The New Earth Textures From Space-Graphics

[Don. Edwards]

Well this is what I have been trying to get into my gallery for. I found that Space-Graphics at http://www.space-graphics.com/ had put together new Earth textures that had a more realistic look to them. So after slaping them together in gimp with Buzz's 8k specmap I came up with this beauty.

And this shot

I think everyone might agree the colors are by far the most acurate to date. The not over-saturated like the BlueMarble textures. Even the oceans have a better hue. Many people here have tried to do this with some success but I think these guys hit it just right. I have made a 2k and 4k DDS with specmap already pluged in. I am still trying to make the 8k version but each time it is finished the image has white blocks all over the coninents. I will keep trying or I would be willing to pass the TGA over to someone better able to make it. The only problem is the TGA is 128megs in size. I have got a smaller more compressed version around 95megs. If anone want to give it a try themselves head over to Space-Grphics and get the texture and go get Buzz's specmap from his site(the info is in the forum) and put it together. You will have to resize Space-Graphics texture to 8192x4096 but you are going to loose a little in the way of detail. I will hopefully be making the 2k and 4k available for download. I just have top find someone who wants to host them.Let me know. I have several other pictures of this texture in my gallery at http://ennui.celestiaproject.net/gallery/view_ ... e=DEdwards

[Buzz]

It's good to see the upgraded specs used! Your screenshots look great, I'll check out this site.

[Darkmiss]

Are the first two versions available to download, Don ?

that is really nice work

[Don. Edwards]

Well I have it put the 4k dds and the 2k bumpmap all together and zipped. Its a 4meg download. But alas I have no place to host this so if someone wants to host the file drop me a private message and we will get things going. I tried uploadeing it to my new temporary iDisk. The file is there but I have to go and create the file sharing page before anyone can download. Just bare with me a little while.

[Don. Edwards]

Ok Everyone,
I have a temporary iDisk account and I have posted the 4k dds there for download. Thanks to all of you who offered to host the file. You are more than welcome to do so. You can download it at http://homepage.mac.com/impulseman37/.c ... p-link.zip

I will be working on the 2k version shortly and I am going to give the 8k another try. I takes over an hour for nvdxt.exe to crunch the tga into a dds. Lets hope this one doesn't come out goofed like the last one.

[ou8poop2]

just a thought... would someone be able to use the space - graphics site Don first mentioned in the thread to create a higher rez bumpmap of Mars? they have some great bmp shadded sections of Mars that look great. I will try to slip them into an image with the rest of the lower rez bumpmap...
wish me luck! (with my skills, im gonna need it! )

[Guest]

[img]
http://ennui.celestiaproject.net/~t00fri/images/andes3.jpg [/img][/img]

[t00fri]

From my > 500 posts I made in this box, it retained my identity in only 400. Box I "love you"...

The above image should not be there, but I cannot edit it anymore...rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Bye Fridger

[Don. Edwards]

Ok heres the updated texture. I have decided to put the date into the name to help keep its identity seperate from the older one.
http://homepage.mac.com/impulseman37/.c ... p-link.zip
You will need to use the same bumpmap from the previous version.
Sorry I don't have any pictures but I can't get to the gallery again so there are no new screencaps to show. What you will find in the texture is darkened oseans in atempt to get rid of the milky look they had. I think this is a big improvment. Also I am going to post a dds of the modified cloudmap that Frider made. I am speaking of the one with the added Huricane and the added storms here and there. Be patient since working with this cloudmap is dificult because its simply hard to see what you are doing and how it looks until you load it into Celestia and see it for mayself. When I feel its st its best I will pass it on to everyone.

[HankR]

Don,

I'm curious why you think your colors are more accurate or realistic than Blue Marble's. To my eye, the Blue Marble colors seem quite similar to what I'm used to seeing in reproductions of astronaut photography.

- Hank

[Don. Edwards]

If you have seen any pictures of the earth from space you would see that right off the bat the colors are way to rich. They, BlueMarble have saturated the textures to bring out the diferences in vegitation on the surface. From earth orbit the deep greens you see in BlueMarbles textures are acutaly shuch a dark green that there almost black. And many other of the colors are way to bright or hot I think is the proper term. I am not the one who stated that they were more realist but simply passed on what Space-Graphics said about the texture. I feel the color for the land is acurate but the color of the oceans are to much a milky blue. If you look in the discutions a have had with Fridger in the Playing with Space-Graphics thread you will see that he and I have come to the same conclusion when it comes the water color. Heres a shot of the updated texture as it stads now.

AS you can see the ocean color has been toned down to a more natural level while the lands colors are still more subduded. Don't get me wrong the Earth textures from BlueMarble are fantastic but if one wants a more acurate look to the earth one needs to tweak the settings a little. Besides these very textures are based on the BlueMarble textures and have simply been reworked. I feel the results speak for themselves. I f you check out the Space-Graphics website you will see that they were tying to replicate what the earth really looks like from orbit. I think they are close but I think Fridger and I have taken it closer. Opions very greatly and yours is valid. If you prefer the BlueMarble textures go with them If you like the ones I put together use them. As always the choice is your.

[Rassilon]

Isnt it the haze in the atmosphere that causes the actual color reduction as we see from space? If so Blue Marbles images might actually be correct in a sense...as most who use the textures use 3d max or something similar and may well add the haze effect in as the overall reduction to the textures color...seems logical...

