Day 14 – Getting trees in the right places

Today’s adventure will be continuing the process of establishing forest areas for my Caesar Creek scenery.  In previous posts I created the ‘DeciduousMap.bmp’ file and saved it into my ‘C:\Program Files\Condor\Landscapes\CaesarCreek\Working\ForestMaps’ folder (Since the Ohio scenery doesn’t really contain much in the way of coniferous trees, I skipped the ‘ConiferousMap.bmp’ generation, but I may come back to that later).  The next step in the process, according to the Condor Scenery Toolkit manual, is to modify the distribution of trees to accommodate towns, runways, etc.  As before, I have copied the relevant portion of the CST text here in bold italic type, with my comments in regular text.

 

Part B – Getting trees into the right place!
Step 1:
Create a second copy of the \Condor\Landscapes\Your Scenery\<yourmap>.bmp by copying this bitmap image to Condor\Landscapes\yourlandscape\Working\ForestMaps\ then rename the bitmap image to Map.bmp

Done.  No problem.  Note here that since this image is now the one derived from a SeeYou screen capture, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to see towns and roads from the cockpit in Condor eventually, but who knows.

Step 2:
Open Photoshop and resize the image (in pixels) the map bmp to the same size of both ConiferousMap and DeciduousMap bitmap images as created in Part A.

I’m just going to do the DeciduousMap stuff, but first I have to figure out the pixel size of the DeciduousMap.bmp – not obvious, as there were a couple of resizings done per previous steps.  Launched PhotoShop and checked the image size – 11264 x 10240.  Opened ‘Map.bmp’ and checked its size 2816 x 2560 – so resizing will blow this up by a factor of 4 – wow!

Nothing was said about the resampling options to be used, so I left the resampling type at the default ‘bicubic’ and also checked ‘Scale Styles’ hoping that maybe this referred to text styles on the map (probably not, as how would PS know about text styles on a bitmap?).

SeeYou map resized to same as DeciduousMap.bmp

SeeYou map resized to same as DeciduousMap.bmp

Rename the layer containing the map.bmp image to “Map” save the file as map.psd outside the Condor folder structure, the desktop is best location

Done

 

Step 3:
Open the ConiferousMap.bmp file in Photoshop, press CTRL+A to select all of the image, press CTRL+C to copy the image, then go back to the map.psd file and press CTRL+V to paste the image it in as a new layer. Double click on the layer name and rename it as Coniferous.
Repeat this step for the DeciduousMap.bmp file, except call the layer Deciduous.

Did this step for the DeciduousMap.bmp only.  When the new layer is created, it is called ‘Layer1’.  Right clicked on the new layer, selected ‘Layer Properties’, and then changed the layer name from ‘Layer1’ to ‘Deciduous’.
Step 4:
Using the Layer Window, move the map layer to the top, by dragging it on the layer window above the Coniferous and Deciduous layers, also change the Opacity of the Map layer to approximately 50%, however, do choose what is best for you, so you can make out the features of the map layer

FAIL!!  When I tried to drag the Deciduous layer down, it wouldn’t go.  Same with dragging the background layer up – bummer.  OK, reading the PS help regarding layers, I see that the ‘background’ isn’t a layer at all, and cannot be moved around.  According to PS:

“When you create a new image with a white background or a colored background, the bottommost image in the Layers palette is called Background. An image can have only one background. You cannot change the stacking order of a background, its blending mode, or its opacity. However, you can convert a background to a regular layer.
When you create a new image with transparent content, the image does not have a background layer. The bottommost layer is not constrained like the background layer; you can move it anywhere in the Layers palette, and change its opacity and blending mode.”

Apparently I created the new ‘Map.psd’ image with a white or colored background – who knew? – and this caused it to become a ‘background’ rather than a ‘layer’ – bummer.  Anyway, the very next topic in this help thread was ‘how to convert a background to a layer’, as follows

“To convert a background into a layer
Double-click Background in the Layers palette, or choose Layer > New > Layer From Background.
Set layer options. (See To create a new layer or group.)
Click OK.”

So, I did the above to convert the background to a layer (setting the opacity to 50% in the process), and *then* I could move it to the front, as shown in the following figure.

Converting 'background' (which cannot be moved) to 'layer' (which can)

Converting ‘background’ (which cannot be moved) to ‘layer’ (which can).  Note that although the Deciduous layer is shown, the Map layer is selected for the ‘New Layer’ operation.

