Great Dividing Range Flyover
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gdfo.mov (6.1Mb)
Indec 4.4 codec
Original movie 800x400 pixels 124Mb (with sound track)
05/08/2003
Learning
some more about Terragen. Currently exploring the use of the SO Pack plugins.
This fixes problems with geographical distribution of textures based on location
rather than just altitude. In this example Issued levels in Photoshop to create
an altitude based mask for the snow and then remove those areas from more
northern latitudes where snow isn't supposed to fall. Still a bit of work to do
here as I'm still not 100% sure what I'm doing with these. Another mask just
using a broad brush adds the "red centre". Surprisingly the extra surfaces don't
increase the render time greatly :-) Water is the big killer for render
times.
More playing required... and I might even have to put New Guinea back in.
04/08/2003
At last! My first Terragen animation completes.... so where to from here. Bells and whistles time
Reworking the animation to a run longer to fit the sound track (removed from the link above to reduce file size), edit the flight path a bit, added water transparency with real underwater DEM data, added a beach around the entire country and a little bit of surf... this is Australia after all! ;-)
Sample
image of new surfaces and terrain showing East Gippsland and the NSW coast from
Bass Strait. The snow line's a little low again but you get the idea.
More work's needed on the vegetation...
Render time up to 30minutes :-( Time or a PC upgrade.
01/08/2003
Automatic OS update stopped the render last night. Clip's now up to 1050 frames and added the audio (clichéd as it is) so you can check the speed of your connection ;-). Got enough now to plan for version 2 including increasing the number of frames to fit the audio (4,175), adding a beach and transparent water (the coastlines just a bit too sharp) and maybe some different lighting.
31/07/2003
Nearly 1,000 frames down and still chugging away. Could have sworn I ticked camera banking, but the camera's staying level. Having a play with some post processing... mainly adding a radial blur to lose the high speed shutter effect.... and alas the sound track is too long :-( Maybe something to consider for the next version.
28/07/2003
300 Frames down. Low angles with lots of water render very slowly. Finally hit land and render times now down to 10 min per frame. Added a small intro sequence.
24/07/2003
Started rendering a movie. Decided to go up to 800x400. The opening scene's going to take a while as it's mostly waves ;-)
23/07/2003
This flyover of the Great Dividing Range in Australia is compiled using Terragen and 1km DEM data. The resolution of the data tends to flatten some of the features (e.g. the Grampians) and makes Mt Koscuisko a big pyramid, but there's enough to get a good feel for the range.
Trial Story Board
Frame Thumbnail v1 Notes 1 Approaching Cape York, skimming the ocean. Start from further out to sea 70 140 210 Lose the big cloud over the sun!!! 280 Have to raise this view... fly down through the saddle rather than up and over 350 Approaching the saddle 420 490 Central Queensland 560 Turn left 300km 630 Turn left before ploughing into the mountain ;-) 700 Gaining altitude plus terrain drop off. Heading towards the coast. 770 840 A glimpse of snow.... too far north :-( 910 980 NSW Coast 1050 Mt Koscuisko on the horizon 1120 Sneaking up on Mt Koscuisko 1190 Entering Victoria... and yes, that's Tasmania on the left. The joys of a flat Earth ;-)... might have to remap the projection to rectilinear to widen Bass Strait and bring Tassie back into shape. 1260 Central Victoria (and a close shave, lower left) If you squint a bit you can make out Port Phillip Bay. The resolution of the terrain file isn't high enough to render it properly. 1330 Western Victoria, too low! 1400 South Australian Border 1470 Lost at sea
Adjusted Flight Path
