Mars Explorer with HiRISE DEM/Texture Options

[Mars3D]

I've modified my Mars Explorer terrain engine to use the new HiRISE data. This video shows me flying around the Gullies DEM. It's running at about 30 fps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gt7XDaXAWg

I hope to make a download of the software available in the next week or two.

- Adrian

[nprev]

Breathtaking!!!! Thank you!!!

[djellison]

For those that don't know - Adrian and I go back 10 years (we attended the opening of the National Space Centre back in 2000!) - and he made some stunning fly-through software for MOLA data back then. (I made a little Mars-Plane to go in it for fun)

And now he's BACK... with THAT.

Nice work

[ElkGroveDan]

I propose a competition between Doug and Pete and Adrian. Here's how it will work. You all start making Martian DEMs as detailed and as long in duration as possible. Keep posting them here and we will all be the judges as to quality and quantity. The duration of the contest is a secret, so get started and we'll let you know when the competition has ended.

[charborob]

I'll second that!

[Mars3D]

Good to hear from you Doug. I took a long break from this kind of thing but the Hirise data was too good to miss and the LOLA data isnt too far away now either. Looks like I have busy time ahead

Congratulations on your animations Doug, great stuff!

Here's another animation, this one is of the Mojave crater.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGhMcV1x5H8

[helvick]

Superlatives have gone by the wayside - all I can say is that you are getting to a level where this stuff is starting to look like it was taken by a real HD camera flying around Mars. Stu is going to love the Lens Flares in this one too.

[Nirgal]

Here's another animation, this one is of the Mojave crater.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGhMcV1x5H8

Phantastic work, Mars3D ... or better: Mars4D

When I see your and Dougs breathtaking animations, I regret all the more the limited time to do all this fascinating imaging work ... still there is a vast sea of Gigapixels over Gigapixels of unseen 2D HiRISE data alone ... yet to speak of the 3D universe from DEMs and SFS ... and then the even more fascinating world of 4D animation ...
Now couple this with the no less fascinating universe of processing techniques and algorithms ...
I think the complete HiRISE data set could easily keep one image processing enthusiast busy for the next 100 years or so

P.S.: does anyone of the video specialists here know a good (open source) C/C++ library for MPEG encoding ?

[Mars3D]

Thanks for the comments.

@Nirgal. I don't know of a c/c+ library for MPEG encoding I'm afraid. I just output bmps and convert to mpeg using bbmpeg.


Here's another animation, this time of Gale crater. I have increased the texture resolution from 1m to 0.5m since the last animation. I'm still not using the full resolution of 0.25m. Until I get some new hardware that's not going to be possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq0Z3cKJaGQ

[AndyG]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq0Z3cKJaGQ

That's tremendous, Mars3D - and I suspect I'm not the only one here who's thinking "I could enjoy seeing that through the eyes of MSL Curiosity..."

Andy

[Stu]

Here's another animation, this time of Gale crater.

Good... grief... I feel like I've just been flying over Mars with John Boone in his plane... unbelievable...

Am I the only person here feeling Something Is Changing with these animations? We're really starting to reach a new level of armchair exploration. It's animations like this that - if they're made with no vertical exaggeration, to avoid confusing people - will really allow the general public to 'visit' Mars, and begin to think of it as a real world in its own right, a place worth the expense and danger involved in sending people to, instead of a distant dream for nerds.

Just fantastic, thank you.

[john_s]

I agree- this is perhaps the most realistic animation I've seen yet- congratulations! I like that we're moving slowly enough to really take in the scenery.

John

[Nirgal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq0Z3cKJaGQ

Phantastic ! I like how the slow motion, the subtle sky coloring and the long distance view towards the horizon all contribute to the realism
(I even like the sun flare effects and the slight vertical height exaggeration when they are so subtle and realistic ).
How many polygons do you render per frame ? ... must be well into the millions especially towards the far horizon view ...

@Nirgal. I don't know of a c/c+ library for MPEG encoding I'm afraid. I just output bmps and convert to mpeg using bbmpeg.

Thanks for the hint to "bbmpeg". As I have not been too much into the making of videos yet I was not aware of this program ...
But maybe if time permits, I'll be give it a try too

[Mars3D]

Phantastic ! I like how the slow motion, the subtle sky coloring and the long distance view towards the horizon all contribute to the realism
(I even like the sun flare effects and the slight vertical height exaggeration when they are so subtle and realistic ).
How many polygons do you render per frame ? ... must be well into the millions especially towards the far horizon view ...

Hi Nirgal, there shouldn't be any vertical exaggeration. What makes you think there is some? I have checked my code and cannot see any errors re. height scaling.

Sometimes it reaches about 2.7 million polys per frame. The framerate mostly stays above 60 now since I made some optimisations.

[elakdawalla]

Mars3D, that is tremendous work. Can you tell us at approximately what ground speed and altitude the camera is flying across the landscape? I know that it varies; I'm just curious to know what sort of aircraft I should imagine myself flying inside