Mars texture alignment

[Bob Hegwood]

Dear Bob:

Thanks for the help. I finally figured out what a BAT file is, and I edited one to convert the Mars 46 texture from Space Graphics.com to dds format. Now, could you give me your recommendations on whether I should be using DXT1, DXT2, DXT5?

No idea, Frank... Sorry, I can't even use a DDS texture on my machine.

As to correcting Mario's Mars texture though... Why don't you just download
the Gimp? It's free, and it provides a fantastic tool for use with aligning planet
textures. You can offset the texture to the left or right by however many degrees
you like. Piece of cake. (Even for Brain-Dead people )

Take care, Bob

[Bob Hegwood]

Hi guys,

where can I download D. Brady's dds image converter program?

From his website which is HERE.

Take care, Bob

[Toti]

Frank,

You shouldn't touch the ssc files in order to shift the texture. The RotationOffset command changes the entire planet sphere orientation, so if you use it, you might have problems with differently aligned Alternate Textures.

As Bob said, GIMP has a command to do this realignment (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+O).
I have heard that PSP (at least version 7) doesn't have this simple feature.
But there are a few custom filters for this purpose. This page has some that you will find useful, specially (I think) Slide 50% X or Offset Wrap: http://psp.tephras.com/filters/
There are install instructions included (really simple).

Hope this helps

Bye

[Guest]

Frank...'terms of use' does not allow distribution unfortunatley.

[DaveMc]

Is there anyone who knows if Paint Shop Pro 7 has a translation command?

Hi Frank,

Paint Shop Pro 7 doesn't have any kind of offset command that I can find but it's fairly easy to do manually. I don't have PSP 7 in front of me right now but basically you cut the full image exactly in half width wise (e.g. 8192x4096 -> 2 images that are 4096x4096) with one image the left side the other the right side. This should be a "Canvas Size" command or something similar. Then you make a new image with the same pixel dimension as the original (8192x4096). Just copy and paste the two halves into this new image with the halves swapped in reverse order from the original and resave.

BTW, some of the Doug's Nvidia DDS plugin versions do work with Paint Shop Pro.

Dave

[granthutchison]

A quick way to do the above cut-and-paste routine in PSP7 is:

1) Cut out the left half of the texture.
2) Open Canvas Size ..., set the image size to match the current image size, uncheck the Center Image boxes, and then enter a negative value for Left:, equal in magnitude to half the image width - this automatically removes the (now blank) left half of the image and creates a same-sized blank section on the right.
3) Paste the previous left half into this new, same-sized blank area.
4) Tweak the precise alignment with the aid of the pixel-position information displayed at the bottom of the screen.

But it's less hassle to use the Slide 50% X plugin recommended by Toti.

Grant

[Bob Hegwood]

Frank...'terms of use' does not allow distribution unfortunatley.

Frank? Is this you? If so you lost me...

What does distribution have to do with using the program to correct a texture?
Are you telling me that I can't distribute a texture that I've corrected via the Gimp?

Horse-Crap. The images are not the Gimp's, even if they have been modified
by the Gimp. Sorry, but I just don't understand the point here.

Take care, Brain-Dead Bob

[piellepi]

Hi friends!
I have PaintShop Pro 8 and there is a command that satisfies your requests. (sorry but I am at work so I read your post in a hurry. )
I don't know if it's present also in version 7.
You must follow the menus

Effects/ImageEffects/Offset

and then there is a dialog box with two pictures (before and after the effect is applied) and some options to check.
I have tried it now and it's very easy to use: check "Wrap" option and you can shift textures in real time (BTW decrease the 100% zoom to 20-30% so you can see the whole texture)
Bye
Pierluigi

[selden]

Bob,

"Guest" is referring to the "terms of use" of Mario's maps of Mars. Mario holds the copyright for all the changes that he made to the original public domain maps. Essentially, he only permits personal use, not republication, unless you ask permission. See http://www.space-graphics.com/licenses.htm

[Bob Hegwood]

Thanks Selden and sorry...

Don't know how I missed that, but I did.
But, as I'm sure that you already know, there are at least ten new versions
of Mario's textures already available for Celestia, and I'm sure that Mario
wouldn't mind another one if he were to be asked about it nicely.

Take care, Brain-Dead Bob

[bh]

You've all got to get Photoshop...sorry!

Regards...bh.

[Guest]

As to correcting Mario's Mars texture though... Why don't you just download
the Gimp? It's free, and it provides a fantastic tool for use with aligning planet
textures. You can offset the texture to the left or right by however many degrees
you like. Piece of cake.

Take care, Bob

Bob,

I'm having the same problem with the Mars textures. I downloaded the Gimp, but there is no support for DDS textures. I found a Photoshop plugin from Nvidia, but I can't get it to do anything. What plugin do you use to edit DDS textures in Gimp?

[Bob Hegwood]

What plugin do you use to edit DDS textures in Gimp?

Ah, but there's the rub...

I can't even use DDS textures, so I routinely convert any DDS textures into
JPG files which I can edit via the Gimp.

Sorry, but I know absolutely nothing about DDS, except to say that Irfanview
can read and convert them to jpgs rather easily.

Take care, Bob

[t00fri]

To modify JPG, DXT1,3,... and|or to convert forth and back between the two LOSSY formats DXT1,3,.. and JPG comes close to an 'image rape' . Try to avoid it at any rate. People who plan playing with textures more often, should always try to get hold of a TIFF, PNG or TGA version of the image. If you only got DDS or JPG, it is still better to convert these first into a lossless format like PNG before applying any further modifications!

Concerning alignment problems with Mars textures. There are a number of Mars surface texture out there that simply cannot be aligned well by mere (linear) offsets to the bumpmap or normalmap textures from MOLA. Mario's bumpmap and main Mars textures are carefully aligned by means of fancy methods and fit perfectly together.

Never use DXT1 format for normalmaps! At least DXT3 or better PNG tiles, if your machine is fast enough.

There is NO need for Photoshop, really, for any task I can imagine with Celestia textures. GIMP does it all. DXT conversion and normal maps also do not require Photoshop.

Bye Fridger

[bh]

Yes...I not use the gimp so did the conversion with photoshop...It's just that I'm fairly OK with it...I agree there are other ways. Bloody stunning texture tho' but.

regards...bh.

[t00fri]

Yes...I not use the gimp so did the conversion with photoshop...It's just that I'm fairly OK with it...I agree there are other ways. Bloody stunning texture tho' but.

regards...bh.

Hi bh,

photoshop is of course fine. I also have it and also use it for special tasks.

Bye Fridger

[John Van Vliet]

for specal tasks how about image magick
or the nVida cmd tools for dds and normal maps or nm16

Concerning alignment problems with Mars textures.

mine are also re maped to aline to mola ( + or - 1 pix. )