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Orthorectifying
OrbView-3 Images.
OrbView-3
1-meter panchromatic and 4-meter multispectral imagery can now be ordered with
Rational Polynomial Coefficients and orthorectified when a DEM is available
using TNTmips.
More information about obtaining their imagery in this form can be found
on their web site at orbimage.com. There
is no indication as yet that SPOT images can be ordered with Rational Polynomial
Coefficients.
Landsat
Global 15-Meter Color.
NASA’s
Goddard Space Flight Center sponsored the Earth Satellite Corporation to
assemble and mosaic global Landsat coverage of the earth in enhanced natural
color for circa 1972, 1990, and 2000. This
NASA project was managed at NASA/GSFC by Dr. Compton J. Tucker* and its assembly
and content are reported on in considerable detail in the article entitled NASA’s
Global Orthorectified Landsat Data Set, by Compton J. Tucker, Denelle M.
Grant, and Jon D. Dukstra, March 2004, Vol. 70, No. 3, Photogrammetric
Engineering & Remote Sensing, pp. 313-322.
[*footnote, Dr. Compton J. Tucker completed his Masters in Forestry
(1973) and Ph.D. in Forestry (1975) specializing in remote sensing under the
guidance of Dr. Lee D. MIller, President of MicroImages while both were at
Colorado State University. The long
time and continuing goals of MicroImages products in handling massive geodata
sets on a personal computer are set forth in other sections of this MEMO.
One might assume from these historically related activities of these
individuals that what was a common academic concept has become a lifetime
scientific challenge.]
Now
most of these image segments are available in latitude/longitude bounded blocks
for download in compressed MrSID files (*.sid) with companion world files (*.sdw)
from https://zulu.ssc.nasa.gov/mrsid/. The
circa 1990 imagery assembled from 7600 Landsat scenes is 28.5 meters in
resolution and covers most of the area of the continents except the Arctic
and
Antarctic. The circa 2000 imagery
assembled from 8500 Landsat scenes is 14.25 meters in resolution and also does
not cover the Arctic
and
Antarctic continents.
These
Landsat blocks for the 2000 epoch can be downloaded without charge.
In RV7.0 these blocks can be
mosaicked directly from the MrSID format into JPEG2000 compressed raster objects
or JP2 files. This imagery and procedure was used to prepare the single Landsat
image of all of Afghanistan
included on the enclosed TNTatlas of Afghanistan CD and compressed from 1.62 GB
to 164 MB in a single raster object (10:1).
These
larger mosaicked units trimmed to your area of interest and using JPEG2000
compression provide an unparalleled image map base for direct interpretation in
regional projects, such as described above in the section on Hardware.
They also provide an excellent base for your TNTatlas
and for reference in detailed projects when overlaid by the worldwide map vector
layers provided on the Global Reference Geodata DVD with your RV6.9
shipment.
SRTM
90-Meter.
The
most practical earth-oriented result of the Shuttle program was the Shuttle
Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) in 2000. Most
of this source material has now been processed into 30- and 90-meter elevation
data sets. All the 90 meter
resolution for North America
and South America
is available free from the USGS site
at http://seamless.usgs.gov/website/seamless/products/srtm3arc.asp.
Access to the 30-meter resolution is limited to the United States
and potentially to government agencies
in other nations. This SRTM data
has its holes patched using a surface fitting method.
The files can easily be mosaicked into larger elevation rasters, clipped
to the rectangular area of interest, and compressed lossy or lossless with
JPEG2000 into a raster object. This
is how the single JPEG2000 lossless elevation raster object of all of Afghanistan
was prepared for use on the enclosed
CD entitled TNTatlas of Afghanistan. These
elevation maps can be used with the circa 2000 Landsat images noted above to
create 3D views and TNTsim3D
simulations of almost any area of the world.
The
raw elevation data for all the areas covered by the mission is now available
from ftp://e0dps01u.ecs.nasa.gov/srtm but still has holes in it. MicroImages is
now receiving questions on how to patch the various holes or null areas in these
SRTM elevation rasters. These null
areas are due to a number of factors ranging from signal noise (1 or 2 cells),
water bodies with no RADAR return (usually a few more cells), topography induced
RADAR shadows (usually mountains and, therefore, many cells), and ground
coverage gaps. Since this hole
filling would be done once, or infrequently as new substitute data was developed
for these holes, it is an appropriate task for an SML
script. Such a script would be used
to improve the hole filling in the JPL processed results if better substitute
elevation data for these holes is available locally or developed with TNTmips.