Step 5:
Now to filter out any sea or large bodies of water you might have, ignore steps 5 – ?? if you have none in your scenery, go to the Coniferous layer and click on the ‘eye’ to make this layer invisible, click on the map layer and go to the menu bar, Select->Colour Range, under the thumbnail image select Image (to help you pick the sea) and using the picker click on the sea area, press OK. It doesn’t have to be prefect, but can alter the ‘selectivity’ by using the Fuzziness slider bar.

No oceans in Ohio, but the Caesar Creek reservoir probably qualifies as ‘a large body of water’, so I followed the procedure here.  Hmm, when I made the deciduous layer invisible, I get a very fuzzy map image, due to the 50% opacity setting.  This makes it (for me, at least) harder to see the water areas. So here’s the procedure I used:

  • Reset the opacity to 100% for the map layer
  • Click on the ‘Select’ top-level menu, then ‘Color Range…’
  • In the resulting dialog, make sure the ‘Select’ drop-down window shows ‘Sampled Colors’ and the ‘Selection’ radio button is selected (*not* the ‘Image’ button as recommended) as shown.
  • In the main Map image, click on a water area with the eyedropper cursor to select that color. As soon as the water area is selected, the preview thumbnail in the Color Range dialog changes to show a black image with white areas representing all the areas on the Map.bmp image that have the same color ( i.e. blue for water) as the pixel chosen with the eyedropper.
  • Change the ‘Selection Preview:’ choice from ‘None’ to ‘Grayscale’ and now the entire ‘Map.bmp’ layer is changed to a black background with white cutouts for the water areas.  This is *much* nicer for detailed confirmation that the proper areas were picked.  You can also change back and forth between the ‘Quick Mask’ and the ‘Grayscale’ settings to confirm that all the water area cutouts are where they are supposed to be.
  • Click on OK, which started a long process to compute the selected areas.  At the end of the process, the Map layer was shown again, but now all the water areas are surrounded by ‘marching ants’ animated selection borders.
  • With the foreground color set to black, used the paintbucket tool to fill all the selected areas, making them ‘no-tree zones’. 
  • Changed the layer opacity back to 50%

 

SeeYou Map shown with 50% opacity. I used 100% instead here, as I think it makes the water areas easier to see

SeeYou Map shown with 50% opacity. I used 100% instead here, as I think it makes the water areas easier to see

Water areas shown in white

Water areas shown in white

Map view in 'QuickMask' mode

Map view in ‘QuickMask’ mode

SeeYou map with 100% opacity. Water areas now outlined with 'marching ants' borders

SeeYou map with 100% opacity. Water areas now outlined with ‘marching ants’ borders

 

Step 6:

Select the Deciduous layer and the mask should transfer to this layer, press the Delete Key and the sea area turns to white, Select black and fill the sea area in using the Paint Bucket Tool available on the Tool list (might need to click on the Gradient tool little black triangle in the bottom right of the icon to get to it .press ctrl+D to get rid of the mask.

OK, I selected the Deciduous layer (clicking on the ‘eye’ symbol on the Map layer to make it invisible), and the water mask did indeed transfer (although it is hard to see with all the black on my map).  Clicked on my keyboard ‘Delete’ key, and PS cranked for a while (showing a ‘Clear’ progress bar), and then produced the image below.  The large water areas show the checkerboard pattern of the Map layer, so that’s a good thing I think.

Now to make all these areas black (so no trees will ‘grow’ there).  As described, I selected ‘black’ for the foreground color and used the Paintbucket cursor – hmm, can’t seem to find the ‘Paintbucket’ tool!  OK, I finally found it hiding under the ‘Gradient’ tool.  Had to right-click on each tool to see all the possibilities for that position on the toolbar until I hit the one containing the Paintbucket.  Also, you have to make sure the ‘Deciduous’ layer is actually selected before the Paintbucket tool will work.  Anyway, I finally got the tool enabled with the black foreground color selected, and clicked on one of my water areas in the Deciduous layer. This turned that part of the water area black as intended, but only that particular area – this is going to take a while if I have to do that for each of the lakes and reservoirs in my soaring area!  Actually it didn’t take too long – there weren’t *that many* big lakes/reservoirs in the area, and the rivers (with the exception of the Ohio river) were too narrow to matter.

Paintbucket tool hidden under gradient tool

Paintbucket tool hidden under gradient tool

DeciduousMap layer with water areas filled with black

DeciduousMap layer with water areas filled with black

The ‘Press Ctrl+D to get rid of the mask’ operation puzzled me for a bit, so I noodled around the PhotoShop menus until I found ‘Ctrl+D’ assigned to the ‘Select -> Deselect’ menu item.  So, this step de-selects the mask areas *after* all the Paintbucket fill operations have been completed.

