NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
01-28-2005, 01:55 PM
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NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
I was asked to test a new utility that will be available as a free download from IPACS called CPANO.
What this cool little doodad does is take a panoramic image and convert it into the proper files for AFPD to use.
Now you can take your own panoramic photos of your favorite fields and fly them in AFPD.
What? Don't have a way to take panoramic photos? Don't fret! You can download panoramic photos from the web and use them.
Including the many on the http://www.rc-sim.de that were originally designed for Reflex. And if you have the Reflex CD, you can even convert the stock sceneries to AFPD in a jiffy.
Here are two I converted for my own use...
The first is called "OfterDingen" and was converted from a Reflex scenery download from rc-sim.de
The second is the new indoor scenery that came with the latest Reflex Patch
What this cool little doodad does is take a panoramic image and convert it into the proper files for AFPD to use.
Now you can take your own panoramic photos of your favorite fields and fly them in AFPD.
What? Don't have a way to take panoramic photos? Don't fret! You can download panoramic photos from the web and use them.
Including the many on the http://www.rc-sim.de that were originally designed for Reflex. And if you have the Reflex CD, you can even convert the stock sceneries to AFPD in a jiffy.
Here are two I converted for my own use...
The first is called "OfterDingen" and was converted from a Reflex scenery download from rc-sim.de
The second is the new indoor scenery that came with the latest Reflex Patch
01-28-2005, 02:37 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
This is not using the "hack" technique used in getting photoreal scenes into AFP, but uses AFPD's native method and the results are stunning. No seams and awesome quality.
I used to miss the sceneries from Reflex in AFPD... but now I have the best of both worlds...
The process is fairly easy... but it does have a few steps... Let's do an example conversion... OfterDingen from http://www.rc-sim.de
I have edited the following instructions slightly for clarity:
1) Copy the cpano.exe file into your c:\windows folder
1) Download the Oftendingen scenery from the Reflex Scenes area... the zip file will contain a file called S2.jpg (other scneneries might be named S1.jpg or S3.jpg)
2) You need to resize any image to be 8192 wide by 4096 tall
3)Create a folder at the root of your C: drive called scenery
4)Create another folder called ofterdingen inside of the folder scenery
5) Copy the resized S2.jpg into the Ofterdingen folder and rename it to ofterdingen.jpg
6) You need to run the util from the command line... to do that go down and click your start button and select "Run" type in CMD and hit enter. A black window will come up where you type in commands.
7) Now you need to change directories.. it's probably in C:\Documents & Settings right now... type in: CD C:\scenery\ofterdingen
8) Now type in: cpano ofterdingen.jpg it will create a new file called ofterdingen.cpg
9)Rename the .cpg file by adding photo_44 to the front of the name... it's new name will be photo_44ofterdingen.cpg
10) At the command line type in JUST cpano and hit enter it will now create all the TMT files necessary for AFPD to use as scenery. It will take a minute or two and you will see it counting and working, displaying text as it goes.
11) The utility came with a couple base files... hall.tgo and hall.geo. Copy the hall.tgo file in to the ofterdingen folder and rename it ofterdingen.tgo (you can delete the ofterdingen.jpg and ofterdingen.cpg files we don't need them anymore)
12) Copy the hall.geo file in the scenery folder and rename it to ofterdingen.geo
13) Open that .geo file in wordpad and search and replace the word “hall†with the name ofterdingen should be 4 instances replaced
14) Copy the scenery directory into the C:\Program Files\IPACS\AeroFly Professional Deluxe directory. You will get the following message:
This folder already conatains a folder called 'scenery'. Click yes to all. (You aren't really overwriting anything)
That's it... the scenery is completed and installed...
If you want to polish it off and make the thumbnail and scenery photos so that at the menu you can see the icon and the photo with Oftendingen selected, simply do a screen capture while flying in the new scenery by hitting the F11 key.
The screen grab will be inside the screenshots folder where your AFPD is installed. Resize it to 256x256 and save it in BMP format as oftendingenlg.bmp (notice we added "lg" to the name) and then resize it again to 64x64 pixel and save as oftendingen.bmp... place these two files in the C:\Program Files\IPACS\AeroFly Professional Deluxe\scenery folder with the geo file.
Next time you run AFPD, you should now have an icon in the select scenery requestor and then a photo depicting the new field when loaded.
Enjoy!
I used to miss the sceneries from Reflex in AFPD... but now I have the best of both worlds...
