How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
Moderator: OpenTTD Developers
i am trying to make a good map of western europe and have been following this tutorial to the letter... but when i come to make the grayscale image 1:1 my comp. doesnt have enough resources. Can anyone help me finish this off or link me to a good heightmap of Western Europe. I am looking for including UK up to italy and some of north africa. See image attached. Pref 2048 x 2048 or 1024 x 1024...
- Attachments
-
- EUROPE.PNG (39.35 KiB) Viewed 15642 times
Help I dont understand
SRTM Overlay for GoogleEarth (Run from URL once you've installed Google Earth... what is URL? I am not so good at computers and I dont know what URL is plz help me.
peterj - that's quite a serious request, 35 sets of data are needed to be downloaded and merged. Perhaps if I get bored enough tomorrow...
In the meantime I've been playing with this all day, this is really neat! Much better than when I tried doing this before (which was 2 years and 2 days ago).
Here are a few I've whipped up to day: http://bmp.thefloatingwidget.net/heightmaps/
So far Cyprus, Madagascar, New Zealand and the UK (plus some parts of the UK further zoomed in)
Italy (and surroundings) and (Eastern) Canada to follow tommorow.![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Edit:
Oh an update to the guide:
"To do this, select File->Save DEM->Thin DEM (Decimate)."
is now:
"To do this, select Raster GIS->Thin DEM (Decimate)"
In the meantime I've been playing with this all day, this is really neat! Much better than when I tried doing this before (which was 2 years and 2 days ago).
Here are a few I've whipped up to day: http://bmp.thefloatingwidget.net/heightmaps/
So far Cyprus, Madagascar, New Zealand and the UK (plus some parts of the UK further zoomed in)
Italy (and surroundings) and (Eastern) Canada to follow tommorow.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Edit:
Oh an update to the guide:
"To do this, select File->Save DEM->Thin DEM (Decimate)."
is now:
"To do this, select Raster GIS->Thin DEM (Decimate)"
yea i realise this is a mean request. I downloaded all the sets of data and spent most of a weekend to get it all perfect and just when i was nearing the end i suddenly had a lack of resources message. I went home recently and tried to do it on my dads big computer but i got the same message.
Is there any way of doing a simpler quicker version. I made a PNG of europe from the world height map supplied by someone earlier in this topic... but I can't quite get the shadings right to make the heights right... it seems very high land and sea level are the same colour for some reasons ???!?!?
Is there any way of doing a simpler quicker version. I made a PNG of europe from the world height map supplied by someone earlier in this topic... but I can't quite get the shadings right to make the heights right... it seems very high land and sea level are the same colour for some reasons ???!?!?
Any chance of a heightmap of the West Midlands?
Terribly demanding. Apologies.
I've been planning a game for a while now, based on the Black Country.
Terribly demanding. Apologies.
I've been planning a game for a while now, based on the Black Country.
Official TT-Dave Fan Club
Dave's Screenshot Thread! - Albion: A fictional Britain
Flickr
Why be a song when you can be a symphony? r is a...
Dave's Screenshot Thread! - Albion: A fictional Britain
Flickr
Why be a song when you can be a symphony? r is a...
- thebrightside
- Engineer
- Posts: 78
- Joined: 28 Feb 2007 15:35
- Location: The Netherlands
- Contact:
Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
Hi all first post here, not really sure if this is the place to do this but, I was wondering if someone could make a heightmap of the US state Minnesota. I would do it myself but my computer is not very powerful as was recommended. Thank you
- shampie
- Engineer
- Posts: 120
- Joined: 13 Feb 2005 01:13
- Location: Eindhoven - Netherlands Ottawa - Canada
Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
Hey,
I've taken a picture of a couple of clouds (little fluff's) and changed the colours to grayscale (PS CS2)
then I changed what used to be the clear blue sky to totally black and read it in openttd.
Here is the scenario.
Total Population (1940): 6,970
-Shimora
Capital: Mytharoom (1,162)
Population: 3,264 (17 Towns) (avg. 192/town)
Major Industry: Mining
Economy: Average
Max height: 500m + (Mountainous)
-Stoja Egh Astaforia
Capital: Dhallstowen ( 1,236)
Population: 3,706 (15 Towns) (avg. 247/town)
Major Industry: Production
Economy: Average
Max height: 300m + (Hilly)
I've taken a picture of a couple of clouds (little fluff's) and changed the colours to grayscale (PS CS2)
then I changed what used to be the clear blue sky to totally black and read it in openttd.
