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MSFS MSFS Toolkit by Nool Aerosystems

Christian Bahr

Resource contributor
Messages
951
Country
germany
Good morning, a little feedback from me :)

Your tool works perfectly, the results are very satisfactory:

mfs_lidar_adata_edlw_airport_1.jpg



The LIDAR data is so precise that it can be used to map the entire airport area. There are hardly any terraforming polygons/rectangles necessary. All data was derived from 1m LIDAR elevation data, which was available in ASCII format and processed into a 1.78GB GeoTiff file. A 5m-10m mesh is expected to be used for the 280m² urban area, and a 1m mesh is used for the airport as things stand.

The airport I am currently working at has a very steep natural gradient and it has an elevated GAT area. Almost everything can be left like this without post-processing:

mfs_lidar_adata_edlw_airport_2.jpg

The elevation profile of the runway. It is exactly as it is in reality


mfs_dortmund_airport_runway_profil.jpg

Before that, there were slight deformations in the runway (ditches/kinks). But now they're gone and the runway is perfect

mfs_lidar_adata_edlw_airport_4.jpg


@Paavo
At this point, a very big thank you. You are doing a great service with your work! :)
 

Paavo

Resource contributor
Messages
192
Country
estonia
Wow, this looks amazing!
I used to pass a runway almost daily and I always missed the slightly wavy look that real runways have.
 
Messages
111
Country
france
Some more (positive) feedback: I used both aerial and elev tools on this project. I already posted about the DEM correction, using not-so-hi-res SRTM 1" data to patch Asobo terrain.
I also re-done the aerial with more recent imagery, and played with the blend parameter: I set 200m (much over the 30m default setting), and the result is so good that it hardly needs color correction:
ZUZH-preview105.jpg


With some light color correction (greener), SRTM data, and ad-hoc terraforming polys/rectangles (airport has been built after the SRTM mission):
ZUZH-preview107.jpg


Thanks again for this powerful and much conveniant tool.
 
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Kelvin Richardson

Resource contributor
Messages
152
Country
newzealand
Hey Paavo,

I'm getting this error when processing a 1m tif file.

NZ DEM test
===========
Creates a DEM project, writes mesh files and compiles them into a MSFS package.

Required components:
* MSFS Toolkit by Nool Aerosystems (v0.45 or newer, installed and added to PATH)
* MSFS SDK

Press any key to continue . . .

Creating project...
=======================================================================================================================
MSFS PROJECT TOOL NOOL AEROSYSTEMS OÜ
Personal license - for non-commercial use only https://www.nool.ee/
=======================================================================================================================

New file: PackageDefinitions\noolaero-dem-nz.xml
New file: noolaero-dem-nz.xml

Task complete

Writing DEM...
=======================================================================================================================
MSFS AIRPORT ELEVATION TOOL NOOL AEROSYSTEMS OÜ
Personal license - for non-commercial use only https://www.nool.ee/
=======================================================================================================================

Collecting imagery
Found 1 images
Imagery has 1.0 m resolution
Output will be 1.0 m
Initializing grid
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "E:\msfs-toolkit-0.49\msfs_elev.py", line 342, in <module>
sys.exit(main(sys.argv[1:]))
File "E:\msfs-toolkit-0.49\msfs_elev.py", line 120, in main
rects = rect_grid.Cells(args.res)
File "E:\msfs-toolkit-0.49\noolaero\grid.py", line 280, in Cells
if intsc.IsEmpty():
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'IsEmpty'

Could you let me know what I need to check.

File:

Thanks in advance.
 

Paavo

Resource contributor
Messages
192
Country
estonia
Hey Paavo,

I'm getting this error when processing a 1m tif file.

NZ DEM test
===========
Creates a DEM project, writes mesh files and compiles them into a MSFS package.

Required components:
* MSFS Toolkit by Nool Aerosystems (v0.45 or newer, installed and added to PATH)
* MSFS SDK

Press any key to continue . . .