 

Use the Pencil Tool (press B) and ‘erase’ the shoreline for any unwanted marks, unwanted trees where airports, town locations exist, also remember that deciduous trees don’t appear high on mountains or steep sides, where coniferous trees sometimes do.
Note : Black = No trees – White = Trees will grow

I didn’t perform this step at all, as it seemed to me that the paintbucket operation did a good enough job for now.

Taking a page from the above Step 5 procedure for water areas , I decided to try my luck at doing the same thing for town areas (denoted in the Map image by yellow).   So, after saving my work to date (File -> Save As… ->Saved as Map2.psd on desktop in max compatibility mode), I used the same detailed procedure, except for substituting ‘city’ for ‘water’

  • Reset the opacity to 100% for the map layer
  • Click on the ‘Select’ top-level menu, then ‘Color Range…’
  • In the resulting dialog, make sure the ‘Select’ drop-down window shows ‘Sampled Colors’ and the ‘Selection’ radio button is selected (*not* the ‘Image’ button as recommended) as shown.  Also, make sure the ‘Selection Preview’ mode is set to ‘None’ (this selection shows the original Map.bmp layer in the main window so the desired city color can be selected with the eyedropper tool).
  • In the main Map image, click on a city area with the eyedropper cursor to select that color. As soon as the city area is selected, the preview thumbnail in the Color Range dialog changes to show a black image with white areas representing all the areas on the Map.bmp image that have the same color ( i.e. yellow for city) as the pixel chosen with the eyedropper.
  • Change the ‘Selection Preview:’ choice from ‘None’ to ‘Grayscale’ and now the entire ‘Map.bmp’ layer is changed to a black background with white cutouts for the city areas.  This is *much* nicer for detailed confirmation that the proper areas were picked.  You can also change back and forth between the ‘Quick Mask’ and the ‘Grayscale’ settings to confirm that all the city area cutouts are where they are supposed to be.
  • Click on OK, which started a long process to compute the selected areas.  At the end of the process, the Map layer was shown again, but now all the city areas are surrounded by ‘marching ants’ animated selection borders.
  • With the foreground color set to black, used the paintbucket tool to fill all the selected areas, making them ‘no-tree zones’. Interestingly, some of the bigger cities were hard to do because the road networks cut them into lots of smaller pieces, each of which had to be filled independently.
  • Changed the layer opacity back to 50%

Then I followed the Step 6 procedure again

SeeYou map after selecting city area color (yellow)

SeeYou map after selecting city area color (yellow)

 

SeeYou map showing city areas with 'marching ants' borders

SeeYou map showing city areas with ‘marching ants’ borders

Deciduous layer showing blanks for city areas

Deciduous layer showing blanks for city areas

Deciduous layer with a large city partially filled with black.  Note difficulty caused by road network

Deciduous layer with a large city partially filled with black. Note difficulty caused by road network

 

 

Step 7:
Select the pencil tool (press B) to remove unwanted tree areas, for example airfield, towns and open fields.

Didn’t do the pencil step – I was satisfied with the results from just the paintbucket.
Repeat stages the above steps for the Coniferous layer.

Didn’t do this – no coniferous trees in Ohio
Hide the map and coniferous layers and return back to the deciduous layer. Press ctrl+A to select all of the visible image and press ctrl+C to copy.
Select File->New and create an image with those sizes found in step 16, also under the new dialogue box. select RGB for the mode.

Created the new image with no problems
Paste the Coniferous image using (ctrl+V), select Image->Mode and select Greyscale, flatten the image. Select Image->Mode->Bitmap, in the method box select the dropdown item 50% threshold.

No problems with this step
Save to \Landscapes\yourlandscape\Working\ForestMaps\ConiferousMap.bmp

Saved it as ‘C:\Program Files\Condor\Landscapes\CaesarCreek\Working\ForestMaps\130128_DeciduousMapNoWaterCities.bmp’  I will copy this to ‘DeciduousMap.bmp’ afer saving the current ‘DeciduousMap.bmp’ to a safe place in case I got this procedure screwed up.

Finished deciduous map showing some blacked-out rivers and cities

Finished deciduous map showing some blacked-out rivers and cities

Repeat the above steps for the DeciduousMap.bmp

Didn’t do this – no coniferous trees in Ohio

 

Next, on to Part C – Exporting forest tiles to Terragen and Condor and Part D – Generating textures with Terragen.  Can’t wait to see how this turns out in Condor!

 

Frank (TA)

 

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