Thread Renamed - New Mars Textures

[Don. Edwards]

I guess it is time for me to replace my previous Mars texture with something newer and more accurate.
Yes I have caught the Mars bug again.
At present I have 3 working textures. But that is going to be narrowed down to just 2. I will hopefully be offering a new light shadow version as well as a nearly shadow free version. I have also reworked the coloring and contrast of the textures so they don't look so pumpkin orange as the last one did. I am also making a new 16k normalmap to go with the textures. I will probably release these in both a single 16k DDS and a PNG VT.
As always I have pictures. The picture on the top is the old low shadows Mars texture, the one on the bottom is the new nearly shadow free version.
If you want to see a larger version just click the images.





I will be posting more pictures as soon as I can. As always all input and comments are welcome and if you think you see something not quite right let me know.

Don. Edwards

[Don. Edwards]

Since there is no seems to be no interest this subject and project is closed.

Don. Edwards

[ANDREA]

Since there is no seems to be no interest this subject and project is closed. Don. Edwards

Dear Don, as you know I've always appreciated very much your talent and patience in producing the textures that IMHO are the best ones in Celestia, and that I'm always using in my public shows.
I have obviously seen your post on the new Mars textures, but I didn't post to this because I was thinking it as a project still under development.
What could I say from such mini images?
That colour seems to me a bit too dark and reddish?
I could, but I was sure that this would have been modified many times, as happened in your previous textures, so I decided to leave to you the decisions on next developments, and to criticize or hooray later on.
But if you wish a closer contact with your fans, well, I'm waiting your 16K Mars as a gift from the sky, believe me.
Sorry for not having told you before, but I hope I'm still on time to do it.
Please Don, please, stay with us.
Bye

Andrea

[ElChristou]

Open on 14 jul, closed on 15!!!!
Don please...

I like what I see and I want it!!!!!
Tx for the effort.

Bye

EDIT: I think I haven't took the time yesterday to open your thread because of the title... I was thinking in a star (red friend...)...

[Don. Edwards]

Here are some pictures of my new Mars texture. There are still two versions but I think I will release only this one. This is the very lightly shaded version. The other is almost totally shadow less and for that reason may look somewhat flat to everyone. I am still working on the normalmaps. I plan on making a 16k VT version based on PNG images as no matter what is done to it in DDS it has some artifacts that are unwanted. The flat texture can look very good with a highly exaggerated height in the normalmap. But the normal still need work. These pictures were taken with Celestia?€™s rendering engine set to OpenGL vertex program/NVIDIA combiners. I can?€™t seen to get the NVIDA GeForce FX rendering engine to work right under the present build. I will probably import the textures into version 1.3 and try taking a few in that version to see if there is any difference. So here are the pictures.



























If everyone likes the texture I will release it. It should work fine with almost all of the normalmaps that have been made and released. But the topography may look a little lower than mine does. Again I am using a normalmap with exaggerated height to help bring out the detail. When I feel the Normal is ready I will release it as well. It will come in both a single 16k DDS and the 16k PNG VT version. So let me know what you all think and this time I will let the thread sit long enough to get a good amount of input.

Don.

[Dollan]

Unfortunately, I'm limited to 2k textures (and can't use DDS files)... but something like this is worth downloading and keeping just to have, in my view.

Can't wait to get it! And, I dare to ask, is there any progress on the young Mars texture? Just curious.

...John...

[Don. Edwards]

Hey Dollan,
Well I will make smaller versions of the texture so you should be able to use it if you truly want to.

As for the Mars 3.5-4 Billion BCE texture, it is on hold. I could just take it forward the way it is but I have found out few things in the last couple of months that have made me pause to think things over. One of the biggest is that new information has come to light about the old Mars equator. Supposedly you can find it by drawing a line from Argyre Planitia to Helas Panitia. It would look something like this on the present Mars.



As you can see this would dramatically alter the Look of Mars. It would put Olympus Mons very far north. If there was an ocean in the distant past it would not have been at the North pole at all but on one side of the planet while the whole Southern Highlands would have been on the other. Its speculation on my part but the weight of water would have balanced the weight of the more dense highlands and balanced Mars out. When the oceans went the highlands were heavier and drifted south? It makes you realize that there is allot more going on here on this planet than meets the eye. I really wish we could look back in time and see what it used to look like. I think we might all be quite surprised at what Earth's little brother looked like back at this time.

What graphics card are you running anyway? I can't seem to remember. I have dealt with so many questions about video cards here in the forum and through PM and e-mail that everyone has begun to blur together. I could probably post a 2k.PNG version tonight or tomorrow if you want to try it. But at 2k allot of detail will disappear. Let me know.

Don.

[Cham]

Don,

your textures looks very promising. I'm interested.

[Guckytos]

Hey Don,

the Mars texture looks really good. Hope i will get a new PC soon so that i can enjoy it in full details with decent framerates

Carry on the excellent work!

Regards,

Guckytos

[Dollan]

Hi Don...

