Well, wow. And how I wish I had more time on my hands. ZapWizard writes:
If you don’t know the biggest PC game of the year is Crysis. The maps are huge, and the detail intense. The game is set on a tropical island, and Crytek the company who made Crysis has released a great editor called SandBox2.
When I started making my custom single player map for Crysis, my first stop was Google Earth. I used Google Earth to make a 1:1 scale version of Monuriki, the island in Fiji used to film the movie Castaway. I used Google SketchUp to ensure things stayed 1:1 scale. The images for my island were extracted from Google Earth.I also used geo-tagged photos from Picasa as additional reference. I am even using Google Docs to write my storyline and have friends collaborate on the document. I am documenting how I made my island for other map makers by posting high-def video tutorials on DivX Stage6.
I have a flickr set of images here.
The how-to videos are here.
The project forum post is here.
“The images for my island were extracted from Google Earth.”
Hmm that sounds like a great way to get the rabid do.. erm.. legal departments attention, great idea but I would suggest treading carefully.
I’m not even sure what the concern would be other than using it as a base reference layer to paint more detailed textures using SandBox. Looks like he’s doing some major introduction of texture over what exists, especially when you reference the strata on the cliffs.
He’s also ‘purified’ the imagery, so he can build vegetation sets where trees might or might not have existed in the base layer. So what he’s doing is dramatically altering any actual value of the imagery aside from it being a reference.
Just my opinion.
Besides — it’s more promotion for everyone involved and demonstrates a use-case scenario they can potentially see more reasoning for creating more accessible pricing options under these kinds of conditions for use.
‘Derivitive products’ gets really murky when you start factoring in this kind of work. Keep that in mind. The imagery becomes less valuable as the imagery itself — and only as valuable as being a base-reference for artwork to essentially trace over.
Hmm it would be interesting to see if there is any legal fall out. He is using proprietary imagery outside of GE and in another software package.
Eventhough he has modified and added to the original image. He still is using a copyrighted image as a base map with all the “frills” add on top.
Neat use thou. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more “real-world” maps in other games. Like World of Conflict and others.
KoS
I agree its great and I’d love to see more people doing real world scenery in game engines, Oblivion would be my choice, but Googles deal with their imagery providers is very strict, and I’m sure it covered modification of original data and any redistribution outside of GE/GMAPS.
semi-related:
ArcMap2SecondLife
Unfortunately the videos don’t seem to work anymore. Any chance of hosting them elsewhere?
Look really nice these game. I will try. Thanks.