Creating project...
=======================================================================================================================
MSFS PROJECT TOOL NOOL AEROSYSTEMS OÜ
Personal license - for non-commercial use only https://www.nool.ee/
=======================================================================================================================

New file: PackageDefinitions\noolaero-dem-nz.xml
New file: noolaero-dem-nz.xml

Task complete

Writing DEM...
=======================================================================================================================
MSFS AIRPORT ELEVATION TOOL NOOL AEROSYSTEMS OÜ
Personal license - for non-commercial use only https://www.nool.ee/
=======================================================================================================================

Collecting imagery
Found 1 images
Imagery has 1.0 m resolution
Output will be 1.0 m
Initializing grid
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "E:\msfs-toolkit-0.49\msfs_elev.py", line 342, in <module>
sys.exit(main(sys.argv[1:]))
File "E:\msfs-toolkit-0.49\msfs_elev.py", line 120, in main
rects = rect_grid.Cells(args.res)
File "E:\msfs-toolkit-0.49\noolaero\grid.py", line 280, in Cells
if intsc.IsEmpty():
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'IsEmpty'

Could you let me know what I need to check.

File:

Thanks in advance.
There is nothing wrong with your file.

I ran this command and it produced a valid mesh:
Code:
msfs elev -imagery "92N8P-92LJ0.tif" -border "border.shp" "mesh.xml"

Attached is the border I used (just a random box over the imagery).
 

Attachments

  • border.zip
    710 bytes · Views: 136
Messages
13
Country
switzerland
Hi there, I always get the same error. I tried different Aerial sources, but to no avail. thanks
 

Attachments

  • error.JPG
    error.JPG
    188 KB · Views: 132

Paavo

Resource contributor
Messages
192
Country
estonia
Are all the input TIFs 3-band RGB images?
File names suggest that some of them are single-band elevation files.
 
Messages
13
Country
switzerland
Are all the input TIFs 3-band RGB images?
File names suggest that some of them are single-band elevation files.
Hi Paavo
I dont know that. I just used data with geotiff content as it said in the description. From where can I get DEM data with 3-band RGB Tifs? Thanks
Stephan
 

Paavo

Resource contributor
Messages
192
Country
estonia
aerial tool is for placing orthoimagery onto the terrain and it requires standard three-band red-green-blue sources.
If you want to create a DEM, then use elev tool with single-band sources.
 
Messages
13
Country
switzerland
Ok thanks for the explanation, makes sense!
I used your tutorial for the aerial so I guess I should be using aerial 3-band RGB Tiffs then..cheers
 
Last edited:
Messages
13
Country
switzerland
aerial tool is for placing orthoimagery onto the terrain and it requires standard three-band red-green-blue sources.
If you want to create a DEM, then use elev tool with single-band sources.
So I tried now an elevation DEM geotiff off the Earthdata source website. Then I got this error message. The source is an ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003
 

Attachments

  • Capture.JPG
    Capture.JPG
    56.1 KB · Views: 121

Paavo

Resource contributor
Messages
192
Country
estonia
Check that you have entered a valid name for the output XML file ("mesh.xml" in this case), eg from a previous post:
Code:
msfs elev -imagery "92N8P-92LJ0.tif" -border "border.shp" "mesh.xml"
It has to be a file name, not a folder.
 
Messages
30
Country
indonesia
Hi Paavo- Is it possible for your tool to create water transparency mask for tropical islands? The problem is while aerial imagery of the reefs are available inside sim, those are covered with default water/ocean. Somehow the water transparency cannot be edited from SDK or BGL. The only route to solve this (for now) is creating hundreds of thin strips of water so it remains transparent enough - very much labor intensive. After much searching I came into a file named WaterBlurMasks.cgl inside fs-base-cgl folder, and further confirmed by a post I found that particular file is responsible for water masking. I don't really understand of CGL structure, but I think you already dig much deeper into CGLs :) So is it possible to tweak transparency parameter of water polygon/mesh using your software. Thanks!
 
