AeroScenery - What Next?

  • As I have several development threads open for AeroScenery and could do with some focus, I thought I'd ask the good folks on here what you'd like to see next in AeroScenery.

    Either choose what you most want to see, or put these in your preferred order:

    - Automatic image processing of stitched images (brightness / saturation)

    - USGS imagery download

    - Worldwide high-resolution elevation data download (from USGS)

    - GUI Cultivation (i.e. what scenProc does but with with a easy GUI)

    - Tree / forest image based detection and cultivation (i.e. what scenProc does but built into AeroScenery)

    - Install scenery into AFS directly from AeroScenery

    - Smooth coastline transparency using OSM coatline data

    - Transparency from KML files

    Let me know if there's anything else.

    AeroScenery - Easily create photoreal scenery for Aerofly

    Edited once, last by nickhod (September 5, 2018 at 6:22 PM).

  • Hi NIck,

    I would like to see (in this order):
    1- Automatic image processing of stitched images (brightness / saturation)

    2- Install scenery into AFS directly from AeroScenery

    3- Tree / forest image based detection and cultivation (i.e. what scenProc does but built into AeroScenery)

    4- USGS imagery download

    Cheers, Thomas


  • Hi Nick,

    Just my thoughts having used FSET for many years................

    GUI Cultivation (i.e. what scenProc does but with with a easy GUI)

    Worldwide high-resolution elevation data download (from USGS)

    Smooth coastline transparency using OSM coatline data

    Tree / forest image based detection and cultivation (i.e. what scenProc does but built into AeroScenery)

    Thank you.

    Kindest Regards,

    Michael.

    Best wishes, Michael :)

  • Hi Nick,

    Living and flying in Australia (mostly coastal,I would love to have Smooth coastline transparency using OSM coastline data first :)

    My preferred order:

    -Smooth coastline transparency using OSM coastline data

    -Worldwide high-resolution elevation data download (from USGS)

    -then the others.

    Cheers & thanks a million, this tool is excellent :)

    Paul

    Handy cultivation tools

    Windows 10 64bit | iCore7-7770K| ASUS STRIX Z270E |KHX2400C15D4 - 32GB | Gigabyte Ge-Force GTX 1080Ti| SSD Intel 520 Series | 40" Philips BDM4065UC/75 4K - Oculus Rift

  • I do not know what tasks all of these options can do.

    But at the top of my wish list:

    - Tree / forest image based detection and cultivation (i.e. what scenProc does but built into AeroScenery)

    - USGS imagery download

    - Automatic image processing of stitched images (brightness / saturation)

    - GUI Cultivation (i.e. what scenProc does but with with a easy GUI)

    - Worldwide high-resolution elevation data download (from USGS)

    - Smooth coastline transparency using OSM coatline data

  • Hi Nickhod and many thanks to work with & for us like you do with Aeroscenery :thumbup:

    My preferred order:

    1/ Smooth coastline transparency using OSM coastline data (AFS2 RGB values of sea color are R:7 G:23 B:46)

    2/ Automatic image processing of stitched images (brightness / saturation... and if possible: overall hue region detection, "color matching" between region detected.

    3/ Worldwide high-resolution elevation data download (from USGS) or from ALOS jaxa data >> http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/ALOS/en/aw3d30/

  • Hi Nick,

    First of all, let me add my thanks and appreciation to the list. You're doing a great job of bringing the complex world of scenery building to the masses and, until such time as Orbx releases products covering every bit of the globe in the tiniest detail, the AFS2 community will need you and your Aeroscenery tool. I'm old enough to remember the term "shareware" and though I'm sure you'll say you're doing it for the love of the challenge and the AFS2 product, it'd be great if we could make some sort of financial contribution to show our appreciation!

    In terms of what comes next - your list seems great to me! I agree with vogel69 when he mentions "overall hue" and "color matching". For me, here in New Zealand, there's a real patchwork of satellite images that make up any region. Fine when using Bing or Google Maps, but jarring when flying over them and seeing dramatic shifts from dark to light. I suspect the images are pieced together from many different "overpasses" and are due to varying light/cloud cover. New Zealand is "the land of the long white cloud" after all, so the chances of finding a day when a large region has consistent (lack of) cloud cover, is pretty remote! So, if there's anything that could be done to smooth out the variance between stitched images, by balancing contrast, hue, brightness, etc. then that could make a huge difference. I've no idea how complicated any of that is - sounds to me like we're asking you to turn Aeroscenery into a Photoshop-lite, but you obviously enjoy a challenge!!

    Water is everywhere around me. I live in the Bay of Islands, so coastline issues are a massive challenge. Anything that can be done to smooth out those transitions would be terrific.

    After that, anything that would make the process of adding buildings and trees would be fantastic. There's some OSM data for buildings in my part of the world, but it's pretty sparse. It's the 3d nature of cultivation that makes flying low and slow such a joy. We all want to fly over somewhere familiar and while it's great that it looks right from 10,000', I'd like to be able to buzz a few local landmarks in my C172! I'd happily while away some hours zooming in on individual streets and "planting" trees, drawing buildings (including the properties of those buildings) all within the same tool that generated the scenery in the first place. For me, like many others I suspect, it is the thought of having to switch between a multitude of tools, formats and interfaces that is the most daunting. Having everything "under one roof" would make this already valuable tool indispensable!

