Terrain creation/editing programs to import into Visitor

[madine75 0]

Mmm i never tried that anti-alias slider to be honost. What i do use is edit the climates when i am done. So first i go ahead with usualy the default climates then when i know what i want i simple get the BIS textures (so i mean here the textures that you actualy use in visitor) and put them in l3dt. Giving me easier matching Sat map to the textures. All that is left then is matching clutter.

I've got an Arma2 "climate" set up, it only has 3 textures so far, but it will create a Sat map and mask layer that require no further editing. It's a little limited at the moment, but works fine for my current project - a 2kmx2km urban/industrial zone. I'll add to it as I go, as I don't think I work quite the same way as most - I'll often go back and chop and change the sat/mask to suit what buildings are in an area..

[f2f_bho 10]

I have just found out about this very promising program, and like what it has to offer ( also bought the payware version after 2 hours of doodling with the freeware one).can anyone tell me what files i can use in Vis 3 from L3DT?

ie where can i find the grayscale image that Vis needs to create the base island, i have a good grasp on the Sat_lco etc and the wrp and all just looking for some guidance from a veteran island maker.

[bushlurker 46]

Assuming you've made your terrain in L3DT and you're ready for the Visitor stage, you should be able to export your Heightfield layer directly from L3DT as a greyscale .png file... thats what Visitor requires as input... (export/heightfield\choose .png)

You'll also have to take note of the minimum and maximum heights of your terrain in L3DT (look at the "change vertical range" option to get the figures)...

Then - in notepad, make a file that reads like this...

class cfg
{
PNGfilename="nameofisland.png";
squareSize=10;
originX=0;
originY=0;
minHeight=-xx.xx;
maxHeight=xxx.xx;
};

and save it as "nameofisland.pbl"...

(change the "xxx.xx"'s to your terrain height min and max, "square size" to whatever your square size is... make sure this file and your exported .png file have the same name, and that that name is also quoted correctly in the file itself...)

Thats about all you need to do to get your terrain out of L3DT and into Visitor...

B

[[aps]gnat 28]

Thats about all you need to do to get your terrain out of L3DT and into Visitor...

Well ..... L3DT provides a lot more.

- The main "ground/climate texture" can be your main Sat view texture

- The 4+ individual terrain type "mask" textures can also be merged (each as a different colour channel) into a Paint program to form your 1 main terrain mask.

- The repeating small texture tiles (for each climate ground type) can be exported to make your close-up view ground textures.

So theres not much it can't provide for a quick start !

Edited April 12, 2010 by [APS]Gnat

[Bartchie 10]

But can I paint there using a brushes or blur the whole terrain ? Because imported DEM seems to be mostly scratched so I'm using Wilbur's blur tool to make the whole terrain smooth.

I would also like to use brushes in the L3DT, is it possible ?

[bushlurker 46]

L3DT is FULL of useful stuff... my reply was to the question only - how do I export ;)

Yes Bartchie - theres a full range of heightfield "brushes" for hand-editing the terrain, plus theres "overall/global" erode and smooth options... (under heightfield options - "curvature and gradient smoothing") (go easy with them!)

L3DT fraks out a bit with the bigger bitmap sizes - it gets bolshy about exporting a 20480x20480 Attributes Mask, for example (need to do it in pieces) - with 10240 its fine though... set your Attributes to simple primary colours then export "AM Layer" for a good "starter Mask_lco"

I actually did things the opposite of Gnat - I made my custom close-up view ground textures for Arma first - then IMported them into L3DT for use as ground texturing... but Gnat's way would also work - and would actually be a good way to go too to get custom closeup ground textures..

It's NOT the most instantly intuitive program in the world, but theres some great facilities there once you fool with it a while...

B

[Homer Johnston 0]

sounds like I need to give L3DT some more learning time, some day.

... or just spend all my time working on tools and let you guys do the actual island making, heh.

[[aps]gnat 28]

It's NOT the most instantly intuitive program in the world, but theres some great facilities there once you fool with it a while...

Agree, takes a lot of experimenting to work out what it can and cant do, but in the end it seems the "can't do" is quite a small list.

Its almost like it was designed for (random) ArmA terrain making ;)

@Homer

We're good either way you choose .... but suspect we're better with your tools :D

[Nephris1 10]

Hi folks,

i followed now your hints and soi anm trying on to get closer to my first real attempt making a map.

Right now i am using L3dt and see what comes out of it.

I got a few questions, which are probably also basic questions.

I created now a terrain in L3dt with 1024x1024,cell grid 10m.

So all layers are of same size atm, heightmap and the texture map.

1.So is that seize enough for a height map?What determines the seize of my heightmap?

2.Same question belongs to my texturemap/satmap because i cant imagine that the satmap will be big enough at 1024x1024?

3.Is the satmap also corresponding to the ingame map?

Means that map i will later be able to open with "m" ingame?

4.If my heightmap is 1024x1024 (made via L3dt) i would also use the same seize in Visitor as terrain size 1024x1024 with a grif size of 10m.

What size should then be a satmap?

Although we can always use different ways to get to your target, a beginner needs actually the one working way.Most of the tutorials helped a lot and got me a kind of understandment to visitor, but correltions of seizes seem to be handled in each tutorial different.

