Often wondered ,if there were ways to get ones home airstrip made to reflect reality...For many years I flew from SKYTOP NY03 Roscoe NY...A Grass strip ,on a mountain..In FSX its totally incorrect.Reality is ,its a One Way Grass Strip,which when taking off its like going off a Cliff of which it is...I would pay a fee for this,as this place has great sentimental value for me,as I sit here in the Bone Yard Of Fl...Thanx..Vin.<label for="rb_iconid_24"></label>
http://www.airnav.com/airport/NY03
Sure, it's easy/peazy, LOL. What part is important to you, the way it looks in real life from the air, or that plus the buildings, objects, etc. What do you have that in not default FSX, landclass? UTX, FTXG, GEX, what mesh? i ask as all this will effect the results you want. you can buy the megascenery v2 NY state and it will be like flying over the real thing, but flat, LOL.
Best, Michael
Thanx Michael...This is an almost primitive strip...somewhat like an Ironing Board sticking off a a table.with high trees on both sides!.At the South end,the Tops of the hundred ft trees are below you..So Landing only North is required. Taking off to the South is also required! Wind always a factor!There is ,by the road,one non discript ranch house..a one plane hanger, a Mobil home out back right ..Currently a Huge Log home is being built.part way down the runway....would not need to look at that.It should look like a narrow green ribbon from the air..on the ground facing south? no obstructions can see three states...To the north? butts on the local road!. High trees...if any scenery reflecting most of this exists? i would not hesitate to acquire it..That if I knew where to find it.Again thanx for your reply and questions..Vin<label for="rb_iconid_24">
OK, 5 minutes work. Obviously after looking at it in default FSX, the mountain top issue is something that will have to be addressed. Hopefully having a quality mesh product like FSGenesis or FSGlobal will fix that, but otherwise, the photoreal part is easy, I can blend this with the default, add autogen and adjust the AFCAD and make the default runway be invisible if you want.
Best, Michael
Oh my gosh.!!..What you say is great...Its a beautiful place SKYTOP...really no marked strip just grass from road to the end..Main reality is the unobstructed Take off to the South...One can dip below the runway here.Thanx Much for your interest....Vin!<label for="rb_iconid_24">
Your water masking is a bit poor.Originally Posted by MCDesigns
Joke. Sorry Michael, I just couldn't resist with this one.
Seriously, it is amazing what you can guys do so quickly. I haven't fiddled with sceneries pretty much ever, but I really need to look into photoreal and sketchup stuff sometimes. But not until I've finished gauges with Piglet's Skyraiders. As a complete n00b, I already have a small trouble with reflections on the rotating gauges...
No problem Vin. in looking at the AFCAD, there are 3 large tanks on a hilltop nearbuy, they kinda stand out, you want me to leave those or delete them? Also since it seems you don't have any mesh installed, I can raise the elevation of the airport a bit to give it that cliff look you want, just let me know.
If you have any images of the buildings/objects that are the property I can see about making a few objects.
Best, Michael
I was using Sim-savvy photoreal as my example, LOL. (no water masking)Your water masking is a bit poor.
Joke. Sorry Michael, I just couldn't resist with this one
Once you do something a few times, it isn't a big deal. I have over a TB of photoreal airports d/led for reference. Doing the base is the easy part, it's the masks, the night and the seasonal textures that are a pain, especially with large areas.
Best, Michael
By the way, how FSX handles the water mask? Is it a some black/white image of the certain texture tile (that is land is white, water is black or vice versa) and water mask texture is just marked as a mask somehow (filename?)? If it is, I can understand the pain, especially for larger coastal areas.
yep, a complete black/white image with black being the water. in the .inf file that goes into resample .exe you define what textures are for what features, water, mask, night, and seasons.
For my military ops scenery I am working on the BMP for the whole island is 810 MBs, so imagine loading almost 1 gig of BMP into photoshop, creating a new black layer over it and then tracing the jagged, rocky coastline and deleting the black where the land is, took me quite awhile
Best, Michael
Hi Again Michael...Tanks a non issue..I think it was just random candy..Only land mark is the tower on the left side of Tennanah Lake..as pictured in FS9..A turn West base point..Vin
Elevation most important...any buildings not too important..A road side Ranch house,a single hanger close to it, some what behind it a Mobile Home..,a wind sock,where new consrtuction is shown in GOOGLE Pic would round it out beautifuly....Thanx Michael
Jeez man, if SimSavvy and more recent "heir" of it, MSE 2.0, has been criticized of the watermasking quality sometimes, I can really now understand the devs side. Think of the length of the whole coastal line of the USA and the amount of texture tiles it includes. Precise job you see with some smaller sceneries in few feet or couple of meters scale would probably take years from one or two guys and the tediousness of the task would porbably kill those poor souls before they are finished.
Little OT, but are you using the "full" Photoshop, that is CS4/5/6 or Elements? I have only Elements and so far I've found one nasty thing it lacks or more, it is just poorly implemented in Elements: warping shapes. I'm just wondering what are the capabilities of the software required for effective scenery job. I've also ordered Paintshop Pro from Amazon, as it is quite a lot cheaper than CS6, which I'm not going to purchase for the price it is. Also the new CC with monthly fee seems quite a ripoff, if you don't work with the software almost daily. Then there is of course the all capable GIMP, but damn it seems complicated to use with some stuff that is just couple of clicks in PE.