Properly
patching holes in these SRTM derived elevation rasters requires that you supply
locally derived elevation data that can be smoothly inserted into these holes.
This missing elevation data might be derived by resampling the GTOPO30
global elevation raster on the Global
Reference Geodata DVD
for a coarse elevation patch. For
better results a substitute elevation raster could be created for the larger
hole areas using TNTmips.
For example, you could digitize the contours from scans of 1:50,000
topographic maps and then convert them to the needed elevation rasters.
Since this is a common problem, MicroImages has decided that it will
create an SML script to patch
substitute elevation data into these null areas.
Any good ideas you read about or have on this topic should be brought to
MicroImages’ attention now.
Nebraska 1-Meter.
This
data set is not global and is of more interest locally.
However, it is introduced here because it is illustrative of what can now
be accomplished for your nation, province, or region at reasonable project cost
using the new all digital cameras and orthophoto map production systems
available for purchase or lease.
Nebraska
was the first state (and the only state in 2003) covered by 1-meter color
orthophotos acquired by an airborne digital camera system for the purpose
of agricultural management and land conservation under the auspices of the
USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Using
other analog film based systems, 1- or 2-meter DOQQs were prepared for 1/10 of
the United States land area in 2003.
In 2004 approximately 1/3 of the United States
land area was covered by 1- or 2-meter
DOQQs acquired by a mix of digital and analog cameras (670 counties).
Additional details about this USDA image acquisition program, its sample
cost per DOQQ, and the availability of all of these DOQQs to the public via the
Internet can be reviewed in the article Imagery to Support USDA Agricultural
Programs: The National Agricultural Imagery, by Kent Williams, Earth
Observation Magazine (EOM), December 2004, Volume 13, Issue 18, pages 10 to 12.
The text of this article without the reference maps can be read at
www.eomonline.com/Common/ Archives/2004Dec/04dec_AgriculturalImagery.html.
According to this article these national coverage DOQQs will be available
in early 2005 from http://datagateway.nrcs. usda.gov/ or www.apfo.usda.gov.
The
digital imagery used for the 2003 Nebraska DOQQs was collected in a few summer
days and processed into excellent, almost completely cloud free, orthoimages in
a couple of months. The source
images were collected in wide north/south swaths across the state and processed
into Digital Ortho Quarter Quadrangle units of 3.75 by 3.75 arc minute areas for
distribution and use. The DOQQs
match all across the state in color and mosaic accurately at the edges since the
were clipped originally from larger orthophoto mosaics.
These DOQQs can be downloaded free in JPEG format from the State of
Nebraska ’s Department of Natural Resources’
website at www.dnr.state.ne.us/
databank/fsa03.html.
These
Nebraska DOQQs are posted for downloading in 2 different projections each of
just over 6000 files in JPEG (*.jpg) format with 6000 companion world (*.jgw)
files. One set has the JPEG DOQQs
in the correct UTM zone projection (3 different zones cover Nebraska
) and the other duplicate DOQQ set is
in the single Nebraska State Plane Coordinate projection.
You
can download an index map and several of these Nebraska DOQQ files to review and
to demonstrate the quality of the color orthophotos, which can now be acquired
by digital means for your province, nation, or project area.
Start out by mosaicking several DOQQs directly from their downloaded JPEG
file format into a JPEG2000 compressed internal object in TNTmips
7.0. Note that these good
quality color DOQQs do not require any color balancing for general viewing or
any contrast matching when mosaicked. Next
use this sample JPEG2000 compressed mosaic for directly interpreting detailed
surface cover, local infrastructure, or other geometric features of interest
using your TNT Spatial Data Editor
or the sketch tool in the TNT
GeoToolbox. Since the original DOQQs were georeferenced with the companion world
file, your mosaic and its interpretation into a topological vector, shape, CAD,
and/or geodatabase object will be also georeferenced in the target Coordinate
Reference System (projection and datum you choose in the mosaic or
interpretation steps).
Preparing
a small sample geodata set in this fashion with these Nebraska DOQQs, perhaps
with geometric interpretations in vector, shape, and CAD object types, will
provide you the demonstration material you need to show what you can do with TNTmips.
