Extract Terrain to MPT

The Extract Terrain tool allows you to cut and download a subset of a local or remote MPT database to you local machine. Using the Extract Terrain tool you can create a CD/DVD size terrain databases for distribution or even create a local MPT from a DirectConnect project. The extracted terrain is built from a high-resolution polygon, a medium resolution rectangle surrounding the high-resolution area and a low-resolution area that always covers the entire terrain. You can control the size of the high- and medium-resolution areas and control the quality of all three areas.

Note: Because the low-resolution area always covers the entire source terrain database, although it can be set for a very poor quality to save storage space, the original Fly project always runs on the new terrain database and all locations and objects have a valid coordinates in the extracted terrain.

Extract Terrain to MPT tool:

Using the Extract Terrain to MPT Tool

Setting the High Resolution area

1.       Mark the high-resolution area polygon. Click on the Add button and left click on the terrain to mark the high-resolution polygon. Left Click to finish the operation.

2.       To remove the polygon and create a new one click on the Remove button and perform step 1 again.

3.       You can edit the shape of the polygon by clicking the Edit button and edit the selected point coordinates in the Properties sheet or by clicking and dragging the polygon waypoints in the 3D view.

4.       Set the quality of the high-resolution area by selecting the Meter Per Pixel value from the pull down list.

Note: The Meter Per Pixel list of values is created from the terrain database (MPT file) pyramid of resolutions.

5.       Type the Length of and resolution of the Medium Resolution Area Square. The medium resolution area square always surrounds the high-resolution polygon. Type “0” to remove the square. The Meter per Pixel value must be higher (lower resolution) than the value set in the High-resolution polygon.

6.                     Set the Low Resolution Area Meter Per Pixel value. The Low Resolution Area always covers the entire MPT database to ensure that the current project will run.

 It is recommended to set a medium resolution area around the High-resolution polygon to get a smooth transition between the high-quality terrain and the very low resolution background. It is recommended that the medium resolution be four levels higher than the selected high-resolution. The Low Resolution Area can be set to the worst resolution to reduce the size of the extracted MPT.

7.       Click the Scan button to get a better estimation of the size of the new MPT. Click the Abort button to stop the scanning process.

Note: While setting the size and resolutions of the different areas, the Extract Terrain tool displays an estimated size of the new MPT file based on a calculation (multiplication of the areas and the selected resolutions).  After clicking the Scan option the Extract Terrain tool scans the three areas and calculates the size based on the actual resolution of the terrain in these areas. The final size of the new MPT file can be distinctly different from the calculated and scan sizes if the original MPT file has many areas with different resolutions.

8.       Select the name of the extracted MPT file by typing a valid file name, or click the Browse button and select an existing directory and file name on your system.

9.       Click the Create MPT button to start downloading and creating the new MPT file. Click the Abort button to stop the creation process, or Pause and Resume to temporary halt the process and resume it from the same location.