On 28-12-2017 14:23, Jörg 'Yadgar' Bleimann wrote:
> Hi(gh)!
> 
> Am 28.12.2017 um 08:55 schrieb Thomas de Groot:
> 
>> A long time dream indeed. Third party programs approach that dream; 
>> alas, the better ones are not free.
>>
>> I own GeoControl, which has been succeeded by World Creator from the 
>> same makers. As far as I know, it is one of the best programs for a 
>> reasonable price. http://www.bitethebytes.net/bitethebytes/
> 
> Does World Creator export to 16-bit PNG as used with POV-Ray? As I need 
> to build VERY large heightfields (to be wrapped around spheres as meshes 
> afterwards), I would need the Professional Edition - which at 289$, at 
> least for the moment, is out of reach for me.

I do not own World Creator, so I cannot answer that question. GeoControl 
(the ancient version that I have) does not but has a well-behaved tga 
export.

> 
>>
>> L3DT is another one - which I never tried - but with a free version. 
>> http://www.bundysoft.com/L3DT/downloads/standard.php
> 
> Sounds very promising, but again only with the Professional version - 
> which, on the other hand, at 34.95$ for the "Indie" license is 
> affordable to me. But I never ordered anything from the US - there maybe 
> a couple of pitfalls... I remember having ordered two organ player's 
> textbooks from Switzerland (a non-euro country), which were priced at 5 
> SFR each one (about 7 euros back then), but including shipping and 
> exchange fees, it ended up at a whopping 22 euros...

With a credit card or similar that should not be a problem, otherwise...

> 
>>
>> And then there are:
>> http://planetgenesis.sourceforge.net/ (free)
> 
> I will give it a try... just downloaded it! The planet on the web page 
> did not look very realistic (when it comes to height distribution)... 
> but at least it exports explicitly to POV-Ray and uses 16-bit PNG 
> grayscale images!
> 
>> http://www.daylongraphics.com/ (not free)
> 
> Also not too expensive... and it works with POV-Ray!
> 
>> http://www.cyberfunks.de/page/terrabrush/index.htm (free)
> 
> Perhaps also worth a try...
> 
>> http://planetside.co.uk/ (free)
> 
> Terragen! An old friend, which I used already back in 1999 and which in 
> fact was the basis for my very first animations!
> 
> And the version 4 looks almost like a system usable for Khyberspace on 
> its own... at least with its commercial sub-versions, which of course 
> are exceptionally high-priced but probably worth it all!
> 
> But even the free version is VERY promising! I just downloaded it...
> 
>> http://www.fracterra.com/wilbur.html (free)
> 
> Amazing! Almost perfect... or purrfect, as an ailurophile like me would 
> put it! I've not only downloaded it, I already started to play around 
> with it! However, the POV-Ray 16-bit TGA export turned out to be faulty, 
> but that's no big issue, as it also exports to 16-bit PNG!
> 
>> http://www.world-machine.com/index.php (not free)
> 
> I did not try this yet, as I probably will be occupied with Wilbur for 
> the next weeks!
> 
> Thank you very, very much, Thomas!

You are welcome Yadgar. Glad to be of help. I hope you will find what 
you want. If there is something fundamental that I have learned since I 
started modelling (with POV-Ray of course!) back in the nineties, it is 
that for each scale you often need a different tool/procedure. It is 
almost impossible to use the same output for a planetary view /and/ for 
a landscape. Both need different approaches.

-- 
Thomas

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