October 12 - Blue Marble Next Generation due to be released

Tips for creating and manipulating planet textures for Celestia.
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LoneHiker
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October 12 - Blue Marble Next Generation due to be released

Post #1by LoneHiker » 11.10.2005, 20:39

Check in at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov for news tomorrow.

For those unfamiliar the new data will be at 500 meter resolution (the previous Blue Marble was 1 kilometer resolution). There will be 12 versions - one for each month. You'll now be able to see seasonal changes.

Also, the oversaturated (in the histogram sense of the word) desert areas in the old Blue Marble have been improved. Plus new processing was done to better handle temporal and reflectance variations (i.e. clouds artifacts). More information is here:

http://www.iac.ethz.ch/staff/stockli/bmng/

In reference to the sheer amount of data - and quoting from 'Jaws' - "You're going to need a bigger boat." ;)

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danielj
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Re: October 12 - Blue Marble Next Generation due to be relea

Post #2by danielj » 11.10.2005, 20:59

Wow!Very nice!
Does the 500 meter resolution mean that the new Blue Marble will be a 64 k VT?If so,I wonder if it will run well in an Athlon 64 3000,1 GB RAM and 6600 GT...


LoneHiker wrote:Check in at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov for news tomorrow.

For those unfamiliar the new data will be at 500 meter resolution (the previous Blue Marble was 1 kilometer resolution). There will be 12 versions - one for each month. You'll now be able to see seasonal changes.

Also, the oversaturated (in the histogram sense of the word) desert areas in the old Blue Marble have been improved. Plus new processing was done to better handle temporal and reflectance variations (i.e. clouds artifacts). More information is here:

http://www.iac.ethz.ch/staff/stockli/bmng/

In reference to the sheer amount of data - and quoting from 'Jaws' - "You're going to need a bigger boat." ;)

Lone
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Topic author
LoneHiker
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Re: October 12 - Blue Marble Next Generation due to be relea

Post #3by LoneHiker » 11.10.2005, 21:40

danielj wrote:Does the 500 meter resolution mean that the new Blue Marble will be a 64 k VT?If so,I wonder if it will run well in an Athlon 64 3000,1 GB RAM and 6600 GT...


I think the new data will be 86400 x 43200 pixels in dimension. Each.

I'm probably not the right person to answer your second question, since I'm new to Celestia and haven't tried any VTs yet.

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Don. Edwards
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Post #4by Don. Edwards » 11.10.2005, 22:10

Well I am ready to takle them on when they hit the web. Just one thing. Even after a resize to 64k they will be a b**ch to work on. These are definetly going to have to be done as VT's or the 64k and 32k versions. The 16k and lower will be easy. Wish me luck on this one guys. I have a feeling I will be releasing these babies one at a time. Maybe I will do it once a month. Each month will be that We will just have to wait and see.

Don. Edwards
I am officially a retired member.
I might answer a PM or a post if its relevant to something.

Ah, never say never!!
Past texture releases, Hmm let me think about it

Thanks for your understanding.
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Don. Edwards
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Post #5by Don. Edwards » 11.10.2005, 22:15

Just a quick update, the release date is the October 13, 2005. Also I am downloading the four sample images they have posted to just to see what I will dealing with here. I will post some pics as soon as I hae then loaded into Celestia.

Don.
I am officially a retired member.
I might answer a PM or a post if its relevant to something.

Ah, never say never!!
Past texture releases, Hmm let me think about it

Thanks for your understanding.
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LoneHiker
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Post #6by LoneHiker » 11.10.2005, 22:25

Don. Edwards wrote:Just a quick update, the release date is the October 13, 2005.

Today I got an e-mail from Reto Stockli (the person responsible for the Blue Marble series) saying it's due on the 12th. But ultimately it's up to NASA. The 13th is good, too. ;)

Also I am downloading the four sample images they have posted to just to see what I will dealing with here. I will post some pics as soon as I hae then loaded into Celestia.


Can you provide the link to the samples NASA posted please? :)

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Don. Edwards
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Post #7by Don. Edwards » 11.10.2005, 22:48

LoneHiker,
They are right there on the front page you directed us to. Just go down till you see the four sample shots of the seasonal textures. Right click and save the image to your computer. Each is an 8MB PNG download and is 5400x2700 in size. So you will need to resize them to either 4096x2048 or 8192x4096. Hope you have fun with them. I know I will. They will be great for quick testing purposes.

Don.
I am officially a retired member.
I might answer a PM or a post if its relevant to something.

Ah, never say never!!
Past texture releases, Hmm let me think about it

Thanks for your understanding.
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LoneHiker
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Post #8by LoneHiker » 11.10.2005, 23:47

Don. Edwards wrote:They are right there on the front page you directed us to. Just go down till you see the four sample shots of the seasonal textures.


Hi Don,

Hmmm, I clicked on the NASA Earth Observatory link and Reto Stockli's BMNG link in my original post and I don't see the imagery you found. Odd.

Dr. Stockli's page has a series of small comparisons between the old and new Blue Marble. The NASA page has a link to the old Blue Marble. At least that's what I'm seeing here.

Could you provide a direct link to one of the 5k samples please? :)

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BrainDead
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Post #9by BrainDead » 12.10.2005, 00:25

LoneHiker wrote:Hmmm, I clicked on the NASA Earth Observatory link and Reto Stockli's BMNG link in my original post and I don't see the imagery you found. Odd.
Could you provide a direct link to one of the 5k samples please? :)

http://www.iac.ethz.ch/staff/stockli/bmng/

If you follow the link you originally posted here, you'll see four seasonal
images at the bottom of the screen.

If you right-click on them, you're probably just seeing the 30k small image
information. If you go ahead and click on one of the images with a left-click,
you should either view or download a "Humpin-HUGE" representative
texture. :wink:

Take care.
Brain-Dead Bob

Windows XP-SP2, 256Meg 1024x768 Resolution
Intel Celeron 1400 MHz CPU
Intel 82815 Graphics Controller
OpenGL Version: 1.1.2 - Build 4.13.01.3196
Celestia 1.4.1
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Don. Edwards
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Post #10by Don. Edwards » 12.10.2005, 00:27

LoneHiker,
It was the second link yu had posted. http://www.iac.ethz.ch/staff/stockli/bmng/
this takes you directly to the Next Gen site. Look for this

Image

Just right click the images and save to where ever you want.

Don.
I am officially a retired member.
I might answer a PM or a post if its relevant to something.

Ah, never say never!!
Past texture releases, Hmm let me think about it

Thanks for your understanding.
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Topic author
LoneHiker
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Joined: 10.10.2005
With us: 19 years 5 months

Post #11by LoneHiker » 12.10.2005, 00:31

BrainDead wrote:If you follow the link you originally posted here, you'll see four seasonal images at the bottom of the screen.


D'OH!

I had to refresh my browser cache. Firefox was still showing the old page. Thanks. Now everything makes sense.

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Topic author
LoneHiker
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Post #12by LoneHiker » 12.10.2005, 00:37

Don. Edwards wrote:http://www.iac.ethz.ch/staff/stockli/bmng/


Got it. Browser cache issue.

These are fantastic! They address many of the issues I discussed with Dr. Stockli earlier this year. I'm very pleased. :D

Lone
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