Planetside Software Forums

General => Terragen Discussion => Topic started by: Mohawk20 on April 25, 2016, 11:38:20 AM

Title: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Mohawk20 on April 25, 2016, 11:38:20 AM
I'm trying to find my way around the dem's, but it doesn't make sense anymore (getting old I guess).
I've downloaded a tile from here: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/topo/gltiles.html
I get either a .zip or .gz file, both containing the same file without extension. What do I need to get this to be able to import into TG3?
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Oshyan on April 25, 2016, 02:34:51 PM
That's a pretty poor source of DEM data. I don't know what format it supplies the data in, but without an extension we won't know. Try one of these instead:
http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/basic/
http://terrain.party/

Try to download data in GeoTIFF, if available. BIN or ArcGrid may also work.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Mohawk20 on April 28, 2016, 09:11:36 AM
Quote from: Oshyan on April 25, 2016, 02:34:51 PM
That's a pretty poor source of DEM data. I don't know what format it supplies the data in, but without an extension we won't know. Try one of these instead:
http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/basic/
http://terrain.party/

Try to download data in GeoTIFF, if available. BIN or ArcGrid may also work.

- Oshyan

Thanks Oshyan, terrain.party is a great source!

To bad the maximum area is 60 km.
I want the elevation data from the area around the Red Sea, for a revisit of my Parting Sea (http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,5704.0.html) scene. But as you can see below, getting separate exported tiles to line up requires some time in Photoshop...
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: bobbystahr on April 28, 2016, 12:21:58 PM
doesn't TG automatically line up dem  DEMs?
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Mohawk20 on April 28, 2016, 05:13:59 PM
It does, but the colours are not lined up... I had to fix them in photoshop to match at the edges.
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: bobbystahr on April 28, 2016, 08:57:27 PM
Quote from: Mohawk20 on April 28, 2016, 05:13:59 PM
It does, but the colours are not lined up... I had to fix them in photoshop to match at the edges.

ah, gotcha
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Mohawk20 on April 30, 2016, 03:25:24 AM
Hmmmm, these maps do seem to have an issue in small scale roughness...
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Dune on April 30, 2016, 10:25:55 AM
Indeed and hard to get that out, unless smoothed in PS. You're probably better off making your own terrain from scratch.
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: bobbystahr on April 30, 2016, 10:33:48 AM
Agree with Ulco, tried once after I got the full version and reverted to playing mainly with in TG for alien planets...who's ever been there to contradict me, hee hee hee.
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: bla bla 2 on April 30, 2016, 02:23:14 PM
You can used world machine too. Unless if, you do not have this software.
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Mohawk20 on May 01, 2016, 07:34:47 AM
Quote from: Dune on April 30, 2016, 10:25:55 AM
Indeed and hard to get that out, unless smoothed in PS. You're probably better off making your own terrain from scratch.

Sure, but i need the real-world elevation data for a good historic recreation.
I did manage to smooth it out in PS, and have an even smoother version rendering now...
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Mohawk20 on May 01, 2016, 11:38:27 AM
Well, I got rid of the all the dents.
Still have some strata, but I think this is good enough.
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Dune on May 02, 2016, 01:58:27 AM
But did you smooth and save in 16-bit?
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Oshyan on May 02, 2016, 02:37:50 AM
If that's what the data looks like you should really just find better data. Harder to use, but better data: http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Mohawk20 on May 04, 2016, 02:26:27 AM
ASTER data from earthexplorer works.
It has some bright white spots in low areas, but I made them black while stitching the tiles, and now I have a nice big area of realistic accurate landscape.

Thanks for all the suggestions, and Oshyan for the sources, wouldn't have found earthexplorer on my own.
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Mohawk20 on May 04, 2016, 12:18:57 PM
Now I face the next problem:
After importing the terrain, the heightfield loader says the terrain is 21605 meters wide , so 21 km.
The actual realworld distance is a little bit more that 500 km.

This affects scale, a lot!
How can I convince terragen of different sizes?

[Edit:]
Found it: Heightfeild resize
Now I realize how enormous this area is, thanks to the atmosphere haze.
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: bobbystahr on May 04, 2016, 03:37:35 PM
Quote from: Mohawk20 on May 04, 2016, 12:18:57 PM
Now I face the next problem:
After importing the terrain, the heightfield loader says the terrain is 21605 meters wide , so 21 km.
The actual realworld distance is a little bit more that 500 km.

This affects scale, a lot!
How can I convince terragen of different sizes?

[Edit:]
Found it: Heightfeild resize
Now I realize how enormous this area is, thanks to the atmosphere haze.

;D
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: bla bla 2 on May 11, 2016, 12:51:09 PM
Hello,

Are there other site to other places in the world? Because I see that the united states ..

Existe t'il d'autre site pour faire d'autre endroit du monde ? Parce que je vois que les etats-unis..

Cheers,  :D
Title: Re: Trying to work with DEM's again after a few years.
Post by: Mohawk20 on May 16, 2016, 03:45:32 AM
Quote from: bla bla 2 on May 11, 2016, 12:51:09 PM
Hello,

Are there other site to other places in the world? Because I see that the united states ..

Existe t'il d'autre site pour faire d'autre endroit du monde ? Parce que je vois que les etats-unis..

Cheers,  :D

In earthexplorer you can select any part of the Globe.
I was specifically looking for the area around the Red Sea including the Suez Gulf. Found excellent data on earthexplorer.