Hawaii Photoreal Development

[julianlockwood]

2 hours ago, Colin S said:

Major Update: March 20th, 2016

Happy spring! I have some good news. And I have some news that I know a lot of the X-Plane community, with their mentality, will consider bad news. Let's begin. I had a lengthy conversation with my partner in crime (who does all the original imagery editing and the FSX/P3D scenery), discussing the future of Hawaii Photoreal, as Molokai is nearing completion and Maui will be around three times the work of completing Molokai. As some of you know, for Flight Simulator and Prepare3D, there is a plus version that includes seasonal textures and autogen. Starting with Molokai and continuing for all islands except Kauai when we get there (and Lanai since it only needs updating), there will be a plus version. Our (X-Plane) plus version is very, very different than their (FSX) plus version. Below is a list of things each version includes (this might change in the future). What the heck is plus and how is it not payware? Well, plus is sort of like payware. Only we offer nearly the same product for free. If you donate around $15 you will get all the islands in their "plus" versions. If you're going to complain that we might as well make it payware, no, we mightn't. If you are complaining that the price per island that it ends up working out to is too high, then you clearly haven't donated. I can say for a fact that the number of people who have donated to Hawaii Photoreal this year can be counted on one hand, and I would still have enough fingers to eat my potato chips. Donations motivate like you wouldn't believe. Molokai wasn't going anywhere until we got a few donations. Currently most donations come from the FSX/P3D end of things - which is fine since we only have three islands available for X-Plane. Something discuss between myself and my partner is the different mentality between the communities. His scenery pulls in about 1 donation per hundred downloads. The X-Plane scenery pulls in one donation per... well, it doesn't. All in all, I don't feel like anyone even wants this work (minus like four or five people who constantly provide wonderful feedback).

Plus will be a bit different from the old stuff and different even from the FSX stuff. In one regard, the plus will be better than the FSX scenery with 0.3m/1-foot imagery in and around airports. Also included will be pavement textures like those found on Lanai, and much improved at that. As mentioned before, MeshTool rewrites mesh without road data (who can blame it, it's not like it knows how), and with the plus version, we'll bring back the roads. It'll still look pretty sweet in the free version, but at night the island will be pretty dark without the flowing traffic. Seasonal textures, as mentioned in yesterday's post, will be included in the plus version. There will also be little bits and pieces only in the plus version - rainforest helipads, streetlights, select autogen, grass at airports - that isn't significant enough to be on the chart below but should still be noted.

In conclusion, the free version is like buying the cheapest version of the car. You have to manually roll the windows, it doesn't have air conditioning and there is no chrome on the radio stack. Plus gives you all that. Kauai is a story for another time. If you can't spare $15 for an entire chain of islands, pick an (available) island that you really want the plus version of, shoot us an email and we'll see if we can accommodate you... or something. We're not trying to rip you off.

Following table subject to change.

Feature	Free	Plus
Full 1M Orthophoto Coverage	Yes	Yes
Full UHD Custom Mesh	Yes	Yes
3D Airports by George Keogh	Yes	Yes
HD Airport Textures	No	Yes
0.3M Orthophotos around Airports	No	Yes
Roads	No	Yes
Seasonal Textures (Wet, Transition, Dry)	No	Yes

 

 

[julianlockwood]

$15 for the finished product sounds like a very good deal to me. Look forward to purchasing the 'Plus' version when its ready!

[paulharing]

Colin, count me in as a purchaser of your entire chain of "Plus"version of the Hawaii islands when completed.   

[Colin S]

The entire chain won't be around for quite some time, but I hope you'll enjoy the freeware in the meantime. Thanks you two, glad to see some folks are interested in this product Just threw the first full-resolution demonstration together this evening, I have to share it with everyone, obviously.

 

Edited March 21, 2016 by Colin S

[Colin S]

High-Res Imagery now in X-Plane. We are out of the testing of the terrain and into the perfecting of the lining up of the orthophotos. This is harder than it sounds (not just simple coordinates). When polygons go straight up mountains, they seem to diverge even if their coordinates have their corner vertices in the same location, meaning there will be some stretching and reshaping needed.

[Haui]

15 bucks for the Plus Version is totally fair. In fact, it's awesome! I'd immediately go for it. I'd even donate in advance, if I knew that the package would be released in the next 6-9 months.

