How do you recommend I do this?
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:45 pm
I'm a bit of a noob to realistic terrain creation, so I'm hoping you folks can give me a push in the right direction. If this subject is too far off topic, my appologies.
I've created a ship's simulator using this game engine ( http://www.dxstudio.com/ ) and now would like to create a realistic looking harbor. The harbor I'd like to re-create is my home port here, Honolulu. I picked Honolulu mostly because I'm familliar with it, but also because the steep, green mountains in the background make the whole scene very dramatic IMHO. In addition to just the terrain, I want to include buildings and structures that surround the harbor.
I'm limited to what my game engine can handle, which is basically a texture mapped mesh. I'll probably stick with this engine for now even though I know there are probably better engines for this task.
I've already assembled some of the assets I'll need: DEM files for the entire island, some aerial photography, some ESRI layer data (building footprints, coastline) and marine charts. I also have a good assortment of tools on hand (Max, L3DT Pro, VTP, Terragen, SketchUp Pro and others).
How do you recommend I handle this? Is there one tool out there (free or cheap) that I can assemble all the pieces (DEM, aerial photos, ESRI GIS data) and export it into a form I can use in my game engine (ie. mesh geometry and texture maps)?
I've created a ship's simulator using this game engine ( http://www.dxstudio.com/ ) and now would like to create a realistic looking harbor. The harbor I'd like to re-create is my home port here, Honolulu. I picked Honolulu mostly because I'm familliar with it, but also because the steep, green mountains in the background make the whole scene very dramatic IMHO. In addition to just the terrain, I want to include buildings and structures that surround the harbor.
I'm limited to what my game engine can handle, which is basically a texture mapped mesh. I'll probably stick with this engine for now even though I know there are probably better engines for this task.
I've already assembled some of the assets I'll need: DEM files for the entire island, some aerial photography, some ESRI layer data (building footprints, coastline) and marine charts. I also have a good assortment of tools on hand (Max, L3DT Pro, VTP, Terragen, SketchUp Pro and others).
How do you recommend I handle this? Is there one tool out there (free or cheap) that I can assemble all the pieces (DEM, aerial photos, ESRI GIS data) and export it into a form I can use in my game engine (ie. mesh geometry and texture maps)?