FBX

[Dune]

I will be getting an fbx file today from a client, with heights and color/texture information embedded. I need to use this in TG (also today!), but there's no fbx import. So, does anyone know how I can separate the information channels (in Lightwave or so) and feed them into TG separately? Is it possible anyway?

And another question; I received a 32-bit geotiff, but imported as geotiff image map in Terragen mode (but moved to 0/0/0) some areas are 'empty' in the sense that the planet is transparent there, while imported as GDAL mode it's completely different (very hard edged and it seems inverted). And imported as regular image map and adjusted to 16-bit greyer levels it's working okay, but as said, adjusted, so the relative altitudes may not be good.

Any (fast) advice is very welcome!

[Hannes]

Hi Ulco,
Regarding the FBX: I could open the thing in 3ds Max, and convert it for you to OBJ if you like. The separate channels should be there as textures I guess.

[Dune]

Thanks Hannes, I'll keep your offer in mind. I might be able to open it in Lightwave though, so I'll try that first. Have to get it in the first place, so I hope they hurry.

[cyphyr]

You can open FBX in Lightwave. You will have to open it as a scene rather than an object

[digitalguru]

Have you tried this?
https://www.autodesk.com/developer-network/platform-technologies/fbx-converter-archives

You might lose some info in the translation, but it might give you a start

[Dune]

Thanks guys, good to know.

[Oshyan]

The GeoTIFF might just have very extreme values in some areas (like outside of the areas that have been drawn/designed), or even null values. You can try replacing null value with 0. You can also try opening in Photoshop and seeing if there are dramatically different colors/shades in the areas that appear transparent. Finally, if there is an alpha channel in the GeoTIFF that might be causing issues.

- Oshyan

[Dune]

Thanks, Oshyan. I'll have another look. But in PS I only see very bright white and black areas, so it's difficult to work in. I color adjusted a copy to 16-bit and that kind of works, but still I'd like to see if I can use the plain Geotiff.

[cyphyr]

GeoTiff's are a monumental pain to work on.
The best solution I have found (I am sure there are others) is to add an adjustment layer (levels or curves seem to work), crank that till you can see what you are working on and work in the layer below the adjustment layer. Also use sampled colours directly from the Geotiff itself. Then prior to saving turn off the adjustment layer.
Not perfect but I have yet to find a geotiff editor of any sort.

[Dune]

Thanks, Richard. I've never actually worked in adjustment layers, so I'll keep that in mind. In the meantime I've adjusted the colors to 16-bit and can now see ditches, and fields and paths raised a bit, so that works. I could also load the original Getiff and lay them on top of eachother and saw that there was very little difference; just changing offset and displacement a bit was enough to get a decent match. So now I can go paint in the reworked 16-bit tiff.
Also, in the meantime, Hannes did a great job finding out what caused the textures to go awry, which I changed from the original fbx, so I'm on my way now.