Im redoing my dated earth model to replace the one on my website: 
http://www.skip.cc
The picture is updated via javascript according to what time you have your 
system clock set to.

Anyway, this is by no means an accurate model.  The contrast has been 
compressed so you can see the details like the city lighting, and detail on 
the clouds.  One thing I especially like, however, is the extinction of the 
scattering media creating a sunset.  Notice how the clouds fade to yellow, 
and then a deep orange right on the shadow line.  Posted is a compare and 
contrast of the old and new earth models.  Comments, suggestions?

High res maps courtesy NASA: 
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/

Skip Talbot

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Attachments:
Download 'earthnew.jpg' (131 KB) Download 'earthold.jpg' (28 KB)

Preview of image 'earthnew.jpg'

Preview of image 'earthold.jpg'

Skip Talbot wrote:
> Im redoing my dated earth model to replace the one on my website: 
> http://www.skip.cc
> The picture is updated via javascript according to what time you have your 
> system clock set to.

Awesome!
Hope I'lll be able to do this some day too.

-- 
Maurice

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Skip Talbot wrote:
> Im redoing my dated earth model to replace the one on my website: 
> http://www.skip.cc
> The picture is updated via javascript according to what time you have your 
> system clock set to.
> 
> Anyway, this is by no means an accurate model.  The contrast has been 
> compressed so you can see the details like the city lighting, and detail on 
> the clouds.  One thing I especially like, however, is the extinction of the 
> scattering media creating a sunset.  Notice how the clouds fade to yellow, 
> and then a deep orange right on the shadow line.  Posted is a compare and 
> contrast of the old and new earth models.  Comments, suggestions?
> 
> High res maps courtesy NASA: 
> http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/
> 
> Skip Talbot

How were the clouds done.. were they from NASA's dataset?

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Yes, they are a nasa data set.

I took the highres greyscale image and converted it to a PNG.  I loaded a 
mask into the image so that the source luminence of the image is the mask's 
transparency.  That way the black is fully transparent, showing the ground 
below.  And the grey clouds (the thin, wispy ones) allow for partial 
transparency.  I then used the original greyscale image as a bump map on the 
cloud layer.

In my original image I made the clouds procedurally.  While it is nice to 
have a resolution independent method, I found the NASA data (now at 
impressive resolutions) much more realistic.

Skip

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There was nothing to hard about this project.  The earth itself is mostly 
just spheres with layered textures.  As for the javascript, I just 
referenced a small javascript book to get the syntax and methods names to 
access the clock and write an image in HTML.  I'm sure the same info could 
be quickly found on the internet.

Skip

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