Grand Canyon Of Mars

[cartrite]

Hi All,

I uploaded the Valles Marinaris model to the Motherload. There are 2 models in the package. One is 7MB and the default one is 28 MB. I run it on my system which is a K7 900 mhz with 512 ram and a fx5500 nvidia card with 256mb memory. I get frame rates on the 28 mb model ranging from 1 to 3 and about 7 and 8 for the 7 mb model. I'm also using a normal map with a VT loaded.

The texture is not the greatest. It's the best I can do thou. You should be able to use any texture of Mars that has coordinates 0n,22.5s,270w,315e. This coresponds to the top half of the file tx_2_2.* in the level2 folder of any VT of Mars. The texture is assigned by the ssc file and no editing of the model file is needed. JUST REMEMBER, IF YOU USE A DIFFERENT TEXTURE, YOU WIL HAVE TO FLIP IT VERTICALLY. I know, lame, but Blender does everything upside down and backwards. I found it easier to flip the texture then mapping the UV's again.

The model is as close to the surface that I could get it without the valley floor sinking into the planet. If the atmosphere is given a greater hieght, say 70, then it's well above the model. If you change the extension of the ssc file to txt, It will turn the model off and it will not load. Any problems you can email me thru the forumn or the email address form the readme file in the package. Here are a few thumbs. I think they are both from the 28 MB model.






cartrite

[danielj]

Sorry,but I didn??t understand this part "... You should be able to use any texture of Mars that has coordinates 0n,22.5s,270w,315e. This coresponds to the top half of the file tx_2_2.* in the level2 folder of any VT of Mars. The texture is assigned by the ssc file and no editing of the model file is needed. JUST REMEMBER, IF YOU USE A DIFFERENT TEXTURE, YOU WIL HAVE TO FLIP IT VERTICALLY. "

When you say "other texture",do you mean other texture that is not VT?
Does the texture Mars MDM21 or jestr??s Mars m46 VT texture works with this model or DO I HAVE TO FLIP IT VERTICALLY?

[cartrite]

Danielj,

Sorry for the confusion. The coordinates are for the lefthand top corner. 0n 90w. and the bottom righthand corner 45w 22.5s. You can't use VT'S on models. When I said other textures, I meant that anyone not satisfied with the textures I provided can try to make there own. The top half of the file tx_2_2 in the level2 folder of any Mars VT is the same area as the model.

A warning to any who try to use the texture vallesmarinairs.tiff or png from the ASU site. The file is very large and I could not find a way to "save target as". When you try to download it the browser tries to open it. THIS MAY HAVE DAMAGED MY COMPUTER. It's had big problems freezing up since I tried to download it. This is the same file that Google Mars uses.

cartrite

[ANDREA]

My friends, if you wish to give a VERY deep look at Vallis Marineris, I inform you that here

Code: Select all

http://themis.asu.edu/features/vallesmosaic

you'll find a 500 images mosaic from Themis imaging, with 100 meter resolution.
Look at this sequence at various resolution, up to 100 meter in the #4:









And, if you wish to have a different look at the Vallis, go here

Code: Select all

http://themis.asu.edu/valles_video

and download the movie you prefer.
The Dust Devils are very well realized, IMHO!
Pay attention, the movie is 56 or 112 MB!
Enjoy
Bye

Andrea

[cartrite]

This is the same file that fried my cpu. Good luck to those who wish to download it.

Edit: The new version of Firefox 1.5 can save the tiff file to disk if you:
Tools > options > download actions > View&Edit Actions > TIFF > save to disk. I'm not sure if the older Windows versions of Firefox can do this. Or if Internet Explorer can do this. The new version of Firefox is very buggy on my box. That may be because a lot of my files got corrupted after the cpu overheated.

cartrite

[cartrite]

Here are 3 screenshots of the vallesmarineraris from World Wind showing from the top 1x, 1.5x, and 2x exaggeration. Then a sreenshot of the model I created.
It seems to show that the model has close to 2x exaggeration. This was not my intension. I was trying for 1x. So I input half the height range in Z-fold and it came out a little closer to 1x as the last thumb shows.











The last thumb is of an update to the model getting it closer to 1x exaggeration. The texture is from NASA/JPL/ASU and is the image Andrea posted above. I plan to update the model I uploaded to the CelestiaMotherload soon.

cartrite

[ANDREA]

The last thumb is of an update to the model getting it closer to 1x exaggeration. The texture is from NASA/JPL/ASU and is the image Andrea posted above. I plan to update the model I uploaded to the CelestiaMotherload soon. cartrite

Hello Cartrite, it's very beautiful.
Is it still a beta release or you'll upload it as it is?
I would like to insert it in my Mars show, when ready.
Well done, thank you.

