FDAI textures

Lupus_Vulpes

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I found this FDAI textures on the net, and they are more high-res and look more like the real FDAI, so my questions are:
-Which program do you use to create the .dds textures, i would like to try and modify to old ones to the new one
-The old textures have an resolution of 512x256 and the new one has 1024x512. Does the game engine support this texture resolution, or will it need to be downsized to 512x256?
 
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Lupus_Vulpes

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I got it to work in the 3D cockpit, it looks wayyy better than the old one, and it's precise to the degree :D
The only problem is, i can't get it to work on the 2D cockpit.

Images for comparison in 3D cockpit:

FDAI-1.jpg


FDAI-2.jpg
 

n72.75

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I believe this one is from the KSP forums, right? We cannot use this, unless the original author releases it under the GPL2 License or something compatible with it.

There is no reason that our texture needs to be small. It's small only because of historic reasons, and because no one has created a better version.

It's interesting that you mention this, because user @chrival is actually working on an updated version at the moment.
 
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Lupus_Vulpes

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I believe this one is from the KSP forums, right? We cannot use this, unless the original author releases it under the GPL2 License or something compatible with it.

There is no reason that our texture needs to be small. It's small only because of historic reasons, and because no one has created a better version.

It's interesting that you mention this, because user @chrival is actually working on an updated version at the moment.
Yeah, it is from the KSP forums, i know that you are sadly not allowed to use it, that's why i asked how you do it so i could experiment a bit with it myself. It's wonderful news that someone is working on an updated version. If he sets the size to 1440 or even 2880, that would be quite Hi-res. Cant wait to see it finished, you guys are doing some fascinating work with this add-on. rarely have i seen anyone doing anything with so much attention to detail.
 

Lupus_Vulpes

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@Lupus_Vulpes Did you obtain permission from the original author to redistribute his textures here?

On the first post of the forum where i got the textures it says:

NavBall Texture Posting Guidelines:

  • Make sure that you upload it as a png or some other non-lossy format
  • If there's no license included in your post, it will be assumed to be CC-BY (can be reused, as long as credited)
"CC BY: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use."
There is no license included with this FDAI texture, so it's safe to assume its public domain, and can be reused and modified as long as the original creator is credited.
So, the original FDAI texture creator is "tooRelic" from the Kerbal Space program forums. The LM modification of the FDAI was made by me.
 

Lupus_Vulpes

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There is still room for improvement. During the weekend i will modify the textures to resemble the real Apollo FDAI more closely. Then, if you want, you can include it in the next update as a placeholder until the high-res ones are finished. I don't see a problem with that because the texture is in public domain, just the authors need to be credited.
 

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The absence of a license never ever means public domain nor does CC-BY mean it is. By default all rights are reserved to the author. I doubt the creator of that thread stating that no license means the assumption is CC-BY would technically hold up. Granting a license is the sole right of the author, and he has not supplied a license at all. The chance that you actually get into trouble by distributing it under these circumstances is admittedly low (IANAL), but I personally wouldn't be comfortable with it.

If you want to make a derivative work out if this you would at the very least want to add a LICENSE file with the CC-BY license (or a different one that's compatible) and some kind of README/COPYING file where you credit the original author. You can find the exact terms of CC-BY here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.
 

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I hope you "SW gurus" find a legal way out of this impasse as it is really a pity if we could not enjoy this peace of art soon in a new official NASSP release, and if it is already out there why re-invent the wheel .... but I know, I know, please don't get me wrong, legally there may be issues if things are not done properly...so take all time you need to sort it out a legal way out ....
....just want to "wish you good luck" ... and keep thanking all of you for all your dedication & passion to improve NASSP almost "daily" ...
 

