AeroScenery - What Next?

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

Install scenery into AFS directly from AeroScenery

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

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

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

- 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 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.

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 ???

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

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

THANKS IN ADVANCE !

Kind regards Rune

Thank you kind sir!

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!

Nick, regarding AeroScenery cultivation plans, I thought it might be interesting / useful to see how the IPACS team decided to anchor the Florida TOC files (68 total). Currently AeroScenery allows scenery tile downloads in either Level-9, 13 or 14 sizes but based on the pattern below, I think your cultivation plans should include a Level-10 option.