steps in the map, it's inverted, spun, or flipped. Bah. Give me a model any day.
I ran my concerns by a sales person at E-on, and they recommended a version of Vue. I'm grabbing the demo now to give it a go.
01/05/2011 (8:36 pm)
Thanks for the input, Andy. I've been using GeoControl for heightmaps for awhile, but I just can't get what I want out of it, even by using the presets. It's possible I just don't have the patience to make it through the learning curve.I'm also just tired of transferring terrain models through heightmaps. It never works out. The height comes in as a multiple of what you need, there are steps in the map, it's inverted, spun, or flipped. Bah. Give me a model any day.
I ran my concerns by a sales person at E-on, and they recommended a version of Vue. I'm grabbing the demo now to give it a go.
#6
01/07/2011 (6:39 pm)
just thought, bryce is also another option if vue doesent work out 
#7
Bryce as well as the rest of the lower versions of VUE are somewhat amateur hour IMHO. They are hobbyist tools. Xstream is the top of the time production level version. But if you don't want to be able to integrate with max or whatever the VUE Infinity will do ya just fine.
GeoControl 2 is nice I have it as well but I have yet to see a terrain look as good in T3D as it does in GC2. I also always seem to get the stair stepping when taking it into T3D. or any other application for that matter even when exporting float. Not sure but does T3D just not support Floating level precision in the HM import? if so I think this is something that must be corrected as it is a must to have.
Hmm it seems that the character limit has finally been lifted yeah!
01/10/2011 (6:01 pm)
@Russel there are no other programs that really have the features that Vue has. It is a great program. Very slow to render though but what can you really expect for the amount of Polys ur talking about though. IMHO you could prolly get away with just using Vue Infinity but I would get the Xstream version so that you can have the interactivity with you Max seats. great if you need to render some FMV or things of that nature.Bryce as well as the rest of the lower versions of VUE are somewhat amateur hour IMHO. They are hobbyist tools. Xstream is the top of the time production level version. But if you don't want to be able to integrate with max or whatever the VUE Infinity will do ya just fine.
GeoControl 2 is nice I have it as well but I have yet to see a terrain look as good in T3D as it does in GC2. I also always seem to get the stair stepping when taking it into T3D. or any other application for that matter even when exporting float. Not sure but does T3D just not support Floating level precision in the HM import? if so I think this is something that must be corrected as it is a must to have.
Hmm it seems that the character limit has finally been lifted yeah!
#8
also to be able to get the diffuse to look how it does in geocontrols renders you need to modify t3d's source to start using 4096 diffuse maps for the terrain as its currently capped to a 2048 dds that it generates even if you specify a 4096 diffuse it shrinks it down.
another thing is the diffuse needs to be flipped (horizontally if i remember right) thats torques issue though not gc's
01/12/2011 (12:58 pm)
James, you need to export a 16bit tif from geocontrol and convert it to a 16bit png to import a terrain into t3d without any steps in it. if your getting all the height contours stepped its because the heightmaps 8bit and banded.also to be able to get the diffuse to look how it does in geocontrols renders you need to modify t3d's source to start using 4096 diffuse maps for the terrain as its currently capped to a 2048 dds that it generates even if you specify a 4096 diffuse it shrinks it down.
another thing is the diffuse needs to be flipped (horizontally if i remember right) thats torques issue though not gc's
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