The process is fairly easy... but it does have a few steps... Let's do an example conversion... OfterDingen from http://www.rc-sim.de
I have edited the following instructions slightly for clarity:
1) Copy the cpano.exe file into your c:\windows folder
1) Download the Oftendingen scenery from the Reflex Scenes area... the zip file will contain a file called S2.jpg (other scneneries might be named S1.jpg or S3.jpg)
2) You need to resize any image to be 8192 wide by 4096 tall
3)Create a folder at the root of your C: drive called scenery
4)Create another folder called ofterdingen inside of the folder scenery
5) Copy the resized S2.jpg into the Ofterdingen folder and rename it to ofterdingen.jpg
6) You need to run the util from the command line... to do that go down and click your start button and select "Run" type in CMD and hit enter. A black window will come up where you type in commands.
7) Now you need to change directories.. it's probably in C:\Documents & Settings right now... type in: CD C:\scenery\ofterdingen
8) Now type in: cpano ofterdingen.jpg it will create a new file called ofterdingen.cpg
9)Rename the .cpg file by adding photo_44 to the front of the name... it's new name will be photo_44ofterdingen.cpg
10) At the command line type in JUST cpano and hit enter it will now create all the TMT files necessary for AFPD to use as scenery. It will take a minute or two and you will see it counting and working, displaying text as it goes.
11) The utility came with a couple base files... hall.tgo and hall.geo. Copy the hall.tgo file in to the ofterdingen folder and rename it ofterdingen.tgo (you can delete the ofterdingen.jpg and ofterdingen.cpg files we don't need them anymore)
12) Copy the hall.geo file in the scenery folder and rename it to ofterdingen.geo
13) Open that .geo file in wordpad and search and replace the word “hall†with the name ofterdingen should be 4 instances replaced
14) Copy the scenery directory into the C:\Program Files\IPACS\AeroFly Professional Deluxe directory. You will get the following message:
This folder already conatains a folder called 'scenery'. Click yes to all. (You aren't really overwriting anything)
That's it... the scenery is completed and installed...
If you want to polish it off and make the thumbnail and scenery photos so that at the menu you can see the icon and the photo with Oftendingen selected, simply do a screen capture while flying in the new scenery by hitting the F11 key.
The screen grab will be inside the screenshots folder where your AFPD is installed. Resize it to 256x256 and save it in BMP format as oftendingenlg.bmp (notice we added "lg" to the name) and then resize it again to 64x64 pixel and save as oftendingen.bmp... place these two files in the C:\Program Files\IPACS\AeroFly Professional Deluxe\scenery folder with the geo file.
Next time you run AFPD, you should now have an icon in the select scenery requestor and then a photo depicting the new field when loaded.
Enjoy!
01-28-2005, 02:41 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
In step 2 above I staet that the image must be 8192 x 4096...
The Relfex images are not that size they are a little over 8000x3000. You want to resize them to 8192 wide but do NOT scale the image to also be 4096... this will stretch the image... you need to increase the canvas size and fill the bottom of the image with balck (or dark green is better)
In Photoshop I use these steps:
A: resize the image width to 8192… let the height be what it will
B: set the background color to black
C: Canvas size to 4096 tall with the top center box clicked for anchor… this adds however many pixels are needed to the bottom of the image and fills them with the background color
(when you do this you will rarely see the black… it ends up being a 2 ft circle at your feet that you can’t see unless you fly under yourself…. If perfection is desired, you can use the clone tool to “pull down†copy some grass or whatever to fill in the black.
D:Save it as the scenery name .jpg
E: Continue on with step 3 of the main process.
The Relfex images are not that size they are a little over 8000x3000. You want to resize them to 8192 wide but do NOT scale the image to also be 4096... this will stretch the image... you need to increase the canvas size and fill the bottom of the image with balck (or dark green is better)
In Photoshop I use these steps:
A: resize the image width to 8192… let the height be what it will
B: set the background color to black
C: Canvas size to 4096 tall with the top center box clicked for anchor… this adds however many pixels are needed to the bottom of the image and fills them with the background color
(when you do this you will rarely see the black… it ends up being a 2 ft circle at your feet that you can’t see unless you fly under yourself…. If perfection is desired, you can use the clone tool to “pull down†copy some grass or whatever to fill in the black.
D:Save it as the scenery name .jpg
E: Continue on with step 3 of the main process.