It also demonstrates what could be accomplished if an airborne data
collection effort of this type was cost shared between agencies or institutions
for your area.
Nebraska
is covered with 10-meter elevation
rasters prepared in cooperation with the USGS.
These DEMs can be downloaded from the Nebraska Department of Natural
Resources at www.dnr.state.ne.us/databank/dem.html.
Combining these DEMs with the 1-meter color DOQQs or your mosaic and your
geometric interpretations will create quality, high resolution TNT
3D views and simulations of the farms and ranches and other features that make
up almost all the land area and land use of Nebraska. These companion 3D views can also be
used with the 2D views in the Spatial Data Editor and sketch tool to illustrate
how they assist in the direct interpretation step to locate and identify the
desired geometric features. You can
then extrapolate from these Nebraska
results to how these geodata
acquisition and analysis procedures can be applied to mapping and monitoring the
smaller agricultural, timber, and natural areas and village infrastructure in
your nation.
Using
a Floating License as a Fixed License.
The
Software License Key that supports floating licenses can also be used for a
single-user fixed license on one computer.
This single-user support is provided as a convenience for situations,
such as when a Software License Key is needed for a notebook computer in a
remote, non-networked location. The key does not support simultaneous
single-user and floating licenses. So, if you want to use a TNT
product on the computer that is serving as the floating license manager, you
must check out one of the floating licenses.
| IMPORTANT:
If the Software License Key is used for a single-user fixed license on
the computer that is serving as a license manager or removed, the license
manager immediately shuts down all floating instances of the license. |
Updated
Tutorial.
The
tutorial containing the instructions for setting up a TNT
floating license is expanded to 20 pages and is current with the installation
and operation and use of RV7.0.
This tutorial is installed as one of your many TNT
product tutorials, can be accessed directly from your TNT
product CD, or downloaded from www.microimages.com/getstart/
pdf/enterpri.pdf
RV7.0
of the TNT products no longer
supports W95. Maintaining backward
compatibility of the TNT products
with this 10 year old operating system places restrictions on the capability of
the TNT products when they are being
used with modern versions of Windows. Please
anticipate that RV7.1 or perhaps RV7.2
of the TNT products may no longer
support W98, WME, and NT for similar reasons.
However, this will not occur before Microsoft ceases support for these
Windows operating systems.
Version
Tracker.
Version
Tracker at www.versiontracker.com is a very popular means of staying current
with the development and release activities for Mac OS X software products.
For example, you can get automatic email notification that a specified
product has been updated. It also provides access to similar information about
Windows product releases, but is not as popular with this community since there
are many competing sites. Since May
2004, information about the availability of the current release and the
development version of the TNTlite
and TNTmips products for Mac OS X
and Windows has been maintained on Version Tracker.
This information has also been updated weekly to announce and provide
access to the new features added via the weekly patches to the development
version. As a result, there have
been 7000 individual downloads of TNTlite
and TNTmips for Mac OS X, or about
1000 downloads per month started from this site.
A multipart download is counted only once, but incomplete downloads are
not counted.
Mac
OS X 10.2.x Dropped.
| MicroImages
has discontinued support of the TNT
products for all versions of Mac OS X 10.2 and earlier
versions of the Apple operating system. |
Upgrading
any Mac computer using the G3, G4, or G5 processor to Mac OS 10.3.x is not
expensive and provides the reliable Apple-supported X11 environment required by
the TNT products.
These processors are also required to provide sufficient power to operate
the TNT products effectively.
Mac
OS X 10.3.X (Panther).
The
TNT products now operate as either
32-bit or 64-bit applications under Mac OS X 10.3.7.
If you are using an earlier version of Panther, please install your free
upgrade to V10.3.7 before using your TNT
product.
Mac
OS X with Windows Remote Desktop.
MicroImages’
writing and testing staff use the 64-bit version of Mac OS X 10.3.7 and now use
G5-based Macs for their primary daily routine operation, testing, and
documentation of the TNT products.
They report that connection to their secondary Windows XP machines from
their Macs using Windows Remote Desktop works for
controlling various activities on the Windows machine.
