21 replies to this topic

[GolferKristynGetty]

Could anyone be kind enough to show me a link to how you can extract Height maps to use in Course Forge? Can you do it all in CF or do you need other programs to help? 

 

There is an article on this but no video? 

 

http://www.perfectpa...ourse-forge-r57

 

If your new to Course Forge is it the correct way to use the Terrain data and then start planing out your course once you got the outline of your terrain? 

 

Thank you if you can help! 

[clubcaptain]

Millions of stuff on Google. That's how I found the answer.

[scottpussehl]

For the just for the first time used heightmap to create the terrain in unity and yes like you I found it difficult to figure out where to start.

The first thing you have to do is get the heightmap data. There are so many different resources out there online I actually found mine on NOAA digital Coast viewer but the main one is USGS. Before you go right to USGS I would certainly look other places online to see if you can find better data potentially. Make sure that no matter where you get your terrain data from you should also download from the same selection the aerial image overlay also known as orthoimagery. This is important because you want your heightmap and image overlay to line up perfectly.

Once you have your data that you're going to have to use some software to convert it to something Unity can use. Unity likes to use raw files and these are raw image files. I use a free program called VT Builder that will import the Heights map and the orthoimagery and place it correctly over each other if you decided to get orthoimagery from some other place. Inn VT Builder under the elevation menu you can export elevation as a 16 bit PNG. If you decided to use an ortho image from another source VT Builder will allow you to select an area of the image and then under the area menu you can resample the image to a new file and resample the elevation to a new layer. Delete the original elevation later and export the elevation as a 16-bit PNG

Once exported open the elevation and the orthoimage as two layers in Photoshop or like program such as gimp and make your image Square (make sure to do this by cropping get and not by resizing. Also keep you image size below 4000x4000 px). Then save your elevation layer has a .RAW and your image as PSD jpg or PNG.

Now finally in to Unity... create a new Terrain or select the train created by course Forge. On the far right of the terrain editing buttons you will find a little settings gear button. Click that. All the way at the bottom of that menu you will find it import button. Click that. You will now navigate to and select the RAW elevation file we just created.

Now to the import settings! Make sure your depth is 16 bit. Your weight and height should correlate with the width and height pixel dimensions of the raw elevation file. Make sure the bite order correlates to the settings you chose when you exporting the raw elevation file. And checkbox the flip vertically option. Terrain size x and z should be the same I would start out by setting them at 2048. In the Y setting I would start by setting to 100. Click import! yay! it should have worked!

Now find the paint texture button under your Terrain settings tab. 1/sin the paintbrush button or the paint textures options Click on each texture then edit textures and remove each texture. We want our overlay image to be the only texture and then it will automatically apply it to the whole terrain. Now drag and drop the image into your Project Assets. Now go back and "add texture". Inn the left of the two texture boxes drag and drop your image overlay into that. Set your X and Y size to the dimensions does your Terrain. Whew😫😴.

We're so close now just have to make sure everything is the correct proportion so the holes are the correct length and height four perfect parallel. Use the coarse Forge measure tool to measure from an identifiable point a and point B. Open up Google Maps and measure the distance between the same pointA and point B. Calculate the percentage difference between the unity distance measurement in the Google Maps distance measurement and change the the terrain with and terrain length to to correct for this percent difference make sure to keep the terrain with and terrain length the same number.
After each terrain width and length change change the texture size to match the new numbers.

Last thinges is the height and we are going to use VTBuilder to measure the height. So hopefully back in VT Builder and make sure the elevation file is open. Now to check the elevation just place you mouse pointer where you want to measure and look in the bottom left it will tell you the elevation at that point and now just like with the size we are going to measure the difference of two points in VT BUILDER and then the same to points in Unity using the Course Forge measure tool. Check the percent difference and adjust the terrain height to that. (This is why you want start with a terrain height is 100 because it makes easy math).

And wam bam it probably took you a while but you now have a perfect starting plot.


IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL
before you start building and drawing splines please fly around your newly created terrain and make sure it looks correct. If it is only off by a little bit then just use the offset options for the texture. If off by a lot please read this post over and if that does not work please ask for help on the forums.

Hope this helps someone. Now just off to drawing soon many splines and planting soon many trees and object.

HAPPY BUILDING !!!

[scottpussehl]

I will make a video if people think this is a good method

[johnmeyer]

Very interested Scott. I have struggled to get vt builder working how I'd like

Especially interest in the part where your taking smaller areas of larger elevation data files etc

A video would be fantastic and could be a real game changer in terms of creating lidar based terrains

Hope you can find the time to create something

Thanks

John

[scottpussehl]

Ok I am back and I have a video tutorial in process. I learned some new things along the way.
Best Practices[list]
[*]RAW files for import into Unity work best at 2048x2048 or 4096x4096 ( you can use any size you want but it did not always work well for me. I never had a problem loading one of thoes two sizes). In photo editing prob
[*]PNG files some times don't want to work correctly from VTBuilder
[*]If PNG files don't work you can use BMP files but they will import into Unity with a little more small bumps as you will see in this video
[*]I think BMP files are exported out in the correct layout for Unity which means you don't have to hit the filp verticly button
This is my first tutorial and its 35 min long so hope its helpful

https://youtu.be/iQQ3hfjMsI0

[Jimbobh]

Your Video is set ti private. Can not view it.

