Photoshop Distortion from Google Earth Image

[Brandywine]

Working on a real course, I can good GE images for a golf course at approx. 3000ft, but each time I run the screenshots thru Photoshop (Elements 9), the image, once stitched together at 4096, becomes elongated and distorted in many places, which of course means when placed into APCD, the distances are waaaay off when scaling up the course. Any suggestions as to why this is happening and a remedy?

[Adelade]

I think I know what you're talking about, you should find a solution if you read this post I made a while back: viewtopic.php?p=1256#p1256

[Daniel]

Not sure what a GE image is but try opening a new window in photoshop and make it the correct size that you need and transparent then open up your images and drop them in the resized window you made they should fit perfect not sure that will stop them elongating or not.Worth a try if you have not done this before.

[Adelade]

Perhaps I thought wrong when I thought I knew what you meant, what I posted still applies, but if your issue comes from more significant stretching during the resizing to 4096x4096, then the easiest solution is to turn your image into a perfect square before resizing it to 4096x4096. For example, maybe your image turns out to be a rectangle of, say, 5432x3456 pixels when you're done pasting together your images, then use Canvas Size to add empty spaces along the sides so that it becomes 5432x5432, before finally resizing it to 4096x4096.

An alternative and less simple solution would be to use "Constrain Scale" in APCD's texture mapping, but it would require you to figure out the correct mathematical ratio for perfect accuracy.

[Brandywine]

Yes, you followed exactly what I meant, even if I wasn't entirely clear. I took your suggestion, and after playing around with Google Earth and Photoshop as directed, I finally got a clear, non distorted .TGA image that works well in APCD. The accuracy after scaling the image was more than acceptable. Thanks again for the assist. I appreciate it.