This approach ties the 2 or more workstations together (Mac to Windows or
Windows to Windows) but requires only a mouse, keyboard, and 2 good monitors at
the primary workstation. This is an
effective means of moving your primary activity to a Mac (or new computer)
without losing access to the software functionality and special peripherals you
have built up on your existing computer. Furthermore,
since the TNT products are
cross-platform transparent, they do not care if you mix your Project Files
between these operating systems and their drives and other peripherals.
Mac
OS X 10.4 (Tiger).
PV6.9
of the TNT products will not
operate with Mac OS X 10.4 and will not be patched for this purpose.
If Apple officially releases Mac OS X 10.4 before the official release of
RV7.1 of the TNT
products, then an RV7.0 of the TNT
products will be released for Mac OS X 10.4.
If the reverse is true and MicroImages releases RV7.1
of the TNT products before Apple
officially releases Mac OS X 10.4, then you will have to have RV7.1
of the TNT products to operate with
Mac OS X 10.4.
Ensuring
the Correct TNT Versions.
Mac
OS X 10.3.7 and 10.4 require a G5 processor to operate in 64-bit mode and to use
the 64-bit version of the TNT
products. Occasionally
support questions have been received that are traced back to attempts to run the
64-bit version of TNTlite on a G3-
or G4-based Mac using V10.3.x. Both
PV6.9 and RV7.0
of the TNT products now produce
appropriate diagnostic messages if the version downloaded does not match the
capabilities of the processor and Mac OS X.
Motif
Required a Royalty.
Since
its first creation years ago, MicroImages’ TNT
products for Windows and the Mac have used the Motif graphical user interface
libraries. Even though
MicroImages purchased a license to use Motif in our TNT
products, a royalty fee had to be paid to the Open Group for every copy of their
Motif libraries compiled and distributed with our TNTsdk
for Windows and Mac OS X. Furthermore
this group charges totally unrealistic fees for each upgrade of their libraries.
On the other hand, when you use a Unix, or a Linux operating system, you
can simply use the Motif libraries automatically provided with their X server
since they pay the royalty.
MicroImages
has always wished to provide you free access to TNTsdk
for Windows to develop and add new compiled processes as this is in our interest
as well as yours. MicroImages has
had the option to pay this per copy royalty and absorb it as part of the price
of your TNT product.
However, this was contrary to the approach used in the TNTlite
versions of the TNT products since
The Open Group, among the other problems with their license agreement, made no
provision for the free distribution of their libraries.
This left no option but to control the distribution of the TNTsdk.
Using
LessTif is Free.
RV7.0
of the TNT products for Windows has
been modified to use a free open source equivalent of Motif called LessTif.
To quote from www.lesstif.org
This
change is totally transparent to you since LessTif is equivalent, function by
function, to Motif. However, this
change means that the large TNT
software development kit (TNTsdk)
library used to build all the TNT
products is now available for use, free of charge, by any MicroImages clients,
including those using the free TNTlite
versions of these products. However,
please remember that programs developed with the TNTsdk
will check the TNT product’s
Software Authorization Key unless the geodata objects and their analysis are
found to conform to the size limitations imposed on the FREE TNTlite
versions.
Reference
Booklet.
A
reference booklet entitled Using the TNTsdk is enclosed in printed form
with your TNTmips 7.0
kit. It is also installed in PDF
format as part of your online tutorials. It
explains how to set up and get started using your TNTsdk.
It is not a programmer’s reference manual!
Consult any current C++ reference manual for help in this area.
Unless you are an experienced programmer, you will find it easier to
solve your unique geospatial problems using MicroImages’ geospatial scripting
language (SML).
Compiler.
Effective
with this release of RV7.0 of the TNT
products you will need to set up and use Microsoft’s C++ compiler in Visual
Studio .NET 2003 - Professional Version for building programs using the FREE TNTsdk
for Windows.
Sample
Programs.
Sample
programs coded using the TNTsdk
libraries can be downloaded from www.microimages.com/products/tntsdksamples/.
These samples provide models on the folowing topics:
•
cadtovec.c
convert a CAD object to a vector object
•
mklayer.c
sample
for Mdisp layer creation from a
“fixed” file and object
•
objview.c
demonstrate
use of object display functions. This
program allows the user to view one or more spatial data layers.
•
rastinfo.c very
simple application allowing user to
select a raster and display basic information about it
•
smlapp.c an
older method for extending SML
functions with SDK
•
smlplug.c
a
better method for extending SML
functions by creating plugin modules to be called from SML
scripts
•
stdattr.c computes "standard attributes"
for CAD/TIN/Vector objects
Weekly
Upgrades.