No problem Vin, thanks for the info, very helpful!
Best, Michael
I have an older CS2 which works fine. i also use PSP and GIMP, which I know more than the others and prefer. I could probably refine my process in PSD, but my knowledge of it is probably the biggest obstacle. I agree, the cloud based way Adobe is doing things is a HUGE turnoff for me.
As far as Sim-savvy and MSEv2, there are other ways to do this other than what I am doing and seeing as the MSEv2 files have basic water masking, I doubt he is doing it by hand in an image editing software. One program for photoreal allows you to import the google earth KMZ or KML files into it once you have defined the outline of the water in Google earth, so that would be a huge advantage to large areas. Night textures would be the least tedious of any of the other textures to do, so not having them is kinda of a let down. as far as expectations for large area photoreal, I can see seasons being out of the picture as that is the biggest pain of all, LOL. Autogen, you have basic, polyonal and then precise ways of adding it. I added basic autogen to my photoreal Kandahar province in an hour.
Best, Michael
I really need to dig in more to the SDK tutorials sometimes, because creating things really interests me. You also learn about software and computer graphics at the same time, and learning is always interesting. That Google Earth method sounds truly neat, but I wonder, if MSE and SimSavvy devs just haven't used the Google Earth as a source as a prohibitions for the commercial use? Then, you are actually using data produced by Google and I don't even want to dig to the all software patents, US copyright legislation, copyright infringement trials etc., which might suddenly complicate things.
But, autogen stuff seems handy. What kind of task would it be to add basic autogen to MSE or BlueSkyScenery yourself. And then to take it further, use some OSM data for the autogen to get stuff lined with photogen tiles?
And sorry for stealing thread... I know, this should be discussed somewhere in the designer's workshop, but on the other hand, others that also think of starting to make their first own creations may spot this here and get useful info.
Adding autogen is easy, yet tedious depending on how specific you want to be, here is what my Military Ops island looks like when the photoreal .BGL is loaded into the autogen annotator. You choose what autogen you want, enable it and then place it on the map, save and exit. You can always go back and edit. try it with any photoreal scenery .BGL, just make sure you have a texture folder with the scenery as that is where the .AGN files go.
Don't get me started on google and their own copyright violations, just look at the sketchup warehouse and youtube, LOL. using data to define areas is different from actually using the tiles which are watermarked anyway. They probably have their own proprietary software for doing the MSEv2 addons.
Best, Michael
Vin, in looking at different sat imagery, it looks like the big gray house on the property further in is new since I can see some construction around it and in earlier images it isn't there. I can edit it out no problem, just want to make sure it wasn't there as you remember it before I do.
Best, Michael
Yes its a big log home..set up after some years i left,not important at all......Basically I look at it as Sentimental Place ..some where in the late 60s on ...Spent lots of time there..helped make that strip..In the winter ,deep snow,we would roll the grass and use ski gear....again thanx for your interest...If this happens? OLD SKYTOP on FSX? it would bring a misty eye or two........Thanks..Vin
Thanks Vin, I will get it done for you, just making sure of all the details.
Best, Michael
Well the mask and water masking are done, just need to do a few objects and add a couple autogen trees. I added some telephone poles along the road and added some road traffic since it adds to the immersion (you can always turn it off). I raised the airport elevation by about 20 meters, gives it a nice drop off at the end, any more and it would have caused issues, hope that is ok.
Hopefully done this weekend, will PM you Vin.
Best, Michael
Michael Thats It...WOW!...Great job!...How can I ever thank you.Please let me know!..This tells me there are some fine people on here..This Flight Sim World..It makes me feel good,that you,would go way out of your way,work hard, to accommodate a member here. We must have something in common? I think for you its your art,talent and creativity,and for me its Flying..calling you friend Michael,Tho we be in anonymity ,I feel I know you!..some Old guys like me From Sky Top are still around..I will share this with them with your permission...I do not think they Sim,but I will send them many Pics.. well my friend ,yes I get misty eye seeing old SKYTOP again...With most Sincere Thanks ,and appreciation Vin
PS any info,or anything required ? just ask...
I'd just like to echo what Vin has stated.
It's reasons like this that I always come back to SOH. It's the selfless acts and generosity of our talented members, be they modellers,texture artists,sound editors,FDE guru's etc that make me proud to visit here every day. Though there might be a little angst coming to the fore in some forum threads every now and then I think that overall we have a pretty happy, tight knit "family" here.
Well done,Michael.
I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Hi Vin, just letting you know it's done. I changed it up from what I posted earlier as the default textures were not as crisp as the photoreal, so I went with all photoreal and matched it ok with the default so depending on autogen levels, it will look half way decent. Adding the autogen is what took longer. It has night lighting and the buildings have it also, looks good from the street, LOL.
I still need some last minute tweaks and I'll post a link tomorrow for anyone that is interested.
Couple of early morning images, autogen is at max
Best, Michael
Yes thats SKY TOP...Truly...What a great Artistic job..from nothing ,we got an Airport as it is.Needless to say I LOVE IT!..so too the few remaining guys who know this place.I await breathlessly...Thanx Michael!...Vin<label for="rb_iconid_24">
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