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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| ezran |
Posted - 26 janv. 2007 : 06:09:25
I spent a little time (well, way too much time, really) figuring out the file format of those .srf vehicle files, and created a script to convert them to .png files, and then back again. So now you really can create your own custom vehicles.
The vehicles are just two sets of pre-rendered images. 36 images of 3D perspective and another 36 of overhead view, all rotated 10 degrees from each other to cover the full 360 degrees.
I set up the conversion scripts on my website, which you can feel free to use, and I also documented the .srf file format as best I can understand. Go to http://techmods.net/nuvi/ for the tools and details.
I plan to work on rendering a car or two pretty soon, so maybe I can post an example. Also, if anyone wants the source I could probably make that available.
Note: I've only tested this with my 660, but since Garmin provides the same files for most of their GPS units, it should work most of them. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Tiger-Heli |
Posted - 06 nov. 2012 : 15:25:05
quote:
Originally posted by ezran
Depending if you're particularly technically savvy, there are a couple options... I've got a couple updated versions of the converter at http://github.com/jgreer/srf_converter that you could look into. The command line Java version is at http://github.com/jgreer/srf_converter/tree/master/cli_version/ and it's what the vehiclesforgarminnuvi.com guys are using. It supports the larger images, and animated vehicles.
The main version on github is some initial work I've done on a jRuby version with a GUI interface, but honestly I don't have a lot of motivation to make progress on it, since I don't really use my Garmin anymore (my iPhone is almost always more handy). Periodically I do a bit more work, but if anyone else is interested in helping, it'd get done a lot sooner. There's a text file on there with the newest details of the srf file format, too.
The versions on my techmods.net site are written in PHP and definitely out of date... I don't plan to update those, in preference of the java / jruby versions (which you run on your own computer).
I hope that helps! If the java stuff is too confusing, I might be able to write up a brief set of instructions at some point.
Could someone please walk me through this, I'm not that tech challenged, but I downloaded the above files. If I open a command prompt and navigate to the cli_version folder and type png2srf.java, it asks what to open it with. I tried java.exe and notepad and neither one works. ...
NVM - I figured it out, but it wasn't very easy to find.
You need the VFGN guides from: http://www.vehiclesforgarminnuvi.com/
The last page of VFGN201.pdf says:
And you’ll convert your 3242x340.png with the new converter copying the files:
90x90x4_info.txt: renaming 90x90x4 with your <vehicle name>.png (without the “.png”!).
Png2Srf.class
srf_format_details.txt
to your vehicle folder and executing the command: java Png2Srf <vehicle name> <vehicle name>.srf
But it doesn't say you also need to edit the renamed 90x90x4_info.txt file.
So the default file is:
MaskFile: <none>
Width: 3242
Height: 340
SectionCount: 4
SectionWidth1: 3242
SectionHeight1: 90
SectionWidth2: 2882
SectionHeight2: 80
SectionWidth3: 3242
SectionHeight3: 90
SectionWidth4: 2882
SectionHeight4: 80
And for a non-animated standard VFGN101.pdf file, you want to edit that to:
MaskFile: <none>
Width: 2880
Height: 160
SectionCount: 2
SectionWidth1: 2880
SectionHeight1: 80
SectionWidth2: 2880
SectionHeight2: 80
SectionWidth3: 0
SectionHeight3: 0
SectionWidth4: 0
SectionHeight4: 0 |
| Tiger-Heli |
Posted - 11 juin 2012 : 13:35:21
SUCCESS!!!
I figured out the error of my ways - as usual, I was looking at it incorrectly.
You don't want to move the axes to the center of the model (although you COULD) - you want to move the model to the center of the axes. To do this - select "Camera - Standard Views - All" and then select the Move tool (and maybe do an Edit-Select All). You will see red crosses on the centerline of the model that you can use when you drag the model to align it with the axes. Ideally, this should be part of the first step, but you can do it later and just re-adjust your camera views and update the scene if needed.
More Guide Comments:
Page 2 - Actually, I skipped over the step where it said to select View-Animation-Add Scene. Not sure if that mattered or not, but you want a SQUARE image. 600x600 or 650x650 or in-between really isn't critical, but the square part is. (I'll go into more detail later ...
Page 6 - Using Window-Materials and "Colors In Model" it is also possible to add tinted windows to the vehicle (either with the darkness slider or the opacity settings).
Page 8 - It's pretty obvious and mentioned in the guide, but it is actually just View>Export 3D 360x10 to PNG, not View>Animation>Export 3D 360x10 to PNG - both places.