MicroImages
is modifying daily the libraries that are used to build the TNT
products and, thus, the TNTsdk.
Functions and classes are constantly being added, adjusted, and
corrected. To help you keep up with
these changes, just as with those in the TNT
products, a new TNTsdk is posted
weekly for your access at www.microimages.com/product/tntsdk.htm.
Documentation.
The
documentation of all components of the TNTsdk
is maintained and updated as HTML text on MicroImages’ Internet website.
A Google search of MicroImages’ website such as TNTsdk
site:microimages.com will produce over 24,000 entries since all this
documentation for all functions, classes, and methods are indexed by Google.
However, a more specific Google search of TNTsdk RVC nullmask class
site:microimages.com yields 154 specific references on this subject in this
documentation. Using Google for
this access will, of course, be a couple of weeks delayed or out of phase with
the most recent weekly posting of these TNTsdk
libraries as part of the latest download kit.
This is the time it takes Google to periodically “crawl”
microimages.com and index the changes.
However, this Internet access can be useful since it is available anytime
and anyplace via Google’s powerful search engine.
For the documentation that is concurrent with each weekly upgrade, use
the search feature installed with the latest TNTsdk
libraries.
Support.
MicroImages
software engineers will provide limited support by email to assist you in
perfecting your TNTsdk based
programs. However, you should be
knowledgeable and experienced with building C++ programs before contacting us.
If you are planning a large project with the TNTsdk,
MicroImages encourages you to spend 1 or 2 weeks designing and implementing a
skeletal approach to your project or product at our offices.
This has proved quite useful to others using the TNTsdk
to develop other products. For a
reasonable fee, you will be provided an office and computer equipment and direct
consulting access to those who create and maintain the TNTsdk
and the TNT products we derived from
it.
Building
Massive Geospatial Simulations.
Previous
versions of the Landscape Builder in TNTmips
permitted you to apply JPEG2000 compression for textures that were stored as
external linked *.JP2 files. Now
the Landscape Builder process permits you to create textures with JPEG2000
compression as internal raster objects within the Landscape File.
This is illustrated in the accompanying color plate entitled JPEG2000
Compression in TNTsim3D.
Landscape
simulations are usually designed to move around in real time and, thus, a very
minor degradation in texture (image/raster) quality is never noticed by the
user. JPEG2000 compression,
as contrasted to JPEG compression, is very effective at masking or hiding image
degradation at a 10 to 1 or 20 to 1 lossy compression ratio.
Even higher JPEG2000 compression ratios may be acceptable because only
intricate spatial details are lost and these losses may not be important in a
moving simulation. Using lossy
JPEG2000 compression for the texture and standard lossless compression for the
terrain means that TNTsim3D and very
large landscape areas can be distributed on a single DVD.
The
color plate noted above contains a table to illustrate how large a TNT
landscape model can be when distributed on a single DVD.
The table presents the area covered by a landscape model that uses color
image mosaics of varying ground resolution from various sources.
Each image is a texture in a single raster object compressed 15 to 1
using JPEG2000. For example, using
a 1-meter, 24-bit color image for a texture permits a maximum TNT
landscape area of 17,000 square kilometers to be distributed on a DVD, even more
if 16-bit color were used. This is
the size of a small province or state ( Massachusetts
=
21,386 square kilometers) or a very large county (Cherry County, NE =
15,438 square kilometers). Combining
JPEG2000 compression with other larger mobile media such as a cartridge hard
drive, USB2 or Firewire hard drive, or the ~8 times larger DVD replacements (Blu-ray
or HD-DVD of 25+ GB) will permit much larger landscape simulations to be
distributed.
If
high spatial detail is needed for any specific selected ground area in the FREE TNTsim3D
you can package the Landscape File with (or as) an atlas and from TNTsim3D
automatically open a 2D view of the same area in the FREE TNTatlas
product. Another alternative would
be to use a TNT geospatial script (SML)
in TNTsim3D to automatically launch
your browser with a TNTclient plugin
or a stand-alone TNTclient with the
selected point’s coordinates. This
could retrieve a lossless, high-resolution, multilayered view from a TNTserver
for that geographic position via the Internet or a private network.
