SO! You want to make a scaled version of Mount Everest in a Minecraft map? Well, you're crazy... the vertical limit makes that impossible.** But you can still have fun importing real world terrain data into a map, and this is how!
** May now be possible as WorldPainter supports a few vertical height limit mods
Step 1: Load Google Earth, with the plugin you just downloaded. It divides the world into a grid of available data. This data is collected via a satellite using radar, and is accurate to about 10 meters (i think).
Step 2: Locate the area you wish to import, and take note of the label of the 'chunk' it is in (eg. srtm_63_18). I theory, you can download this data through the plugin, however I had trouble with that, so I used step 2.b
Step 2.b (optional): Using google, search for the data set. It can be contained in many different formats, including color coded picture files, however I found the best seems to be the .ASC format (so i searched for srtm_63_18.asc). Be warned, these files can be quite large. The ASC file i downloaded to try recreate Uluru project was 120+ mb.
Step 3: Load up MircoDEM Map Tool (you will most likely need to install the BDE information utility when prompted). Click the "Open DEM" button, and load your file. This might take a few minutes on slower computers.
Step 4: Use the "Subset & Zoom" button to focus in on the area you wish to you. (note: there is an "undo subset" button next to the subset and zoom button)
Step 5: Right click the image, go to "Grid/graticule" and set it to 'neither' (removes the grid)
Step 6: Right click the image, go to "Legends/marginalia" and uncheck all the boxes (removes labels/crap)
Step 7: Right click the image, go to "Display parameter" and then "Elevation". Set this to "Greyscale"
Step 8: File menu, Save Image, and save where you want. This is your terrain heightmap. Congratulations!!
Step 9 (optional): Edit the image to fix any obvious oddities (the smaller an area you select, the more likely you will have a pixelated image)
Step 10: Load up WorldPainter. File Menu, Import, Heightmap. Select you image. (note, you probably want to set the water height to 0, and put water back in later)
Step 11: Save your map in WorldCraft, and then play around with WorldPainter settings. Decide if you want it to add relevant minecraft things (like tree's, caves, resources, etc). You can also smooth out any oddities that appear due to image pixelation.
Step 12: File menu, Export, name your world and export it! (should save it to the minecraft directory as a world) This step may also take quite some time, depending on the size of the map you are exporting and your computer (especially when calculating lighting)
Step 13: Load Minecraft, load your world, explore your terrain!!! Cheer!
Step 14: Come back here and tell me what was the most confusing part of this tutorial so I can fix it and make it easier to use.
===========================================================================
If anyone wants to make a video of this process, please share the link and I'll put it in the OP.
If anyone doesn't understand the tutorial, please see the original it was adapted from, which is perhaps a little more in depth as to what you are actually doing.
If anyone doesn't like this tutorial, please go tell someone who cares.
If anyone finds this very useful, and has success creating the map they want, please share a picture. My Uluru project didn't work so well, and my computer is lame.
For my first test run, while trying to figure this all out... I attempted to make a map of Uluru, the largest rock in the world. The textures don't help a whole heap, and it's not quite to scale (at least I don't think it is) but it looks pretty cool if you ask me XD
My map:
The real deal:
PS: Mods, feel free to move to tutorial sub-forum. I just felt this is something that will be worth discussing in public, rather than the back rooms, and I felt really proud of my achievement of actually finally getting this to work! =D
“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination."
Now for the record, I wasn't going for a big landmark or anything, I just ran some tests with the programs to see how it would work with Upstate New York and the Western Vermont border. And what it made was beautiful.
For feedback: The tutorial is written perfectly, I followed through word by word and it worked like a charm. The only part that led to any confusion for me was the 'play around with WorldPainter settings', but that's only because I played around with it a lot, and got some Alice in Wonderland level ****ed up worlds. (Try generate caverns everywhere with caverns break surface, it makes some really cool cave structures, though it also leaves you with ugly flat 'block erroresque' walls in some places.)
So without further ado, the pics.
The mighty, mighty Mohawk River!!!
Green Mountains of Vermont
Misty Adirondack Valley (by misty, I mean view settings are on short here...)
Adirondack Landscape
Oh, and pay no attention to the texture pack, just a little sumthin' sumthin' I've been working on in my spare time, couldn't be bothered to take it off.
awww yeh... nice work man. you picked some good terrain to generate from =D
and cheers for the feedback.
plus, it's good to see oil for BC is generating too... i was wondering about that :smile.gif:
I give up :sad.gif: Can't find my area in MicroDEM.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination."
aww... it can be pretty hard... if you want, PM me your suburb/state/country and i might be able to help you out... the biggest problem is remembering that the picture you load into microDEM represents a massive amount of land. i find it best to keep google earth open, so i can compare the picture with the terrain map in microDEM.
aww... it can be pretty hard... if you want, PM me your suburb/state/country and i might be able to help you out... the biggest problem is remembering that the picture you load into microDEM represents a massive amount of land. i find it best to keep google earth open, so i can compare the picture with the terrain map in microDEM.
I'm trying to do the Eiffel Tower. I just can't figure out where it is on the terrain map.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination."
i'm looking it up now, but don't forget 2 important things... this method provides terrain data for the ground. it's won't be able to recreate the eiffel tower for you, just the terrain surrounding it. so you would have to build or import the eiffel tower yourself. also, the default max height for minecraft is currently 128 blocks. assuming that each block is 1m, and considering the eiffel tower reaches 324m above the ground, you couldn't possible recreate the eiffel tower in minecraft on a 1:1 scale without using one of the height mods (though i hear jeb has plans to change the default height, or at least create the option for vertically larger maps)
having said all this, i just finished finding it... it's located in srtm_37_03... not the most impressive of landscapes but kinda cool, especially when zoomed out... some interesting rivers :smile.gif:
it did take a while, but by searching for "eiffel tower" on google earth and comparing the rivers, i found it to be a distinguishable object on the topography... here's a local heightmap, and a minecraft rendering :smile.gif:
the eiffel tower is the small bump up in the middle, the big bump in the background is a 129m hill Montmartre, upon which sits the 35m high Basilique du Sacré-Cœur
this actually gives a perfect example of the limited power, of this editor... it gives perfect scale, but it needs to be smoothed out... the rendering was slightly smoothed all around, except for the actual tower object, and i'm assuming the buildings all around paris would slighly obscure things... but it gives good reference data.
in fact, i can tell you for sure that in this rendering the eiffel tower object is raised only 19 blocks from the surrounding terrain, and considering it is 324 metres, that makes it about 1:17 scale. but then, as i said, considering current vertical height limits, the best you could hope for is 1:3 scale. you are probably better off building your eiffel tower without surrounding terrain, and building it 108 blocks high, using the superflat map option :smile.gif:
http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/607176-Tutorial-Importing-Detailed-Terrain-from-Google-Earth
credit goes to D-Hunter from those forums... without the initial steps provided there, I'd be unable to help here.
===========================================================================
SO! You want to make a scaled version of Mount Everest in a Minecraft map? Well, you're crazy... the vertical limit makes that impossible.** But you can still have fun importing real world terrain data into a map, and this is how!
** May now be possible as WorldPainter supports a few vertical height limit mods
You will need the following:
- Google Earth - http://earth.google.com/
- This plugin for Google Earth - http://www.ambiotek.com/topoview (.kmz file)
- MicroDEM Map Tool - http://www.usna.edu/Users/oceano/pguth/microdem/win32/microdem_setup.exe
- A program to edit BMP's. (optional) I used Photoshop, MS Paint would work, but with less usability.
- WorldPainter - http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/231255-worldpainter-new-map-creatorgenerator-work-in-progress/
Step 1: Load Google Earth, with the plugin you just downloaded. It divides the world into a grid of available data. This data is collected via a satellite using radar, and is accurate to about 10 meters (i think).
Step 2: Locate the area you wish to import, and take note of the label of the 'chunk' it is in (eg. srtm_63_18). I theory, you can download this data through the plugin, however I had trouble with that, so I used step 2.b
Step 2.b (optional): Using google, search for the data set. It can be contained in many different formats, including color coded picture files, however I found the best seems to be the .ASC format (so i searched for srtm_63_18.asc). Be warned, these files can be quite large. The ASC file i downloaded to try recreate Uluru project was 120+ mb.
Step 3: Load up MircoDEM Map Tool (you will most likely need to install the BDE information utility when prompted). Click the "Open DEM" button, and load your file. This might take a few minutes on slower computers.
Step 4: Use the "Subset & Zoom" button to focus in on the area you wish to you. (note: there is an "undo subset" button next to the subset and zoom button)
Step 5: Right click the image, go to "Grid/graticule" and set it to 'neither' (removes the grid)
Step 6: Right click the image, go to "Legends/marginalia" and uncheck all the boxes (removes labels/crap)
Step 7: Right click the image, go to "Display parameter" and then "Elevation". Set this to "Greyscale"
Step 8: File menu, Save Image, and save where you want. This is your terrain heightmap. Congratulations!!
Step 9 (optional): Edit the image to fix any obvious oddities (the smaller an area you select, the more likely you will have a pixelated image)
Step 10: Load up WorldPainter. File Menu, Import, Heightmap. Select you image. (note, you probably want to set the water height to 0, and put water back in later)
Step 11: Save your map in WorldCraft, and then play around with WorldPainter settings. Decide if you want it to add relevant minecraft things (like tree's, caves, resources, etc). You can also smooth out any oddities that appear due to image pixelation.
Step 12: File menu, Export, name your world and export it! (should save it to the minecraft directory as a world) This step may also take quite some time, depending on the size of the map you are exporting and your computer (especially when calculating lighting)
Step 13: Load Minecraft, load your world, explore your terrain!!! Cheer!
Step 14: Come back here and tell me what was the most confusing part of this tutorial so I can fix it and make it easier to use.
===========================================================================
If anyone wants to make a video of this process, please share the link and I'll put it in the OP.
If anyone doesn't understand the tutorial, please see the original it was adapted from, which is perhaps a little more in depth as to what you are actually doing.
If anyone doesn't like this tutorial, please go tell someone who cares.
If anyone finds this very useful, and has success creating the map they want, please share a picture. My Uluru project didn't work so well, and my computer is lame.
For my first test run, while trying to figure this all out... I attempted to make a map of Uluru, the largest rock in the world. The textures don't help a whole heap, and it's not quite to scale (at least I don't think it is) but it looks pretty cool if you ask me XD
My map:
PS: Mods, feel free to move to tutorial sub-forum. I just felt this is something that will be worth discussing in public, rather than the back rooms, and I felt really proud of my achievement of actually finally getting this to work! =D
It takes a long time :tongue.gif:
post it when i'm done XD
the actual structure IRL is visible from space, this pic is probably about 1/100th the horizontal scale, and maybe 1/10th the height.
together they are powerful beyond imagination."
you start at step 1. actually, you start before then, by reading step 1. actually, you start earlier than then, by reading period.
EDIT: And damn, you're right, those srtm files take a looooong time to dl and put in
EDIT: Tweaking done... screenshots for Capitol Region of New York State coming soon!
For feedback: The tutorial is written perfectly, I followed through word by word and it worked like a charm. The only part that led to any confusion for me was the 'play around with WorldPainter settings', but that's only because I played around with it a lot, and got some Alice in Wonderland level ****ed up worlds. (Try generate caverns everywhere with caverns break surface, it makes some really cool cave structures, though it also leaves you with ugly flat 'block erroresque' walls in some places.)
So without further ado, the pics.
The mighty, mighty Mohawk River!!!
Green Mountains of Vermont
Misty Adirondack Valley (by misty, I mean view settings are on short here...)
Adirondack Landscape
Oh, and pay no attention to the texture pack, just a little sumthin' sumthin' I've been working on in my spare time, couldn't be bothered to take it off.
and cheers for the feedback.
plus, it's good to see oil for BC is generating too... i was wondering about that :smile.gif:
scale is about 5:1 i think. i really gotta figure out scaling properly and add it to the tutorial. anyone wanna help?
together they are powerful beyond imagination."
I'm trying to do the Eiffel Tower. I just can't figure out where it is on the terrain map.
together they are powerful beyond imagination."
having said all this, i just finished finding it... it's located in srtm_37_03... not the most impressive of landscapes but kinda cool, especially when zoomed out... some interesting rivers :smile.gif:
it did take a while, but by searching for "eiffel tower" on google earth and comparing the rivers, i found it to be a distinguishable object on the topography... here's a local heightmap, and a minecraft rendering :smile.gif:
the eiffel tower is the small bump up in the middle, the big bump in the background is a 129m hill Montmartre, upon which sits the 35m high Basilique du Sacré-Cœur
this actually gives a perfect example of the limited power, of this editor... it gives perfect scale, but it needs to be smoothed out... the rendering was slightly smoothed all around, except for the actual tower object, and i'm assuming the buildings all around paris would slighly obscure things... but it gives good reference data.
in fact, i can tell you for sure that in this rendering the eiffel tower object is raised only 19 blocks from the surrounding terrain, and considering it is 324 metres, that makes it about 1:17 scale. but then, as i said, considering current vertical height limits, the best you could hope for is 1:3 scale. you are probably better off building your eiffel tower without surrounding terrain, and building it 108 blocks high, using the superflat map option :smile.gif: