Photogrammetry Data for 3D cities in Condor

Moderators: Uros, OXO, JBr

Post Reply
habo
Posts: 202
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 5:10 pm
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Photogrammetry Data for 3D cities in Condor

Post by habo » Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:47 am

Hi all,
I experimented with photogrammetry data to be used in Condor landscapes with mixed results.
The data imported looks great, but comes completely unoptimized and has millions of faces. It's really hard
to reduce the face count and in the same time maintain the great looks of photogrammetry cities.
So far it's been a giant hit on my frame rate with my machine (VM on Mac). It's not really usable so far. However,
to me, it's more of a proof of concept. I wanted to see what it looks like and how hard it is to get 3D objects like that into Condor.
I'm sure it's not worth the hours it takes to manually edit the objects down to workable face count. The build-in tools
that come with Blender are not satisfactory, unless there's a way to reduce mesh faces that I'm unaware of...
The model needs to be tiled, edited, texture baked, rotated and placed in Condor.

Next issue, precise placing of city tiles without visible gaps in Condor Landscape Editor is more than painful.
It could be automated though. We could make use of a XML file that comes with the unedited data. This would be a job for an
embitioned programmer... who I'm not. :)

I'll give it another try with a lower LOD, but then textures get blurred and the buildings lose their straight edges.

Here are some results.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

cvvs
Posts: 153
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 11:43 pm

Re: Photogrammetry Data for 3D cities in Condor

Post by cvvs » Fri Feb 19, 2021 4:33 am

It remains good anyway, the second screen is good

User avatar
wickid
Posts: 2429
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:32 pm
Location: Venlo, NL
Contact:

Re: Photogrammetry Data for 3D cities in Condor

Post by wickid » Fri Feb 19, 2021 1:14 pm

habo wrote:
Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:47 am
Hi all,
I experimented with photogrammetry data to be used in Condor landscapes with mixed results.
The data imported looks great, but comes completely unoptimized and has millions of faces. It's really hard
to reduce the face count and in the same time maintain the great looks of photogrammetry cities.
So far it's been a giant hit on my frame rate with my machine (VM on Mac). It's not really usable so far. However,
to me, it's more of a proof of concept. I wanted to see what it looks like and how hard it is to get 3D objects like that into Condor.
I'm sure it's not worth the hours it takes to manually edit the objects down to workable face count. The build-in tools
that come with Blender are not satisfactory, unless there's a way to reduce mesh faces that I'm unaware of...
The model needs to be tiled, edited, texture baked, rotated and placed in Condor.

Next issue, precise placing of city tiles without visible gaps in Condor Landscape Editor is more than painful.
It could be automated though. We could make use of a XML file that comes with the unedited data. This would be a job for an
embitioned programmer... who I'm not. :)

I'll give it another try with a lower LOD, but then textures get blurred and the buildings lose their straight edges.

Here are some results.
What blender plugin do you use for this?
PH-1504, KOE

habo
Posts: 202
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 5:10 pm
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Re: Photogrammetry Data for 3D cities in Condor

Post by habo » Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:07 pm

I experimented with all "clean-up" tools to reduce mesh complexity.

User avatar
wickid
Posts: 2429
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:32 pm
Location: Venlo, NL
Contact:

Re: Photogrammetry Data for 3D cities in Condor

Post by wickid » Sat Feb 20, 2021 2:04 pm

I mean how did you get the mesh in blender in the first place. I'd like to experiment with some cleanup. What tools did you use to make the mesh and the texture.

For reference. A plane is about 60.000 vertices including the pilot. For a landscape object you'd want to be well below that.
PH-1504, KOE

User avatar
Andy1248
Posts: 1423
Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2006 3:06 pm
Location: Biggleswade, Bedfordshire

Re: Photogrammetry Data for 3D cities in Condor

Post by Andy1248 » Sat Feb 20, 2021 3:40 pm

Not had a go yet myself but a little research has revealed two tools;

RenderDoc and MapsModelImporter which are described in this video by Nikko16:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_XsmoZJmG8

He also has a Blender 'clean up' video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUkMY8Sp_AM&t=3s

I am currently busy with a new UK scenery so no time to investigate further at the moment.
Condor CN = E20

User avatar
wickid
Posts: 2429
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:32 pm
Location: Venlo, NL
Contact:

Re: Photogrammetry Data for 3D cities in Condor

Post by wickid » Sat Feb 20, 2021 4:16 pm

Andy1248 wrote:
Sat Feb 20, 2021 3:40 pm
Not had a go yet myself but a little research has revealed two tools;

RenderDoc and MapsModelImporter which are described in this video by Nikko16:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_XsmoZJmG8

He also has a Blender 'clean up' video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUkMY8Sp_AM&t=3s

I am currently busy with a new UK scenery so no time to investigate further at the moment.
Found those too, and I guess that is what he used. But I want to be sure
PH-1504, KOE

habo
Posts: 202
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 5:10 pm
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Re: Photogrammetry Data for 3D cities in Condor

Post by habo » Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:06 am

Andy1248 wrote:
Sat Feb 20, 2021 3:40 pm
Not had a go yet myself but a little research has revealed two tools;

RenderDoc and MapsModelImporter which are described in this video by Nikko16:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_XsmoZJmG8

He also has a Blender 'clean up' video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUkMY8Sp_AM&t=3s

I am currently busy with a new UK scenery so no time to investigate further at the moment.

I tried that renderdoc workflow too but couldn't get it to work reliably for some reason. Some wizards in the MSFS2020
community developed a software based approach to access the data. They also discussed the copyright issue intensely with
various conclusions. So be aware and please do your own research into user agreements before publishing anything.

I watched the clean-up video too, but it is not sufficient to get the face count down without degrading the model too much (in my opinion).
I tried downloading a lower LOD version and then baking the textures of a higher LOD model - which ended up not matching perfectly. :?

I used this tool:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FS2020Creation ... rfriendly/
(there's a Windows UI version in this thread)

Good luck.

Post Reply