Page 9 - Pretty straight-forward for someone used to using batch files, but I think in addition to opening the command file, you also want to be in the same directory as the batch file when viewing the command prompt. (If you will use this often, Google "Command Prompt Here". In Vista or Win7, you can Shift-Right-click on the folder to do this, and in WinXP, there is a PowerToy or Registry hack to enable it.
I'm actually pretty familiar with Paint.NET - I'm not sure why the image was downsized twice (to 160px and to 80px) instead of doing it in one shot, but it works.
One helpful thing is you probably want to select "View-Actual Size" at some point so you can see what you are working on.
Page 10 - Be careful with the "Glow Settings" - you really do want Brightness -100 and Contrast +100. It is shown that way, but ...
Alright - at this point, my images were 2995x80 instead of 2880x80. I'm not sure why or how, but my exported images were 600x577 rather than 600x600. I had three options at this point - Try using ezran's tools which are mentioned in the Part 2 guide (but I couldn't figure out how to set these up - would like help - I downloaded the files, but didn't know how to use them.), rescale the image to 2880x80 with "Preserve Aspect Ratio" unchecked - (Which would have worked), or resize the Sketchup window and re-export the images and start over. I chose the last option.
Page 11 - I've done this a few times for other projects - rather than create a new file and pasting both images into it, I found it easier to do the following:
• Start with the 3D image - select "Image>Canvas Size and change the Canvas Size to 2881x160.
• Open or select the 2D image (Paint.NET has tab indications in the upper right corner.
• Select "Edit - Select All" or "Edit - Deselect" and then "Edit - Select All" You want the "Marching Ants" going around the outer rectangular frame of the image only.
• Select Copy.
• Click to the 3D image and select Paste.
• Drag the 2D image down, but be CAREFUL here - there is a glitch in Paint.NET - you want the selection Top Left to be at 0,80 but Paint.NET will not show negative X-values (So -100,80 would also be seen as 0,80). You should be able to slowly adjust to 3,80 2,80 1,80 0,80 etc. and be comfortable with the results.
• Save the file.
The conversion website says to save the file with 24-bit depth and alpha channel enabled, but I just used "Auto-Detect" for the bit depth and it seemed to work fine. |
| Tiger-Heli |
Posted - 07 juin 2012 : 19:20:29
Okay - I got through the Sketchup part of the conversion, but it didn't work correctly (the car rotates out of the frame). I think I know what I did wrong, but not how to fix it.
I'm going to go through the guide and post what I think are helpful tips/tricks, and where I need help, I'll use red text. And where I'm unsure, I'll use Blue text
First off - I'm at a bit of a disadvantage here personally. My home computer uses a CRT and the brightness/contrast settings are way off for modifying images. The work computer does not have admin rights, so I could run Sketchup, but not ImageMagick.
But that's not the programs fault ...
Initial - The guide says way toward the end, that you want the SRP file in a folder without any other files when you run the PNG generation plugins - it's probably better to start out that way so you don't have to save the file elsewhere later, etc.
Page 2 - mentioned previously, but it is not really clear that you are going to restore down the Sketchup window and then adjust the application size until you get 600x600. Also - at least on the work computer, even if I save untitled.png, it doesn't remember this (perhaps that is a registry setting that it can't modify). So you have to do this each time you start the program and the program locks up frequently - but you are better off waiting 2-3 minutes than closing and re-starting it).
Page 4 - Nothing tells you HOW to get the image with the front of the vehicle up and the rear down. In my case, I used "Camera-Zoom Extents", which got the car to fit in the window (pointing down), and then "Edit - Select All - Make Group" and then "Edit - Group - Flip Along - Group's Red" and "Edit - Group - Flip Along - Group's Green".
That gave me this:
I see the problem - if you look at the guide, the red and green axes are centered on the car. On my view, they are at the bottom left. I'm not sure how to fix it. I found out I can click the Axes tool (below the protractor) and move them around, but I'm not sure how to center them on the view - other then just eyeballing it.
Page 4 - The guide doesn't mention that the Front view is actually the REAR of the car. This is intentionally since this is the primary view that you see in the NUVI.
Page 5 - The guide says to set the background almost to black - but doesn't tell you how to interpret this - basically, the dark gray background gets erased when you edit the files in Paint.net. So you want something not clearly visible but distinguisable from the shadows so that they are not erased later. I'm not sure if something like hot pink wouldn't work better for this - except that it would make it harder to visualize the color and lighting steps.
Light and Dark values are up to you - not really clear here, but Light is the visibility of parts of the model that are in sunlight and dark is the visibility of parts of the model that are in shade. I think the current setup has the sun directly overhead or behind the car, so looking at the rear of the car, you won't see much difference between light and dark areas (the whole car is light). If you move to a side or front view, you probably would, but you want to be more comfortable with Sketchup before you try that.