The atlas used by the TNTserver
could contain all the geodata coverage for an entire province or nation.
This strategy would also be useful where the full resolution lossless
image and map geodata are restricted or proprietary.
TNTserver would provide
several ways to control this access such as:
-
restrict area viewable at full resolution (to the current view’s
area/resolution),
-
control access (by passwords and/or payment),
-
add additional layers (confidential or proprietary),
-
dynamically change layers (track moving features), and
-
prevent copying of the base geodata (restricted to capturing only current view).
TNTsim3D
can function in effect as a FREE 3D extension of your TNTserver
and client. It provides rapid 3D
simulation of the area covered by the server’s detailed atlas and provides a
natural access to the locations it covers (autostart from DVD, fly if mouse is
moved, point to an area, click, and get 2D details).
Panoramic
Backgrounds.
Skies
Add Increased Realism.
Adding
cloudy skies, sunsets, atmospheric conditions, and other backgrounds can
markedly increase the realism of your simulation.
TNTsim3D 7.0 can now project
these kinds of texture backgrounds onto the inside of a sphere or dome
encompassing your simulated landscape. This
provides a realistic, seamless, hemispherical sky dome or other background for
your simulation. Some of
these sky effects are illustrated in the snapshots of the TNTsim3D
views in the accompanying color plate entitled Sky Domes in TNTsim3D.
The
skies provided with TNTsim3D are
texture rasters projected inside a hemisphere encompassing your 3D surface.
Each of these images was derived from a single real hemispherical sky
photo or graphically modified equivalent. This
image was then unwrapped using an equirectangular projection into a panoramic
raster object whose columns represent the horizontal angle (0 to 360 degrees)
and whose lines represent a vertical angle of 90 degrees. TNTsim3D
projects the selected panoramic raster object in real time onto the inside of
the dome using the inverse of the equirectangular projection.
This procedure creates the appropriate sky background segment for every
view you have open in every direction including the new Custom View (with the
exception of the Map View).
Standard
Skies.
A
library of 16 prepared cloudy and sunset sky textures are now available with TNTmips
7.0 as JPEG2000-compressed raster objects in a reference file.
All of these sky textures are automatically available for use in TNTsim3D
and can be selected for viewing at any time with any of your Landscape Files.
These sky images are all illustrated in the accompanying color plate
entitled Sky Domes Provided With TNTsim3D.
Seven of these skies are real images photographed with a hemispherical
camera and were taken and placed in the public domain by Philippe Hurbain via
www.philohome.com. The remaining 9
virtual skies were artificially created by Johannes Schlörb and purchased,
downloaded, and modified for distribution from www.schloerb.com/Dreamscape2. You
can purchase and add your own skies to your Landscape files from this source.
Custom
Skies.
You
can create and add your own skies to your Landscape Files using your digital
camera. This might be considered if
you want your sky dome to contain local distant features on the horizon and
other special effects. This general
approach starts with a series of overlapping standard photos or graphics
covering the sky hemisphere, which can then be mosaicked and reprojected into a
panoramic raster in the equirectangular projection as described above.
A source of information for collecting these photos with your digital
camera and low-cost software for assembling them into a panoramic view is
www.panoguide.com.
You
might also copy one or more of the standard skies from the reference file and
edit it to have your local horizon features around the bottom edge. For example,
you could use raster editing to add distant representations of your mountains
and tree masses that match the colors and nature of the content of the surface
textures in your simulation. As
discussed below in more detail, you can then set a large radius for the sky dome
so that the center is below the average terrain (try 90%) to pull the dome and
these features down around the edge of your simulation.
This can create a distant skyline inside your dome and mitigate the
“looking over the edge-of-the-world” effect as you near the edge of your
landscape in the simulation. Using
the fog setting in the control panel can further improve the appearance of your
simulation by obscuring this edge.
Embedding
Skies.
The
Landscape Builder permits you to embed any number of your own sky domes into any
Landscape File. This procedure is
illustrated and discussed on the accompanying color plate entitled Adding Sky
Domes to Landscapes.
Positioning
Skies.
Any
time during the operation of TNTsim3D,
you can select a new sky from among the standard sky rasters in the reference
file or from your own panoramic rasters embedded in the current Landscape File.
Sky selection and the controls for positioning the dome relative to your
terrain are located on the new Options / Sky tabbed panel illustrated in the
accompanying color plate entitled Sky Domes in TNTsim3D.
