POV-Ray Based Version
The newest version of this technology requires the following components:
- The rendering software POV-Ray
3.5 from
the Persistence of Vision team.
- WinIGC_to_POV (updated on
10-13-2002,
Version 1.20, Added Pressure/GPS altitude and improved HotSpot)
The terrain data is
currently hosted on a very slow link (128kbs). Download is
ONLY allowed between 0000 and 0700 US Pacific Time zone.
- US terrain data (high
resolution, 400 x 400 pixels per degree)
- For the full US:
TerrainPNG.zip (140 MB)
NOTE: There is only one toggle in the "Setup Available
Data" dialog for the US High Res. data. You are on your own to insure
that you have downloaded and installed the sections you need if you do it
region by region
You can also download region by region:
-
NW (33.6 MB)
-
SW (26.9 MB)
-
NC (17.3 MB)
-
SC (23.7 MB)
-
NE (17.8 MB)
- SE (21.3 MB)
- Satellite overlay data (instead of the gradient coloring)
USTopo.zip (26.7
MB)
- Japanese terrain data (high resolution)
- For all of Japan:
JapanPNG.zip
(8.2MB)
NOTE: Make sure you have the "High Resolution Japan" toggle set in the "Setup
Available Data" dialog.
- Satellite overlay data (instead of the gradient coloring)
JapanTopo.zip
(1.8 MB)
- Japanese
mirror
(provided by
Nobuo Ueda on his
3d page)
- Full Globe Data (low
resolution, 120 x 120 pixels per degree)
NOTE: Make sure you have the correct toggles set in the "Setup
Available Data" dialog.
You can choose terrain graphically or from
this list:
NOTES:
- Of the 25495 tiles in the satellite overlay data there
are several hundred that contain bad data. I will repair these as time
allows and post them as a separate .zip file as well as reposting the main
.zip files.
- Here's a .zip file (east_fix.zip)
that contains the fixes (254 files) for the Eastern Hemisphere. These
files are 60x60 pixels instead of the regular 120x120 pixels since they come
from a lower resolution source that doesn't have the damage. If I can
fix the full sized ones I will and I'll repost the main zip. Till them
I'll keep them separate.
- Remember to save your settings after setting the
terrain sections you've downloaded.
- The terrain overlay data was converted from the data
provided by NASA's Earth Observatory website on the
Blue Marble page.
- Garmin users: You can convert your track files to
.igc file using G7toWin
For rendering and installation instructions on use see below.
For the Terrain data I used the 1:250,000 DEM data from
the USGS. The data is freely
downloadable. I converted the DEM data to PNG image files and then used the images
as height field objects.
Here's an example. This is a flight I made on July
10, 2001 by Dan Dunkel and Bob Korves in DuoDiscus 5H
(I'm a very happy partner in that glider). Click on the image for a full
size version.
This flight was done by me from Ely NV in 2001 for Diamond
Distance:
- Install POV-Ray 3.5
on your computer
Make sure you set "Options->Script I/O
Restrictions->Allow Read, Restrict Write"
- Download needed terrain data
(from above)
Unzip these files into a directory
on your computer (c:\terrain)
- Add a line to your POV-Ray rendering settings (click on
the "Ini" toolbar button) that looks like:
Library_Path=c:\terrain
this should point at the directory you created to hold the terrain .png
files. This setting can be found in the render settings window
("Render->Edit Settings/Render" menu)
- Download a copy of WinIGCtoPOV unzip this
and put it someplace convenient for you (your POV-Ray directory?)
To run WinIGC_to_POV:
- Launch the exe (WinIGC_to_POV.exe) use the [...] buttons to pick the .igc
file you want to convert and the .pov file you want to convert it to.
- Hit the convert button (there will be more instructions on how to use the
converter here ... someday)
- Run POV-Ray and open the file you created and render. See POV-Ray's
help documents for details on this.
Enjoy!
Meaning of some of the controls:
- Turnpoints:
All points in the IGC file flagged as a turnpoint
- Task point:
These are the turnpoints ON THE TASK in the IGC file.
- Airports:
These are the turnpoints in the IGC file flagged as Airports.
- Glass/Solid:
If you turn on "Glass" the turnpoints/taskpoints/airports are
rendered in a transparent glass material with the given IOR
- Index of Ref.:
This is Turnpoint/Taskpoint/Airport Index of Refraction used if you set
Glass on
Diamond is 2.41, vacuum 1.0, air 1.00029, water 1.33.
NOTE: this will cause rendering times to go up dramatically.
- Ten Minute Ticks:
When turned on the first 30 seconds of each 10 minute section is black
allowing better visualization of time.
- Camera FOV (Field of View)
- Camera Distance (Distance from the look at point)
- Camera Azimuth (bearing of the camera from the look at point)
- Camera Altitude (altitude in degrees for the camera)
- Look At:
By default the camera looks at the geometric center of the flight. You can choose to offset that (in nautical miles, an approximation but close enough) or look at a
specifiic turnpoint.
- SeeYou support:
When in SeeYou's 3d view if you do a
Ctrl-F12 a dialog will come up with the camera and Look at point
Lat/Long/Alt. you can put this in the converter and (if using a 120 degree
FOV) get a matching view.
Enhancements coming "soon":
- Better track color by speed
- Native support for Garmin .trk files
- NOTE: you can use
G7toWin to
convert Garmin to .igc now so this isn't a HUGE deal.
NOTE: I will try to monitor rec.aviation.soaring for questions and answers
but may no reply to emailed questions. (email comments to
rendering@soar-high.com)
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