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Real geospatial data

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By anthony.mann
in World Design

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anthony.mann

Posted
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Would someone kindly go over the steps taken to import real geospatial data into the Unigine game engine?

 

1. Where do you get your data from?

2. What file type(s) do you d/l?

3. How do you ensure 1-1 size ratio?

4. What program do you use to convert your data?

5. How do you import into Unigine and what settings do you use?

 

I have a way I manage this, but I have to use 3-4 different programs just to get a height map that I can import.. and my settings for import usually create a very 'stair-step' looking terrain.  I didn't see anything in the docs that goes over this specifically.

 

My ideal pipeline would be:

1. download data

2. convert

3. import into WorldMachine

4. import into Unigine

 

Thank you in advance!

Tony.

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ulf.schroeter

Posted
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Handling real-world GIS data is quite a complex topic, so there is no short answer to all your questions. Google provides all kinds of related information, just try for example "GIS game engine". The same applies for GIS data ("GIS free data")

 

One large-scale free GIS data source e.g. is Natural Earth. Just as a starting point here in the forum for some useful terrain GIS tools see the following thread

 

https://developer.unigine.com/forum/topic/547-useful-terrain-tools/?hl=terrain+tool#entry8670

 

Also usage of GIS data in game engine nearly always requires usage of multiple tools and different preprocessing steps (data extraction, projection, alignment, conversion, ..., ...., ....) so don't expect a one tool-fits-all-solution :)

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werner.poetzelberger

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Hello Anthony,

 

here I can sketch what we are doing:

 

We acquired DEM geotiffs from a company (as we needed it from a specific area).

 

I converted the geotiffs (32 bit) in photoshop (tone mapped) it into 16 bit multichannel format.

 

Saved it as .psd file.

 

Imported it into unigine.

 

I checked the values (as we do not need every height to be precise) with Daylon Leveller. (This tool is quite nice, and cheap. The only disadvatage it has, that it does not support many output formats).

 

Best. w.

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anthony.mann

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  • Author
Posted

Handling real-world GIS data is quite a complex topic, so there is no short answer to all your questions. Google provides all kinds of related information, just try for example "GIS game engine". The same applies for GIS data ("GIS free data")

 

One large-scale free GIS data source e.g. is Natural Earth. Just as a starting point here in the forum for some useful terrain GIS tools see the following thread

 

https://developer.unigine.com/forum/topic/547-useful-terrain-tools/?hl=terrain+tool#entry8670

 

Also usage of GIS data in game engine nearly always requires usage of multiple tools and different preprocessing steps (data extraction, projection, alignment, conversion, ..., ...., ....) so don't expect a one tool-fits-all-solution :)

Ulf, 

 

Thank you for the info.  What file type do you download from Natural Earth and what do you use to convert it?  The Unigine development team suggested Global Mapper, do you use that?  If so, what file type to you export with?  

 

I don't need exact height and scale, just a general - natural - starting point to bring into world machine to start my texturing and detailing process.

 

Thanks again,

Tony.

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anthony.mann

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Hello Anthony,

 

here I can sketch what we are doing:

 

We acquired DEM geotiffs from a company (as we needed it from a specific area).

 

I converted the geotiffs (32 bit) in photoshop (tone mapped) it into 16 bit multichannel format.

 

Saved it as .psd file.

 

Imported it into unigine.

 

I checked the values (as we do not need every height to be precise) with Daylon Leveller. (This tool is quite nice, and cheap. The only disadvatage it has, that it does not support many output formats).

 

Best. w.

Werner,

 

Thank you very much for the info!  What plug-in do you use to convert the DEM data in PS?  I've seen a few but they are a couple hundred $$ and I wasn't sure if they were worth it.  PS doesn't do that natively, does it?

 

When you are using Daylon Leveller, what file type to you export and again, how do you import that into Unigine to ensure you don't get a stair-stepped looking terrain?  (My heightmaps also don't need to be precise.. I'm just looking for a good starting point to bring into WorldMachine)

 

Thank you,

Tony.

