Okay, after much wailing and nashing of teeth...
Not really, but you get the picture... or will if you grab this project.

The Hi-Res Earth project I posted in the Showcase is now complete and I have zipped up ALL the bitmaps, model and projects and posted them to my corporate webspace.

EDIT: I've split the big file into four individual files, one for each map resolution

I have posted the a render of the new 4k resolution model here for ease of viewing.

Grab the 1k here---> Right-Click to save the 1k model and maps (4MB)
Grab the 2k here---> Right-Click to save the 2k model and maps (13MB)
Grab the 4k here---> Right-Click to save the 4k model and maps (46MB)
Grab the 8k here---> Right-Click to save the 8k model and maps (172MB)

These are just the maps and model files, no project.

I'm sure at this point Hash will want to eliminate the 8k (8192x4096) images as they are a minimum of 13 MB each and really add to the project size. For each resolution there are twelve Color maps, plus displacement, specularity and clouds. But I'm including them here for public consumption.

I have verified the licensing for all the images, they are completely free for use by anyone public, private, business or government. All that's required is that NASA's appropriate section be given credit for the original images.

PLEASE do this if you use them in something commerical.

The Earth-0-Maps-Read-Me.txt is below...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Animation:Master Earth Model Project by Jody Krivohlavek (V13.0 A:M2006)
Rev. 1.0 01/25/2006

Images used in these projects are as follows.

Conversions and/or modifications to original files were performed by Jody Krivohlavek

Earth-1k-Clouds.jpg
Earth-2k-Clouds.jpg
Earth-4k-Clouds.jpg
Earth-8k-Clouds.jpg

These cloud maps were resized from the cloud_combined_8192.tif image from NASA's Earth
Observatory and are used for transparancy and displacment mapping.

Earth-1k-Color-XX.jpg (XX denotes the month of the year)
Earth-2k-Color-XX.jpg
Earth-4k-Color-XX.jpg
Earth-8k-Color-XX.jpg

The ocean and ice part of the land_ocean_ice_8192.tif image was masked and combined with
land from the flat Next Generation Blue Marble images to get these combined ocean texture
and land color images.

Earth-1k-Disp.jpg
Earth-2k-Disp.jpg
Earth-4k-Disp.jpg
Earth-8k-Disp.jpg

These displacment maps were resized from the srtm_ramp2.world.21600x10800.jpg image from
NASA's Earth Observatory site.

Earth-1k-Lights.jpg
Earth-2k-Lights.jpg
Earth-4k-Lights.jpg
Earth-8k-Lights.jpg

These light maps were resized from the earthlights.gif image from NASA's Visible Earth site.
These maps are used as an ambiance map for a very subtle night side city lights effect.

Earth-1k-Specular.jpg
Earth-2k-Specular.jpg
Earth-4k-Specular.jpg
Earth-8k-Specular.jpg

These specular maps were resized from the gebco_bathy.21601x10801.jpg image from NASA's Earth
Observatory and then editing the pallet of the image down to 2 colors. The Great Lakes and
other large inland water bodies were also added.


All of these images are provided under the following use agreements.

All images created by Jody Krivohlavek are free of licensing fees.


Original Visible Earth data images are free of licensing fees and are owned by NASA.


------------------
NASA Terms of Use
For all non-private uses, NASA's Terms Of Use are as follows:

The imagery is free of licensing fees
NASA requires that they be provided a credit as the owners of the imagery

Visible Earth Addendum
Beyond the NASA Terms, the Visible Earth team requests, but does not require:

The Visible Earth be provided a credit as the location that the imagery was found at
A URL be provided, either to the Visible Earth (http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/) or to the page
providing the link to the used image.
------------------


NASA's Visible Earth website here...

http://visibleearth.nasa.gov


The original Next Generation Blue Marble images (world.2004**.3x21600x10800.jpg) can be found here...

http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_set.php?categoryID=2356


The original cloud image (cloud_combined_8192.tif) can be found here...

http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?vev1id=11643


The orginal city lights images (nightearth.gif, land_ocean_ice_lights_8192.tif and
landlights_16384.tif) can be found here...

http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=1438


The original images were aquired from NASA's Visible Earth website here...

http://visibleearth.nasa.gov


The NASA Earth Observatory website...

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/


The original Blue Marble images (gebco_bathy.21601x10801.jpg and srtm_ramp2.world.21600x10800.jpg)
can be found here...

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/..._monthlies.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[blows the dust off this forum]

I will have to take a closer look at this bad boy. The next CD them has been chosen and it probably won't include a lot of models.

However, the need for a high quality earth seems to come up every 6 weeks or so. We might be able to find room, but this is a huge file.

