How do I customize the terrain in Flightgear?

[simone04]

Hi,

I wanted to know how to customize the terrain texture in flightgear.
I have seen some sites to how to do it:
http://wiki.flightgear.org/Howto:Create_custom_terrain
but there are many broken links and I don't know how to proceed here.
I also tried to search on youtube for some help, but it didn't work. The only thing that I found are those two videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BxTjdqCMUc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkI2wpUT0Nk
I finally downloaded something from there, but the downloaded images were not correct:
1st they are in black and white
2nd in all the images there are some "black bands" which I can't find a reason for that.

So I really don't know how to proceed.

My specs are:
Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS
FlightGear 2019.2.0
Intel i5 3470

Any help is highly appreciated.

Thanks.

[simone04]

bump

[D-ECHO]

"bump"ing topics without adding more to the discussion is usually not very liked on this forum, especially after such a short period of time, people will respond when they have something to say.

If you only want to replace the textures, have a look at http://wiki.flightgear.org/Procedural_Texturing.

[simone04]

Sorry I didn't want to be rude at all.
Thank you for your response.

[D-ECHO]

No Problem

[wlbragg]

What exactly are you stuck on? Is simply making your own terrain textures to replace default textures? Or are you wanting to learn how to generate new terrain using shape files? Or maybe you want to know more about the procedural texturing effects and features that are available?
You may not be getting much help because your question is too broad.
The documentation is there for all these different aspects. Some are more difficult to learn others, not so much. But all of it takes time, and a lot of research of the documentation and existing examples.

[simone04]

Sorry if I was too generic. I simply hadn't enough information to do a proper question.
I want to replace the default terrain with a more detailed terrain (like a 1m/pixel map), from google maps for example(or other free services like https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ ).
I made some progress. I successfully got an image with the terrain and it's very, very detailed(in fact I got something like 0,65m/pixel and the total image resolution is 17920x10496 , and so the size is drastically high(720MB)). Also, I exported the map to a kmz format.
I have also successfully installed ArcGIS.
I have the right tools (I think), but no knowledge about ArcGIS.
And now I don't know how to continue. (at least I got the first part)

[simone04]

Is simply making your own terrain textures to replace default textures?

Yes it is exactly what I want to do. Replay the default textures with my own terrain from an high quality image

[wlbragg]

Also, I exported the map to a kmz format.

This is the basic format your going to need. KMZ is not something we use for scenery as far as I am aware.

I successfully got an image with the terrain and it's very, very detailed(in fact I got something like 0,65m/pixel and the total image resolution is 17920x10496

What is this image of, where did you get it and what does it look like?

This is a decent starting point for the type of "image" you need.
http://wiki.flightgear.org/Howto:Using_QGIS_to_process_NLCD_data

Take a look at these for some insight into the types of data you need to create scenery.
https://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=37322&p=366718&hilit=generating+scenery#p366718
https://github.com/montagdude/FGScenery-VA_MD_DE

Overview of the process, at the end a link to the actual toolchain and how to use it.
http://wiki.flightgear.org/Howto:Create_custom_terrain

[simone04]

This is a decent starting point for the type of "image" you need.
http://wiki.flightgear.org/Howto:Using_QGIS_to_process_NLCD_data

Ok, I am following your guide.
I have

• Read how to use TerraGear (including downloading terragear, and creating 3 folders: data, output, and work.) (the wiki didn't specify where to put this folder so I simply put in my desktop)
• I went to https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ and downloaded the void-filled dataset from there
• I converted the file from GeoTIFF to hgt format

Now I have this little problem: the wiki says that I need to download NLCD data from here: https://www.mrlc.gov/data?f%5B0%5D=category%3Aland%20cover
But this is for US Land. I need Europe land to do so..
I tried to search for this NLCD data for europe Land but I didn't find anything.
Anyone now knows where to find this data?

[ludomotico]

I want to replace the default terrain with a more detailed terrain (like a 1m/pixel map), from google maps for example(or other free services like https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ ).

I converted the file from GeoTIFF to hgt format

Oh, sorry: if you are trying to create a large texture to fill a tile completely, you are not on the right path. hgt files are used for elevation data, not textures. NLCD is for USA, as you noticed. The equivalent data for Europe is CORINE. But CORINE won't help in your objective of using Google Maps (or equivalent) as textures.

