[Starman01]

I need help with a model (again)

Sofar, I still model in truespace, but I usually only model with solid geometrical objects. This is fine for creating ships and bases, but makes modelling a landscape nearly impossible. I need object deformations for that, but I always mess up the model and PCS refuses to convert it.

Is anyone here willing to help me creating a landscape ?  You don't need to texture it, just model and ensure it runs through PCS. Theoretically it should be no big deal for anyone with a little experience, I think I'm just to dumb to do so

I will provide a scetch of what I need, but the short form is this :

A giant object with some (small) mountains and craters on it. In the middle there should be a more or less flat place so I can place an installation there.

I would really appreciate any help in this matter

Thanks.

[FlareBaffled]

I can provide you with a large piece of 'terrain' but it would be in a format that Max could export.... I could probably build it into a simple POF using the Max plugin. You could then convert it back into a COB file with PCX to play about with. I have a DEM plugin for max which makes this pretty easy to do!

[Starman01]

I have 3d-Explorer, I should be able to open the max-file and export it to something different

[FlareBaffled]

where do you want me to send it? It's in 3DS format, and is UV mapped from above ( but you will have to add your own texture!

[Starman01]

If you can't upload it somewhere, pls mail it to m.pretli-at-t-online.de

[bizzybody]

There are some terrain creating plugins for trueSpace. Have a look at Terragen. http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/ Might be possible to export geometry from it.

[Starman01]

I once tried an older version of terragen, but didn't got very far. To complicated

[Mobius]

Any chance of using them in FreeSpace?

[FlareBaffled]

Starman.... you should have mail.

[Starman01]

Starman.... you should have mail.

Yes, I received it. Thank you very much, I see if I can do something with it. It looks good sofar, but the border will make it hard to tile the landscape (because I need one that is much much bigger ) I try to change it to my liking. Did you create this mesh ? Just for the correct credits ?

Any chance of using them in FreeSpace?

What do you mean ? After building a pof out of this, and with a few little hacks you can do fine planetary assault missions in Freespace

[FlareBaffled]

It's just a chunk of mesh imported from DEM data. I didn't 'create' it really.... no need for credits... there is virtually no 'work' involved for me to create this. I had it knocking around from a flightsim project and just re-did the map.

If you want to increase the size of the terrain, remove the edge sections and mirror it. I could produce a larger terrain... but the larger DEM data is of very poor detail. You can't actually make out any proper features unless you over-scale the heights. Even then...the stuff doesn't have a natural feel to it! There are no free sources of really good high detail DEM's other than the USGS one...and the format of that is not easy to convert to allow my plugin to use the data.

[Getter Robo G]

Did you try altering the skybox Venom(Nico) made? I altered the colors to make sky/land more visible.




I also found 2 more skyboxes in that SW dump that just got posted (genosis for desert, and Hoth for Ice). Not sure on persmission (apparently they came from Darksaber's opt station).

[Dysko]

the skybox Venom (Nico) made

Can you provide a link for it, please? Thanks

[Getter Robo G]

I assumed he had it already and just forgot (it was released over 2 years ago, I'm a pack rat and collect all sorts of things even if I never use them).

Search is broken (not listed anymore).

I'd have to upload it again... When I get back from the store I will dig my RT folder out and .rar up the ones I altered...

[bizzybody]

Data from US government agencies like the USGS is free for public use, no copyright either. US copyright law does not apply to anything the government produces. However, the USGS and other agencies can charge fees for making copies etc.

One thing to try, use a fractal generation program to create a 'plasma' type fractal image in greyscale and import that into a greyscale to height conversion. The old DOS program FractINT has a '3D' image option in its plasma equation- including a water level setting. Looks pretty decent with the terrain color pallette.

Some version of Photoshop has a 'clouds' filter, which looks like it's a plasma fractal generator.

Also, try this search.

If you want height maps of some real, unearthly terrain, find out how to get copies of the MOLA (Mars Orbiter Laser Altimiter) data from NASA.

Generated by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), an instrument aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, the high-resolution map represents 27 million elevation measurements gathered in 1998 and 1999. The data were assembled into a global grid with each point spaced 37 miles (60 kilometers) apart at the equator, and less elsewhere. Each elevation point is known with an accuracy of 42 feet (13 meters) in general, with large areas of the flat northern hemisphere known to better than six feet (two meters).

[Getter Robo G]

No wonder is say usg it's from usgs mapping,,,

here skybox and ground models and maps. Hope this gets you on the right track! Both were created by Venom (Nico) and altered SLIGHTY by me texture wise (meaning light level).

[edit] this upload limit is really starting to get old...

Here: http://upload2.net/page/download/4Q7ULp5M50yHfQR/genskybox.rar.html

[Dysko]

Thank you for the link

However, I have one problem
How can I make the skybox look "connected" to the landscape? When I set it in FRED, I see the stars separing the landscape from the skybox...

[Getter Robo G]

OOPS! forgot to mention the mapping is a tiny bit wonky.

LOWER the dome like 2km? Or whatever till sky hits the ground.

you got 32 KM clearance and 12km distance initially so that should be plenty of "Open Room"

[Dysko]

LOWER the dome like 2km? Or whatever till sky hits the ground.

This means that the dome shouldn't be used as a skybox (I mean inserted as "skybox" in the background editor in FRED), right?

[Mobius]

You are saying that it isn't a skybox model but a normal model?