Smr Simple!

Here are the PNGs I got and the TGA results. On one of my monitors I can see the squares and on the other I can't. Also, I'm trying to balence the Contrast and the Brightness, but I don't know where you aregetting the 20 you speak of.

Attached are 2 PNGs, 2 TGAs and one of the maps I got. I'm not asking you to fix them as I'm just experimenting, but what numbers am I looking for?

I'm logged in yet I don't see no files snoop.

Use the Eye Dropper tool to hover over the map and read the gray values. The 20 I speak of is actually a color value of R:20,G:20,B:20 but when working in grayscale the Red, Green, Blue values are always the same so I just refer to them as a single gray value. Also the Ctrl key will turn most paint tools into the Eye Dropper so you can quickly grab a new color image as you are painting.

They're there, put your glasses on ....(I hate it when I do that )

I was unaware of the thing with the Eye-Dropper. Us NooBs don't know all that stuff and have to rely on you highly-experianced Experts to tell us.

If you do put on your glasses you'll also see this:
Last edited by snoopy55 on Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:55 pm; edited 1 time in total

Okay, my glasses needed cleaning.
The El Mexicano.png file is nice and pretty much runs the full range of grays. Try setting Brightness at 10 and Contrast at -15 on that image and see how it looks to you in-game. That brings the ocean floor up to 27/30 in my PSP X.

Holy crap, scratch that.
On further examination Mexico has some really low lying coastal planes. Instead try setting Brightness at 45 and Contrast at 0. Do it on the original image since the adjustments are cumulative.

EDIT:That will make the ocean floor a little on the high side so I used the Wand tool and set the Tolerance & Feather at 0 and unchecked Contiguous. Selected the ocean floor, both 45 & 46 values, set my Background color at 30 and hit Delete. Then I Deselected (Ctrl-D), set the Wand Feather at 2 and clicked the ocean again. This will include a little of the shoreline. Then I used Gausian Blur with a Radius of 1.00. This just smoothes out the transition a little.

Here's my finished file for comparison.

Shoot. I even have a better idea.

Open the original MicroDEM PNG and use the Wand Tool with Tolerance & Feather at 0, uncheck Contiguous. Select the ocean, both 0 & 1 values, hit Delete. On the Selection menu chooce Invert. Adjust the Brightness to 47 and the Contrast to 0. Deselect (Ctrl-D) set the Wand Tool Feather to 2 and select the ocean again. Use Gausian Blur with a Radius of 4 or so (experiment here as I'm still at work). That should get you a pretty decent map but there seems to be a lot of altitude in Mexico that I never realized.

Dang, hijacked my own thread.

If there's too much hieght in the game for you then try Brightness at 20 and Contrast at -26.

Class Dismissed

I thank you o Master of Grayness

Sounds like more info for the Wiki tut.

I'll get this worked out, then go for the part of Mexico that is under discussion. If I can get this map looking good, I should say when, I'll probally put it up for others to use.

i really love those dems,
if you look at it, it's oh so cloudy-kind beautifull.
But i was asking myself, there are surely also maps are even the dems do include that information, about the vegatation (if there's sand or rocks etc). does someone know something about that and would it be usefull or not? (maybe not)

yes there are maps that I know of, but they are the Rand McNally Maps. To do what you are talking about, which is a great idea, you would have to have several different maps all to the same scale. Here is a scan of Mexico I did for reference.

OK, back to this.

I'm gonna need some help as my system is really acting up. When I start the map, the 2 engines are jumpy. It can take 2 to 5 minutes to load most games, and then even if I just moving across the map, the screen will stop for a while, even tho I can still move my curser.

Back to central Mexico.

The attached ZIP contains a map, as far as I could get with it. I also included the original grey PNG and GIF, and a PNG I tried to adjust. The land form looks good, but the grey scale needs to be adjusted. Dr Frag, any possible help would be happily accepted.

I've seem mention about others using the Mexico map I did, but nothing has been uploaded.

thanks people

Mind uploading the .Zip?

Well, I hadn't really planned on it, but if you insist.......

well, now that Slappy is back, I can stop taking his place and act sober.....

I resemble that remark.


Would someone tell me the name of that notepad replacement. Had some letters after it I think.