- CORINE is synthetic terrain and, as such, it is not "real". Check: http://wiki.flightgear.org/Howto:Regional_texturing to learn about how to enhance the details of the current terrain. Good news are you don't need building a new terrain to greatly enhance your region!
- Google Maps (or equivalent photoscenery) is "real", but needs lots of hard disk and a very specific atmospheric configuration to look "right". There are plenty of discussions in the forum about using ortophotos in FlightGear. Photoscenery has been tried a couple of times in FlightGear, and there are several ways to do this. All of them need an old version of FlightGear, as far as I know: http://wiki.flightgear.org/Photoscenery

Look for the project "osgearth for flightgear". Maybe you can find compiled versions for this project, and you'll get Google Maps out of the box. Check this video for some of its problems: texstures don't look right when you are close to the terrain.

[simone04]

I want to replace the default terrain with a more detailed terrain (like a 1m/pixel map), from google maps for example(or other free services like https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ ).

I converted the file from GeoTIFF to hgt format

Oh, sorry: if you are trying to create a large texture to fill a tile completely, you are not on the right path. hgt files are used for elevation data, not textures. NLCD is for USA, as you noticed. The equivalent data for Europe is CORINE. But CORINE won't help in your objective of using Google Maps (or equivalent) as textures.

I just want to know how to do this: http://wiki.flightgear.org/File:Brest.jpg
I would love to see my airport with an high texture detail like google maps texture
How would I do it using google maps texture?

- CORINE is synthetic terrain and, as such, it is not "real". Check: http://wiki.flightgear.org/Howto:Regional_texturing to learn about how to enhance the details of the current terrain. Good news are you don't need building a new terrain to greatly enhance your region!
- Google Maps (or equivalent photoscenery) is "real", but needs lots of hard disk and a very specific atmospheric configuration to look "right". There are plenty of discussions in the forum about using ortophotos in FlightGear. Photoscenery has been tried a couple of times in FlightGear, and there are several ways to do this. All of them need an old version of FlightGear, as far as I know: http://wiki.flightgear.org/Photoscenery

Thanks for the clarification between CORINE and google maps
For the hard disk space problem I have a lot of space in my hard drives(I have a 500GB Hard disk empty)
I am aware of the "shadow problem" while using the Photoscenery method. I have no problem with this.

EDIT: One more question: How doesn't look "right" the google maps scenery? You mean that the texture gets distorted with the elevation?

[ludomotico]

The current scenery without any change to the terrain has details up to literally the width of a grass blade in an airport. I guess you mean in your local area, not your airport.

As far as I know, it is not possible to get anything like the Brest capture in current FlightGear, not even building your own terrain. The scenery has evolved in a completely different path during these years.

You may try to compile a version of FlightGear with OSGEarth support: http://wiki.flightgear.org/Building_Fli ... ntegration. OSGearth used Google Maps out of the box and you don't have to build any additional terrain. This is an old version of Flightgear, and you won't be able to use many of the current aircraft.

[ludomotico]

EDIT: One more question: How doesn't look "right" the google maps scenery? You mean that the texture gets distorted with the elevation?

Shadows is one of the issues, as you pointed out. Also, textures at night, Autumn, storms or any other lighting effect different to the one present when the photo was taken. Finally, synthetic textures have the ability to get to any level of detail you need, and photo scenery hasn't.

[simone04]

The current scenery without any change to the terrain has details up to literally the width of a grass blade in an airport. I guess you mean in your local area, not your airport.

Yes, I mean my local area.

As far as I know, it is not possible to get anything like the Brest capture in current FlightGear, not even building your own terrain. The scenery has evolved in a completely different path during these years.

You may try to compile a version of FlightGear with OSGEarth support: http://wiki.flightgear.org/Building_Fli ... ntegration. OSGearth used Google Maps out of the box and you don't have to build any additional terrain. This is an old version of Flightgear, and you won't be able to use many of the current aircraft.

I could give it a try, but you said that this for an older version of flightgear.. So isn't worth it.

- CORINE is synthetic terrain and, as such, it is not "real". Check: http://wiki.flightgear.org/Howto:Regional_texturing to learn about how to enhance the details of the current terrain. Good news are you don't need building a new terrain to greatly enhance your region!

Probably I will use CORINE method. How do I need to proceed here now?