topographic map overlays

[Lucio]

I'm doing many experiments with image mapping on TG2. Now I've managed to obtain a very high resolution map (10000x10000) of a topographic area, corresponding to my living zone, in Italy, and then applied as a surface layer to the corresponding DEM terrain, downloaded from the Nasa SRTM program.
All consisted in taking about a hundred screenshots with Google Earth, and stitching them together in Photoshop to make the map.. long and hard work 

However the result can be good and realistic for backgrounds or medium/high altitude images or animations, especially for populated zones with infrastructures, roads, cities and so on

Here is an image of the scene I created

[Will]

very cool! and mans that a hight res image!

[oggyb]

That's beautiful, well done!!!     I must try this some time, I've been looking at DEMs and sat images for where I live too.

M.

[rcallicotte]

Very beautiful.  Great job!

[Jane]

Such a beautiful image! 
I would love to learn how to do this too.  I sure spend a lot of time looking at Google Earth too. But not living near a city, we dont have those really high resolution pictures yet. 
Jane

[Lucio]

I used Google Earth because it's free, and I don't have enough money to purchase high resolution satellite maps.. Google Earth has many different resolutions per area, and placing manually the final overlay image on the terrain can't be an exact procediment. I think it's important to choose significative portions that can give a good visual result, even if they don't match perfectly the terrain. It's a work based on the result you want to achieve. However the resolution of these maps must be VERY high to obtain decent results, especially if you increase the resolution of the renders

[Oshyan]

Quite nice results. I commend your patience. You may find some high resolution seamless satellite imagery at the USGS seamless data repository: http://seamless.usgs.gov

- Oshyan

[mt_sabao]

great image. simple but great

[Will]

Quite nice results. I commend your patience. You may find some high resolution seamless satellite imagery at the USGS seamless data repository: http://seamless.usgs.gov

- Oshyan

Good resource! Thanks:)

Regards,

Will

[Lucio]

Yes, that NASA link is also useful for terrain models

[rcallicotte]

How high was the resolution of the maps you used?

...However the resolution of these maps must be VERY high to obtain decent results, especially if you increase the resolution of the renders

[Lucio]

How high was the resolution of the maps you used?

...However the resolution of these maps must be VERY high to obtain decent results, especially if you increase the resolution of the renders

I've taken 97 screenshots @ 1024x768 screen resolution, then stitched all the material in a final 10000x10000 contrast enhanced .png. Actually Google Earth can save only low quality .jpg screenshots and this is a bit limitating, but with patience you can get good results.

I think TG2 has a very great and unexplored potential in architectural landscaping and exteriors visualization. I'm an architect, and I'm planning to use the Deep version in a project I'm already working (I posted a topic about that some week ago), even if the rendertimes are a bit expensive actually.

[Will]

Think of the possablitys if you could get a Maxwell render plug-in for Terragen 2....

Regards,

Will

[glen5700]

Very cool idea and a very cool image,
Thanks for sharing,
Glen