01-28-2005, 03:36 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
Absolutely WONDERFUL Maudib - I will try this out tonight. One other item - could you tell us the STEPS to incorporate pictures of our OWN flying fields into AFPD and create our own SCENERIES ????
01-28-2005, 03:52 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
Taking panorama pictures is somewhat of a more complex process... and the methods range from specialized equipment (expensive) to shoestring methods...
There are several places on the web to check out...
Here's one link for instance: [link=http://www.panoguide.com/howto/panoramas/]PanoGuide[/link]
Do a google search on spherical panoramic photos
The low end systems let you take 8-12 pictures or more rotating the camera the proper degrees each time. Then software (you can DL free) stitches them together...
Other methods use a dome attachment to the camera and takes the panorama in one shot...
There are several places on the web to check out...
Here's one link for instance: [link=http://www.panoguide.com/howto/panoramas/]PanoGuide[/link]
Do a google search on spherical panoramic photos
The low end systems let you take 8-12 pictures or more rotating the camera the proper degrees each time. Then software (you can DL free) stitches them together...
Other methods use a dome attachment to the camera and takes the panorama in one shot...
01-28-2005, 03:56 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
Keep in mind that these scenes are not mapped for any collision except the ground... You can fly toward a wall or tree and never get there... 
I understand tools for that may be made availalable too somewhere down the road and then you can build collisons for items in the photos....
You might do search on the online auctions for panorama too... there might be some good deals there...
I understand tools for that may be made availalable too somewhere down the road and then you can build collisons for items in the photos....
You might do search on the online auctions for panorama too... there might be some good deals there...
01-28-2005, 04:18 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
Hi,
another link for panorama creation is: http://www.ptgui.com
We can create collision objects with the same 3D tool we use for the aircrafts and 3D sceneries.
It's called Metasequoia Le and is freeware.
The creator's and download website is:
http://www21.ocn.ne.jp/~mizno/main_e.html
Workshops can be found on:
http://kimagure-hikoki.hp.infoseek.co.jp/index_e.html
http://rcp.web.infoseek.co.jp/Rc_hp2...asequoia_e.htm
http://www.rc-sim.de
But it's still a process of trial and error, to adjust the objects to the expected position in the panorama image.
With the cpano tool we can expect some more panorama sceneries soon.
Regards
Rodeo
www.rodeo.onlinehome.de
another link for panorama creation is: http://www.ptgui.com
We can create collision objects with the same 3D tool we use for the aircrafts and 3D sceneries.
It's called Metasequoia Le and is freeware.
The creator's and download website is:
http://www21.ocn.ne.jp/~mizno/main_e.html
Workshops can be found on:
http://kimagure-hikoki.hp.infoseek.co.jp/index_e.html
http://rcp.web.infoseek.co.jp/Rc_hp2...asequoia_e.htm
http://www.rc-sim.de
But it's still a process of trial and error, to adjust the objects to the expected position in the panorama image.
With the cpano tool we can expect some more panorama sceneries soon.
Regards
Rodeo
www.rodeo.onlinehome.de
01-28-2005, 04:34 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
This is really great news!!
Is their a place we can get the "new indoor scenery that came with the latest Reflex Patch" if we don't have reflex??
Is their a place we can get the "new indoor scenery that came with the latest Reflex Patch" if we don't have reflex??
01-28-2005, 04:44 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
Is their a place we can get the "new indoor scenery that came with the latest Reflex Patch" if we don't have reflex??
You may only trade/publish non-copyrighted panorama images to use CPANO. You may also trade copyrighted images with the permission of the author.
Your best bet if you are a graphical/CAD amateur is to just sit back and wait. With the new arrival of CPANO you can expect many new scenes to become available for AFPD very quickly. These scenes will be created by the same developers that have brought forth the freely available aircraft/scenery downloads you find at sites like rcsim.de and rodeo's site.
At first they may not be mapped for collision and objects, but they will very shortly, I can assure you.
01-28-2005, 04:56 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
rc-sim.de has some a couple brand new indoor sceneries for Reflex that this technique works with... they are pretty sweet and everybit as nice as the stock one that comes with Reflex.
Even then, you shouldn't repost your AFPD version as usually the author of the originally submitted file has retained some rights...
The scenes end up being 44 megs compressed so it doesn't really matter you won't WANT to uplaod them somewhere... everyone can use publicly posted files and do with them personally what they see fit, as long as they don't redistribute without permission.
So this tool is great for repurposing existing panoramas for AFPD use...
