Photolistic scenaries - How?

[Dr Nick]

How do I make these?

I'm, pretty sure it has something to do with 6 images being stiched together, in a skybox, and then split up and put in separate files for FMS.

I 100% understand thee .scn file for these, but I am not sure how to get the images to flow into one another. I am able to take the images, but they dont join up like they should but instead just look like a bunch of pictures.

I have tries to read about how to do this in other threads, but they were flooded with flaming and people disagreeing and I learnt nothing from this.

Please no flaming.

Also, if you refer to any program used for this, chances are I dont have them and if possible could you link to them for me?

[TreeHugger]

Hi,

you will need a stitching software to make a panorama out of your source images. is a common and free choice. You can also use it to extract the six sides of a cube from a spherical pano.

There are many tutorials about shooting a panorama on the net, you can try the panorama groups on flickr.com for a start.

Regards

PS: Oh, and please don't pick up nonsense terminology, it will make your google-ing so much harder. In English, it's either "photorealistic" or "photoreal" - photolistic is not even a word.

[smcxx66]

Just go to Flickr.com and serch under EQUIRECTANGULAR.
Some people also call it 360x180 pano.lol

As a matter of fact..the only thing you to have to do is
change the wordings of files type to make G4 sceneries
work in the G3.5 lol

Or go to Harald's site. The Reflex are in equirectangular
Heli-x and FMS are in skybox.

You'll get a general idea of how a panorama image should look
like before converting it into a skybox.

The image must have proper fisheyes. That's why
most of the photoreal sceneries from RC-sim for FMS
are whack or you'll see lines.lol

Look for Sebz's pano.
In his photo streams..there's instructions of how to make
these pano.

As for making skybox images work...that's why I just
edited my .scn files to number. Use NOTEPAD to open the .scn file.

I assign it like this....Left=0 , front=1, Right=2 back=3

Top=4
bottom=5

if the top or bottom image dosn't align.
I simply rotate the top image Clockwise (right click on image)
Rotate the bottom image counter clock wise.
I just rotate them until they align.

To reposition the model...I'll either put or remove a negative sign (-)
in front of the first value of the modle's posistion.

or i'll just manually rotate the skybox images by assign a different number
to them. Numbers only have a single digit.lol
That's why i don't use names...it's faster.

Then I can copy that .scn file(master file) and use the same procedure
to create other sceneries.

Just use Harrald's file if you want to use Heli-x's scneries.lol
The images are backwards. i can do it manually...but i don't
want to confuse ya.

There's a CUBE the Sphere software that I've posted everywhere.lo
Or you can go to RC-sim and download Loe's sim (new sim).
Feed your pano that you made into it...you'll get a general idea.
This software will convert equirectangular in skybox images for you.

If your pano that you made is incomplete...just increase the
canvas size. set your image to the center.
Makesure you make the image 2:1 ratio before you feed it into
the converter....Keep the horizon at the center of the image.

Without proper fisheye...after you converter it...you'll still see
it project in a sort of cylinder. It might help you understand
a little better of the different types of panoramas.

Another thing you can do is load Bixorama.
Make 6 images 512x512 . Make each image a different color.
Then Feed the images into bixorama as (single files).
Then select longitute/latitude...for viewing.
Then you'll get a better idea how the images are fisheye when
in a equirectangular formate. Here's an example



Another potion you can do if you took a pano already and you're
missing the top portion of the sky. Is simply layer in a premade
equirectangular with a complete sky.
I used GIMP (freeware)...select alpha channal (transparent).
I then traced the outlines of the lanscape.
Then layered a different sky underneath.

Here's an example. Some of the earily reflex sceneries are missing
skies. People simply painted them. But it still looks wierd or you'll
notice the clouds are in cylinder. You can donwload this scenery
with the panited sky anywhere.

I simply flipped the entire pano to madeup for the bottom portion
that's been cropped.



here's an exmple of what the bottom image will look like.
I just coloured the image with a circle..that's all.
Some people call these types of image "small planets"


I also did this to one of Harald's scneries. I like this scenery becuase
of the runway. The original had an overcast sky. Now I have another
scenery (day) of the same raunway.lol




Here's a link to sky back drops you can purchase but you can
simply use equirectanulars from Flickr.
The methode I used is nothing new.
http://www.marlinstudios.com/samples/samppano.htm


The content in a scenery folder using Harald's scenery.
I use leo's sim to convert the equirectangular.
The images are set to 2048x2048.
If your PC is not powerful enough you can use 1024x1024.
Just zoom out a couple of clicks.



What's in my .par file



Screen shot of the scenery in FMS.




a shot from the G4.lol


A shot from Aerofly


A hot from Leo's....They all look the same to me.lol


Thumbnail of some of my sceneries collections..lol
I have so many of them (hundreds) I don't even use half of them.
Just like the fleet of models I have. It's a hobbie.lol

[Dr Nick]

Thanks, but I'm still unsure of the step by step way to do this.

I have downloaded hugin, and I have taken the shots for the pano, and made a pano in hugin, but how do I turn this into a proper group of 6 images that will work for a "photorealistic" scenery in FMS?

Thanks
Nick

[smcxx66]

The converter dose it for you. It'll spit out the 6 images.
The images must be in .BMP to work in FMS.

Here is the equirectangular to skybox converter.
This will automaticly export in .bmp
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?9w9lwhwyzzi


Set your display setting to 32 bit.

Put your pano into a folder first.

Select size.

Then select extract all.


Or you can use Leo's sim. Then retrive the 6 images out of the scenery
folder.
http://www.leobueno.net/

Here's the menu screen



Here's a link to a scenery I converted. You can copy and paste
the .scn file into your scenery.
Rename the images to match what's in the .scn file (numbers)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?24slb3nhkmw

Here are links to Gimp and Artweaver.

http://www.gimp.org/windows/
http://artweaver.en.softonic.com/download#pathbar

Here's an example. Using Gimp.

Open image.
Select LAYER.....Then select alpha channel. (transparent)
Then select TOOLS .Then you see variouse tools .
Then click "right" click on the mouse to cut.
ZOOM in to cut more details.

Save your image as .XCF type file as a stencil.
You can layer different skies if you wish.

After you layer what ever you like...SAVE AS .jpg




Example...let say your pano is incomplete.
Here's a 360 pano that's incomplete.
The original size was 200x1024
I RESIZE the image slightly to 256x 1024. (height= 1/4 of length)
I then increase the CANVAS size to 512x1024 (2:1 ratio).

Do your math or calculations accrordingly. If your pano is 8000 in length

It is important that you keep the horizon at the center of the image(pano).
Notice the horizon on the other panoramas.



This is what it'll look like after the conversion


To correct the sky I'll simply use gimp and layer in a different sky.
People had tried to airbrush skies in the past...but it dosn't look good.

The bottom panel is almost neglectable becuase you don't see it
most of the time.

A new sky



A new set of 6 images with a complete sky