Yes, Mars I think is going to prove to have been (and perhaps still be) a most dynamic planet. As for myself, I've never truly believed that it was a dead world anyway. We are viewing it through eyes that are limited to a very small span, after all. In my ArcBuilder setting, I decided to make Mars a world that moves from dry to wet phases over millions of years; speculative, I know, but it opens up some interesting story possibilities.

As for my video card, it is an NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro with only 30mb of memory. And unfortunately, I won't be upgrading any time soon, at least not until some other money requirements have first been settled.

And there's no need to worry about putting out a smaller version of the Mars texture. When the one above becomes available, I'll likely just resize it to use in Celestia... but I'll definitely keep a copy of it, in its original form, on hand. As I've said, your stuff is worth simply having, even if it can't be used right away!

...John...

[Don. Edwards]

Dolan,
Now there is no reason you can't use a 4k texture with that card. I know I had one when I first started out on Celestia. I put that card through its paces all the time and it only had 32mb of VRAM. I used 4k textures both png and DDS and used more than one of them at a time. You just need to learn how to squeeze that card into submission. You can do it. If I am not right I may have even used my first 8k textures on that card. I wish I still had it. It would be great for testing purposes. Unfortunately I sold it. But I did pick up a GeForce2 GTS 64Mb for my second machine. For all intent and purposes it the same card just clocked faster and double the RAM. I bet if I laid out a custom solarsys.ssc you could load several 4k textures on it. Let me know if you want to try. I already have some textures uploaded for someone else that was in a similar position. So let me know!

Don

[diabloblanco17]

Amazing level of detail. I'm working on an 8k texture map right now, and while it's a pain in the ass, I can't even begin to imagine how time-consuming a 16k would be to create, even if you are dealing with a set layout and lots of existing data. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[Don. Edwards]

diabloblanco17,
A 16k can set you back sometimes weeks and in some cases even months. Its harder when dealing with textures like the Earth and Mars because so many people know what they look like and if you drift to far from what is expected you here about it. Fictional worlds can be allot more fun because there is know restraint except what you put on it.
And if you think a 16k is allot of work try a 32k. I have the makings of a 32k Earth texture that has been laying around for over a year. I just have to put my head to it to get it done.

Don.

[praesepe]

As usual, an outstanding work! The texture looks so soft and detailed and the same time, I'd specially love to see a 16k normalmap in action, since the last time I tried I couldn't get good results...

Now that I am getting some free time (holydays at last!) I am going to have some spare time for Celestia. When do you plan to release this beauty Don?

[ANDREA]

Here are some pictures of my new Mars texture. If everyone likes the texture I will release it. It should work fine with almost all of the normalmaps that have been made and released. So let me know what you all think and this time I will let the thread sit long enough to get a good amount of input. Don.

Hello Don, it's wonderful as I supposed!
I'm very happy you are going on with this texture, Mars is my preferred planet (and of the many people that come to see Celestia Tours I show them), so I'll be waiting for your next normalmap too.
Welcome on board, Don, and thank you.
Bye

Andrea

[ElChristou]

Hello,

I was wondering about the cloudsmap... as those clouds are supposed to be sand clouds, shouldn't they be more reddish?

Apart the 16k DDS/VT, can you release a 8k png of both unsahded and normals to create the lowres and midres maps (for small config)? (personally I use VT maps exclusively as altsurfaces)...

[buggs_moran]

I guess I don't post enough kudos where needed. Don, your work is beautiful. I use it in my classroom in conjuction with fsgregs educational work. I teach ADHD kids and they love learning visually. My job takes up so much time and I am such a poor coder that I can't squeeze in even a smidge of what you guys do (and do well) in Celestia. This new version of Mars will be great.

Thank you

[Don. Edwards]

ElChristou,
No they are supposed to represent the high thin cirrus clouds that form around the mountains and the morning fog that forms in the lowland areas. I have yet to see any clouds for Mars that show sand storms and the like. I have see them for Orbiter but not Celestia. Mario of Space-Graphics has an image posted for a future release Mars texture that shows a cloudmap that is almost totally yellow with sandstorms. But his doesn't look like it has any white cirrus clouds at all an we do know that Mars does form them. There are pictures of low pressure fronts that look just as they do on the Earth. But they tend to stay up close to the North Pole from what I have seen. I guess no one has bothered to try and make any of these clouds from pictures of sandstorms that all around the net at various Mars sites. Beside these are not my clouds. I believe they were made by John Van Vliet but I can?€™t be 100% on that.

Don.

[ElChristou]

Don,

hmmm, ok for cirrus, but the morning fog is suppose to be stagnant is some well define areas, and... in the morning!!! if you have those fogs at 12 o'clock (to say) in full sun...
I think (as you are a specialist in cloud map) you should try to design a new map combining sand storms (with color according to your map) and some clouds on pole... ...and forget the fogs...

[buggs_moran]

Don,

...you should try to design a new map combining sand storms (with color according to your map) and some clouds on pole... ...and forget the fogs...

Ooooh, good idea, maybe one of those semi global ones from a few years ago, really kick up the haze and throw a ruddy tint to some clouds. If anyone can make it look good, you can Don.