terrain to image

[jimbop 25]

sculpting my terrain in bulldozer which I now want to transfer to the sat image. 

 

tried exporting 'terrain to imagery' but that only exports as a heightfield?

 

any ideas or suggestions?

[RoF 241]

your sat image is different to your terrain and surface mask image, you dont export the terrain, unless you want to edit it in another program.

 

 

terrain = is a 3D model of your terrain

sat map = is just like using google maps, its a huge image that's laid over the top of your terrain

[bushlurker 46]

You should check out L3DT http://www.bundysoft.com/docs/doku.php?id=l3dt:about

 

There's a free version which is fully functional forever, but limited to 2048x2048 max heightmap and 4096x4096 imagery. The full version is about $34 and can handle heightmaps bigger than you'll ever need, but more importantly can generate imagery up to at least 20480x20480 and well beyond if your computer has the memory, etc

 

L3DT can generate heightmaps from scratch, and it has a full 3D view heightmap editing feature with all sorts of sculpting brushes, but one of its most powerful features is that it can analyse a heightmap that you load in, decide what sort of surfaces would go where... sand/beach, nice grass, slope areas, steep cliffs, etc - it will then generate images based on that which can be exported and used directly in TB as basic matching mask and satellite imagery...It's very popular with terrain guys who are making fictional places since then you can't just go and download the imagery like you would with a real place, you'd need to paint the mask and sat images manually - L3DT does it for you

 

 

The best news is that you can get a download link and a free 90 day key of the full unrestricted edition as a demo - just fill out the form on the website and you should get a key and a download link in the mail, and then you have a free 3 months to figure it out   ;)

 

These terrains

https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/152836-bushs-strange-new-worlds/

have entirely L3DT generated satellite textures, as do a whole bunch of other terrains which have been released - usually, if its a fictional place, it's an L3DT satellite layer being used...

 

All you'd need to do is to "Export mapframe heightfield" which will get you an .asc file to load into L3DT - you can then analyse that and generate appropriate resolution mask and satellite imagery, export those images and load them into TB and they'll match your heightmap perfectly...

 

 

B

[jimbop 25]

 thanx for the replies  :)

 

yeah bush, I have the trial of l3dt.

 

I exported terrain to l3dt....then exported it in .bt to worldmachine [which wont import ascii or xyz] I can then save overhead snapshot of terrain. :D

 

TB could do with more file options apart from ascii and xyz. not impressed with l3dt sat output.

[bushlurker 46]

For best results with L3DT you really need to spend a little time developing your own materials...

 

 

Above = stock L3DT texture & bumpmap, below = custom material

 

 

The stock materials are fairly.... bland, but with a bit of effort making custom ones you can squeeze pretty good results out of L3DT.

 

Main thing to remember when making these textures is that you're not making "ground textures" - its not "the ground as seen from head height looking down", you want to try and imitate "the ground as seen from around 100 meters height" (which works out about 1pixel/meter)

 

 

B

[jimbop 25]

very nice.

 

'bit of effort' and a large amount of talent eh  ;)

[Auss 208]

Hey Bushlurker any chance of getting those sat textures of the rocky areas of the mountains? I'm struggling to find/make them to replace the placeholder sat textures I'm using atm

[SlimJim 0]

sculpting my terrain in bulldozer which I now want to transfer to the sat image. 

 

tried exporting 'terrain to imagery' but that only exports as a heightfield?

 

any ideas or suggestions?

Sculpting terrain you mean for example ( its exaggerated on purpouse) you made a volcano and want the satellite image showing it? Heres what i do :

When you created terrain in L3DT, make edits to your terrain in 3d mode(Sapphire), for example make your volcano or a lake in there. Exit sapphire you should notice image in Heightfield tab has changed, while you are in heightfield map click Operations/Water map/Flood wizard... (Im not sure if this flooding is needed when not doing under sealevel stuff, sou could just skip flooding i think) In flood wizard its pretty much just keep clicking OK, on the window where it says what level up to you want to flood choose 0 and i also tick the top option here to clear the old water first. After youve done that click on LIGHT map tab, once youre on the light map view click Operations/Texture map/Generate map and there you go, you can export new set up for TB. One downside of this thing is you have to have the L3DT project saved so you can edit it...

[jimbop 25]

thanx for your input slim,

 

to be honest don't think I can get into L3DT. I prefer to edit terrain in TB [pixel pulling] then export that to world machine. well, as TB only exports in ascii/xyz I have to use L3DT as a middle man!