Detail layer color ranges

[david.norlin]

I am trying to make our project more efficient by combining all masks into one image so I do not need several 4 channel masks, but it is proving quite challenging.  I first tried 8 bit images, and I think it is causing problems because there are not enough color values to adequately create a range for as many classes as I need with enough noise as is needed to create nice distribution and textures.  Selected ranges for different classes bleed over into each other making it useless.

I did try a 16 bit mask, but I did not see any change - still the same bleed-over effect between detail layers.   I am identifying color tables in Photoshop, determining the number of colors and then setting a range.  I have also adjusted many noise values to reduce possible color ranges, but still no luck. What is the proper way to set a color threshold in the landscape tool? 

My 16 bit mask below:

Many thanks.

[morbid]

Hi,

how exactly is "bleed-over" shows itself?

Have you tried adding multiple colours for each mask in landscape tool?

[david.norlin]

By "bleed-over", I mean that the masks overlap each other and cover areas they are not supposed to.  I can try using multiple colors, but I'm still not sure how to set a range accurately.

[morbid]

Can you attach a landscape file with configured masks so we can take a look?

[werner.poetzelberger]

Ar you sure, that you only using one channel for those areas?

In your image I cant see too many pure R, B, G, or A areas.

[david.norlin]

@morbid I will upload when I get home.
 

@werner.poetzelberger I am trying to not use a single-channel mask because I may have a dozen landclasses for the project as a whole.  I am not sure if it is possible to get as nice of a blend using color ranges...worst case, I use several channel-based masks.  This experiment was in the hope that I might be able to reduce the number of mask images used in the project. 

[werner.poetzelberger]

okey. I am not familiar in using color ranges.

How can you do that?

[david.norlin]

It is an option in the Landscape Tool.  You can select between "channel" and "color".  Color allows you to pick an RGB value and then specify a threshold of additional values.  Now, I can do a mask where each landclass is filled with the same color - however, this does not blend very well - the mask is too pixelated.  Establishing a threshold creates a much nicer blend, similar to channel masks.  But...it can create circumstances where the masks overlap because of inaccurate color values.  This is the current struggle...

As I think about this more, I believe I might have been basing the threshold off the wrong color.  I will test more when I get home.  

[werner.poetzelberger]

ah. That sound really good. thx for explaining !

 

[david.norlin]

@morbid I realized I was setting my threshold incorrectly.  I fixed the issue and was able to stop the overlapping of masks.  However, I still do not think that color ranges are as good as a channel mask.  Channel masks blend so much better...I think I will focus on ways to combine various landclasses into a single channel mask and go from there.  

Thank you.  

[werner.poetzelberger]

I have tried out the new landscape tool just to get to know it.

Seems to be pretty convenient as soon as you know, what you r doing. (the interface is pretty tricky).

The option for the landcover masks using color is a neat option, but I think it is kind of difficult to create something useful from a aerial images.

I tried to extract information from our images, and it seems to be pretty difficult to get out consistent information. (just because of the source colours).

But it might be very useful in some situations (probably if you have explicit color data information).

Of course you have much more control in am image program like PS to create complex masks, so will get more convenient results I assume.