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PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 5:13 pm
by Ian Warren
Why I addvocate photoreal scenery



PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 5:29 pm
by johnkiwi
That camo works a treat amongst the hills, had to look twice to spot you! Just awesome!

PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 5:54 pm
by Ian Warren
johnkiwi wrote:
QUOTE (johnkiwi @ Jul 28 2014,6:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
That camo works a treat amongst the hills, had to look twice to spot you! Just awesome!

Where did he go .. we did who Go smile.gif

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 8:36 am
by Sonnyj
Ian Warren wrote:
QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jul 28 2014,5:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Where did he go .. we did who Go smile.gif


What he said..
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?...=a1994projector

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:14 am
by Ian Warren
Sonnyj wrote:
QUOTE (Sonnyj @ Jul 29 2014,9:36 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Would have been interesting if they did get holograms working , just the thought off is maybe not so bad winkyy.gif

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:24 am
by Sonnyj
Ian Warren wrote:
QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jul 29 2014,11:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Would have been interesting if they did get holograms working , just the thought off is maybe not so bad winkyy.gif


Sorry Ian I didn't mean to "hijack" your thread. laugh.gif

I read somewhere that the hologram thingy is "available for use in the right places??"

Cheers

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:32 am
by Ian Warren
Sonnyj wrote:
QUOTE (Sonnyj @ Jul 29 2014,12:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Sorry Ian I didn't mean to "hijack" your thread. laugh.gif

I read somewhere that the hologram thingy is "available for use in the right places??"

Holograms and adding photo real scenery .... its all in tricking the mind winkyy.gif

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 8:47 pm
by Splitpin
thumbup1.gif Great stuff Ian and Rob , Im going to download it asap.

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 10:31 pm
by Fozzer
The thing that has always turned me off Photographic Scenery, from the early days, is the lack of 3D objects, like foliage, etc!

Looking at photographs for New Zealand scenery now, and scenery anywhere else, always shows TREES sticking up into the air....
..like it does in Microsoft Autogen Scenery!

In all my Sim flights, I constantly compare my Flight Sim scenery with real photographs and Google Satellite Maps, I find that with a mixture of quality, realistic Mesh (OrbX FTX), Add-on scenery, and Microsoft Autogen scenery, turns out to be the most realistic in representing real scenery, as seen in real photographs!

The scenery in the Flight Sims will NEVER be as realistic as it is in real life, but I'll tell you what, my FSX California and the West scenery is just about as real as it gets, with my scenery mix as above, compared with photographs and relief maps of the actual scenery that I Sim fly over....and its all to do with the delights of Mesh and 3D Autogen!

The Photographic Scenery in Flight Unlimited II was fine at the time, (1997) but Microsoft "Autogen" 3D Scenery has moved it on, and made it much more realistic...for me, anyway!!

Low flying over trees "sticking up", is what its all about!...Trust me!... smile.gif ...!

Paul....in glorious three-dimension!... biggrin.gif ...!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 10:46 pm
by Ian Warren
Paul when I first saw Flight Unlimited 1 , same time I was gliding around Wigram and then the sensation was quite a WOW, 1994/95 , It has come a long way .. again reinstall FSX .. as I type, file corrupted in many places ... fortunate Greg .. personal computer scientist stop thru .. whizzing through registry's, so many problems , complete reformat and then see how it go's shortly . .... back to the trees and start swinging smile.gif

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:14 pm
by Fozzer
Ian Warren wrote:
QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jul 29 2014,11:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Paul when I first saw Flight Unlimited 1 , same time I was gliding around Wigram and then the sensation was quite a WOW, 1994/95 , It has come a long way .. again reinstall FSX .. as I type, file corrupted in many places ... fortunate Greg .. personal computer scientist stop thru .. whizzing through registry's, so many problems , complete reformat and then see how it go's shortly . .... back to the trees and start swinging smile.gif


Ta, Ian... biggrin.gif ...!

Good to see that you are a Flight Unlimited I/II/III enthusiast!

I may be a bit unusual in the Flight Sim World, but my main reason for using it is for the exploration of the Real World around me with the aid of Wikipedia, various Maps and Satellite maps, real photographs, etc, etc...
..and in the various Film and Documentaries I watch on TV I can recognise the same scenery that I see on my Flight Sim!
..the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains, and the Hollywood Hills, in Los Angeles valley...
...and Mount Diablo in the San Francisco Bay area....all covered with trees...standing up!
..and "Ultimate Terrain USA" brings all the road traffic to life on the busy, multi-lane, Interstate I5

Even the 18-wheeler trucks "stand up" in 3D!.... biggrin.gif ...!

Paul ....The Intrepid Explorer.... laugh.gif ...!

PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:28 pm
by Ian Warren
Hey , I gave all three packages away, another was Fly 1 & 2 , again giving to the needy, no point having them on a shelf .. I needed the room for books smile.gif

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:39 am
by Fozzer
Ian Warren wrote:
QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jul 29 2014,12:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Hey , I gave all three packages away, another was Fly 1 & 2 , again giving to the needy, no point having them on a shelf .. I needed the room for books smile.gif


I am "needy", Ian... winkyy.gif ....

I need a new Motor-bike to go with my other three... drool.gif ...!

...have you got a nice, Vee-twin, Yamaha Dragstar Cruiser you can give me?...please?.... rolleyes.gif ...!

Paul..... with a house full of Computers, and hardware and software...Too tight to give away!... laugh.gif ... laugh.gif ....!

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:32 am
by Ian Warren
That would make for nice photo real scenery .. A house made of computers with three motors bikes riding around it, riding shotgun ! tongue.gif

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:53 pm
by jpreou
Fozzer wrote:
QUOTE (Fozzer @ Jul 29 2014,10:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Low flying over trees "sticking up", is what its all about!...Trust me!... smile.gif ...!


I absolutely disagree Paul ... this is not right at all...

Low flying *around* trees that are "sticking up" ... is what I think you meant to say! biggrin.gif

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 6:49 pm
by Fozzer
jpreou wrote:
QUOTE (jpreou @ Jul 30 2014,1:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I absolutely disagree Paul ... this is not right at all...

Low flying *around* trees that are "sticking up" ... is what I think you meant to say! biggrin.gif


.... laugh.gif .... laugh.gif ... laugh.gif ...!

You are perfectly right...I am a silly old Billy.... sad.gif ...!

In real life, low flying, like I enjoy doing in the Flight Sim, is actually very dangerous!

It leaves no time to find a safe landing place in the event of an engine failure!
In that case, HEIGHT is your/my saviour!... ohmy.gif ...!

Still....as its only a Flight Simulator,..... and I am invincible, ......I can enjoy flying "around" the Autogen trees!... biggrin.gif ...!

Paul...Captain Invincible.... cool.gif ...!

PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 8:20 pm
by toprob
Fozzer wrote:
QUOTE (Fozzer @ Jul 29 2014,10:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
The thing that has always turned me off Photographic Scenery, from the early days, is the lack of 3D objects, like foliage, etc!

Looking at photographs for New Zealand scenery now, and scenery anywhere else, always shows TREES sticking up into the air....
..like it does in Microsoft Autogen Scenery!

In all my Sim flights, I constantly compare my Flight Sim scenery with real photographs and Google Satellite Maps, I find that with a mixture of quality, realistic Mesh (OrbX FTX), Add-on scenery, and Microsoft Autogen scenery, turns out to be the most realistic in representing real scenery, as seen in real photographs!

The scenery in the Flight Sims will NEVER be as realistic as it is in real life, but I'll tell you what, my FSX California and the West scenery is just about as real as it gets, with my scenery mix as above, compared with photographs and relief maps of the actual scenery that I Sim fly over....and its all to do with the delights of Mesh and 3D Autogen!

The Photographic Scenery in Flight Unlimited II was fine at the time, (1997) but Microsoft "Autogen" 3D Scenery has moved it on, and made it much more realistic...for me, anyway!!

Low flying over trees "sticking up", is what its all about!...Trust me!... smile.gif ...!

Paul....in glorious three-dimension!... biggrin.gif ...!


Using photoscenery doesn't mean you need to give up autogen. In fact autogen accounts for about 90% of the development, hence about 90% of the price:) I'm aware that for some 'photoscenery' means no autogen, but this has never been the case with my scenery -- ok, maybe one or two very early releases, back in 2002 days...

I aim to do a post on the Subscription website about autogen in photoscenery, but here's a few facts:

All the Subscription photoscenery will be autogenned, and I am even looking at a 'custom' NZ vegetation autogen at some stage, as I really think that this will add a lot to local flying. The problem is that the existing developers -- mainly Orbx for NZ -- just dispose of any existing custom autogen classes when you run FTX Central, so using Orbx scenery doesn't allow for other developer's autogen. Arno at FSDeveloper is looking at a way to allow for developers to work together rather than just over-writing everyone else's autogen, and once this is solved other custom autogen will be possible in NZ;

My autogen is done in two parts --

First, I use Scenproc, a procedural autogen tool, to create vegetation for the available LINZ databases -- Native Bush, Exotic Bush (basically forestry areas), and Scrub. These are the main large-scale areas within the LINZ databases. This creates large areas of forestry, for instance. This is an amazing process, Scenproc creates this autogen for a complete photoscenery area within seconds. This basically gives the same results as vector landclass polys which VLC and FTX uses.

The second part is a bit more labour-intensive -- I Annotate each house, and most of the remaining trees, by hand. Well, actually by mouse. To give an example of the work involved, so far I've only annotated 3578 houses in Hawke's Bay, an hour or two a day,for a week, and there are a lot left to do ...

So don't be too quick to pass by photoscenery, it does serve a purpose in a lot of areas -- one being the Alps, which is why I chose this area first.