Fixed
Sky Center
The
sky dome can optionally be centered relative to the approximate center of the
terrain surface. Choosing this
option means that its clouds and other background features will approach in your
views as you move forward. This
means that you can fly through and out of the sky dome depending upon how large
you make it. Setting it small, even
clipping out the corners of the landscape means that you will not be as likely
to see gross edge drop-off effects between the end of the surface and the dome
when the viewer is at high altitudes and/or near the its edge.
Moving
Sky
Center .
The
sky dome can optionally be set to move along with the observer position of the
Main View. In this case, its center
will always be somewhere on a vertical line passing through the observer
position. This vertical position is
determined by the other options you set for the dome position.
When the dome travels with the observer in this fashion the features on
it, such as clouds, never get any closer in the views.
This is realistic but can expose the bottom edge of the dome as the edge
of the surface is approached and/or for higher view angles.
Setting
Sky Diameter.
The
sky dome’s diameter can be set to be larger or smaller relative to the extent
of the surface being rendered using the Scale value you enter.
The default Scale value of 100% sets the dome diameter to the greater of
the north/south or east/west dimension of the surface it encompasses.
This means that the dome encompasses nearly all of the landscape extent,
but the remote corners may be outside the dome and obscured by the sky image.
Increasing this value above 100% can be used to enlarge the sky dome to
good effect. Decreasing it below
100% can clip the edge of your surface so you can not look over when the dome
center position option is set to lock it to the center of the landscape.
This can be useful if you have very large terrain and texture inputs.
Even setting this to clip off just some to the 90 degree corners for a
rectangular surface can be effective.
Setting
Sky Center
The
vertical position of the dome is set using the Height value you enter as a
percent of the current dome diameter. The
default of 0% places the center of the dome approximately on the terrain
surface. A negative setting places
the center of the dome proportionally below the surface.
This pulls the dome down around the edges of the landscape and can
prevent your view, especially at higher angles, from looking out under the edge
of the dome. A positive Height
setting greater than 0% will lift up the hemisphere and expose its lower edge.
Suggestions.
A
good place to start positioning your dome is to set it to move with the observer
and use a diameter larger than the terrain (try 200%).
This will permit you to pull down the dome by setting its Height/center
well below the surface, as you seldom look up.
You can then turn on fog as a function of distance to obscure the distant
edges of your landscape in your views and to make the skyline of your clouds
hazy and obscured as it is in the real world.
The
orientation of the dome relative to the surface can also be set using the Yaw,
Pitch, and Roll settings. These
settings rotate the sky dome contents relative to the plane of the landscape.
For example, if the sky dome has a sun in it, you can rotate it so that
the horizontal angle to the sun in the sky is 180 degrees opposite to the
shadows’ direction in your texture and any shaded relief effects.
You can also “recycle” the standard images of skies in the reference
file by rotating them to various new starting positions relative to your
landscapes.
Geospatial
Scripting (SML).
V6.9
of the TNT products introduced the
use of the TNT geospatial scripting
language (SML) to customize your TNTsim3D
simulation. RV7.0
makes several simple, but significant additions for use in the scripts you add
to your simulations. These include
a procedure to permit you to automatically start a script when TNTsim3D
is started. You can also
now detect the use of any input control and use this event to trigger actions in
the script, and interactively use the position selected on the surface with the
mouse in your script without halting the simulation.
Overrideable
SML Functions for Mouse and Input Device Actions.
V6.9
permitted your script to capture the 3D coordinates of the viewer's current
position in the simulation, as well as the coordinates of the view center, the
location on the terrain surface at the center of the Main View.
A script could use these coordinates to start an atlas, a browser, or
your own Visual Basic program, or to start up position-aware custom tools and
views.
RV7.0
scripts can now be created that can detect a mouse button-press event and
capture the corresponding surface geocoordinates of the cursor projected along
the line-of-sight of the Main View to its intersection with the terrain.
In other words, a script running concurrently with the simulation can
change the standard action of the mouse while the simulation continues to run
and accept input from other devices, such as a joystick.
A simple example of the application of this feature would be to program a
mouse button to record the position of the cursor and then redirect the viewer
to move toward that point. Or
feature coordinate positions and data might be reported and recorded for each
mouse click while the joystick is used to move through the simulation in the
normal fashion.