Thanks a lot! I'll get with Rodney and see what we can do.

Now get out there with the beautiful Rose and save the universe!

What is it about the way you applied these image maps that causes them to look stretched around the equator?

Not quite sure what you mean Julian?

They were applied back in 2003 I think I used clyindrical, because it made sense to me at the time. Y'know, just wrap the map around the sphere as opposed to trying to get spherical mapping to work for me.

Oh, I forgot one thing with the models... a rotational bone!!!

I tried to rotate in choreography with the model bone tilted like earth should be and had a really tough time rotating the model, so I put a rotational bone in these. Same models otherwise.

EDIT (01-27-2006 1:49AM PST): Removed the model updates and corrected them AGAIN in the post #9 (sorry)

First I want to say thank you! This is a great resource for animators.
I haven't had a chance to download and probably won't because of current bandwidth.
I may have to wait for the eventual Extra CD myself.

I think we were about to announce the next Extra CD Volumes.

I do have a question... I haven't fully read your writeup so the answer is probably in there somewhere.

Are the large imagemaps you provide exactly the same as the ones on the NASA website?
If yes we may want to use the smallest and medium quality imagemaps and link to the high rez ones.
If we ever do a Space themed Extra CD I'd guess it would be okay to have a 200MB+ file on it but I'm not sure about the next model themed CD.

Not sure about the distortion Julian mentions either. We'll have to investigate.

As a clue to the next Extra CDs I think the next three are roughly themed as follows:
- Tutorials
- Textures and Materials
- Characters

Obviously there will be project files and models on each but... not too sure a 200MB earth will make the cut.
It might be perfect for the Textures and Materials CD. The Characters CD will most likely be an update of most of the common A:M Characters with the Squetch rig w/ FACE.
Stand by for a personal email.

Kudos for all the hard work on the Earth. I can use it right now in a project if I can get it downloaded. ;o)

Best,
Rodney

As to the textures... as noted in the readme text, the specular, and color images HAVE been modified from the ones NASA provides.

The color ones are two images merged through a mask.

As to the size, I did also mention that I could drop the 8k maps as they are 13 MB each (multiply that by 12). So that would cut the file size by almost half if not more.

We could go a step further and just include one month map for the color map. That would REALLY drop the file size.

Let me know which size you need and I can trim the zip down for you and maybe post it here even. (1k, 2k, 4k, 8k or even ½k map or smaller).

Glad to help...

Hi,

I'm pretty sure if you used cylindrical mapping that it might be causing the distortion (South America looks stretched). I just did a quick map of the earth and moon and used Spherical Mapping, then tried to move the earth into a similar position in my render so you could compare.

Also, just a thought, but since we're so close to being able to use Yves' new Planet Glow shader (hoping it is in Alpha 5) it might be nice to integrate that into the earth too.

-Jim

Actually the models I posted use Yves' Planet Glow plug-in... I've just turned it down to be more realistic.

And, yes I did some tests too... it appears the cylindrical mapping I used is the culprit. I'll remap each of those with spherical and update the zip file as well as post updated models here.

Again... it's the little things that come back to bite you...

Okay, the new map and model zip files are done, except for the 8k ones, give them another hour at least...

Otherwise, go grab the size you need from updated links in the first post! (Broke them up just for you Rodney! )

The spherical mapping looks WAY better (go figger!).

EDIT: All of the zips are up now... cheers!

EDIT2 (01-27-2006 1:49AM PST): Yet another hidden error on my part! Geez, this is not my day!

All the model files have a duplicate specularity map, evidently, I failed to remove the cylindrical mapped one. I have gone back in and corrected this error.

I would not have noticed it had I not seen this artifact in the previous render. That's a specular highlight showing up where it's not supposed to, I only figured out what it was after I reopened the stamps area for that decal.

I'm removing the old models from the above (revised version) and putting up brand spanking new ones for folks that got those buggered ones too... (sorry folks... )

I will also be updating the zips overnight, but it will take time as that's 200+ MB ... again!

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys these or gets some use out of them. I have need for realistic looking planets in my long term project, so this was a good learning experience for me.

none of your files work

Yes, these models look MUCH better... even got a sunlight reflection off the coast of south america!

Caution: nearly one meg for this picture, I kept the compression low.



HUH? They were built with V13 Alpha 4, so unless you are trying to use them with V12 or V11 they should work. These were built for the NEXT gen of A:M.

EDIT... OH! broken links... I'll look into that... give me about 10 minutes.

EDIT2.. Okay, that was all of 5 minutes to fix (or less) bad URL on my part... sorry.