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[Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-11 23:17
by J.F.Leusch69
hi,

i search a lot about that (real heightmaps for bf2) and cant find any good source. i read somthing about it, that says that there is no more data of international digital elevation, just USA.

so i ask you if there is any source i missed or is there a special trick how i get real heightmaps?!

maybe a dev (mapper) can help!?

anyway thanks for listen

leusch

(i would like to get some digital elevation data from iraq)

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-12 09:28
by marcoelnk
write a PM to [R-DEV]coderedfox...he should know about it

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-12 10:08
by arjan
well cant he put it into this thread, would help alot of mappers. (like me)

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-13 17:56
by Dr_Tubesteak
You could look into this: Transport Tycoon Forums • View topic - How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)

It shows you how to use map information from Google Earth to make heightmaps.

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-13 23:46
by J.F.Leusch69
i search now 2 days, and founds good "first" steps, but nothing work for me and it is difficult to handle all the diffrent dataformats. maybe a R-DEV who made something simular can help!?

it would be nice, but if not i will make the terrian by hand (like everybody else i guess)

leusch

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-13 23:48
by CodeRedFox
Look for "Digital Elevation Maps" DEM's

My process was to

- Get a large heightmap
- Crop it in Photoshop with a color overlay (taken from google maps)
- Lines them up
- Bring into 3dsmax and apply it to a 1024x1024 plane using displacement
- render a topdown of it and save it as a 16bit file
- Bring into photoshop do some fixs and rotations
- Export out to bf2editor

Its a long process that took me a week to get right

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-13 23:49
by space
Which data formats are you struggling with? I think the majority, if not all the DEVs have created their terrains by hand.

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-14 00:12
by space
You may find this useful:
Create heightmaps using satellite-data - FileFront Gaming Forums
Also Im not sure if code did a typo, or its just his different method, but the heightmaps in terragen are map size without scaling + 1 - eg 1025*1025

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-14 01:06
by J.F.Leusch69
spacemanc wrote:Which data formats are you struggling with? I think the majority, if not all the DEVs have created their terrains by hand.
there is the probelm that there are 1337 different files about "real heightmap data" and for each one you need a diffrent programm (or so :D i am not a pro in that ! :D )
but serious:
i have a problem that it seams that there is n more DEM data for the world (or even iraq). cos if i could get any (also have to be high ref or just "useful") i can handle the rest with a programm called 3DEM and terragen.

so does anyone knows a good source for DEM?
(and please take a look at links that you want to post, cos often its only USA data!!!)

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-14 01:34
by space
Youll only really find free high res DEM data for parts of the US. Its available in a few other parts of the world, but its controlled and you usually have to pay. Maybe find a part of the US with similar terrain? Alternatively you could learn how to use a terrain generator like world machine (good luck :D )
Personally I used Geocontrol which is also handy as a format converter as terragen wont export (or is it import?) 16bit raw files.

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-14 02:03
by CodeRedFox
They are out there but you may have to do some photoshop cropping to get it down to where you want it. And mine was free, they were called GeoTIFF's.

And spacemanc Both Korengal and Feyzabad are real world terrain data, although Korengal had heavy modifications.

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-14 02:18
by space
[R-DEV]coderedfox wrote:They are out there but you may have to do some photoshop cropping to get it down to where you want it. And mine was free, they were called GeoTIFF's.

And spacemanc Both Korengal and Feyzabad are real world terrain data, although Korengal had heavy modifications.
The terrain on Korengal does look sweet ;) - Is it actual terrain from korengal, and is there a good site which has the GeoTIFF's for around the world?

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-14 10:10
by J.F.Leusch69
[R-DEV]coderedfox wrote:They are out there but you may have to do some photoshop cropping to get it down to where you want it. And mine was free, they were called GeoTIFF's.

And spacemanc Both Korengal and Feyzabad are real world terrain data, although Korengal had heavy modifications.
so do you got a source which you like to share :) ?!

would be very nice!

and what do you mean by "may have to do some photoshop cropping to get it down to where you want it" ???

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-14 16:36
by CodeRedFox
Yeah I'm looking. :-) All my bookmarks were on my old computer (reformat). All I remember is its a European server

You can start with the <i>The National Map</i> Seamless Server it does more than just the USA

As far as photoshop, The image I got was 90 km by 90 km miles which has to be cropped down. Sorry guys its not as easy as that :-P

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-14 19:09
by J.F.Leusch69
the link you posted just got the usa data...

i will or have to make my terrian by hand, sadly that google earth just shows a "bit" of the terrian...

thanks anyway for your attantion and help

good luck everybody who wants to do something simular :)

leusch

Re: [Question] "real heightmaps"

Posted: 2008-10-14 19:30
by marcoelnk
i suggest you use l3dt to generate your heightmap ... it doesnt only generate random heightmaps ybut you can also force it to generate really good looking heightnaps with the mountains there, where you want them to have.