Andrea

[cartrite]

Hi ANDREA,

Thank you for your kind comment. I am still working on the texture tho.
The area covered by ASU's Themis image is a little smaller then the area of the model, so I have to come up with a way of filling in the missing areas to the east and south. What I did change was the exaggeration which I think makes it more realistic. When is this Mars show? I can upload the near 1x version of the model tomorrow. The textures will take more time. Not sure if I should add it to or replace the other version. Replacing it would make for a smaller download.

I also VT'd the NASA/JPL/ASU/Themis image but have the same problem.
How to fill in the missing areas to the south and east. A couple of thumbs of the VT closeup. The images are in levels 5 thru 7 folders.








Thanks Again,

cartrite

[ANDREA]

Hi ANDREA, Thank you for your kind comment. I am still working on the texture tho. The area covered by ASU's Themis image is a little smaller then the area of the model, so I have to come up with a way of filling in the missing areas to the east and south. What I did change was the exaggeration which I think makes it more realistic. When is this Mars show? I can upload the near 1x version of the model tomorrow. The textures will take more time. Not sure if I should add it to or replace the other version. Replacing it would make for a smaller download. I also VT'd the NASA/JPL/ASU/Themis image but have the same problem. How to fill in the missing areas to the south and east. A couple of thumbs of the VT closeup. The images are in levels 5 thru 7 folders. Thanks Again, cartrite

Cartrite, even better than what shown in the first images.
Take your time, my Mars show is a cel script that I use almost every week, during Celestia shows for the schools, so don't worry, there is no need to speed-up.
My best compliments for your work, again.
Bye

Andrea

[cartrite]

Thanks Again ANDREA,

But the people at NASA/JPL/ASU deserve most of the credit. After all they did 99.999% of the work. All I did was VT the image. AH Fridger deserves the credit for that since it was his Virtualtex script that did the VT. Me. I told the computer what to do. I guess thats something.
Thanks Again,
cartrite

[cartrite]

Hi All,

I asked John van Vliet for permission to use his Mars VT as a background for a
Vallesmarineris VT close up I did from the NASA/JPL/ASU/Themis image vallesmarineris.tif but I got no reply as of yet. The PM is still in my outbox so I assume that he hasn't seen it yet.

Am I correct in assuming that a PM will remain in the outbox till the person opens it. Then it is moved to the sent box.

I also uploaded the update to the 3D model but the file has not been listed yet. How long should I wait before I can assume that something went wrong with the upload or the people at the motherload rejected the update for some other reason? I sent it 3 days ago. And heard no reply from the contact message I sent with it.

I would like to make this VT available to Celestia users so those who can't access these latest available images of Mars for whatever reason can see them with Celestia. The model also uses the Themis image but I used the MC-18 MDIM image as background.

cartrite

[cartrite]

Hi All,

I got permission from john van Vliet to use his texture as background for the VT I was planning to add to the motherload. Thank You John. The Themis part of the image was left as is so I made no attempt to blend it in. If the VT is used with john's VT the background part will blend in.
Here is a thumb of a scaled down 1k version.



Credit Themis part of image to NASA/JPL/ASU
Credit backgrond part of image to John van Vliet
The level 5 folder will be a vt of a 4k tile. Levels 6 and 7 will be 8k and 16k.
I plan tp upload the level 5 folder tonight or tommorow. And the 6 and 7 folders by next weekend.

cartrite

[danielj]

Very nice,but John??s textures are lacking the .ctx files.Can you create them?

Hi All,

I got permission from john van Vliet to use his texture as background for the VT I was planning to add to the motherload. Thank You John. The Themis part of the image was left as is so I made no attempt to blend it in. If the VT is used with john's VT the background part will blend in.
Here is a thumb of a scaled down 1k version.



Credit Themis part of image to NASA/JPL/ASU
Credit backgrond part of image to John van Vliet
The level 5 folder will be a vt of a 4k tile. Levels 6 and 7 will be 8k and 16k.
I plan tp upload the level 5 folder tonight or tommorow. And the 6 and 7 folders by next weekend.

cartrite

[ANDREA]

Very nice,but John??s textures are lacking the .ctx files.Can you create them?

Danielj, I'm absolutely ignorant of most of the things that are involved in Celestia, but I have something that seems you have not, i.e. a bit of good will to try by yourself.
I had the same problem with John's VTs, but I gave a look to another VT by another author, that included the .ctx (and .ssc) files, studied them, copied and modifyed what was clear that had to be modified, and now things are working OK.
Give a try yourself, and you'll agree with me that it's very easy to be done.
Good luck.

Andrea

[danielj]

i DID this,but I need to know how John called their textures.I created the Mars PNG.ctx and the red planet "transformed" in a red featurless ball.The CTX was like this:

AltSurface "Mars PNG" "Sol/Mars"
{
Texture "Mars PNG.ctx"
}

I put the levels 0-3 in the hires folder and NOTHING happened!

Very nice,but John??s textures are lacking the .ctx files.Can you create them?

