Tiler.exe is a freeware program, copyrighted by GroundNet Graphics (12/20/99).
It creates seamlessly tiling textures and heightfields (heightfields for POV-Ray).
Output format is in 24-bit windows bitmap (.bmp) or 16-bit Targa (.tga) files.
I suggest using a graphics file-format conversion utility to change the bitmap output
to JPEG format for whatever use you intend for the bitmap files.
The output files are created in the same directory as the program,
and are called "tile.bmp" or "tile.tga".
The program will create only one output per run.
If you create more than one output file (by running the program more than once),
rename your output files and/or move them to a different directory after EACH run
IF you don't want to have the files overwritten.

Keep in mind this is primarily intended as a demo program for a (hopefully) soon-to-be-released
windows program called "Seamless".  As a demo it does not have a lot of the nifty (forgive
me for the use of this word) "power" features that I intend to put in "Seamless".  However,
I hope it may be of some limited use.

Instructions for use:

This program must be run with a file called "spline.txt" in the same directory as the executable.
"spline.txt" is a user configurable file that determines the colors used in making the bmp files.
This file must be present, even if making .tga files. Numbers MUST be integers, NO decimals.
the first number is the number of color interpolation points to be used by tiler.exe.  This 
number must be a number from 4 to 11.  The following numbers are rgb (red green blue) values,
ranging from 0 to 255.  The number of these rgb triples must be the same as the number of
interpolation points.  For convenience, I put one set of rgb triples per line, to make it 
easier for editing purposes.  If you change this file, be sure to save it as spline.txt, as the
program will not recognize any other name for the color parameter file.  Note:  The first and the
last rgb values are not actually seen on the screen, but they do affect the interpolation of the
colors between the other rgb values in spline.txt.  If you are using formulas 7 or 8, you might
want to make the first and last values the same, as well as having the second and next-to-last
rgb values the same--I just think it looks better.  Note 2: If you are make tga heightfields
only, just leave the original "spline.txt" alone.

When you are running the program, it will ask for some values.  If you don't type in
the values correctly, It can lead to very strange output, or possible crash of the program.
(I did not put any input error checking routines into this program).  And I suggest staying in
recommended ranges if you want visually interesting output.

The values are:

Height-->height of output file in pixels (integers only)
Width-->width of output file in pixels (integers only)
formula number-->type an integer 1-8  
random seed 1-->a positive integer
random seed 2-->a positive integer
 

The program will ask for some of the following eight values, which ones it asks for is
determined by which formula number you use.
frac_inc-->floating point number .6 to 1.4
lacunarity-->floating point number 1.5 to 3.0
octaves-->integer 1 to 6 (2 to 4 should be good enough)
non_scale-->floating point 0 to 1
offset-->floating point .5 to 2 (warning: I haven't done much testing beyond 1.0 to 1.3)
gain-->floating point .6 to .95
vdis-->integer 0 or 1, 1 leads to longer rendering time, but "smoother" noise output.
       vdis stands for vertex displacement, by the way.
squiggle-->floating point 0 to 3

bmp (1) or tga (0)-->integer, 0 or 1, with 0 causing .tga output, 1 .bmp output.

the formula numbers correspond to:
1:  "turbulent" noise pattern
2:  "fractal" 1/f noise pattern
3:  multifractal quadhall type 1
4:  multifractal quadhall type 2
5:  multifractal quadhall type 3
6:  multifractal quadhall type 4
7:  squiggle circles
8:  squiggle lines

If you have questions, comments, complaints, criticisms, etc, my (quadhall, that is)
e-mail address is 

	treshall@yahoo.com

Due to demands on my time that can't be avoided (my real job, kids, housework, etc.) I can't
guarantee a prompt reply.  For updates on this program check out my webpage at

	http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Teahouse/8148/ground_net.html

And don't be discouraged by the treshall references--that name is a reference to a previous
alias of mine.  Please note that there probably won't be updates more than once a month or so,
so don't waste your time checking it every day.  I will also post notices on the POV-Ray
news server whenever there are updates.

quadhall,
formerly the treshall entity,
12/20/99.
 