Even then, you shouldn't repost your AFPD version as usually the author of the originally submitted file has retained some rights...
The scenes end up being 44 megs compressed so it doesn't really matter you won't WANT to uplaod them somewhere... everyone can use publicly posted files and do with them personally what they see fit, as long as they don't redistribute without permission.
So this tool is great for repurposing existing panoramas for AFPD use...
01-28-2005, 05:03 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
Here's one of those new indoor scenes from rc-sim...
I do graphcis for a living so it only takes me maybe 3 minutes to convert them...
I do graphcis for a living so it only takes me maybe 3 minutes to convert them...
01-28-2005, 05:05 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
unbelievable!
please tell us were we can download the softwere!
Sorry for been impatient, but im going flying tommorow and i can take the pics there.
please tell us were we can download the softwere!
Sorry for been impatient, but im going flying tommorow and i can take the pics there.
01-28-2005, 05:30 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
I'm not at liberty to hand it out... I was just asked to test it... it is supposed to be availabel from IPACS soon... but if I get word, I'll host it for a while...
Til then... sorry...
Til then... sorry...
ORIGINAL: edible_engine
unbelievable!
please tell us were we can download the softwere!
Sorry for been impatient, but im going flying tommorow and i can take the pics there.
unbelievable!
please tell us were we can download the softwere!
Sorry for been impatient, but im going flying tommorow and i can take the pics there.
01-28-2005, 05:34 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
JD, if you want to host the 3 files for the time being, go at it. Make sure you pack them as a .zip and not .rar for ease of everyone's use.
D
D
01-28-2005, 06:05 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
Hey this is getting fun... now it's your turn... download the cpano util [link=http://www.hangar37.com/videos/cpano.zip]HERE[/link]
Oh... and here's one more:
Rastede from rc-sim's Reflex Sceneries
Oh... and here's one more:
Rastede from rc-sim's Reflex Sceneries
01-28-2005, 06:18 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
JD found a discrenpancy in your instructions in line 10.
The last 3 letters of the line should be .CPG not JPG.
The last 3 letters of the line should be .CPG not JPG.
01-28-2005, 06:33 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
Edited... good catch...
Be advised all that editing these files can be somewhat slow on your computer... When I bring in a 20 meg jpeg file into Photoshop it converts it interanally to use almost 100 megs...
I don't have much trouble as I have 2 gigs of ram and a 3.6 ghz processor... but I see it slow down some as it crunches the memory...
Be advised all that editing these files can be somewhat slow on your computer... When I bring in a 20 meg jpeg file into Photoshop it converts it interanally to use almost 100 megs...
I don't have much trouble as I have 2 gigs of ram and a 3.6 ghz processor... but I see it slow down some as it crunches the memory...
01-28-2005, 07:02 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
Maudib,
that's great. Obviously we're doing nearly the same sceneries right now.
I could publish very similar screenshots.
Regards
Rodeo
that's great. Obviously we're doing nearly the same sceneries right now.
I could publish very similar screenshots.
Regards
Rodeo
01-28-2005, 07:30 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
You guys are the only one's having fun right now!
I've got it down to 10 minutes now on 1 GB ram.
I can't wait till they become mapped out. Especially the indoor scenes.
I've got it down to 10 minutes now on 1 GB ram.
I can't wait till they become mapped out. Especially the indoor scenes.
01-28-2005, 09:00 PM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
anyone know how to convert a bunch of files at once? i m trying to make some photo scenes i downloaded from RC-SIM work, but it freezes everytime i load, and i think's its because i need to change the jpegs to BMP files
01-29-2005, 12:17 AM
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RE: NEW!!! Create and convert your own AFPD photoreal sceneries
While this is good news for aerofly fans
I think its best you ask the authors of the original sceneries before you release them for afpd.
Also, are the boundaries working? Is it easy to add collisions and stuff?
I know the big gripe about reflex is that you can't add collisions and stuff because no one knows how to add collisions (excpet some people who are not telling anyone [&o])
Also I doubt that the lighting is wokring, e.g. the realtime pixel shader that xtr uses to light up the plane...
I think its best you ask the authors of the original sceneries before you release them for afpd.
Also, are the boundaries working? Is it easy to add collisions and stuff?
I know the big gripe about reflex is that you can't add collisions and stuff because no one knows how to add collisions (excpet some people who are not telling anyone [&o])
Also I doubt that the lighting is wokring, e.g. the realtime pixel shader that xtr uses to light up the plane...