Here is the scenario.
Total Population (1940): 6,970
-Shimora
Capital: Mytharoom (1,162)
Population: 3,264 (17 Towns) (avg. 192/town)
Major Industry: Mining
Economy: Average
Max height: 500m + (Mountainous)
-Stoja Egh Astaforia
Capital: Dhallstowen ( 1,236)
Population: 3,706 (15 Towns) (avg. 247/town)
Major Industry: Production
Economy: Average
Max height: 300m + (Hilly)
- Attachments
-
- Shampzaar.scn
- Scenario
- (89.86 KiB) Downloaded 355 times
-
- Map of Shamzaar
- map.png (141.33 KiB) Viewed 14236 times
Last edited by shampie on 02 Aug 2007 17:15, edited 2 times in total.
To express moral judgments about good and evil, you must posit that good and evil exist
If good and evil exist, you must posit a moral law by which we can distinguish between good and evil
If a moral law exists, a moral law giver must exist.
If good and evil exist, you must posit a moral law by which we can distinguish between good and evil
If a moral law exists, a moral law giver must exist.
- thebrightside
- Engineer
- Posts: 78
- Joined: 28 Feb 2007 15:35
- Location: The Netherlands
- Contact:
Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
In version 0.5.2 I get game load fail.
In r10620 I get game load fail. Broke save game. Unknown chunk type...
So unfortunately not able to play it. What version did you use? And what size is it anyway? Any grf files used?
In r10620 I get game load fail. Broke save game. Unknown chunk type...
So unfortunately not able to play it. What version did you use? And what size is it anyway? Any grf files used?
Geographer in making
My Scenarios
My Scenarios
- shampie
- Engineer
- Posts: 120
- Joined: 13 Feb 2005 01:13
- Location: Eindhoven - Netherlands Ottawa - Canada
Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
This is for nightly r10737, no newGRF's used.
See if that works for you.
G'luck
See if that works for you.
G'luck
-
- Tycoon
- Posts: 1656
- Joined: 08 Jun 2007 08:00
Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
You can generate heightmaps with GIMP too. they just become very hilly. Like arctic. Have to apply solid noise to the pic, you want and then gradient map with gradient land and sea selected. There are more native gimp gradients you can chhos, though. And you can alwys make a new gradient. Maybe at start you have to duplicate the solid noise layer to make later a bump map. Easier way, though is through the gimp main window Xtns->Patterns->Land/Flat land, Render Map
Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
the guide seems somewhat outdated? or the version/interface of the software has changed...
- Yeebaagooon
- Engineer
- Posts: 8
- Joined: 15 Sep 2007 20:50
Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
Brilliant guide!
Easy to understand with amazing results.
Easy to understand with amazing results.
Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
I would love to experiment with this...
MicroDEM gives me I/O Error 104 as soon as I try to load a .ASC file...
Anyone same problem, or even better, know the cause?
MicroDEM gives me I/O Error 104 as soon as I try to load a .ASC file...
Anyone same problem, or even better, know the cause?
Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
I'm having the same problem as okdewit, although sometimes I get "Access violation at address 008828BE in module 'microdem.exe'. Read of address 00000001."
One thing that I noticed is that the guide refers to the SRTM thingie as SRTM2. The one I got from that link was called SRTM3.KMZ, so it seems it has been updated. Could this be the cause?
One thing that I noticed is that the guide refers to the SRTM thingie as SRTM2. The one I got from that link was called SRTM3.KMZ, so it seems it has been updated. Could this be the cause?
Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
Yes it is! (SRTM2 is now considered "obsolete" and upgraded to v3, which is incompatible with MicroDEM)
Experimented a little, and I found an easy solution for this:
EDIT: Apparently, it's impossible to do Data Manipulation --> Merge on a geotiff. Somehow, if I export them to ASC format, MicroDEM can't open them anymore (same I/O error or Memory error).
Looking into it right now. (perhaps version difference of SRTM isn't the cause after all?)
Experimented a little, and I found an easy solution for this:
- Open Google Earth
- Load the SRTM Layer as instructed
- Download the GEOTIFF file instead of the ARC-ASCII File.
- Load the GEOTIFF in MicroDEM (File --> Open DEM)
EDIT: Apparently, it's impossible to do Data Manipulation --> Merge on a geotiff. Somehow, if I export them to ASC format, MicroDEM can't open them anymore (same I/O error or Memory error).
