Large scale 3D map.

[Redrobes]

I have been working on a new terrain generator program to generate some ultra high res maps to use in ViewingDale. Right now they are of modest size of 2000 pixels square but before I go mad and start generating 30K pix square stuff I would like to know what the general reaction is to these maps.

The maps are generated with a lot of parameters to vary and below is a test campaign world which I have called Myrusania (for no particular reason but it sounded good). Each of the main islands in the world has slightly different parameters used. For example the island on the right is quite flat and the one on the left is quite lumpy. So an overall opinion would be good but if you would like to comment on which bits of it you like and dislike then I can tune it a bit. Does the desert and ice look realistic, are mountains about right, is the water / rivers looking ok etc ?

Also, is it good enough ? I mean, say you dont like some of the water. Is it really bad or just a bit off. I could spend a batallion of elven lifetimes in the astral plane trying to make it just a teeny bit better...

Im planning on releasing lots of these images at about 2K square each free in PNG format with much higher res for ViewingDale users in ViewingDale format only.

The images posted here are thumbs. For a creative commons (share-able), full size pair of ortho and 3D views in PNG format your welcome to download the 2Mb zip from here...

http://www.viewing.ltd.uk/viewingdale/temp/forum_demos/myrusania/myrusania.zip

As a quick aside and in case you havent heard yet, there are some free apps to play with downloadable from the ViewingDale web site which will generate some simple random islands - like these above but much simpler, which is used as the input into the full terrain generator which chews on them for a while adding water and erosion etc. There is also an interactive 3D viewer for terrain which has height info which was used to generate the 3D parts of the images that you see above.

The terrain generator is called Instant Island and the viewer is called Dragons Flight and both can be found here...

http://www.viewing.ltd.uk/viewingdale/instantisland1.htm

You will need a modern PC to run them with a good graphics card and at least 1024x768 monitor... mail me if you have any trouble with them.

Finally, if you have no idea what ViewingDale is then please start here...
http://www.viewingdale.com

 

[EldonG]

Very nice! How do you get the 3-d effect? Is it actually a part of the program?

 

[Redrobes]

The maps are a made from a color image (top one) and an extra height image (not shown). These two together are used with a free downloadable utility to show them in 3D from any angle called DragonsFlight.

To create your own color & height map use the Instant Islands program.

Go get them and play ! http://www.viewing.ltd.uk/viewingdale/Instantisland1.htm

If you find an island from the program that you like, let me know the numbers and ill generate the full version at high res for you.

The 3D image above was made by just pasting in screen grabs of several islands displayed using the Dragons Flight program with the view set at about the same angle for each of them.

So which bits of it do you like the best... ?

 

[EldonG]

It's the 3d effect that blows me away...on all of them. So sweet!