Concerning what you wrote about Hawaiian Photoreal and X-Plane users I'd say that the reason for the apparently low interest in your Hawaiian Sceneries is because of no one knows about it. A similar dev thread on the org-forum would definitely increase interest in your sceneries and probably donations, too. In fact, I know of an org-member that created a Lanai airport scenery because he didn't know about your great package. 

The X-Plane user mentality that you're referring to might be as it is, because we're used to getting good (not awesome) scenery for free. Unfortunately, we're also used to paying way too much for payware due to lack of alternatives. So most X-Plane users will stick to freeware and buy payware only if it really strikes them as worthy to pay for.

So to sum up, spread the word, created the scenery and get rich.

 

P.S.

Maybe you could create a Hawaiian Photoreal banner for forum signatures? I'd gladly use it.

 

[Colin S]

57 minutes ago, Haui said:

 

About X-Plane.org: I'm not turning this into a rant post, but I disagree with certain aspects of that forum, and I am banned there. I recommend not mentioning my name there (just so no one gets mad at you). Thanks for the suggestion though, I wish I could get the word out but I don't want anyone being punished for being associated with me. 

Thanks for supporting my work. The free version of Molokai will be done before I head off to Spain in April (mid-month). I've started the preliminary meshwork for Maui and I'll be reworking Lanai and Molokini at the same time (since their mesh will interfere with Maui). I'm pretty much as excited about this as anyone, making these islands has been a dream since I first got X-Plane and I saw the absolute ugly mess that the Hawaiian islands were.

Mahalo!

[paulharing]

I certainly agree with Haui's comments and suggestions for promoting Hawaiian Photoreal to X-Plane users.  I only became aware of the project after after reading of it in a recent notice of the Lanai Island release in the X-Plane.com web site.  Support from more X-Plane users will surely follow Haui's marketing suggestions and those received from others.

This morning I took the time to read the entire blog history on the Hawaiian Photoreal project in forums.x-pilot.com.  The amount of time, energy and intellect you, Colin, have poured into this project to date is amazing, even more so when considering you are doing this while a full time university student. Thank you for your skill and your tenacity that you have put forth to pursue and complete this project. It reflects your love for the islands, which I share as a resident of Hawaii.

Those of us fortunate to live in Hawaii, or as a visitor, who have personally experieced flying around the islands in and out of its major airports as well as its many small airports as a passenger, a real life pilot, or just as a simulator pilot, know first hand the diverse physical beauty of the islands.  In spite of the improvements in scenery development by the X-Plane developer over the years, much still remains to be accomplished in this area. Colin, you are "pushing the envelope" in this regard, and for this I and others in the X-Plane community are grateful.

Based on your progress and results achieved thus far with the project, I have decided to pre-pay for the Plus Version of project as an expression of my confidence in its timely completion. I encourage others to join me in this regard

Mahalo,

Paul Haring

  

 

[Colin S]

13 minutes ago, paulharing said:

I certainly agree with Haui's comments and suggestions for promoting Hawaiian Photoreal to X-Plane users.  I only became aware of the project after after reading of it in a recent notice of the Lanai Island release in the X-Plane.com web site.  Support from more X-Plane users will surely follow Haui's marketing suggestions and those received from others.

This morning I took the time to read the entire blog history on the Hawaiian Photoreal project in forums.x-pilot.com.  The amount of time, energy and intellect you, Colin, have poured into this project to date is amazing, even more so when considering you are doing this while a full time university student. Thank you for your skill and your tenacity that you have put forth to pursue and complete this project. It reflects your love for the islands, which I share as a resident of Hawaii.

Those of us fortunate to live in Hawaii, or as a visitor, who have personally experieced flying around the islands in and out of its major airports as well as its many small airports as a passenger, a real life pilot, or just as a simulator pilot, know first hand the diverse physical beauty of the islands.  In spite of the improvements in scenery development by the X-Plane developer over the years, much still remains to be accomplished in this area. Colin, you are "pushing the envelope" in this regard, and for this I and others in the X-Plane community are grateful.

Based on your progress and results achieved thus far with the project, I have decided to pre-pay for the Plus Version of project as an expression of my confidence in its timely completion. I encourage others to join me in this regard

Mahalo,

Paul Haring

  

 

We will add your name to our file of people who will be sent the plus version immediately upon completion. Thank you so much! I'm assuming from your post that you live in Hawaii. Lucky you!

