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With this tutorial, Ill try to explain the method I use to design realistic sceneries based on Todd Klauss TerraScene for Fly!2k and Fly! II. Note that this technique is still under development; nothing is finished or definitive in any way. This document might be updated in the future if I and other scenery designers optimize some steps and add further enhancements. I use Photoshop 5.5 for the process. The method is based on many function and capabilities of the software, therefore you must have a good knowledge of Photoshop basics as well as TerraScene. I dont know exactly what changed in later Photoshop versions, but they should work fine. If the whole process seems too complicated, try a scenery with few steps first. Read carefully the TerraScene manual and Photoshop help. If something is still not clear and you cant find an answer, ask in the Fly! Developers Forum at Avsim.com or send me an e-mail and be patient; Ill try to help if the question is not related to Photoshop and Terrascene features which are already well documented. Todd Klaus developed TerraScene for Fly! with the users in mind. His software, among many evident qualities, is very easy to use and fully customizable. I started to see its great possibilities when version 2.0 was released with the addition of relief shadows. The TerraScene scenery files are heavy but have many great advantages over repetitive texture patterns. Some Post-Production work is possible, and the only limit to the enhancements that can be done is Fly!s inner resolution. Texture painting allows some nice enhancement. For example, you can design an accurate scenery if you just look at some good aerial pictures of the area and adapt the colours of the base textures (this is rather a Pre-Production work). Just try to get the colours right, replace some colours with others and youll get a much more characteristic landscape. On the other hand, the method below deals with shadows and some kind of bump mapping - we draw some shadows to create the illusion of 3-dimensional forests and cities. Whatever enhancements you try, I suggest you this basic question as a guideline : What does most of the visual difference between an aerial pictures and a TerraScene rendering? Always make direct pictures comparison, dont be too confident with your memory and imagination except if you have a good knowledge of colour and light effects. The steps explained here are only suggestions I hope they will encourage you to try, tweak and experiment! If you distribute on the web a scenery made with the help of this tutorial, please
add my name somewhere down the Readme file. I spent much of my spare time for the development,
and for this document as well! Dont use any original concept shared here for payware add-ons! Pascal Lachat Webdesign : Gérard Azzurro Calomili Important note : In order to follow the following steps, you need to have
TerraScene 2.0 or 2.1 installed on your computer.
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