    Keep up the great work and thank you once again.

    James

  • Hi,

    at first, a big THANK YOU from me, too. AeroScenery is a big step forwards in usability over FSET, imho.

    Here's my priorized list:

    1. GUI Cultivation (i.e. what scenProc does but with with a easy GUI)

    2. Tree / forest image based detection and cultivation (i.e. what scenProc does but built into AeroScenery)

    3. Automatic image processing of stitched images (brightness / saturation)

    The issue with 1. is for sure to find clever algorithms working for differing areas. I use a few ScenProc scripts which do work for one area (pretty well e.g. for my little home town and villages around) but provide terrible cultivation in major cities like Moscow or Tokyo. I know, there there are specialists making custom scripts for just special areas but that's beyond me (and I guess most normal users). An easy GUI for selecting parameters would come handy here.

    I would also acknowledge a possibility to synchronize terrain selection with cultication selection, i.e. filling a square I made ground scenery for with cultivation.

    Kind regards, Michael

    Intel i7-6700K 4.0 GHz / Asus MAXIMUS VIII RANGER / Kingston 32 GB DDR4 / Samsung SSD M.2 500 GB + Samsung SSD 1 TB + Intel SSD 500 GB (AeroflyFS2) + WD HD 6 TB / EVGA GTX 1080Ti 11 GB / LG 34UM95 3440 x 1440 / HP Reverb / Win 10/64

  • - Automatic image processing of stitched images (brightness / saturation)

    - USGS imagery download

    - Worldwide high-resolution elevation data download (from USGS)

    These 3 being the most important to me for what AeroScenery already is. As for the cultivation and coastline implementation, that's the Big Bang!

    Thanks Nick!

  • Thanks for all the replies, it's been helpful.

    In summary, everyone wants different things ^^, which is often the case with software.

    I took a few hours to research the complexity / effort of each feature. I've tried to balance getting features out quicker with what people want and came up with this release schedule:

    As ZoSoChile pointed out, I feel like I should finish off the core bits of the orthophoto features first before moving on.

    v0.7 (Low effort)

    - Install scenery into AFS directly from AeroScenery

    - Automatic image processing of stitched images (brightness / saturation)

    v1.0 (Medium - low effort)

    - USGS imagery download

    v1.1 (Medium effort)

    - Worldwide high-resolution elevation data download (from USGS)

    v1.2 (High effort)

    - GUI Cultivation (i.e. what scenProc does but with with an easy GUI) [3]

    v1.3 (High effort)

    - Tree / forest image based detection and cultivation (i.e. what scenProc does but built into AeroScenery) [1]

    v1.4 (High effort)

    - Smooth coastline transparency [2]

    Although several people requested [1] and [2] they're harder to achieve, so I don't want to delay features I could get done quicker.

    It's good to know that people would find them useful though.

    I don't want to be working on AeroScenery for ever :), so the timeline for all this is "a few months".

    [2] is actually pretty tricky when you research it. I don't think OSM data is the answer but hopefully I can come up with something automated.

    [3] It would be good to be able to share an "AeroScenery Cultivation Config" file for a specific level 9 grid square that contains all the data of how to process the available OSM data, any hand added stuff, and vegetation detection results. There's no need for everyone to duplicate effort when tweaking cultivation since it's open source data.

    e.g. "Here's my map_09_ed00_6b80.clcnf", open that in the AeroScenery Cultivation tab and press 'Start'.

    AeroScenery - Easily create photoreal scenery for Aerofly

    Edited once, last by nickhod (September 6, 2018 at 2:37 PM).

  • Thanks a lot for your efforts, nickhod! I think the list is pretty good.

    I'm specially interested in the cultivation and I totally agree with you that maybe we could share the files so other users can download them so the process doesn't have to be repeated.

    Today I fleshed out my "end game" for my AeroScenery projects. Whether I'll ever have time to complete all this is a different matter :)

    AeroScenery

    Orthophoto, elevation and cultivation tool

    XP2AFSAirportConverter

    Tool to convert open source airport data into AFS airports.

    I've spent a bit of time on this and have it creating correct runways, taxiways and ground polys.

    AeroScenery Hub

    Web app that allows XP2AFS converted airports and user created airports and cultivation files to be uploaded with moderation

    AeroScenery Airports

    A desktop app that easily allows airports and cultivation to be installed from the Hub.

    AeroScenery - Easily create photoreal scenery for Aerofly

  • Nick, I think the new FS2 users would like an AeroScenery-Express option to select that compliments the FSCloudPort tool and gets them flying at their new airport in less than 1 hour.

    1) they first use FSCloudPort to download/install an existing local airport or they create one from scratch

    2) they run AeroScenery-Express and provide their K-ID, and AeroScenery auto-generates and auto-installs the following:

    a) elevation data for that level 9 tile that includes that airport

    b) 2m resolution scenery for that level 9 tile

    c) 0.5m resolution scenery for the level 13 tiles that include that airport and the associated final approaches

    d) basic cultivation of houses, buildings, street lights, and plants/trees (OSM process, not photoscenery process)

    This would help eliminate that common new user frustration of wanting to fly at local airports.

    Then you could create AeroScenery-Advanced options for those users that want to invest more time in scenery development.

  • Nickhod It seems , that users like me "will depend on the smart programs you make" or what others create, I might be able to create airport 3D objects, but the process of finding mesh-data and it's related dowloads and stitching together Phototerrain and relying on 4? programs according to the Wiki is bit too much for my brain, I really wanted to start my West-coast of Norway scenery this weekend, bu I am lost how to proceed, I downloaded

    • Aerofly FS2 simulator - Must be installed (CHECK )
    • Aerofly FS2 SDK Tools package - Download it from: here (CHECK)
    • FS Earth Tiles (FSET) - Download it from: here (CHECK)
    • FSEarthTiles.ini - Download it from: here (CHECK)
    • inf2tfwConverter.exe (Optional) - Download it from here (CHECK?)

    But I actually don't understand "how to use"/ install the files ??? =O;(

    the Gimp/photoshop program (I have some "basic" understanding of these programs)

    I am a CAD designer, so will have to learn from scratch the texturing/modelling/unwrapping in 3DS-MAX 2013
    But I am lost on the other steps to create scenery

    I have only made repaints many years ago.. never made any scenery

    I was hoping to achieve within a few hours a downloaded small island of photoscenerey that I could use the downloaded fscloudport to test from (I have the ENHD airport from cloudport but I want to enhance the area with correcrly modelled terminal and tower and the basic 1-2meter photomesh)


    Go shareware with the program Nickhod ? (or if you want to keep it freeware, at least accept "some" donation/beer(Lager/stout/wine)-money), I will gladly donate Euros If if it will help me grasp the concept of scenery creation in Aerofly FS2..

    I MUST thank all the kind users who have provided me with the steps/links :):):thumbup:

    But how or what to do with them steps/files I downloaded to make scenery.. :?::?:=O

    THANKS IN ADVANCE !


    Kind regards Rune

    CPU: Intel i7-975 Extreme Edition @3.33Ghz (unclocked) | RAM: 14GB DDR3 | MAINBOARD: Ausus P6T Deluxe V2 | GRAPHICS CARD: Nvida Titan GTX 6GB

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    USB HID-DEVICES: CH Yoke, CH pedals, Saitek radio-panel, Saitek Switch panel | MONITOR LCD: 32" inch Philips 2560x1440p

    SOFTWARE: Aerofly FS2: Florida DLC, New York DLC, ORBX DLC | FSX-Accecelration | LM Prepar3D V2 & V3

    Edited 2 times, last by Rune-ENHD (September 9, 2018 at 10:15 PM).

  • , but how/what to do with them/files to make scenery.. :?::?:

    The Wiki covers using FSET which is an older app. I believe my app is easier to use.

    After the next release I plan to do a series of video tutorials to help new users.

    It's already pretty simple though.

    1) Unzip your Aerofly SDK and put it somewhere.

    2) Install AeroScenery https://github.com/nickhod/aerosc…s/tag/v0.6-beta (choose the MSI)

    3) Click the settings toolbar button and set your SDK location

    4) Click the map in AeroScenery to choose a tile to downloaded

    5) On the left select whether you want to download from Google or Bing, and the image detail level (try 16 or 17 if you're not sure)

    6) Click "Choose For Me" next to AFS levels

    7) Make sure "Run default actions" is selected

    8 ) Click start. It should download all the image tiles, stitch them, and run GeoConvert to create Aerofly scenery. (Click the folder icon in the map tool bar to see the files)

    The final part is installing the scenery, which will be automated in the next version. For nonw, step 7 onwards covers that

    https://www.aerofly.com/dokuwiki/doku.…enery_creation0

    AeroScenery - Easily create photoreal scenery for Aerofly

  • Thank you kind sir! :huh:

    ^^

    CPU: Intel i7-975 Extreme Edition @3.33Ghz (unclocked) | RAM: 14GB DDR3 | MAINBOARD: Ausus P6T Deluxe V2 | GRAPHICS CARD: Nvida Titan GTX 6GB

    OS: Windows 7 Pro 64 bit OEM, Servicepack-1 |  STORAGE: WD Black 750 GB 7200rpm HDD, V-Raptor 300 GB 10.000rpm HDD

    USB HID-DEVICES: CH Yoke, CH pedals, Saitek radio-panel, Saitek Switch panel | MONITOR LCD: 32" inch Philips 2560x1440p

    SOFTWARE: Aerofly FS2: Florida DLC, New York DLC, ORBX DLC | FSX-Accecelration | LM Prepar3D V2 & V3

  • Nickhod, if you get to the stage of adding cultivation and trees then I'll reckon you'll have something that might attract the attention of the flight sim community at large - one only needs to see what happened with Ortho4xp: I think that software made many P3D users consider XP and in many cases switch to it. Aeroscenery is what AFS2 needs to become a more mainstream sim (well, there is still the matter of 3rd party aircraft too).

    Thanks a lot for developing this!