W.I.P. Nisseringen Denmark LIDAR landscape

[DanTDBV]

How did you capture the texture to drape over the mesh?

If you are talking about the pictures in post 9, I extracted it from the very large, GEOTIFF image shown in post 8.
I got that from the last link in the first post. I will have to finish the second part of the getting Danish landscape information tutorial on what and how to get it.

In the meantime there is a startingpoint here:

http://assettocorsamods.net/threads/getting-danish-landscape-information-tutorial-part-1.703/

The ftp server, where I got the Kommune mosaik GEOTIFF from, seems to be down.

That was a higher resolution than what you can get here: (I have checked.)

http://download.kortforsyningen.dk/content/geodanmark-ortofoto-blokinddelt

This is in ECW format. It can be opened with a plugin in Irfanview and in GIS (Geographic Information System) software.

Free opensource software that opens ECW files:
Irfanview and plugins here:
http://www.irfanview.com

QGIS:
http://www.qgis.org/en/site/
My current version is 2.12, but I use desktop with GRASS.
There should be an "ad rasterlayer" button. Hit that and load your file.

Hope that it is some help.

 

[DanTDBV]

I agree with Pixelchaser here.

I have a Geforce GTX 970 with 4GB and 32GB system ram.

Blender doesen't like the current version, with 377771 triangles so i will keep at it.

Blarrrhhh more triangles

 

[Pixelchaser]

nothing likes that amount of polygons, must cut it up to even work on it properly. using multiple versions to create separate fbx files and so you don't need everything in the scene at once. as soon as you made grass etc, get rid of it to its own file. what AC deals with and what 3dsmax /blender deals with are two different things. but certainly not being able to work on it is a problem as I often find out for myself.

I was going to suggest that you don't get this hyper technical with many variations, but if your wanting to use these lovely resources that you actually bought and payed for "without the lowest common computer being able to run it as the main factor" , I whole heartedly suggest you go for it. myself, I create 4 atlas textures now for everything, 4 variations for everything. to fill the mind up with immersion is really quite easy,and especially in racing sim where your always moving. every time an object made properly is applied it literally doubles the immersion factor. you literally don't even need this variation for it to be convincing which also nearly always leads to more simpler stuff from developers infact its also part of the design remit to optimise through simplicity where possible and that is very apparent since day 1 of AC. . I truly want to see the top line of where it can go now without this 1 gig graphics card limitation. don't get me wrong, all design within any remit is "good" design practice. but regards certainly my most fond hobby, id rather be using all the power I can throw at it. when rfactor 2 came out with directX 9 in 2012, that was major facepalm situation. proven recently by the attempt is to revive its stagnant pre birth death by another studio.

Imagine products that are actually made for the top line spec systems. Like Starcitizen & Squadron 42

 

[Woodee]

Unfortunately I am not looking at Danish information... want stuff from the UK or US.

I have tried to convert ONE *.asc file at 25cm resolution. Even with an i7 6700 16 GB RAM, Blender just crashes to desktop just trying to import ONE *.asc file, let alone a full tile!

I am just "stuck" using the DSM, DTM laz files from the UK source http://environment.data.gov.uk/ds/survey#/download I am unsure what resolution these are, definately not 50cm or 25cm. I would love to get that data converted!!

Anyone had any luck with 25cm OR 50cm *.asc file conversion to mesh? Perhaps a script for 3dsmax or Maya?

 

[Pixelchaser]

myself and liquido has some partial luck with it, we were modelling chowns hill roundabout. from that exact source data. and we did arrange a surface that we could "conform" too. the actual subject model is mainly used for reference only, unless your wanting to do what Dan is currently doing.

 

[Woodee]

myself and liquido has some partial luck with it, we were modelling chowns hill roundabout. from that exact source data. and we did arrange a surface that we could "conform" too. the actual subject model is mainly used for reference only, unless your wanting to do what Dan is currently doing.

Yeah I understand that the mesh made from the ASC files will not be the actual road and terrain used in the final track, it will be used as a guide to conform road and terrain to (retopologised mesh). Just wish that Blender would actually convert 1 file (which is not even close to a full track). Surely there must be a way to do this in 3dsmax or Maya which may be a little more robust. Just seems that this is the first stumbling block to get this great data used.

 

[Pixelchaser]

actually now i remember the data we had was taken from the back of a van on the motorways themselves. it was amazing, it had barrier rails, trees with leaves etc. ...

yesterday the uk env agency face booked the locations map they are mapping for this winter season, which includes all over my area on fylde coast. cant wait to see it, but I couldn't ascertain when their annual composition gets released but today the answered. and resolution question answered too.

https://www.facebook.com/envagencygeomatics/photos/pb.345359325541.-2207520000.1484836318./10158036002030542/?type=3&theater

 

[DanTDBV]

I want to know!

Is it possible to mount a trailer behind the car in AC?

I wanna try this.

Happy modding

 

[Pixelchaser]

doubt it. there would be no reason to add a function either animated or physical for such a system.

 

[DanTDBV]

I am pretty sure that you are right. It could be fun though.

 

[DanTDBV]

It is now time to put on the Blender cap.

I have reached the point, where I have saved 5 different % versions, of the last racesurface reduction.
I have chosen one of them and have saved the results, of 5 different smoothing operations.
Then I have exported the one, that looks most promissing as an obj file.

I am now down to 84807 triangles, with about 20000 for the racesurfaces.

I feel that I am close to, staying in Blender for a while, with some stints in the editor.