Danielj, I'm absolutely ignorant of most of the things that are involved in Celestia, but I have something that seems you have not, i.e. a bit of good will to try by yourself.
I had the same problem with John's VTs, but I gave a look to another VT by another author, that included the .ctx (and .ssc) files, studied them, copied and modifyed what was clear that had to be modified, and now things are working OK.
Give a try yourself, and you'll agree with me that it's very easy to be done.
Good luck.

Andrea

[cartrite]

Hi danielj,

This is what my ssc file looks like for Johns VT:
Mars.ssc

Code: Select all

AltSurface "Mars" "Sol/Mars"
{
Texture "Mars.ctx"
}

And the ctx file:
Mars.ctx

Code: Select all

VirtualTexture
{
        ImageDirectory "Mars-png"
        BaseSplit 0
        TileSize 256
        TileType "png"
}

That being said there is a folder called extras.
In the extras folder there is a folder called Mars.
In the Mars folder is another folder called textures and a ssc file called Mars.ssc
In the textures folder is a folder called hires
In the hires folder there is a folder called Mars-png and a ctx file called Mars.ctx
In the Mars-png folder are all the tile folders called level0 thru level4.
These folders contain the actual png tiles.

Access is gained by rightclicking on the planet.
Then chosing alternate surface/Mars.
This is how I set up John's VT and I never had a problem.

From your ctx file I noticed that you used Mars PNG as the name for your ctx file. Your problem may lie with the space you have between Mars and PNG. Also what you posted should be the contents of your ssc file not the ctx file.

The VT I plan to upload will have folders 5 thru 7 and will only contain tiles from the image I posted above. Those folders can be installed in the Mars-png folder (or whatever your folder is called) and will become visible when you zoom in close enough to the surface.

cartrite

[t00fri]

i DID this,but I need to know how John called their textures.I created the Mars PNG.ctx and the red planet "transformed" in a red featurless ball.The CTX was like this:

AltSurface "Mars PNG" "Sol/Mars"
{
Texture "Mars PNG.ctx"
}

I put the levels 0-3 in the hires folder and NOTHING happened!
...

...killing me softly...

[cartrite]

Well,

I tried to upload level5 with Window's FileZilla and had 2 failed transfers about half way thru the upload. I swithched over to Suse and used gFTP and had 2 successes for level 5 and level 6. Level 5 is about 13mb and level6 is about 54 mb. Hopefully I got everything else right on the upload form and the motherload will make them available soon. If they are posted to the site I will try level 7 which is in 2 parts. About 90 mb a piece.

cartrite

[danielj]

I did exactly as you said.But not only it didn??t work,but it mess up with Mars-Shaded-8k.dds from praesepe.I think the ssc and ctx can??t be called Mars.ssc and Mars.ctx,anyway.But Mars became a white featurless ball.I??m almost giving up...
I really don??t understand what you did.Perhaps you have to unzip exactly as it is.Unzip the hires to Extras and not how I am doing,unzipping the Mars(inside hires) to Extras...well,I don??t know.

Hi danielj,

This is what my ssc file looks like for Johns VT:
Mars.ssc

Code: Select all

AltSurface "Mars" "Sol/Mars"
{
Texture "Mars.ctx"
}

And the ctx file:
Mars.ctx

Code: Select all

VirtualTexture
{
        ImageDirectory "Mars-png"
        BaseSplit 0
        TileSize 256
        TileType "png"
}

That being said there is a folder called extras.
In the extras folder there is a folder called Mars.
In the Mars folder is another folder called textures and a ssc file called Mars.ssc
In the textures folder is a folder called hires
In the hires folder there is a folder called Mars-png and a ctx file called Mars.ctx
In the Mars-png folder are all the tile folders called level0 thru level4.
These folders contain the actual png tiles.

Access is gained by rightclicking on the planet.
Then chosing alternate surface/Mars.
This is how I set up John's VT and I never had a problem.

From your ctx file I noticed that you used Mars PNG as the name for your ctx file. Your problem may lie with the space you have between Mars and PNG. Also what you posted should be the contents of your ssc file not the ctx file.

The VT I plan to upload will have folders 5 thru 7 and will only contain tiles from the image I posted above. Those folders can be installed in the Mars-png folder (or whatever your folder is called) and will become visible when you zoom in close enough to the surface.

cartrite

[cartrite]

danielj,

If you created NEW folders and NEW files as I showed above it should work.
The only thing I can think of that may be giving you a problem is that John's VT is compressed with 7zip. You may not be extracting the files correctly if you don't have this. Try opening the folder called level0 from John's VT. In it should be 2 files called tx_0_0.png and tx_1_0.png. Try to open them with an image program. Like The Gimp, Paint, or whatever program you have. You should be able to see the images. If that's not the problem I don't know what it could be. The directory structure I explained above works. I've been using it for quite a while.

cartrite