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I deleted the old posts. To be 100% sure so that i don't have any legal issues, i'm creating my own FDAI texture in Gimp. Been working on it for a few days now, it's 80% done, so it should be finished some-time tomorrow. I got the scale right and all the measurements so that it is relatively precise in-game, which was the hardest part, but once you start working on the texture itself, it's just a lot of copy-paste. And i must also say, it will be better than the one from "Kerbal Space Forums", that one is actually 1 degree off on the yaw :D
 

Lupus_Vulpes

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It's finished. It took me altogether around 12+ hours to create this. I used the 512x256 NASSP texture as a basic and coarse layout, and used rulers in gimp to mark all the required positions for the degrees. After trial and error, and a lot of in-game testing i managed to get fairly accurate positions for all the degree marks (V16 N20 and a keen eye), after that it was easier... Basically create a part of texture, align everything with the rulers and get a section finished, and then copy-paste. Thank the gods for rulers and layers in Gimp. I tried to find as many pics of FDAI's on the internet from the CM and LM to try and recreate it as close to the original ones as possible. I decided for a 1024x512 texture because that is the highest resolution that can be displayed in the 2D cockpit FDAI's, and since @chrival is working on a high resolution texture for the VC, this one should suffice for the time being.

When it comes to intellectual property and licensing, it's released with a GPL2 License. Enjoy.
If you want, you can include it in the next update.
 

Lupus_Vulpes

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It looks pretty good on the 2D cockpit, on the VC it looks decent, although a higher res texture would be far better.
 

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  • FDAI-1.jpg
    FDAI-1.jpg
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  • FDAI-2.jpg
    FDAI-2.jpg
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Lupus_Vulpes

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I have updated the files, there were some stray pixels that went under the radar and one section was not aligned with the grid properly.

Edit: I checked and rechecked everything and i tested both the CM and LM FDAI's, there were no problems so the current release 1.3 should be the final one.
 

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  • FDAI_1_3+blur.zip
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jalexb88

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@Lupus_Vulpes Thanks for the files! A pull request is open for this: https://github.com/orbiternassp/NASSP/pull/692

The textures are great in the 3D cockpit but unfortunately in the 2D cockpit it is a bit grainy/pixelated so we would like to use a modified version just for the 2D cockpit using a lower resolution. Could you maybe make a copy of the texture that has the original resolution?
 

Lupus_Vulpes

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@Lupus_Vulpes Thanks for the files! A pull request is open for this: https://github.com/orbiternassp/NASSP/pull/692

The textures are great in the 3D cockpit but unfortunately in the 2D cockpit it is a bit grainy/pixelated so we would like to use a modified version just for the 2D cockpit using a lower resolution. Could you maybe make a copy of the texture that has the original resolution?
For the 2D cockpit, the only texture sizes one can use are 256x128, 512x256 and 1024x512. The original in-game texture is 512x256, if you would downsize mine donw to that it would look really bad, you would loose almost all the degree marks on the pitch axis. So the only "good" option is 1024x512. I would strongly recommend not go below 1024x512.
Now, to solve the problem
The textures i made are as sharp as it gets, that's why there is this "pixelated" effect, but his can be solved quickly, all it needs is a little bit of "blur" effect. They are purposely "sharp" because if modifications are needed, it's far easier to blur them a bit later than to sharpen them. I tested a bit with adding different levels of "blur" effect on the textures and the results are satisfying, in my opinion, adding just a little blur solves the problem for smoother scrolling of the FDAI in 2D cockpit. It's a solution that doesn't require the down-sizing of the texture. Since larger texture size than 1024p cannot be used in 2D cockpit, there will be always a bit hard to precisely see the degree marks on the pitch axis, that's because the space between individual degree marks is only 1-2 pixel wide.

It's hard to see on the pics, but in-game you can see the difference. In the file there are two folder included, "little blur" and "more blur", i think those are self-explanatory.
IMO the "little" blur is enough to make the required difference in-game, but i also included the one with "more" to see the difference and for reference an testing.

In those pics, on the left is the original "sharp" texture, and on the left, first one with little blur, the seccond one with more


FDA-1.png


FDA-2.png
 

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  • FDAI_1_3+blur.zip
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Lupus_Vulpes

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Here are the 512x256 versions, i dont know if you have a size restriction in the 2D cockpit for compatibility purposes but that is as good as it gets in this resolution. If you ask me, i would use the 1024x512 texture with blur filter to smooth everything out a bit, but if it is too big or not possible, then the 512p one is the only solution
 

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  • 512x256.zip
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jalexb88

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Thanks for the modified files! There seems to be good results with using two versions of the textures in NASSP:

Virtual cockpit: Original 1024x512 with no blurring
2D cockpit: 1024x512 with light blurring

This seems to be a good compromise...the pull request has been amended with these changes.
 
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