Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Terrain Editor => Topic started by: Nr_RaVeN on February 09, 2011, 03:53:17 PM
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Painting outside terrain editor.....
:headscratch:
Perhaps I'm making something very simple difficult...
A couple of nooby questions..
1. I created a waterd.bmp(16384x16384) in photoshop (a piece of land surrounded by water) I made the land 255 and the water 0.
Do I then take my waterd.bmp and reduce it to 4096x4096(the size of the grdtype.bmp) and paste it onto my grdtype.bmp so that when I paint the texture to the grndtype.bmp it matches?
If so that's what I'm doing and the grndtype texture is not covering all the land. Were am I going wrong? what i do to fix it for now is go in and hand paint the unpainted grey areas but I'm thinking it should lineup w/o having to do that.
2. I understand how I can use an elevation bmp xxx_elv.bmp(1024x1024) if my terrain is all land mass . no problem there
But whats the how to if its an island or a land mass with coastal water?
If I import a 1024x1024 elevation bmp the ocean has mountains.
Thanks
RaVe
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I was confounded by this for a short time, and came up with the following matrix to sort things out. For maps smaller than the max 512-mile terrains, you would only use the center ###x### sizes (and don't forget to use Grayscale mode and sGray color profile:
Elevation Import always 1024x1024
512 map - 1024x1024
256 map - 512x512
128 map - 256x256
64 map - 128x128
gndtype.bmp always 4096x4096
512 map - 4096x4096
256 map - 2048x2048
128 map - 1024x1024
64 map - 512x512
waterd.bmp always 16384x16384
512 map - 16384x16384
256 map - 8192x8192
128 map - 4096x4096
64 map - 2048x2048
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Sorry I hadn't responded to your PM on this matter Raven. Got side tracked. Got time for a TS meeting tonight? I wanted to show you something with what Dot posted here.
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Painting outside terrain editor.....
:headscratch:
Perhaps I'm making something very simple difficult...
Sounds like you're doing it right.
Producing the waterd bitmap first is the way to go, it gives you the highest fidelity coastlines. Yes, when you then convert it to start your grndtype bitmap, you will need to do ground type touchup all along the coasts. That's because of the difference in the areas covered by the pixels in the two file types, but don't do any hand work until you're happy with all three files, elevations, ground type and shorelines.
Once you reduce it one step further for the elevation file, it's critical you're using a program like Photoshop or GIMP to avoid drawing mountains into your water areas. I usually produce a black layer for the water only, and lay it over the final elevation bitmap layer.
Once everything is imported back into the TE, run the Steep Water function, and set all the offending elevations to zero. That's the simplest and fastest way to render a basic terrain. Install a base or two out in the water and take a look in-game. If it's not quite what you want, you may want to rinse and repeat so keep backups of everything. Again, work the grndtype bitmap file before doing any hand work and get everything done that you can using the bitmap files.
After you have your elevations, ground types and coastlines, you can export the water files again and play with the depths and water colors, but be very careful as this can increase the res file size beyond 20 MB very quickly!
Good luck and remember to have fun.
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I was confounded by this for a short time, and came up with the following matrix to sort things out. For maps smaller than the max 512-mile terrains, you would only use the center ###x### sizes (and don't forget to use Grayscale mode and sGray color profile:
Elevation Import always 1024x1024
512 map - 1024x1024
256 map - 512x512
128 map - 256x256
64 map - 128x128
gndtype.bmp always 4096x4096
512 map - 4096x4096
256 map - 2048x2048
128 map - 1024x1024
64 map - 512x512
waterd.bmp always 16384x16384
512 map - 16384x16384
256 map - 8192x8192
128 map - 4096x4096
64 map - 2048x2048
Thank you Dot
IF I understand you correctly, I am to, if for example creating a 256 map re size my elevation to 512x512 the paste it into my 1024x1024.bmp xxx_elv.bmp
and so on with grdtype (@256 map - 2048x2048)<<drop this size into the gndtype.bmp @ 4096x4096
as well as watered bmp (@ 256 map - 8192x8192)<< drop this size into the waterd.bmp@16384x16384
being sure I do it in grey scale.. as far as this>>>"""and sGray color profile:"" <<dont know what that is
I will test this,,, much appreciated Dot
Thank you!
Sorry I hadn't responded to your PM on this matter Raven. Got side tracked. Got time for a TS meeting tonight? I wanted to show you something with what Dot posted here.
Np Ranger, RL is priority :aok
I'm good after 8:30
Thanks
Sounds like you're doing it right.
Producing the waterd bitmap first is the way to go, it gives you the highest fidelity coastlines. Yes, when you then convert it to start your grndtype bitmap, you will need to do ground type touchup all along the coasts. That's because of the difference in the areas covered by the pixels in the two file types, but don't do any hand work until you're happy with all three files, elevations, ground type and shorelines.
Once you reduce it one step further for the elevation file, it's critical you're using a program like Photoshop or GIMP to avoid drawing mountains into your water areas. I usually produce a black layer for the water only, and lay it over the final elevation bitmap layer.
Once everything is imported back into the TE, run the Steep Water function, and set all the offending elevations to zero. That's the simplest and fastest way to render a basic terrain. Install a base or two out in the water and take a look in-game. If it's not quite what you want, you may want to rinse and repeat so keep backups of everything. Again, work the grndtype bitmap file before doing any hand work and get everything done that you can using the bitmap files.
After you have your elevations, ground types and coastlines, you can export the water files again and play with the depths and water colors, but be very careful as this can increase the res file size beyond 20 MB very quickly!
Good luck and remember to have fun.
Thank you Easyscor
Helpful tips and angel of attack info :aok
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Thank you Dot
IF I understand you correctly, I am to,...
It sounds lie you've got it, everything is based on the center of the terrain.
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Thank you Dot
IF I understand you correctly, I am to, if for example creating a 256 map re size my elevation to 512x512 the paste it into my 1024x1024.bmp xxx_elv.bmp
and so on with grdtype (@256 map - 2048x2048)<<drop this size into the gndtype.bmp @ 4096x4096
as well as watered bmp (@ 256 map - 8192x8192)<< drop this size into the waterd.bmp@16384x16384
being sure I do it in grey scale.. as far as this>>>"""and sGray color profile:"" <<dont know what that is
I will test this,,, much appreciated Dot
Thank you!
Yes, even though the ultimate file size is the fixed size listed, you will only be "using" the center square section of the sizes indicated for the terrain size you are creating.
A couple of things that help to work with the different file sizes...set your grid spacing (Edit>Preferences>Guides, Grids...) to 25% and 2 subdivisions. This makes it easy to select the center square of one bmp to copy/paste into another, and get it into the center of that other one. Another thing you could do, if you wanted to start with the gndtyp file for instance, start with a 2048x2048 graphic and once done drawing, change the canvas size to 4096x4096 (with background color black) while having the current size anchored to the middle.
When you're in Grayscale mode, go to (Edit>Assign Profile...) and choose sGray. I'm guessing it's to standardize the grayscale levels. It's recommended in the TE readme file:
The gndtype.bmp can be edited in photoshop or other graphic editing software.You may find it easier to edit types in a paint program outside of painting in the editor.
Be sure you are working in greyscale mode. (sgrey profile for photshops users)
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Thank you dot!
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Got it Guys. Thanks all
:aok Its looking good. Im.... :x