Page 6 - I lucked out that I was working with a model of a Civic that was teal, and when I selected Window - Materials, the first option was BluTeal which was the exterior paint. If you are modeling a stock color car, there are a couple of tricks - for example, let's say you only knew it was a dark green Civic: You can go here http://gtcarlot.com/colors/ and enter the model and year and find the available colors with pictures. Then you can Google "Honda Cypress Green Metallic RGB" and you will probably find a page on http://www.color-swatches.com/honda/civic-1996/cypress-green-prl/swatch.html with the RGB values. If it is a non-standard color, you have to make do on your own. Note that the screen update when repainting a 3D model is fairly slow, so if you are making large changes (green to red, for example), you might want to use the color wheel in Paint.NET or Gimp to get the RGB values as a starting point.
As far as I can tell, Sketchup only allows solid colors, so you can't REALLY do anything with metallic or metal-flake colors, or Pearlescent colors (not that the latter would really matter since Garmin doesn't do dynamic lighting).
I figured out that if BluTeal wasn't the first entry, you can go to colors "In Model" and select it, but I don't know how to do other selections. (For example, the front turn signals are a brighter orange than I would like in this model, but I can select and change them, but that also changes the rear turn signals which are the same color and look fine.) (Or if the body was mono-color but I wanted it to be two-toned or with racing stripes.)
I also don't know how you remove elements - like if the model had a wing or police lights, but you don't want those.
Page 7 - I found it helpful to go to the VehiclesForGarminNuvi site to get an idea of what the existing models look like in the Nuvi. I'm not sure the perspective here is critical. I tried to have a hint of the hood, but not the headlight trim visible. I think a lower view gives you a "Chase car" view, while a higher view gives you a "Chase helicopter" view, but as long as you don't go EXTREMELY high, I think you are okay.
I didn't really understand what was going on with the move tool. The first time I tried it, I clicked on the back of the car and it did barrel rolls. The second time I figured out to click on the top. It stayed in the frame for me, but not when I did the conversion later.I did find out that you can type 0 and Enter for the angle in the bottom to restore the view.
That's as far as I got - thanks for any assistance! |
| Tiger-Heli |
Posted - 06 juin 2012 : 15:08:04
I'm hoping someone on here might be able to help me (Specifically mclbarri, but he doesn't seem to have been active since December of last year).
(Actually, I am probably okay on the Civic, and the Garmin default car is pretty close on the Focus).
I recently got a Garmin GPS, and while many of the custom vehicles are really neat, I think I would REALLY like to have the icon match my car (and I think it would be cool to have one for my son for his car as well).
I drive a 2002 French Blue Ford Focus and my son drives a 1997 Cypress Green Pearl Honda Civic. (Would not probably want to EXACTLY match the color, but at least a deep green.)
EDIT: Made some progress here - Found out for the Civic, Cypress Green Pearl is RGB 0-50-51. That looks about right, but would look almost black on a Garmin - I'm going with 0-60-61, which is a bit more green). For the Focus, French Blue is 39-82-131, but 39-82-196 is closer to the color in daylight. (But I still don't have a 3D model for the Focus).
I found similar icons that will work on http://www.vehiclesforgarminnuvi.com/ - specifically "HondaCivicLX by mclbarri" and "FordFocusISedan by mclbarri", and I read the guide on that site and converted the file to the .png file.
The problem is:
1) I lack enough patience and image editing skills to mask off the headlights and windows and frames (and when you zoom in enough to know what is required, it is hard to see those - you need to be able to do sub-pixel masking) on over 80 views, and
2) Another thread commented that it is not only easier, but you also get much better results by using the 3D file and swapping the color of the texture layer - but I have no idea where the 3D image files came from.
3) I did manage to find some ForSale models such as these, but none that were free and suitable (and these aren't available as SKP files, but I assume they could be converted):
http://www.3dcadbrowser.com/preview.aspx?modelcode=2546
http://www.3dcadbrowser.com/preview.aspx?modelcode=1969
4) Found one of the Civic here, so I might be able to do something with it: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=fd04dc2d2d5e03995c893a899536502e&prevstart=36
If anyone is willing to help, I can post the 2D png files (and realistically, I'd probably be fine if only the rear view images of the cars were corrected - that is what you see 95% of the time anyway!!!
(Also - if I am able to make the Civic Model work, I might make additional colors of it, and I would like to post the completed files on http://www.vehiclesforgarminnuvi.com/ website - but there doesn't seem to be any contact info for the site, so I'm not sure how best to do that.
Thanks in advance!!!