Messages
34
Country
taiwan
Hi Paavo- Is it possible for your tool to create water transparency mask for tropical islands? The problem is while aerial imagery of the reefs are available inside sim, those are covered with default water/ocean. Somehow the water transparency cannot be edited from SDK or BGL. The only route to solve this (for now) is creating hundreds of thin strips of water so it remains transparent enough - very much labor intensive. After much searching I came into a file named WaterBlurMasks.cgl inside fs-base-cgl folder, and further confirmed by a post I found that particular file is responsible for water masking. I don't really understand of CGL structure, but I think you already dig much deeper into CGLs :) So is it possible to tweak transparency parameter of water polygon/mesh using your software. Thanks!
wow, I also have such request. I read another thread the author have successfully made water mask but his way is to replace those asobo files with his own edition. If your way is good enough and no performance impact, I think the possible temporary solution may be let us define shape file for shallow water and Paavo’s tool can use it to create numbers of strips water based on the shape for us. It’s not a perfect solution but may be a good temporary one.
 
Messages
30
Country
indonesia
wow, I also have such request. I read another thread the author have successfully made water mask but his way is to replace those asobo files with his own edition. If your way is good enough and no performance impact, I think the possible temporary solution may be let us define shape file for shallow water and Paavo’s tool can use it to create numbers of strips water based on the shape for us. It’s not a perfect solution but may be a good temporary one.
That solution is also plausible, but the drawback is light reflection isn't uniform, much like zebra pattern. Actually what I have in mind is, whether Paavo's tool can generate the CGL like Asobo did with some water masks that only change water properties to transparent for a pre-defined polygon (handmade polygon). Asobo did create water masks manually but I don't know what extra tool they have to make this possible. I can't dig deeper into the file since I don't understand much after this point. If anyone can decompress the water mask CGL then we can learn more about terrain system. When someone can conquer this roadblock, 3rd party devs can do many great things :)
 
Messages
34
Country
taiwan
That solution is also plausible, but the drawback is light reflection isn't uniform, much like zebra pattern. Actually what I have in mind is, whether Paavo's tool can generate the CGL like Asobo did with some water masks that only change water properties to transparent for a pre-defined polygon (handmade polygon). Asobo did create water masks manually but I don't know what extra tool they have to make this possible. I can't dig deeper into the file since I don't understand much after this point. If anyone can decompress the water mask CGL then we can learn more about terrain system. When someone can conquer this roadblock, 3rd party devs can do many great things :)
After quick test of your method manually for coral reef, it really not an ideal way I have to admit. Looks like CGL solution is still the ultimate goal.
 
Messages
34
Country
taiwan
Messages
30
Country
indonesia
Create an account and give your vote to this topic on MSFS developer support platform:

Currently, even the basic land/water masking appears broken, otherwise I would have provided a tool long time ago.
Done, this is certainly possible proven by Asobo can create water masks with transparent water texture. I don't believe this is hard to do (for Asobo), just when they will release this inside SDK. This particular thing alone will make the sim/addons multiple times better. Well for now we can only wait
 

Paavo

Resource contributor
Messages
192
Country
estonia
Version 0.50 is now out:

Before v0.50, runway profiles were intended for use with high resolution sources like 5 m LIDAR data, which does not need interpolation. Raw values were read directly from elevation values and it gave good results. When used with low resolution sources like this 100m example, it created a stepping effect and noticable bumps along the runway:

profile_100m.png


With the interpolation introduced in v0.50, the same 100m source gives this result:

profile_100m_resample.png


It is surprisingly close to what you can get from a 1m source:

profile_1m_resample.png


On top of that, v0.50 contains experimental watermask tool. Feed border shape and water polygons into the tool and will output terrain shapefiles that you can directly copy to your project and use as a watermask to alter where water and land appear.

Below are golf courses near EEPU with custom aerial imagery + custom watermasking that matches the imagery very closely:

wm_06.jpg


A detailed example will follow in a few days.
 
Last edited:
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