Sorry for those perhabs "easy minded" question, but i am still not able to understand the point between the relations of heightmap size to terrain size to satmap size.

Is there any rule of thumb a noob and beginner cant use.

Edited November 9, 2010 by Nephris1

[bushlurker 46]

A 1024 x 1024 heightmap with a 10m cell size is pretty much the "standard" size, Nephris - if there is such a thing as "standard"... It seems to be a hassle-free size as far as Visitor is concerned, and it's not so big that it'll take you a year to make, so it's probably a good size for a first go...

When you get that in-game you'll find that each pixel of your heightmap is indeed a 10mx10m area, and in a big circle around you if you look at the ground you'll see the "closeup" ground textures - nice and detailed...

Further away on the hills, or if you're flying over the landscape you're too far away to see those detailed closeup textures - this is where the satellite (Sat_lco) texture takes over...

Now, while 1 pixel = 10x10m is good enough for ground heights, 1 pixel of satellite texture stretched to cover 10x10m of ground will look... crap... that would be the result if you used a 1024x1024 Satellite Layer... so - the usual procedure is to make your satellite layer 10 times bigger than your heightmap - 10240x10240 pixels...

That'll give you a distance texture where 1pixel = 1 x 1m ground texture - much better - 10 times better in fact...

So - for a 1024 x 1024 heightmap, the standard procedure would be to have a Mask_lco and Sat_lco of 10240x10240...

Just choose "10x" in L3DT's "Attributes" and "Texture" sections to generate layers of the correct size...

In Visitor, the Sat_lco will be overlaid at 1pixel = 1m resolution, while a 10240x10240 Mask_lco will give you meter-by-meter control over those close-up ground textures...

B

[Nephris1 10]

Thx again Bushlurker for taking time and anser again :).

The satmap,that i created inL3dt doesnt look really "real".

I am sure it is easier to arrange the mask later on, on a satmap of L3dt but ingame the map wont lookreal imho.

So i would now move to Google Maps and save the satmaps from there.

Or is there any function in L3dt i missed ,which makes a satmap(Sat_lco) looks real.

I still presume the sat_lco represents also the ingame map a player can choose by using the "m" key.

So would be the most reasonable way to get a real terrain looking satmap.

To be sure we are not talking about different things

satmap google earth

http://img819.imageshack.us/i/satmapmaps.jpg

satmap L3dt

http://img87.imageshack.us/i/satmapl3dt.jpg

(this is just the quick generated one, but gives a "kind off view" of what i am talking about)

[bushlurker 46]

Firstly... The Sat_lco and the Mask_lco sortof go hand-in-hand... one should really correspond pretty closely with the other, so that - if you're flying along and you see a grassy area below (on the distance texture/satellite layer), then as you come in to land and the close-up textures kick in (controlled by the mask_lco), you'll still see grass, but it'll be the detailed close-up texture, and clutter...

So - effectively, the Mask_lco is the Sat_lco, but simplified and reduced to just a few primary colours, to control the close-up stuff - so that you don't see a big difference between closeup, and far away...

The problem with Google sat images is usually too much detail... flying over it it looks just great, but as you come in to land, unless you've made a really detailed mask to match, all that detail just vanishes as you get closer... not good... So - you edit it by hand... and/or blend it with an L3DT one - or both...

When we get to this stage there's no set rules, its all down to improvising really...

Icebreakrs well-known islands are good examples of a variety of satellite techniques...

Jade Groove looks pretty L3DT to me, (I guess), and shows you just how good L3DT can be when you get the hang of "custom climates" and matching the closeup textures to the distance ones...

There isn't much in the way of vegetation to help "disguise" things with Jade Groove... the textures are carrying the weight of believability... hard to do... but it works!

Whereas if you want a lesson in just how good a "google" satellite map can be - look at Panthera... I'm not sure exactly how Ice did this one either, but I reckon its a realworld image that has simply had hundreds of hours of editing work thrown at it... Every now and then I load Panthera for a bit of inspiration, then go work on my own L3DT/Google hybrid satellite layer some more... ;)

As far as L3DT is concerned, the built in textures and "climates" are pretty cheesy... you really need to explore that whole aspect in more detail... better textures installed into a basic custom climate - maybe derived from one of the simple built-in ones - is the way to go... you can "diffuse" borders a little so the sharp transition from "grass" to "sand" in your example pic isn't so abrupt... read thru this whole thread and then experiment a bit... There isn't really an L3DT tutorial as such, so reading the L3DT website info is probably a good idea...

Also - finally - remember to test stuff actually in-game... that L3DT generated texture might look a bit simplistic - and sure, it could stand a little improvement, but in-game I bet it looks not too bad at all... sometimes Less Is More with this stuff... it's easier to add a little more detail than it is to take it away...

Finally #2 - yeah - basically the Sat_lco is what you'll see in-game when you press "M" - overlaid with some basic Visitor details like forested areas, roads, names, etc, and some info derived from the heightfield, like contours, etc..

B

Edited November 9, 2010 by Bushlurker

[Nephris1 10]

Thx for hints and thoughts.

I guess i will friggle around with both L3dt and google sats ....

Oh the world was so easy in OFP times ....:p

Thanx.