I am happy that it is going in the right direction.

Happy modding

 

[DanTDBV]

I have split up the area in different parts and sectors.

I have begun creating my first textures. I have bought Luke Ahearn's 3D Game Textures and are going to use the exersizes in it, to create a base library of textures.

I borrowed it on the library and it is in a format, that I can easily follow and understand.

The uniform gray's and grass, is however created with the help from online tutorials, tweaked to my liking.
The splotchy gray is from an abandonned attempt to use my older Orthophoto.

Yeah I just noticed the black dots. A PS clonetool mistake by me. I like the one below better anyhow.

I have decided to create all, of my textures from scratch. Then I will have no troubles, if I share them.

I am using Smooth Vertex to flattening, a lot of jagged edges, all around the different pieces.

It does shrink the outline somewhat, but I am going to create smoother, cleaner transisions between the areas anyhow, so I don't care. I am also cleaning up a lot of unnessecary tris around the edges of the physical meshes.

I have created a new Orthophoto and will try to add it, to distant parts of the landscape.
I consider using it as a background image, to tweak the track placement, but I think I will wait until I have feedback from those who use the IRL track.

Original TIFF is 148MB.

This is going very well.

Baking of textures however, is not cooperating at all. I will return to that, in my next installment.

Ohh yeah, driving around with camping trailer is possible in BeamNG.

Happy modding

 

[Pixelchaser]

good work man !.

variation textures you require. outer track and inner track. and generally not much variation where you want 3d grass to be placed. work with multilayer shader. and I can help with that if you any questions.

 

[Willy Wale]

Yeah I understand that the mesh made from the ASC files will not be the actual road and terrain used in the final track, it will be used as a guide to conform road and terrain to (retopologised mesh). Just wish that Blender would actually convert 1 file (which is not even close to a full track). Surely there must be a way to do this in 3dsmax or Maya which may be a little more robust. Just seems that this is the first stumbling block to get this great data used.

@Woodee I've made use of the ASC data. I can only get 1m resolution for the area I'm interested in but it's still one million points per file. I pulled four together to define my area. @DanTDBV's tutorial was invaluable for the next bit. I manually re-formatted the files then loaded into cloud compare and merged them, then trimmed some of the edges. Once in to Blender it ground to a halt so last night I tried a different tack. I went back to cloud compare and split the cloud into four parts and meshed them separately. Once exported to Blender they came in as four separate objects but with the correct spatial alignment and I could work on each of the pieces without 'too' much trouble.

The 50cm data will be much more of a burden on resources but you might be able to make it manageable by following a similar approach.

Sorry to hijack your thread Dan.

 

[DanTDBV]

It is okay Willy.

I have found that Blender, does not like the mesh, that comes out from CloudCompare.

I am now using MeshMixer to reduce the mesh. Erase & Fill, Reduce and Smooth are the tools I use.

Retopoflow and the Knive tool, are not working as expected. If stl or obj is the right choise, I really don't know, but Retopoflow is behaving a little better with obj. The creator of Retopoflow, has looked at it and he says, that it is behaving strangely.

Upon import in Blender, I am now moving the Origin, to somewhere inside the model. It does give a better behavier, but not much. I have decided, that I am capable of lining up parts manually. When using obj, it needs a 90 degree flip on the X axis.

Happy modding

 

[Pixelchaser]

why not create your ideal polyscape and conform it to your mesh ? and have your end mesh much quicker.

 

[DanTDBV]

Well, I have been putting off fully learning splines, shrinkwrap and the other stuff. Mostly because my thoughts have been: "I have the surface, so I should be able to use that." Also what I have tried in that regard, was not consistant.

I have yet to understand how to do it correctly, but i will learn, as it is needed for a lot of the other stuff.

Partly out of stubborness and partly because I want to stick with this, to see what I can learn from it.

 

[LilSKi]

Well, I have been putting off fully learning splines, shrinkwrap and the other stuff. Mostly because my thoughts have been: "I have the surface, so I should be able to use that." Also what I have tried in that regard, was not consistant.

I have yet to understand how to do it correctly, but i will learn, as it is needed for a lot of the other stuff.

Partly out of stubborness and partly because I want to stick with this, to see what I can learn from it.

I've mentioned this before but with my LiDAR track I built a traditional splined road onto the data. Initially I shrunk the spline to the data and then fine tuned it by hand. Sounds terrible but literally took me a few hours to complete it.

Here is what it looks like on the data.

To align the road I used an image of the point intensity from cloud compare to align everything from top view. The google images below it are simply for object placement. the google image was very different as far as layout is concerned compared to the data.

Again not saying this is the only way but it worked for me. Here is a video comparing real to virtual

 

[DanTDBV]

Some parts of this project are crusing along smoothly. Others have hit a brickwall.

Reducing the landscape is going to my satisfaction.

Splining the spline spline.

In revisiting splines again, I've discovered, that not knowing which type of curve to chose, is what is holding me back. There are just to many choises.

So, what curve should I use for what purpose?

LilSki, how do you make that point intensity image, in CloudCompare?

I have spent a fair amount of time researching a car, that I want to use on this track.

Yes I have a lot of stuff in the works. That is bacause I need to have different things I can jump to, when I get frustrated with something that are not cooperating. Then I can return to it later when the temper has cooled and I can look at it rationally again.

I will let the brickwall wait until next time.

Happy modding

 

[LilSKi]

First you set the scalar field to intensity. Then I chose grey for color scale but you can use any of them.

I then go to Display, Render to file.