In
addition, an RV7.0 script can be set
up to detect the activation of any control on your joystick or other input
device and then take some programmed script action.
The detection of these kinds of input device events in a script permits
the script to be automatically stopped or interrupted during the simulation
simply by using any control on the joystick.
For example, a script flying a programmed flight path can be interrupted
at any time simply by moving the joystick, so that you can seamlessly regain
direct control of the simulation.
Startup
Scripts.
Color
plates distributed with the release of V6.9
of the TNT products illustrated the
use of geospatial scripts (SML) to
record a simulation flight path and to orbit a fixed point.
You can now add to your Landscape File an RV7.0
geospatial script (SML) that
will automatically start when the simulation starts and continue running as
desired. This startup script can be
used to set the initial position and orientation of the first view in the
simulation. It can startup the
simulation to orbit or fly a predetermined path until interrupted by your
actions. It can be used to provide
messages and collect input for the script before the simulation starts and to
provide many other control actions for your simulation.
Three simple examples of the use of a startup script are illustrated in
the accompanying color plate entitled Startup Scripts in TNTsim3D.
Landscape files that contain these sample startup scripts can be
downloaded for trial use from www.microimages.com/products/tntsimLandscapeFiles.htm.
Start
from a Default View.
The
most obvious use of a startup script in TNTsim3D
is to position its Main View at startup in a predetermined position and
orientation relative to the landscape. It
is no longer necessary to start every simulation at the center of your
landscape. A simple 13-line sample
startup script to do this as well as add your own custom sky background is
illustrated and dissected in the accompanying color plate entitled Startup
Scripts in TNTsim3D. This
script starts the Main View and all associated views at the predetermined
position. It also selects one of
the prepared sky backgrounds and turns it on.
After this script has set up the default startup view, all your flight
control devices are automatically active waiting for you to touch them to begin
flying out from this startup position. Add
this simple script section to the beginning of your more complex startup scripts
to preposition their starting view.
Starting
in an Orbit.
The
color plate distributed with V6.9
and entitled Customizing TNTsim3D with SML provided a sample script that
orbited a specified point. That
script, when selected from the Script menu in TNTsim3D
6.9, would detect the current viewer position and view point and begin
orbiting the viewer about that view point with a fixed orbit radius.
The orbit continued, and movement commands from the joystick or other
input device were suspended, until the script was stopped using this same menu.
This script has been modified to use the new RV7.0
startup procedure to automatically begin an orbit motion when the Landscape File
is opened. The script initiates the
orbit using preset viewer position, center location, and radius, but provides
the option of using the new mouse event detection to stop the orbit motion.
Pressing
the right mouse button during the orbit exits the script, stops the orbit, and
restores motion control to your input devices.
The right mouse button press in this case serves the same function as
using the Script menu to stop the script. This
transition from scripted flight path to user control is seamlessly accomplished
between frames. This script is also
illustrated and dissected in the accompanying color plate entitled Startup
Scripts in TNTsim3D. Note in
the illustration of this script that it also sets an appropriate fog level.
Since this sample script is set to orbit a feature central to the
landscape, this fog acts like ground haze to obscure the distant edges of the
landscape.
This
script could be easily modified to stop on activation of any joystick control
(in addition to or instead of a right mouse button press).
This modification would allow a seamless transition from the preset orbit
to normal flight controlled directly by you.
Starting
with a Path.
The
color plate distributed with V6.9
and entitled Create Flight Paths in TNTsim3D via SML illustrates and
dissects a sample script that records a flight path and orientation during
simulation in a simple tabular form. The
same script could then be used to playback the simulation for that path.
The startup script feature added in RV7.0
also permits TNTsim3D to be started
to automatically fly this prerecorded path.
It also selects one of the prepared sky backgrounds and turns it on.
It then restarts and loops through this path until the script is stopped
using the Script menu. This script
is described and discussed in the accompanying color plate entitled Startup
Scripts in TNTsim3D. If a path
is recorded so as to return to the starting view, then this use of a startup
script will appear to be a continuous loop over the terrain.
This script to follow a predetermined and possibly looping path can be
easily modified so that activation of any input device will cause this automated
looping simulation to halt and user controlled flying to begin in the direction
and orientation of the current axis of the Main, or
pilot, View of the simulation.
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