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photo Expert

werner.poetzelberger

Posted
Posted

re. PS: I did not use any plugin.

 

I imported a DEM 32 bit Geotiff and then tonemapped it. This is probably not the most accurate way but for our job its enough, and it looks pretty good so far.

 

The Daylon leveller is not that ideal, because it suffers from export options. We tried .raw format, which was working, but it would need some work to write an converter, I would guess.

 

I actually tried global mapper in the demo as well, but this is not very handy for me, and it does not offer the tools I need. The Daylon leveller would be great as it has some nice tools, known from image manipulation programs.

 

Best.

w.

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steve.brodie

Posted
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If you are going to do a lot of Real world terrains, I can recommend Global Mapper, though it is a bit pricey at $350.  The benefits are that it automatically will give you access to layers of free satellite photography and DTMs and will align them on top of each other in the correct georeferenced location.  It allows you to reproject the data to either curved earth eg Googles wgs84 or flat earth UTM projections.  It has options to export in many formats and tiling layouts.

 

Its not the most user friendly system however, but it makes up for it in the variety of formats it will handle.

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  • 3 weeks later...
photo Expert

werner.poetzelberger

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Just aquired it.

 

Its not the most user friendly system however, but it makes up for it in the variety of formats it will handle.

 

 

Agree.

 

I appreciate World Machine as well.

 

cheers

 

werner

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  • 2 months later...
photo Veteran

ulf.schroeter

Posted
Posted

Interesting article on pre-processing satellite images for realistic rendering of alpine terrains

 

https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=shadow%20rendering%20large%20world&source=web&cd=114&ved=0CDgQFjADOG4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cs.duke.edu%2Fcourses%2Fcompsci344%2Fcps124%2Fspring08%2Fassign%2F07_papers%2Fpremoze_terrain.pdf&ei=5ORNUtaAL6a10wWMp4DYBQ&usg=AFQjCNHQE2ldURs4OOimS5qoPEPwKu30yQ

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  • 2 weeks later...
photo Advanced Member

christian.shiel

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I am interested in importing some real world terrain into Unigine.

I have Global mapper which I load terrain data into.

I had a problem with importing the heightmap into Unigine though. It says it cannot import 24 bit png.

If there is a process for importing from global mapper to Unigine I would be interested to know.

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christian.shiel

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Ok so I've successfully imported heights and overlay from Global mapper.

 

The terrain is 51200m^2 in size.

 

The diffuse image is 128000 x 128000. What happens under the hood to this texture? Does it get mip mapped and split into tiles?

 

A few questions on how to proceed to improve the terrain and also make it larger and better resolution:

 

My heightmap is rather coarse, only 2048 x 2048. I would like to put in a higher resolution data but I notice it will only take in 8124 x 8124 at the most.

 

I create the normal map, which looks good from afar but very strange up closer.

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ulf.schroeter

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Larger high-quality terrains will require multiple ObhectTerrain instances. Have a look at the new landscape plugin. Upcomming rescue helicopter demo will demonstrate how to build such kind of large worlds.

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photo Expert

demostenes

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I create the normal map, which looks good from afar but very strange up closer.

 

We are creating terrain normal map also in external editor, because quality of normal map generated by unigine is significantly worse. Dont ask me why :)

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photo Advanced Member

christian.shiel

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I notice cracks appear and get welded as I move the camera around.

Also is there a way of adjusting distance fog? I can set camera far plane but fog is still enabled.

 

 

 0P8Bq0c.png

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Ugly1-1

Posted
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Larger high-quality terrains will require multiple ObhectTerrain instances. Have a look at the new landscape plugin. Upcomming rescue helicopter demo will demonstrate how to build such kind of large worlds.

 

I'm curious as to how multiple terrain objects are constructed and linked within the editor. Has any info on how it's going to work been published yet?

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