Attached Link: http://www.microbion.co.uk/files/Using terrain maps.zip

Okay, I've done a tutorial on this subject as promised. I've uploaded it to freestuff rather than the tutorials section here as I wanted the tut and the archive of sample maps to be kept together. I guess it'll appear in freestuff in the next day or so, if you want it now you can get it from the link. Comments welcome (I hope I don't regret saying that - it's my first tut in Vue :0)

Thanks spedler! :)

looks cool, thanks! will have to go over it in more detail later

Very useful tutorial. Many thanks.

Very much appreciated. Many thanks for creating this tut.

Message edited on: 08/17/2004 07:12

Excellent!! Thanks so much! :)

Thanks for the very detailed tutorial! It was obviously a lot of work. And thanks for all the included pics, I had fun applying them all.

Here's some observations/questions, listed by tutorial section:

Introduction: Why do you say drawing simple round hills isn't easy? It's one of the easiest things to do in the editor, so I'm perplexed by that statement. In the paint tab/"Brush settings", check "Airbrush style", make the brush size maximum, "softness" approx 50% (middle of slider), and "flow" whatever you like (I prefer around 50%). If you paint on a reset (flat) terrain, you will get round hills without effort. If you don't, there's something wrong with your setup.

1.2 The slope that say would be "impossible" to do in the editor alone is actually fairly easy with the proper brush settings. To make sure I wasn't crazy, I did a successful test in less than 2 minutes. It had some irregularities, but those could've been worked out with a few more minutes work. If I wanted a PERFECTLY smooth slope, I agree a height map is a much easier way. But I'm concerned that if you think a slope is impossible to do in the editor, you haven't played with brush settings enough, or there's something wrong with your setup.

1.3 Regarding the black/white vs. shades of grey gradients: When Vue uses your bitmap, it "equalizes" the output. That's why the two different bitmaps result in the same slope. You should notice that the preview of the grey/grey gradient is already equalized, showing a full range of black to white. The reason the grey/grey terrain is bumpier is because you're using a smaller range of values (of the potential 256 values in an 8-bit greyscale) to represent the same altitude changes. The "banding" you mention is the result of using only 256 values, which really isn't enough. Someday we'll use 16-bit images (and have larger hard drives, hopefully) and that problem will go away. Until then, hit the "diffusive" erosion button tens of times to smooth those out or, as you say, use a texture that hides the banding. BTW, did you know "wedge-2" is sloping in the opposite direction from the others?

1. When you say "don't rotate the terrain", what do mean? Do you mean don't rotate the bitmap? Any other rotating will have no influence on the output. You say "uniformly reducing the height of the terrain is difficult in the editor". One easy technique is to click "filter altitudes", and edit the filter by dragging the right/top keypoint straight downward.

thanks again,
steve (kongorilla)

Kongorilla,
Many thanks for all the comments. I must admit I never found a good way of doing round hills in the editor, but maybe that's just because I took what I think is the easy way out with the height maps. IMO you do get more control working in an image editor. Point taken though, and I'll modify accordingly (with due credit) in an updated version when I see if I get any more comments/corrections.
The slope I did find impossible to do - but I accept your point that it can be done.
The grey vs. B&W gradients - I think you've explained in more detail what I was trying to say here. Thanks for that - very interesting. Sorry about the reversed gradient, I missed that one :-(
I'll take another look at the rotation of the terrain, because that's certainly what happened to me, but maybe I did something else to cause the effect I got.
Thanks for taking the time to look through this and provide the info/corrections.
Steve

I'm curious...if you use the brush settings I suggested, and you spray in small circles, do you get something like these pictures?

Making rolling hills is an instance I wouldn't use a height-map, because I can see the results real-time using the editor, and you don't get the banding, which is most obvious on a smooth hillside.

One handy thing you didn't cover in your tutorial is using the "copy" and "paste" buttons to get your vue terrain in and out of a paint program (to run filers on, or paint by hand, etc). You get the best of both techniques that way.

steve (kongorilla)