[paulharing]

You're welcome. Yes, I have been a resident of Hawaii since 1966. 

[Colin S]

Here is your first look at the nearly completed Molokai. Roads and airports coming soon.

Enjoy

[JohnMAXX]

Great work Colin, especially impressed with your knowledge of editing terrain mesh!  Keep on keeping on brother....

[Colin S]

12 minutes ago, JohnMAXX said:

Great work Colin, especially impressed with your knowledge of editing terrain mesh!  Keep on keeping on brother....

I only have that knowledge thanks to the combined help of Ben and Andras, the god and the prophet  Thanks  Looking forward to what you have up your sleeve next as well.

[JohnMAXX]

Andras was my inspiration and a great guide.....

[x-plane 123]

Colin, thank you for all you have done on bringing Hawaii to life! The reefs are probably the best I've seen in X-Plane! The mesh looks fantastic! And now seasons! I'll definitely be donating when I get a chance. 

Regarding Haui's suggestion of promoting your scenery, maybe you could post on Avsim or try to get an interview with someone such as flightsim.com?

Anyways, best of luck with university. Enjoy Spain. And keep on doing what you're doing with Hawaii. Thanks again, Jon

[Colin S]

16 hours ago, x-plane 123 said:

Colin, thank you for all you have done on bringing Hawaii to life! The reefs are probably the best I've seen in X-Plane! The mesh looks fantastic! And now seasons! I'll definitely be donating when I get a chance. 

Regarding Haui's suggestion of promoting your scenery, maybe you could post on Avsim or try to get an interview with someone such as flightsim.com?

Anyways, best of luck with university. Enjoy Spain. And keep on doing what you're doing with Hawaii. Thanks again, Jon

Thank you Jon for the kind words! I will definitely consider getting this stuff on Avsim, but their system is so clunky and 90's-ish that I have had trouble in the past trying to get anything onboard with them. I'll try again thought

Colin

[Colin S]

Hey folks, I tried to update Niihau's mesh today but the website is throwing error after error at me. I'll try again tomorrow probably.

[Colin S]

A major update to Niihau (which brings mesh from simply HD to serious UHD) is coming. Just for example, the resolution of the mesh on Lehua is around 4 metres. If you look at the map shots in the following pictures, you'll see the detail of the sea cliffs... that actually surprised even me. I wasn't expecting them to show. It will also make the entire scenery on consolidated package without the need for separate installation of UHD Mesh. Just one simple installation. Looks like that last point isn't happening, because mesh is not overlay and orthos are... which don't get along in one single DSF as far as I can tell. It also might include a Windows installer as an experimental preview of what the plus version will offer. The installer will simply ensure that you are putting it in the right place. There are two main reasons for the installer:

1. I am so sick and tired of how non-user friendly X-Plane is. Having finally mastered MeshTool, I understand why there is such a lack of super high-end scenery for X-Plane. It's just a pain in the rear end to do. I want new users to get an amazing scenery file, and be able to simply press "install" and hey presto, scenery. No messing around making sure you unzipped it to the right level or that you have put the mesh in the right folder.
2. The plus versions use the installer, so I need a trial run of this with actual users. At this time I'm not sure about the plus versions for Mac. If anyone knows of a good free installer utility for Apple machines, please let me know.

EDIT Niihau won't have an installer. I was lead to believe that the utility I was given for creating installers had a comprehensive GUI. It doesn't. And I am not learning a whole programming language just for writing installers, that is an absolutely ridiculous waste of time. My statements about the lack of user-friendly programs continues to be validated.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Colin S

[Colin S]

Release Notice: Molokai to be released on Tuesday, April 12th, 2016, may delay from approval.

This is it. The basic version of Molokai will be released on Tuesday. I will be calling this V0.9 as it has known issues that will take a long time to correct. There is a strip of land that the orthophoto polygons won't drape over along the DSF boundary (about one metre) that will require a complete overhaul of the DSF tiles. I intend to fix this for the plus release and the future basic version, but it will take many more hours of fiddling around. It's not a fatal or even destructive bug.

Something to remember is that this island's airports will not look like Lanai's airport. This is because airports of that quality will be included in the plus versions of all other islands. Lanai is your free taste of the quality of plus stuff. That being said, Lanai will be updated in the coming months to incorporate UHD Mesh, and yes, it will still have the plus airport for free. However, like all other islands, will not include roads or seasonal textures. Kahoolawe will be updated as the only basic island to give you a sense of what Seasonal Textures will look like. I've included the plus vs basic differences tables. I will be out of country after release for two weeks and away from my development station (ie my desk in Victoria) for another three to four weeks after that. While this is not ideal, it'll give lots of time for people to get a taste for what Molokai is like and what bigger islands will be like in Hawaii Photoreal. 

I'm off to Spain for two weeks, then on a backpacking trip on a stretch of the Pacific Northwest/Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail in May. I am not working full time this summer (yet), instead I am continuing as a part time tour guide at the BC Aviation Museum and a lab assistant at the Royal British Columbia Museum. I'm considering poking my head into the world of payware as an experiment this summer. Anyways, that's all for now. Be ready to download this week. And please provide feedback and rate the file page when it's out

**Basic airports use fully default ground textures/pavement but include airport buildings and objects that did not need a high amount of location correction.

Following table subject to change.

Feature	Basic	Plus
Full 1M Orthophoto Coverage	Yes	Yes
Full UHD Custom Mesh	Yes	Yes
3D Airports by George Keogh	Yes	Yes
HD Airport Textures	No	Yes
0.3M Orthophotos around Airports	No	Yes
Roads	No	Yes
Seasonal Textures (Wet, Transition, Dry)	No	Yes

[JimmyRFR]

Just joined the forum tonight.

I've been a long time user of the FSX Hawaii Photoreal scenery; indeed, a 'plus' user. About a year and a half ago, I spent a few months worth of FSX time flying the chain of islands back and forth, many times over.  Since then, however, I haven't really been back - partially due to a migration to P3D.

However, in that time, I have picked up XP10. I'm very glad that I did, it's been fun to fly in, and definitely a nice counterpart to FSX/P3D. I seem to spend about 90% of my time now developing airports for the Gateway, but developing was about 90% of my time spent in any platform..

Anyhow, having been very pleased to see your efforts to bring the excellent FSX photoreal (as well as George's excellent airports) over to XP, I just thought I should pop in here to thank you for all of your hard work.  And yes, I'll be in for the 'plus' versions you're creating!

[Colin S]

If you already have the plus for FSX/P3D, you're already in for the XP10 one  Thanks for the kind words and thank you for paying it forward to the community.

[daemotron]

On 20.3.2016 at 8:17 PM, paulharing said:

Based on your progress and results achieved thus far with the project, I have decided to pre-pay for the Plus Version of project as an expression of my confidence in its timely completion. I encourage others to join me in this regard

Same here. The islands available as of today are simply stunning, and such a great project deserves recognition. Btw. I like the vivid colours, gives a feeling of a very much "alive" landscape!

[Colin S]

7 hours ago, daemotron said:

Same here. The islands available as of today are simply stunning, and such a great project deserves recognition. Btw. I like the vivid colours, gives a feeling of a very much "alive" landscape!

This is how I feel - while the vivid colours may not accurately represent the real-life Islands they add to X-Plane what it lacks in the true mind boggling beauty of the chain.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Colin S
Typo - all I have is my tablet while waiting at YVR for my sister

[Colin S]

Hey everyone - just wanted to remind you that if you have and concerns, questions, or requests for Molokai please let us know! I'm in Spain right now but I will respond within 24 hours. For once both Hawaii Photoreal developers are in the same country (although we won't see each other). Let us know what you think... Please!

[paulharing]

On April 18, 2016 at 8:40 PM, Colin S said:

Hey everyone - just wanted to remind you that if you have and concerns, questions, or requests for Molokai please let us know! I'm in Spain right now but I will respond within 24 hours. For once both Hawaii Photoreal developers are in the same country (although we won't see each other). Let us know what you think... Please!

Hope your trip to Spain went well and are now home back working on your Molokai update release from ver. 0.9 for X-Plane 10.  The scenery is great but it really killed my framerate and flying experience. Didn't have this degrading effect with your Lanai and Niiihau releases. Any suggestions for a temporary fix until your next update comes out?

Aloha, PDH