Hello all,
I've just released the latest version of Automap. It has a new tool that allows the creation of real-world photoreal terrain tens or hundreds of kilometers across.
You can download it here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4380128/Automap.zip
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*************** IMPORTANT! *****************
Several problems have been found. Please update the installation with these two steps:
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1. Download the latest version of the .exe here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4380128/AutoMap.exe
Rename AutoMap.exe (in the main Automap directory) so you can still run the old version, and replace with this new version.
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2. Download the file Template.bmp and place it in the main Automap directory:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4380128/Template.bmp
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The screenshots show the program interface and several sceneries created with Automap.
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The terrain system uses brushes (.cgf files). It can be used to create photoreal terrain hundreds of kilometers across, though it will help if your graphics card has plenty of memory - 2 Gb works very well. Here's a brief description of how it works. It takes around 15 minutes to create an area roughly 40 km across.
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It uses two additional free programs: Universal Maps Downloader (UMD) to download the textures from Google Earth and Multiple Image resizer (MIR) to manipulate the textures. But if you want to use decent texture resolutions, as shown in the screen shots, you need to buy the UMD licence.
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The terrain system is integrated into my AutoMap program, see screenshot. There are six stages initiated by the buttons as follows:
1. RUN UMD
This runs UMD, and UMD will then automatically download all the required Google Earth textures. It typically takes 5 minutes to download the textures.
2. CREATE AREA FILE STRUCTURE
This creates the required scenery directories inside Crysis (or free SDK). It also creates the material file and a group file. The group file can be used to load the 30 scenery areas into Sandbox in one operation.
3. CONVERT TO BMP
THis uses MIR to automatically convert all the Google Earth .jpg textures to .bmp.
4. CREATE GRID TEXTURES
This stitches together the .bmp textures to create a texture for each of the 30 terrain sections (grids).
5. CONVERT TO TGA/TIF
This converts the 30 .bmp grid textures to tga or tif and copies them into the Crysis scenery directory.
6. CREATE SOLID TERRAIN
The input terrain height data is downloaded from the USGS (the manual gives the link). The data is converted to 30 .obj files.
You can then import the .obj files into your modelling program, apply the textures and then export to Sandbox.
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I use Softimage ModTool and I have developed several scripts. The main script imports the 30 .obj files and applies the textures(it takes about 20 seconds). After any editing, I then export the 30 terrain sections to Sandbox, this takes about 5 minutes.
Finally I use the group file to load the 30 grids into Sandbox. Job done. The whole process for a 40km area takes about 15 minutes.
I can then make additional areas which seamlessly join together to make a very large scenery area. In one test i had scenery stretching from the coast of France to Land's End in Cornwall (the western extreme of the UK).
I have also added smaller and higher resolution areas e.g. for airports.
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Please be sure to read the manual! I strongly recommend that you work through the tutorial.

great stuff!

this is so amazing GOOD WORK
im gonna try it right now!

New version! Thx

Question... We need 2GB VRAM to run the map? I can understand that we need it to "make" the map. But we need it to "run" the map?

Looks nice! I'll have to try it sometime soon.

Hi modsuki,
It will certainly run on 1 Gb VRAM, in fact I was running on that until I got the new computer a few months ago.
Because the terrain is photoreal, there is a separate texture for each terrain section. So, as the scenery gets larger, more memory is used. However, on 1 Gb it did run on a very large test (stretching from France to the western extreme of the UK) but it was not completely smooth. This was an extreme case.
If you make a scenery with four areas and medium texture resolution it would be roughly 100 km across, which is pretty big. This should work fine with 1 Gb.
I haven't tested it, but I would guess memory requirements would be similar in Sandbox and in-game. That's because memory use is dominated by textures, which would be the same in both cases.
Of course, it would be possible to remap the textures so that areas away from the point of interest re-use the same textures, which would reduce memory use. You coud also reduce the texture resolution away from the point of interest.
You can also reduce memory use by reducing the Environment visibility distance setting.
Anyway, for many applications, 1 Gb would be fine.
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By the way, am I right in thinking you use Softimage? If so, then it's a big advantage as I've included several Softimage scripts. Each area consists of 30 grids, each of which will be a separate brush (.cgf file). Each grid is imported as a .obj file. Of course, the 30 .obj files can be imported manually (tedious!), but one of the scripts does the job in a few seconds.
Regards,
Chris

Hello Chris,

Thank you for your efforts. I’ve been working on a 40kx40k project in another engine and thought I would give CE3 a try. The timing of your release was quite fortuitous for me since my first challenge was photo textures.

I am hoping you can tell me how I might cheat your application a bit. I have a 1.65G image (level 17 for the entire area) that has been color corrected and has shadowing minimized. I can easily carve that into 30, grid texture files and get them to the proper directory; so I think I have that handled. However, I also have a 4096 height map file that started out as STRM DEM data and was ultimately turned in to a height map, significanty modified using Leveler. Unfortunately after reviewing your documentation, tutorial and sample files, I couldn’t determine if/how I might provide my height map to Automap so that the 30 grid objects could be generated without having to download the STRM data again and re-modify it. Any ideas for me?