[scottpussehl]

Ok so I have it uploaded now

[Net Birdie]

Two questions:

1) When I grabbed my lidar data from NOAA, i exported it into QGIS ( which I don't think anybody here uses) and exported it into GIMP, where it shows up as an 8-bit file.  Is it GIMP, QGiS or NOAA who are making it 8-bit?

2) Unity doesn't recognize my RAW format files from GIMP.  Anyone have this problem?

I would use SASPlanet, but Parallels doesn't like its file convention, so I need something that the Mac likes.

[calvin_de_beverly]

This video, although very well done, has been of little help. I want to create a local course here in Wichita and the the NOAA web site does not have data for Kansas, only coastal areas it seems. I have tried everything I could to extract from : National Maps, Google Earth, USGA data set and more but have not had any success. I tried QGis but for some reason the option to add a LIDAR tool was not even in the drop down list (add provider). I am at my wits end and wondered if anyone has come up with a free option. I understand that Global Mapper can do the job but you have to pay for it. I could use the free trial period for one course I suppose but I am looking for a long term solution. I have looked at all the tutorials available here as posted in the forums but each have had for me insurmountable problems and  none of them has led to a solution. Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

Calvin De Beverly

[Justin9926]

First off what is the name of the course you're looking to do? If there is lidar available I have global mapper and can put the course together for you. But if there is no lidar available you're out of luck. You'll just have to wait until lidar becomes available. If what you're wanting to do is the course with actual lidar.

 

Justin 

[calvin_de_beverly]

If you are responding to me Justin9926, not yet sure how this forum works, the specific course that I want to simulate (I play, excuse me, played (pre-corona) every week with my friend is called Andover Municipal Golf Course in Andover, Kansas (Well the actual golf course is on Hwy 54 between Andover and Wichita, Kansas. Here I believe are the bounding coordinates that hopefully include the entire 9 hole course:

37.679882   -97.148948

37.690274   -97.140913

 

This would be so great. I just want to start making fairways and greens and such. It looks like it will be so much fun. So far it has been anti-fun. LOL

[Justin9926]

There is lidar for it. I'll put it together tomorrow and then send it to you

[Justin9926]

Sent you a PM with the course and how to load it in unity.

[calvin_de_beverly]

Thank you so very much! Everything installed perfectly and up and making holes. Such fun! I do have one more question and that is when I looked to find the Speedtree assets that I have previously downloaded and install I could not find them. So since I had everything I needed about Speedtree right there on my disk I just grabbed and dragged everything into a new asset folder as described in another tutorial. My question is did I do the right thing? Or did I somehow make a duplicate of all the Speedtree data  taking up space on my hard drive?

Again great job and thanks,

 

Calvin De Beverly

[Justin9926]

You're welcome Calvin.

 

As far as the speed trees you should be fine. When you drug them in there you should have gotten a pop-up window asking you to fix the normals on the speed trees. As long as you click fix now you should be good. Have fun. And if you're married try not to get divorced from spending too much time in CF.

[calvin_de_beverly]

Got the ST set reloaded into the Andover assets all is well. I am not married so no problem there especially since I ain't really going anywhere outside of the house during these times. 

I do have one other question. I know you mentioned this somewhere or someone did in all the videos I watch but I can't find it again. I re-watched all your videos but to no avail. The question is about out of bounds. You show it around the one hole and mention that you have to have one in the course to make it play in PP. But I thought you also said somewhere that you can only have one per course. If this is the case I am guessing that it is one big shape that wraps around in such a way that it sets up the OOB for the each hole. Is that correct? Or do you have an OOB for each hole?

Thanks again,

 

Calvin De Beverly

[andrewjjones43#]

Yes, just one OOB. It can get quite tricky. Royal Liverpool has internal OOB so I had to sneak it in between two holes so it is one continuous OOB. Its the white spline obviously and you can see in the lower left where is sneaks in between some greens and tees.

[Justin9926]

Calvin, just out of curiosity did you download the Andover municipal GC unity packet that I sent you in a private message? It would be in the upper right-hand corner of the webpage and looks like a envelope. Reason I ask is if I go in to look it still shows that you have not read the message yet. But maybe that's just messed up.

 

 

Justin

[Justin9926]

Calvin I sent you a new private message. Let me know if you get it.