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| davidahn |
Posted - 24 mai 2012 : 02:29:03
Sorry about the inconvenience. The link produced by the forum software included the period at the end which is just there to close the sentence. If you delete the period after the html, the link works just fine. |
| NanaimoRick |
Posted - 22 mai 2012 : 15:56:48
The link you posted is dead! |
| davidahn |
Posted - 22 mai 2012 : 03:52:37
Where indeed did mclbarri go? Marcelo was incredibly helpful to so many now that I'm browsing this thread. I was hoping to request a Bianco Perla (ivory pearl) Fiat 500C Convertible with red top.
In case he's permanently gone from this forum  , this is my backup plan: http://glad-you-asked.blogspot.com/2008/01/chicks-dig-car.html. I've already ordered a 1:24 model of our Fiat 500 from Amazon, so I'll see how that goes if no skilled and experienced craftsman rescues me. |
| Labrador62 |
Posted - 04 janv. 2012 : 12:41:00
Request - Vision Blue - Ford Kuga DM2(2008 to 2011 version)
http://www.google.de/search?q=Kuga+Bilder
Is there anybody helpfull to me ..........?
It is not my world, to make things like this ....... |
| LibbyKK |
Posted - 02 déc. 2011 : 03:22:37
Does anyone know what happened to mclbarri ??? |
| Kilo-9 |
Posted - 05 sept. 2011 : 00:47:04
It may or may not be specific to my computer, but I ended up installing an older version of Google Sketchup (7) and was able to get the scripts to work. |
| Kilo-9 |
Posted - 28 août 2011 : 11:09:49
I'm new here and learning my way around. It was this thread and the vehiclesforgarminnuvi.com site that brought me here. I am attempting to create a vehicle and have run into a problem with the scripts for exporting to .png. In Google Sketchup, they show in the view menu. However, when I click on either script, nothing happens. It seems to process...and it says "writing PNG" at the bottom, but it never does. Several times it caused the program to show "not responding." I have the skp file in its own folder and have followed the instructions to a T. Any help or advice would be appreciated! |
| moingr |
Posted - 02 août 2011 : 13:16:51
Hello i'm trying with no luck to get this montero/pajero sport for the nuvi:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=9214de10b7a0d841a22685c79b259448&prevstart=0
Could anyone convert it for me?
Thank you in advance |
| rwrighta |
Posted - 09 avr. 2011 : 01:12:39
Hi,
I'm trying to find a nissan sentra spec v yellow, to use it in garmin xt
and I couldn't find it,what can I do? thanks |
| KatSurth |
Posted - 17 févr. 2011 : 18:50:48
Thanks so much! I re-did the entire thing twice this morning, and I figured out that since that I could never get the re-sizing to exact 2880x160/80, to choose the width to 2880. Once I created the new file in Paint at the 2881x160, then deleted the background of that file. Then pasted in the 2D and 3D file. This worked perfectly. (Otherwise there would have been a white line under the finished .srf image in the GPS).
mkurchina, it looks like that when viewing. As long as nothing goes out of frame when you do the orbit/rotation, you'll be fine. Just center it as stated in the instructions. One thing that I noticed is when you "set" Google's size preferences, it doesn't keep them that way. So once you open your project, check the size of the canvas.
The clippers looks great in my GPS. Now to send it off to that GPS website.
Thank you again!
*hugs* |
| WknThDg |
Posted - 16 févr. 2011 : 03:39:33
It seems as though you MAY be having problems with Paint.NET and you're not resizing the 2D.png and/or the 3D.png images correctly with it.
Therefore, BEFORE doing anything with ORIGINAL 2D.png & 3D.png images that were created by using the To2D3D.bat file, make backup copies of them FIRST and only use those backup copies with Paint.NET.
Then you won't have to recreate them if/when they end up being the wrong size.
BEFORE creating "a new file with an image size of 2881 by 160 pixels" with Paint.NET, FIRST the 2D.png AND 3D.png files HAVE to BOTH end up being 2881 x 80 when you're done with the resizing of them.
When pasting the 2D.png OR the 3D.png, DO NOT Expand the Canvas OR Keep the Canvas Size!!!
If a pop-up prompts to do so... STOP and start over again with Paint.NET using NEW backup copies of the 2D.png & 3D.png images.
BEFORE creating "a new file with an image size of 2881 by 160 pixels" with Paint.NET, FIRST the 2D.png AND 3D.png files HAVE to BOTH end up being 2881 x 80 when you're done with the resizing of them.
OR
You need to AGAIN check the SketchUP File>Export>2D Graphic> and click the Options button to check that the greyed out Width & Height field values are STILL the correct size (I used 650x650 as the instruction pic shows) IT MUST BE SQUARE.
If it's not, you need to start over with SketchUp and make new Scenes with your skp file.
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