Thanks again,
Walker

Hi Walker,
That's an interesting question!
Automap works in a very specific way: it directly imports the SRTM files for the specified area, and there's no provision for other import methods.
So, one approach might be to create some modified .hgt files from your modified data. The format of .hgt files is very simple (virtually the same as .raw files). You've already converted some .hgt files to your own format. The trick would be to convert that data back to the original .hgt format. Then you can use Automap in the normal way to create the grids in .obj format.
As you've probably found, SRTM data often needs editing as there are often large defects in the SRTM data. For example, according to SRTM Mt. Fuji looks very odd!
Any questions, let me know.
Best regards,
Chris

Thanks for the quick reply Chris! I'll let you know how it goes.
Walker

Hello again,

I found a utility to create a .hgt file out of a .bmp file. I haven’t been able to verify if it worked or not (turns out my original source was NED 1/3 arc second data rather than STRM data and I’d like to use the higher resolution NED). At any rate I thought I’d try the tutorial to get a feel for Automap.

I’m having two issues: 1] My settings are not saving (I’ve tried both the Save button under Settings in the Automap window as well as the Save button on the Diagnostics window). 2] When I click the Run UMD button, I get a “Path not Found” error, the application quits and when I reopen the settings are back to the Seattle tutorial stuff.

I believe my paths are correct (I copied and pasted them out of the properties window for the various directories).

http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/6724/automaperror.jpg

Any assistance would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Walker

Hi Walker,
Sorry to hear you're having problems!
The program doesn't do a lot of error checking so settings have to be exactly right. In particular, any spaces following the settings can cause these types of problems. I'll see if I can update the code so surrounding spaces are ignored.
1. Not saving.
Be sure you don't enter any redundant spaces.
As the settings revert to Seattle it suggests that settings are being correctly loaded.
Try this test:
Make a small change in a setting and then exit the program. When you run it the next time, do you see the change you made?
Also try this: click SAVE and then look at the settings files in Automap\Settings. If the project name is MyProject, then, after saving, there will be two files saved: MyProject.dat and MyProject.ini
You can check that they were saved by looking at the file dates.
The one that matters for this application is the .ini file. You can open it in Wordpad and check that there are lots of settings as in the other .ini files.
You should also check that there is a file named Haduur Project.ini.If it does exist, try loading it by using the small browse button (navigate to the settings directory).
Also: when you try to load your project and it fails, is there an error message in the Status slot?
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2. Incorrect UMD path.
Again, check that there are no following spaces in the path setting. The error message specifically relates to the UMD directory. As you copy/pasted it should be fine, except that a following space might also have been copied.
If the path setting is correct then it's difficult to think of a reason why it should fail.
If it still fails it shoud be okay to run UMD manually, the button just makes it convenient.
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Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Best regards,
Chris

Hi CHris,

Great stuff on the release - just getting my teeth into it now.

I am also getting the same error as Walker i.e. Path Not Found but my .ini and .dat files are there and appear to be getting updated....which is a good thing.

I did notice an entry in the .ini for c:\AutoASM\Terrain which I don't have and can't find a field in the UI to update it - I'm going to have a crack at manually changing it to c:\Automap\terrain and see what happens, but is this where the error is coming from?

Also I am assuming pathnames with spaces in e.g. c:\Program Files (x86) are allowed and don't need to be in quotes or anything?

Cheers


Chris

Hi Chris - and Walker,
Good news, I've found the problem causing the Path not found error! Unfortunately there's a key step missing from the tutorial. Sorry about that!
Chris, it sounds like you're saving and loading projects okay.
The AutoASM setting isn't a problem - the setting is obsolete but it still exists - the text box is set to invisible. AutoASM was a program I made for Microsoft Flight Simulator many moons ago, and AutoMap uses basically the same interface.
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I've checked and spaces don't cause problems. But do not add any quotes, this will probably make it fail.
My setting is
c:\programs\Utilities\UniversalMapsDownloader
Be sure there are no following spaces.
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To fix the Path not found problem, add a sub-directory named AutomapFiles to the main UMD directory. In my case:
c:\programs\Utilities\UniversalMapsDownloader\AutomapFiles
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During the texture creation process Automap creates some UMD log files and also many temporary files. They are all placed inside AutomapFiles. When you click Run UMD, Automap reads the basic settings and saves a file named Automap.umd inside AutomapFiles. In your case the directory didn't exist and this is what caused the error.
Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Best regards,
Chris

Awesome Chris ....I'll give that a go and report back

Chris

Edit: That seems to have worked - getting on with my first go at some terrain now :-) Thanks again.

Hi Chris,

I spoke too soon - whilst the UMD part now works I am getting the same error when clicking the CREATE AREA FIL STRUCTURE button - another missing directory needed somewhere?

Cheers


Chris