Settings for custom RAW format

[Ciaphas]

Can I get one of the current builders to double check my settings for .raw generation?


Document settings:

4096x4096
16 bit greyscale

RGB 0,0,0 (no land)
RGB 1,1,1   (Just above the waterline)

I’m running into an issue where RGB 0,0,0 sits at the water lines and I have to sink the areas that are supposed to be water back below the waterline.

Is there a work around for this?


Thanks in advance!


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[Ciaphas]

With a little trial and error and a ton of forum surfing this is what I have found and figured out:

Open painting program (I use PS CS4)

Create new 16 bit "Greyscale" document (power of 2, ie... 512x512, 1024x1024, 2048x2048, 4096x4096)

To designate water or land use the following RGB values

Water = 254,254,254

Land = 0,0,0

I use multiple layers to retain my land mass edges while editing certain aspects of design. I merge the layers prior to saving the document for testing within TE.

Select "Save As", chose your target location (AH3 Terrain directory/your terrain), chose the bit order you want (not really relevant anymore), I chose IBM PC and export it.

Fire up TE and import your new "Signed" .raw file.

Just rinse and repeat until you are satisfied with your building blocks.

<S>
Ciaphas

[Easyscor]

Sounds like you are using LC3D? If not, then that's another answer.

When you import into the TE, there are two options, try Signed Height Map instead of Unsigned.

[Ciaphas]

I had painted the rough outline in PS and was having issues with RGB values. They were sorted out after sifting through the forums I found my answer.

As mentioned above, the RGB value for water is 254,254,254 and the base land RGB value is 0,0,0.

On another note, flipping the image vertically fixed the upside down import problem that I was experiencing.

I wish I knew what the RGB value representing 5 or 10 FTW was.

Has HTC released the RGB value ranges for altitude?


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[Easyscor]

I can't help you with LC3D, sorry.

[Ciaphas]

Not using LC3D


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[hitech]

With 16 bit grey scale, there is not a "RGB" value.

HiTech

[Ciaphas]

Based on a greyscale, how is the elevation determined in relation a grayscale image?

*just sent a PM to you*


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[bustr]

grayscale value 1000 = 0 feet elevation.
maximum elevation in the terrain editor is 32,000ft.

I build a 16 bit png grayscale file in Krita from my 1:1 blueprint paint.net project file. The TE workspace is 4096x4096 no matter how small the CBM map terrain porthole space you decide your terrain size will be. Then I convert it to a Krita RAW format file, convert to unsigned RAW in ImageJ, and import that to produce the base block landscape and oceans for my projects. The basic elevation step is 660ft if you want a 90 degree edge on a step. If you don't run some effect like a gaussian blur or build with layers, then merge them before the conversion, many of your transition lines between shades of gray will pop up elevation feathers due to random pixilization(noise) at the boundaries during the conversion process to RAW. The import into the terrain editor rotates the project space 90% to the left I believe, I have to remember each time to rotate the Krita project 90 to the right before I export.

I always have to create a test run with a 1000ft cylinder oriented north and run the import to remember for sure.

In the end unless you do your manual building of the 3D space in L3DT, painting in the TE is easy if you just want to slap something down to get it over with. Once you import your RAW file, you still have to Michelangelo your 3D project space across the finish line, then paint it. The TE is clunky that way. I just Michelangelo the whole thing and get it over with.

 

[Ciaphas]

I was hoping for a good option to paint in general elevations prior to importing in to The TE.

Unfortunately Photoshop does not have an option to input 16 bit values as they rely on an 8 bit RGB value for the color picker. If they do I have not managed to find it. Been using photoshop for more than a decade and never had a need to search for a 16 bit color picker.

Using the 8 bit RGB values seem to be very problematic and erratic at best unless you are using the two RGB values mentioned above:

Deep ocean 254,254,254
Land 1,1,1

Though RGB 0,0,0 is very shallow water
I did try some other values such as 100,100,100 and received an alt >= 20k.

I will check out the programs you are using to see if they will allow me to do what I want.

I have a tendency to over think and to perform as much pre work as possible before I start on the crawl to a finished product.

Thanks for the help guys, it is appreciated!





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[Ciaphas]

Another reason for all of the pre work is I can not use the top down view in TE and see the entire map as it clips out on me. I need to be able to see the whole picture during the early blocking sessions for the terrains.

If I could get that resolved, the pre paint for elevations would become irrelevant.


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[bustr]

Your work window from an elevation POV is limited in the TE. Still your basic polygon size for FPS reasons is a clunker, so you really need to be under 30,000ft to do 3D work by hand. The TE sand bags you with this in terms of scale when you sculpt topo formation masterpieces. When you are high enough to see a broad area comfortably, you are too high to maintain a reality to the scope of scale and the clunky polygons. It should be a warning as a really beautiful mountain starts forming up to check your elevations and scale. You probably just pulled Mt. Everest up out of the ground where you wanted a 660ft tall running mesa becasue at 660ft it looks like crap. That is why I only setup broad elevation bands as check points to gauge "scale" when I create the base RAW file for import. The rest is keeping to the scale perimeters I set during the creation of the blueprint no matter how bad the clunky polygons look when you work with low elevation top features.

That's what a good coat of paint is about from the tile set. And frequently running a build and driving around on your masterpiece becasue you laid down one field with a GV spawn you move around to get up close and personal with your assumptions of scale. Some of the topo features on BowlMA are not what I really wanted to happen becasue I didn't do that more frequently. And Oceania I became obsessed with refined mountain ridge lines......

CM-Eye mode is nice but can't give you the equivalent of what things look like from commander mode in a tank using that for perspective. It's got some of the same problems with elevation and perspective the TE confronts you with.

[hitech]

I believe what you are looking for is the following, all Rgb values will be the same = i.e. Red = Green = Blue for the following.

0 = 0 Feet
1 = 256 Feet
2 = 512 Feet
.
.
.
127 = 127 * 256 = 32512

and below water

255 = -1 * 256 = -256Feet
254 = -2 * 255 = -512 Feet
253 = -3 * 256 = -1024 Feet
.
.
.
128 = -128 * 256 = -32768
Formula (256 - x) * 256 = Feet

Because your editor will only work in 8 bit, it is converting the signed 16 bit to signed 8bit .

How signed 8bit works is as above. Makes a lot more sense if you see it in Hexadecimal.

HiTech

[Ciaphas]

That is exactly what I was looking for!


Thanks for all of the help guys!


Cheers,
Dave


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[bustr]

I see what you are doing, my apologies for misunderstanding you.

I just Michelangelo everything and don't worry much about pre work on the import file other than for the base topography so I have the elevation scale in place that I've limited my work to. That is why 16bit grayscale is the work of at the most an hour to get a foundational RAW topo hightmap import file. What I want as a finished product much of the time evolves as the 3D Michelangeloing creates the terrain around where I've mapped all the field locations which are the real fixed guide posts to how the game will flow when it's in the MA. I'll spend a few days working those locations out. Everything else is eyecandy sculpted inside of a predetermined scale I'm building a theme around so it just happens to look like the feild location was chosen becasue of a logical location on the topography. The painting process has to be done by hand as I attempt to make the tiles reproduce what I see in the real world from aerial survey photos. In the end it becomes a bit like painting landscapes something like those guys on PBS and their one hour of happy tree painting into landscapes.

I've been wondering if I shouldn't use photos scaled to the workspace to use as my topo feature guide for complex watersheds. The polygons probably would make a clunky mess of it but, The complex ridge lines would be easier to trace onto the workspace. That's why I draw in the watershed now in 2D, then use the bulldozer tool to shape it into 3D.