Simviation Forum - Mesh, Terrain, Scenery...

Mar 19^th, 2006 at 10:05am

Jimbo Offline
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Jimbo's Flight Simulation
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South Yorkshire, UK

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Hello!

I'm rather confused here on what Mesh, Terrain and Scenery means.

This is what i think:

MESH - Mountains, hills, landscape
TERRAIN - Tree's, roads, houses, fields etc..
SCENERY - Airports, buildings..?

Am i right?

Please tell me. Wink

James 8)

..Jimbo's Tours, MORE info in the MULTIPLAYER SECTION

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Reply #1 - Mar 19^th, 2006 at 11:17am

JBaymore Offline
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James,

Not sure there is any "official" definition set for this stuff.........

Here's my "take" on this:

Mesh

The "terrain mesh" is the wireframe 3-d model that represents the elevation points of the landscape. A mountain top has the highest elevation point around and a valley has the low points. The mesh itself has no "features" at all... it is a featureless set of data points that represent the topography. The finer the mesh, the more detailed the landscape representation.

FSGenesis mesh for some areas (Grand Canmyon, Tetons, Monument Valley, etc.) has some data that is at about 10 m resolution points. I think the default is something like 150 M resolution for most of the world. I have FSGenesis mesh for all of the world.

Landclass

Landclass is the "logical map" that tells the program which texture tiles to apply to a specific point on the terrain mesh. It says which areas are to be a city or small town, which are to be rocky mountainside, which are agricultural fields and so on. This "map" causes the appropriate texture tile and autogen to be placed onto the contour that the terrain mesh has created.

Land Textures

These are the flat 2-d "patterns" that represent ground features like grass, corn fields, dirt, cliff faces, scrub brush, roads, and the like. Some companies (FScene) sell replacement texture files that make the ground look far more realistic...... either in general or for specific non-American sections of the world.

I have FScene 4 season textures for Asia....... and it makes a HUGE difference there. The Nu-Roads Repaver I have makes the road textures different... and more realistic too.

Autogen

A special class of 3-d trees, buildings, roads, signs and so on that are scattered about on top of the flat terrain textures to give three dimensionality to the landscape. These are rather generic in look by regions, and are not an attempt to recreate any realistic city or countryside layout.

Scenery

A 3-d construction that is placed on top of the flat non 3-d surface texture applied to the terrain mesh. These 3-d scenery objects can be generated by the autogen portion of the software....... or they can be special individually placed 3-d objects that are specified by bgl files default in the program (like re-creations of some specific real cities)...... or by bgl files that are added by the user (like new airport features).

Hope that helps.

best,

.......................john

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Reply #2 - Mar 19^th, 2006 at 12:56pm

Ashar Ex Member
Forza Lazio!!

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Ground Environment 2006 does a great job for the land textures around the world Wink

&&SS Lazio Website

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Reply #3 - Mar 19^th, 2006 at 1:15pm

Fozzer Offline
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An elderly FS 2004 addict!
Hereford. England. EGBS.

Posts: 24861

Quote:

James,

Not sure there is any "official" definition set for this stuff.........

Here's my "take" on this:

best,

.......................john

Excellent value, John... Grin

..!

A set of examples well worth keeping for reference... Grin

...!

Paul... 8)...!

Dell Dimension 5000 BTX Tower. Win7 Home Edition, 32 Bit. Intel Pentium 4, dual 2.8 GHz. 2.5GB RAM, nVidia GF 9500GT 1GB. SATA 500GB + 80GB. Philips 17" LCD Monitor. Micronet ADSL Modem only. Saitek Cyborg Evo Force. FS 2004 + FSX. Briggs and Stratton Petrol Lawn Mower...Motor Bikes. Gas Cooker... and lots of musical instruments!.... ...!
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Reply #4 - Mar 19^th, 2006 at 4:03pm

Jimbo Offline
Colonel
Jimbo's Flight Simulation
Tours
South Yorkshire, UK

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Posts: 3052

Quote:

James,

Not sure there is any "official" definition set for this stuff.........

Here's my "take" on this:

Mesh

The "terrain mesh" is the wireframe 3-d model that represents the elevation points of the landscape. A mountain top has the highest elevation point around and a valley has the low points. The mesh itself has no "features" at all... it is a featureless set of data points that represent the topography. The finer the mesh, the more detailed the landscape representation.

FSGenesis mesh for some areas (Grand Canmyon, Tetons, Monument Valley, etc.) has some data that is at about 10 m resolution points. I think the default is something like 150 M resolution for most of the world. I have FSGenesis mesh for all of the world.

Landclass

Landclass is the "logical map" that tells the program which texture tiles to apply to a specific point on the terrain mesh. It says which areas are to be a city or small town, which are to be rocky mountainside, which are agricultural fields and so on. This "map" causes the appropriate texture tile and autogen to be placed onto the contour that the terrain mesh has created.

Land Textures

These are the flat 2-d "patterns" that represent ground features like grass, corn fields, dirt, cliff faces, scrub brush, roads, and the like. Some companies (FScene) sell replacement texture files that make the ground look far more realistic...... either in general or for specific non-American sections of the world.

I have FScene 4 season textures for Asia....... and it makes a HUGE difference there. The Nu-Roads Repaver I have makes the road textures different... and more realistic too.

Autogen

A special class of 3-d trees, buildings, roads, signs and so on that are scattered about on top of the flat terrain textures to give three dimensionality to the landscape. These are rather generic in look by regions, and are not an attempt to recreate any realistic city or countryside layout.

Scenery

A 3-d construction that is placed on top of the flat non 3-d surface texture applied to the terrain mesh. These 3-d scenery objects can be generated by the autogen portion of the software....... or they can be special individually placed 3-d objects that are specified by bgl files default in the program (like re-creations of some specific real cities)...... or by bgl files that are added by the user (like new airport features).

Hope that helps.

best,

.......................john

Thank you very much John.

I have a MUCH better understanding of it all now.

Once again thanks, this is greatly appreciated.

- James 8)

..Jimbo's Tours, MORE info in the MULTIPLAYER SECTION

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