[Don. Edwards]

Actualy the haze can be simulated as an added layer in the clouds. I had played with this with varying results. I am afraid the only way we will ever get the real picture is to strip earth of its clouds and atmophere. This still would result in an inacurate color because the atmosphere is an important component in the overall color. So why don't we just say to each his or her own and leave it at that. One must also take into consideration each users monitor settings and what each person actually sees. What I see as over-saturated may look fine to someone else. I am talking of the viewers actual eye. I don't think every single person sees colors the way every one else does. I have noticed over my life time how people have differing ideas of color. I have had heated debates over what color is what and have came to this deternination. It has to be subjective. Think of someone who is color blind. They wouldn't be able to probably see what we are even talking about. Thats why I said it has to be each persons own opinion. I am trying to strike a balance of what earth looks like in orbit and at a distance. I am happy with the results as I see them. Howerver it may not be the look some else is looking for. I can't afford a ride into space to see what the earth really looks like and even if I did it would be as I see it and not how you or anyone else does.
Another point is Mars and most of the textures for it. I think its a little to red. Everyone else may think its right on the money. But how do you or anyone else know for sure. No one has been there yet and even if they had gone there we would be seeing it through there eyes. I know this is starting to ramble. But lets just say everyones taste are different. I will try not to inpose my own opinions in this area because its just to vague and area to argue over.

[Rassilon]

In that case you resort to RGB values...

255,0,0 is red
0,255,0 is green
0,0,255 is blue and so on

[HankR]

Actually, I have seen many, many pictures of the earth from space. Hundreds of 'em. I've been looking at astronaut photographs of earth from orbit for more than forty years, from the early Mercury flights onward. I've seen them in Aviation Week, National Geographic, and Life magazines, various NASA special publications, and numerous other sources.

One of the best is the book "Orbit: NASA Astronauts Photograph the Earth" by Jay Apt, Michael Helfert, and Justin Wilkinson (edited by Roger Ressmeyer), published by the National Geographic Society in 1996. The images in this book were digitally scanned from the original flight film and carefully color-corrected to match the view from space as judged by veteran shuttle astronaut Jay Apt, who's been there.

None of this makes me an expert, and my opinion is just that. But it's not a casual opinion, either. And based on my long interest in and experience of earth orbital photographs, I don't agree that the Blue Marble colors are obviously wrong. They are missing a slight blueish tint I would expect from atmospheric scattering, but that's appropriate for a surface color map. Otherwise the colors look very good to me. Compared to the astronaut photography I've seen, they don't seem inaccurate, unrealistic, or unnatural. IMHO.

'Nuf said. I don't intend these comments to be argumentative. We can agree to disagree. It ultimately comes down to a matter of taste, as you say. One of the (many) great features of Celestia is that it allows everyone to easily customize such things to suit their personal preferences.

- Hank

[t00fri]

Actually, I have seen many, many pictures of the earth from space. Hundreds of 'em. I've been looking at astronaut photographs of earth from orbit for more than forty years, from the early Mercury flights onward. I've seen them in Aviation Week, National Geographic, and Life magazines, various NASA special publications, and numerous other sources.

One of the best is the book "Orbit: NASA Astronauts Photograph the Earth" by Jay Apt, Michael Helfert, and Justin Wilkinson (edited by Roger Ressmeyer), published by the National Geographic Society in 1996. The images in this book were digitally scanned from the original flight film and carefully color-corrected to match the view from space as judged by veteran shuttle astronaut Jay Apt, who's been there.

None of this makes me an expert, and my opinion is just that. But it's not a casual opinion, either. And based on my long interest in and experience of earth orbital photographs, I don't agree that the Blue Marble colors are obviously wrong. They are missing a slight blueish tint I would expect from atmospheric scattering, but that's appropriate for a surface color map. Otherwise the colors look very good to me. Compared to the astronaut photography I've seen, they don't seem inaccurate, unrealistic, or unnatural. IMHO.

'Nuf said. I don't intend these comments to be argumentative. We can agree to disagree. It ultimately comes down to a matter of taste, as you say. One of the (many) great features of Celestia is that it allows everyone to easily customize such things to suit their personal preferences.

- Hank

I agree with you that the BlueMarble colors are not bad. Yet they are tremendously /oversaturated/. In order to get a reasonably naturally looking texture, one has to desaturate the color by >50%. The actual color corrections one then has to apply are O(few %) and depend on the amount and color of the bluish atmospheric/cloud texture layer that sits on top of it. Furthermore, one has to tune the overall appearance together with the SpecularColor composition etc...

Bye Fridger

[Darkmiss]

Don can you put up your current colour settings for the shots you took.

heres what I have at the moment

Color [ 0.85 0.85 1.0 ]
SpecularColor [ 0.57 0.55 0.51 ]
SpecularPower 35.0
HazeColor [ 1 1 1 ]
HazeDensity 0.3
Radius 6378

Compared to your screenshots,
I think my Deserts are looking a little too pinky.

[Don. Edwards]

Those are the same settings I use.
Now to a change of subject. I have done something I think is quite neat. Check the new thread I have up.

[Don. Edwards]

Well its been a while since I posted in this section. After getting a memory upgrade I am now able to crunch 8k .dds files. Heres the first shot I have taken with my new 8k Earth texture. I still have some tweaking to do but it should be ready for public comsumtion in a few days. Have a look. This shot is over Patagonia in South America.

I know the oceans are just a bit lighteer than tey should be and they have that milky look again because I went back to the original textures to work on this thing. I should have all they proper colors dailed in shortly.

[Don. Edwards]

Here is another shot of the 8k texture. This time its showing off Celestia's repaired night lights feature. Here you can see that the city lights no longer show up in the day time and if you you look at polar region you can now see the aurora effect I made working right.



When the 8k texture is done it will include the night texture with aurora effects.