Hi(gh)!

Resuming my "Whatmough" planet project from 2011, I would like to know 
if is possible to create realistic mountain ranges (on a continental 
scale) with believable drainage patterns using procedural functions. I 
tried ridged_mf(), but got nothing even remotely resembling this.

Another (but very time-consuming) approach would be "painting" 
topography manually, using 16-bit grayscale PNG heightfields. Are there 
any heightfield editors for this bit depth around?

See you in Khyberspace!

Yadgar

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=?UTF-8?Q?J=c3=b6rg_=22Yadgar=22_Bleimann?= <yaz### [at] gmxde> wrote:
> Hi(gh)!
>
> Resuming my "Whatmough" planet project from 2011, I would like to know
> if is possible to create realistic mountain ranges (on a continental
> scale) with believable drainage patterns using procedural functions. I
> tried ridged_mf(), but got nothing even remotely resembling this.
>
> Another (but very time-consuming) approach would be "painting"
> topography manually, using 16-bit grayscale PNG heightfields. Are there
> any heightfield editors for this bit depth around?
>
> See you in Khyberspace!
>
> Yadgar

As a last resort:
I have 3 programs at my site that helps make height fields and place objects on
them. They where All wrote for my old Win98, but they run on my new WinXP.
The first program lets you use contour lines to make a height field image in
tga(8bit) or ppm(16bit). The next one lets you rough up images made by the
first.
The last one Lets you place things on a height field made by using the Image
from the first two.
I'm here at https://leroyspovstuff.yolasite.com/

Have Fun!

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On 27-12-2017 13:08, Jörg "Yadgar" Bleimann wrote:
> Hi(gh)!
> 
> Resuming my "Whatmough" planet project from 2011, I would like to know 
> if is possible to create realistic mountain ranges (on a continental 
> scale) with believable drainage patterns using procedural functions. I 
> tried ridged_mf(), but got nothing even remotely resembling this.
> 
> Another (but very time-consuming) approach would be "painting" 
> topography manually, using 16-bit grayscale PNG heightfields. Are there 
> any heightfield editors for this bit depth around?
> 
> See you in Khyberspace!
> 
> Yadgar

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/

L3DT is another one - which I never tried - but with a free version. 
http://www.bundysoft.com/L3DT/downloads/standard.php

And then there are:
http://planetgenesis.sourceforge.net/ (free)
http://www.daylongraphics.com/ (not free)
http://www.cyberfunks.de/page/terrabrush/index.htm (free)
http://planetside.co.uk/ (free)
http://www.fracterra.com/wilbur.html (free)
http://www.world-machine.com/index.php (not free)

-- 
Thomas

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Am 27.12.2017 um 21:52 schrieb Leroy:

> As a last resort:
> I have 3 programs at my site that helps make height fields and place objects on
> them. They where All wrote for my old Win98, but they run on my new WinXP.

"new WinXP"???

Ouch.

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On 28/12/2017 09:19, clipka wrote:
> Am 27.12.2017 um 21:52 schrieb Leroy:
> 
>> As a last resort:
>> I have 3 programs at my site that helps make height fields and place objects on
>> them. They where All wrote for my old Win98, but they run on my new WinXP.
> 
> "new WinXP"???
> 
> Ouch.
> 

Some people keep things that work.
Going from Leroy's site. It was new in 2006

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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Hi(gh)!

Am 27.12.2017 um 21:52 schrieb Leroy:

> As a last resort:
> I have 3 programs at my site that helps make height fields and place objects on
> them. They where All wrote for my old Win98, but they run on my new WinXP.
> The first program lets you use contour lines to make a height field image in
> tga(8bit) or ppm(16bit). The next one lets you rough up images made by the
> first.
> The last one Lets you place things on a height field made by using the Image
> from the first two.
> I'm here at https://leroyspovstuff.yolasite.com/

Not really useful, at least not in its current development stage - no 
zoom view and therefore no chance to exactly place the cursor. Perhaps 
it is because I used Windows 7 rather than XP, I don't know...

The fine editor (the second program) is not even downloadable at all!

Nevertheless, thanks for your tip!

See you in Khyberspace!

Yadgar

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Am 27.12.2017 um 13:08 schrieb Jörg "Yadgar" Bleimann:
> Hi(gh)!
> 
> Resuming my "Whatmough" planet project from 2011, I would like to know 
> if is possible to create realistic mountain ranges (on a continental 
> scale) with believable drainage patterns using procedural functions. I 
> tried ridged_mf(), but got nothing even remotely resembling this.
> 
> Another (but very time-consuming) approach would be "painting" 
> topography manually, using 16-bit grayscale PNG heightfields. Are there 
> any heightfield editors for this bit depth around?

I forgot to mention that I use either Windows XP Professional (32-bit), 
Windows 7 64-bit Professional or Debian Linux 8.9, so that software 
exclusively written for Windows 8 or newer unfortunately would be of no 
use to me.

See you in Khyberspace!

Yadgar

Post a reply to this message

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.

> 
> 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...

> 
> 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!

See you in Khyberspace!

Yadgar

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On 12/28/2017 06:10 AM, Jörg 'Yadgar' Bleimann wrote:

> I forgot to mention that I use either Windows XP Professional (32-bit), 
> Windows 7 64-bit Professional or Debian Linux 8.9, 

I wondered if there were povers still using 32 bits.

--
dik

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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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