Looking into it right now. (perhaps version difference of SRTM isn't the cause after all?)
Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
Thanks a lot, with that executable I can actually load the .asc files ![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Merging is somehow still disabled (grayed out)
...and the netherlands seems to be the worst country to make a heightmap of... the coastline of the flevopolder is not even visible![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
I hope people will post some high-res scenario's (> 2Kx2K
)
Thanks for all the help.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Merging is somehow still disabled (grayed out)
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
...and the netherlands seems to be the worst country to make a heightmap of... the coastline of the flevopolder is not even visible
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
I hope people will post some high-res scenario's (> 2Kx2K
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Thanks for all the help.
Re: How To: Generate Superb Heightmaps :)
For Linux:
You will need the following:
* Google Earth (http://earth.google.com) [sh googleearth.bin to install or use repos]
* SRTM Overlay for GoogleEarth (http://www.ambiotek.com/topoview). Loading this from the web sometimes made GE crash, just save it to hd
* GDAL Utilities- Geospatial Data Abstraction Library Utilities (http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/DownloadingGdalBinaries) [install from site or via repos ("gdal-bin" package)]
* A graphics program, such as The GIMP
I run an A64 x2 6000+ w/ 4GB RAM, this took next to no time, tho YMMV
Google Earth
*Start Google Earth
*Load the SRTM kmz file
*Click on the Green buttons and you'll see a page pop up, scroll to the start of the links and you'll want to download either of the first two links (Either from the US or UK Servers, it doesn't matter), its the data file in ARCASCII format.
*Save the files
GDAL Utilities
*Open a terminal window.
*Type:Replacing the names of input and output file with your own choice, outsize can also be changed [for best results to a size ready for OpenTTD] though 2048x2048 gives the best results IMHO
*Wait for it to complete (took me only a couple of seconds, YMMV)
*Further usage instructions can be found at: http://www.gdal.org/index.html if you want to do any other stuff to your files.
The GIMP (Optional)
At this stage you have a greyscale PNG, which works great in OpenTTD.
If your sealevels are whacky then you need to do some editing in The GIMP. Select the sea [magic selector with 0 tolerance] and invert the selection [so that the land is selected], and adjust the brightness until prefered results are obtained. Some areas may have to be fixed manually in OpenTTD, but at this point you should have a perfect or near perfect map of your area of choice.
If you want you can also crop out only the parts you want into another PNG using the supplied tools, again for best results size them to an OpenTTD standard size.
GDAL Utilities also work in Windows and Mac, so similar instructions could be used there.
You will need the following:
* Google Earth (http://earth.google.com) [sh googleearth.bin to install or use repos]
* SRTM Overlay for GoogleEarth (http://www.ambiotek.com/topoview). Loading this from the web sometimes made GE crash, just save it to hd
* GDAL Utilities- Geospatial Data Abstraction Library Utilities (http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/DownloadingGdalBinaries) [install from site or via repos ("gdal-bin" package)]
* A graphics program, such as The GIMP
I run an A64 x2 6000+ w/ 4GB RAM, this took next to no time, tho YMMV
Google Earth
*Start Google Earth
*Load the SRTM kmz file
*Click on the Green buttons and you'll see a page pop up, scroll to the start of the links and you'll want to download either of the first two links (Either from the US or UK Servers, it doesn't matter), its the data file in ARCASCII format.
*Save the files
GDAL Utilities
*Open a terminal window.
*Type:
Code: Select all
gdal_translate -of PNG -ot byte -outsize 2048 2048 INPUTNAME.ASC OUTPUTNAME.PNG
*Wait for it to complete (took me only a couple of seconds, YMMV)
*Further usage instructions can be found at: http://www.gdal.org/index.html if you want to do any other stuff to your files.
The GIMP (Optional)
At this stage you have a greyscale PNG, which works great in OpenTTD.
If your sealevels are whacky then you need to do some editing in The GIMP. Select the sea [magic selector with 0 tolerance] and invert the selection [so that the land is selected], and adjust the brightness until prefered results are obtained. Some areas may have to be fixed manually in OpenTTD, but at this point you should have a perfect or near perfect map of your area of choice.
If you want you can also crop out only the parts you want into another PNG using the supplied tools, again for best results size them to an OpenTTD standard size.
GDAL Utilities also work in Windows and Mac, so similar instructions could be used there.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests