Stellarium

I need help with personalizing a landscape

Asked by Gary Cox

I am trying to load a new landscape from a panorama I created my self, using Panorama Perfect Lite. That looks pretty good. I am trying the spherical method, mainly because I have clear horizons in all directions. I used two programs, the GIMP and Serif PhotoPlus X6. I first cleared the sky with Photo Plus and expanded the canvas. The image is 4880W and 800H. I expanded the canvas to 6698W and 1960H. I removed the sky with the magic wand. Made photo adjustments, and then put the file in GIMP (latest) for transparency. I created an alpha channel, one for the sky and one for the entire image.

I created the landscape.ini file and readme.txt file in wordpad. I used other landscapes as guides (copy and paste using my data.
Then created the landscape program file folder containing the image file, readme file, and the landscape.ini file.

I tried using the alpha channel both ways (above). I also experimented with other image files I created, not sure if I was getting all the fille names correct. Reults were as follows.

Sometimes I would get "success", but no image appeared or the landscape name and description.
Sometimes I would get "success", but no image, but with the name and description, also appearing on the landscape list. The NSEW letters appeared, but the background is dark with no image, or sometimes clear or even blue, still no image.

So from this, I take it that the landscape.ini file is good, the problem must be with the image file.

I am surely not any kind of a Pro at this, and just learning PhotoPlus. I think the size is one of my problems, and also the transparency ( don't have much of a clue what an alpha channel, except it's easier to do in GIMP.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated, this is a dark sky sight and one day I want to put a large telescope under a dome in one of the fields.

Thanks,

Gary Cox

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gzotti (georg-zotti) said : 		#1

Hi!

Depending on your graphics hardware, the image may have to be sized to a power of 2, e.g. 2048x1024. I think max. texture size for such panos is 4096x2048, also on top-end hardware. With the old_style type you can make segmented high-resolution panos.

The sky must be set transparent, usually you will see some checkerboard pattern in GIMP or Photoshop.

Of course, file must be a PNG then.

Good luck!
G.

Revision history for this message
Gary Cox (garycox5) said : 		#2

Thanks for the info....I've double checked everything.....still no
success.... trying the 8 square method next.....

On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 5:51 AM, gzotti <<email address hidden>
> wrote:

> Your question #233686 on Stellarium changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/stellarium/+question/233686
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> gzotti proposed the following answer:
> Hi!
>
> Depending on your graphics hardware, the image may have to be sized to a
> power of 2, e.g. 2048x1024. I think max. texture size for such panos is
> 4096x2048, also on top-end hardware. With the old_style type you can
> make segmented high-resolution panos.
>
> The sky must be set transparent, usually you will see some checkerboard
> pattern in GIMP or Photoshop.
>
> Of course, file must be a PNG then.
>
> Good luck!
> G.
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
>
> https://answers.launchpad.net/stellarium/+question/233686/+confirm?answer_id=0
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/stellarium/+question/233686
>
> You received this question notification because you asked the question.
>

--
http://starscapescientific.com

Revision history for this message
Best gzotti (georg-zotti) said : 		#3

Try a spherical pano first (by far easier!), with 2048x1024 pixels, and delete/erase the upper half, i.e. set the pixels transparent. The image must be RGBA. In Photoshop you can create a layer mask to define transparent regions, but the final image must be PNG. Maybe use the PNG file in an HTML page for testing?

What happens if you load such a landscape, then press G repeatedly?

Revision history for this message
Gary Cox (garycox5) said : 		#4

SUCCESS!!!!!!! This was like hunting bear.....Strongly recommend keeping a
journal, your probably not going to get it right the first time, and before
long, if your like me, you will be lost in a sea of different PNG
panoramas. Keep your files straight for each try, and then delete them. My
problem was not remembering to change from txt to UTEP for both the .ini
file and readme file, rather than just the new image. You have to double
check each step when making changes to any file. Now that I know what
works, I can further sharpen the png image. Also recommend sticking to the
same Photo Image software. I was using a combination of the GIMP 2.6 and
PhotoPlusX6, after using both went with PhotoPlusX6. Had to learn Gimp and
Photoplus in the process, so now quite proficient with either, so well
worth the training. Used Panorama Perfect Lite to generate the panorama,
with a Vivitar X014N digital camera collection of 17 images. With Perfect
Lite you do not require a tripod, the camera can be hand held. The
resulting Panorama was 2048 x 1024. Thanks for the help!!!!!!!!

On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 6:51 PM, gzotti <<email address hidden>
> wrote:

> Your question #233686 on Stellarium changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/stellarium/+question/233686
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> gzotti proposed the following answer:
>
> Try a spherical pano first (by far easier!), with 2048x1024 pixels, and
> delete/erase the upper half, i.e. set the pixels transparent. The image
> must be RGBA. In Photoshop you can create a layer mask to define
> transparent regions, but the final image must be PNG. Maybe use the PNG
> file in an HTML page for testing?
>
> What happens if you load such a landscape, then press G repeatedly?
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
>
> https://answers.launchpad.net/stellarium/+question/233686/+confirm?answer_id=2
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/stellarium/+question/233686
>
> You received this question notification because you asked the question.
>

--
http://starscapescientific.com

Revision history for this message
Gary Cox (garycox5) said : 		#5

SUCCESS!!!!!!! This was like hunting bear.....Strongly recommend keeping a journal, your probably not going to get it right the first time, and before long, if your like me, you will be lost in a sea of different PNG panoramas. Keep your files straight for each try, and then delete them. My problem was not remembering to change from txt to UTEP for both the .ini file and readme file, rather than just the new image. You have to double check each step when making changes to any file. Now that I know what works, I can further sharpen the png image. Also recommend sticking to the same Photo Image software. I was using a combination of the GIMP 2.6 and PhotoPlusX6, after using both went with PhotoPlusX6. Had to learn Gimp and Photoplus in the process, so now quite proficient with either, so well worth the training. Used Panorama Perfect Lite to generate the panorama, with a Vivitar X014N digital camera collection of 17 images. With Perfect Lite you do not require a tripod, the camera can be hand held. The resulting Panorama was 2048 x 1024. Thanks for the help!!!!!!!!