MSFS Finally aerial imagery

[FlightGirl]

Thank you for the help and useful information and also your patience. And the encouragement at the last post was so much appreciated

I have now made a new version and replaced the old link. And it can be downloaded from here:

[tiles2bing.zip]​

The main problem seemed to be the inverted tille-y naming standard from TMS / Google.
I've added an option (/y TMS | Google) so that both can be handled.

In Rumbaflappys sceenshots one can see that checkmark in the image to generate tiles, and it's named like "Use inverted tiles".
If my tool doesn' seem to handle "inverting" by the /y option one may try to export it from qgis (rumbaflappys post above) with the checkbox set.

I have reviewed a lot of different sources and tried to verify the quad-keys. I've also checked the quads from the program "TileSystemTools" from Eugen1975 and it seems to match.
But since zoom-level 20 generates quite a bit of files my testing was limited at level 20, but I have tested several of the lower levels. So I will appreciate your help on this.

My testing har been primarily at TMS tiles so it will be good to get your feedback on the google-style numberings. And if those are usable by the SDK.

The tool at https://www.maptiler.com/google-maps-coordinates-tile-bounds-projection/ was also used in my testing, and may be useful to others too....

 

[albaskies]

Thank you for the help and useful information and also your patience. And the encouragement at the last post was so much appreciated

I have now made a new version and replaced the old link. And it can be downloaded from here:

[tiles2bing.zip]​

The main problem seemed to be the inverted tille-y naming standard from TMS / Google.
I've added an option (/y TMS | Google) so that both can be handled.

In Rumbaflappys sceenshots one can see that checkmark in the image to generate tiles, and it's named like "Use inverted tiles".
If my tool doesn' seem to handle "inverting" by the /y option one may try to export it from qgis (rumbaflappys post above) with the checkbox set.

I have reviewed a lot of different sources and tried to verify the quad-keys. I've also checked the quads from the program "TileSystemTools" from Eugen1975 and it seems to match.
But since zoom-level 20 generates quite a bit of files my testing was limited at level 20, but I have tested several of the lower levels. So I will appreciate your help on this.

My testing har been primarily at TMS tiles so it will be good to get your feedback on the google-style numberings. And if those are usable by the SDK.

The tool at https://www.maptiler.com/google-maps-coordinates-tile-bounds-projection/ was also used in my testing, and may be useful to others too....

Thank you very much. That's now working on my end and in sim! Legend.

 

[phillmorgan28]

Hi All,

I wonder if you could give me some advice. I've already posted this in a similar topic about aerials but thought I'd ask here too as you seem to be having success. I've been using a tool provided by another dev which splits an aerial image up using a .map file. The tool itself appears to work fine, and it does produce the correct tiles with the correct names and I can import them into the sim just fine. However, the resulting image has a blue/green tone even after I have manually corrected the original image to match bing. I've checked the original tiles produced by the tool manually and they do not have this tone applied.


Have any of you experienced this issue, or have any suggestions which could guide my search for an answer?

Thank you!

 

[albaskies]

Hi All,

I wonder if you could give me some advice. I've already posted this in a similar topic about aerials but thought I'd ask here too as you seem to be having success. I've been using a tool provided by another dev which splits an aerial image up using a .map file. The tool itself appears to work fine, and it does produce the correct tiles with the correct names and I can import them into the sim just fine. However, the resulting image has a blue/green tone even after I have manually corrected the original image to match bing. I've checked the original tiles produced by the tool manually and they do not have this tone applied.


Have any of you experienced this issue, or have any suggestions which could guide my search for an answer?

Thank you!

I'd recommend using QGIS to export the tiles as described earlier in the thread, then using tiles2bing. I'm having no discolouration on my aerial images, all appearing as expected. The next step for me is colour correcting and editing boundaries to sync better with surrounding sat images. I'll let you know how that goes, however I don't anticipate any trouble.

 

[phillmorgan28]

I'd recommend using QGIS to export the tiles as described earlier in the thread, then using tiles2bing. I'm having no discolouration on my aerial images, all appearing as expected. The next step for me is colour correcting and editing boundaries to sync better with surrounding sat images. I'll let you know how that goes, however I don't anticipate any trouble.

Success! Thank you very much for the assistance.

So as a newbie, I assume my next steps are to now edit the original raster, omitting certain areas, correcting colour and applying feathering where needed. Then I assume I can use the same geo-referencing points I setup before on the newly edited image and then split using XYZ as before? Feels logical but it would be nice to get some feedback on my process before I waste more hours!

Thank you again!

 

[albaskies]

That's the process I'm using... but I must add, I'm also a newbie! haha

Here's my latest efforts. Blending is getting a little better. Will soon be starting on objects!

 

[phillmorgan28]

That's the process I'm using... but I must add, I'm also a newbie! haha

Here's my latest efforts. Blending is getting a little better. Will soon be starting on objects!

View attachment 61200

So here is a comparison I took of the masked image I created VS what ends up in the simulator. As you can see there is a massive colour difference which I cannot explain.

The processed I used was:

1) I captured a bing raster image using another program.
2) Using QGIS Geo-referenced the captured raster against bing (seems redundant but I went along with it) and saved the points
3) I edited the raster using photoshop - NO COLOUR CORRECTIONS AS IT ALREADY MATCHED THE SIM (I CHECKED AGAINST A SCREENSHOT)
4) I Opened the edited file using the georeferencer again and applied the same points
5) I exported the layer to the XYZ directory struture
5) I used tiles2bing with the /y Google command to generate the tiles
6) I added them to the SampleAerial project and built it

I cannot understand why an image which was taken from bing does not match the colour within the sim when applied using the SampleAerial project. In every program I've used during the process, the colours have matched current images from bing, and those in the sim when compared in photoshop. The only difference between the images is that the one I'm trying to import is higher quality and has some recent additions.

Any thoughts?

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I edited the raster using photoshop - NO COLOUR CORRECTIONS AS IT ALREADY MATCHED THE SIM (I CHECKED AGAINST A SCREENSHOT)

An image in the sim is adjusted for sun position (time of day, day of the year) and weather, plus any default tweaks Asobo added, and any shaders they use. You can't depend on a screenshot. It is odd that a scraped Bing image doesn't match by default in the sim. I wonder if Photoshop is altering the color.

 

[phillmorgan28]

An image in the sim is adjusted for sun position and weather, plus any default atmosphere Asobo added, and any shaders they use. You can't depend on a screenshot.

Thank you! So presumably I need to manually adjust my own image repeatedly until I hit an acceptable match. Are there any reference images available so we have something to aim at, or is it just a case of keep trying until we get something that looks ok?

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Thank you! So presumably I need to manually adjust my own image repeatedly until I hit an acceptable match. Are there any reference images available so we have something to aim at, or is it just a case of keep trying until we get something that looks ok?

Unfortunately, until someone finds a good method, we'll have to play with color adjustments. Was the source image a 32-bit PNG?

 

[TylorE]

Hi Guys,

I have solved the problem with the green tinge I was having with imported imagery. You will need to add the alpha channels to your tiles in order for it to display correctly.

I used imagemagick to do this as a batch script by running the following from the directory where your tiles are located:

FOR %a in (*.png) DO magick convert %a -alpha on %a

You can check if the alpha is missing by using the following code replace [filename.png] with one of your tiles to test:

magick identify -verbose [filename.png]

If the type is TrueColor and not TrueColorAlpha you will need to add the alpha channel.


You will need to install imagemagick in order for this to work.

 

[albaskies]

Here's a link to a youtube video I made with a brief overview of what I've been doing. Not very technical, but is good for a broad idea of what I've been up to.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Here's a link to a youtube video I made with a brief overview of what I've been doing. Not very technical, but is good for a broad idea of what I've been up to.

Excellent video. Very cool process for creating an airport.

 

[GeorgianVA]

Here's a link to a youtube video I made with a brief overview of what I've been doing. Not very technical, but is good for a broad idea of what I've been up to.

Fantastic! I once had the same idea but only for the aerial images. I think it is hard to organize to get the admission to the airports/airfields. But great result!

 

[=Hollywood=]

Here's a link to a youtube video I made with a brief overview of what I've been doing. Not very technical, but is good for a broad idea of what I've been up to.

I was experimenting with that a few years ago. Nicely done!!!

 

[Senchay]

Sorry to pull out this old topic. The link to tiles2bing doesnt seem to work for me (and a handful of others, where i saw multiple comments on various videos.)

Is there any other place where one can download it?

 

[Senchay]

Nvm.... i found a PDF on Flusiboard, the link in there seems to work.

 

[NellyST24]

Hi, sorry to reply on an old post, Ive used tiles2bing in the past, but for some reason, now when i try to use it, the cmd prompt windows opens, and then closes straight away without doing anything. I have changed the input and output folders in a txt editor and save as a .bat file like ive seen online and how i did before when it worked, but nothing happens now. Does anyone know what i might be able to do to solve this?

 

[acuario]

In my case when I run the app to conver the files nothing happens, the files are not converted

 

[PhobosDesigns]

Anyone know what the correct command prompt is for using bing tiles exported from QGIS?

/y google has worked for those in the past

/y TMS is the only other thing I see in the readme - is that the correct command for a Bing Satellite export?