The python utility that you have conceived would be very useful. I wish I knew how to create that sort of thing. I may use your method of orientation via bit map at some point, but I’ve decided that such an approach will not be necessary for the current scene.

Controlling the distribution of ecosystem elements with a bit map requires a high sampling rate, but a sampling rate high enough to keep the huts off of the roads (for example) cannot be attained in a scene of this scale. When I top 2000 Vue crashes during the ecosystem generation. I started to think about it and decided to create a bitmap terrain consisting of only the land that will be covered with huts. My theory was that if the roads are missing from the terrain, there is less chance that huts will be generated on the roads. Also, there is an added benefit of being able to randomly distribute the two types of huts at two different angles in a general ecosystem on the terrain. In practice, there was a noticeable improvement, but I still get overhangs on some roads and canals. Of course, since my primary intention is to create views of the city at a distance, this kind of anomaly will be lost in the crowd, and even if it isn’t, I can edit the problem areas in PhotoShop. If I do flyover animations, motion will hide the defect.

Now I have to create a bit map terrain that will define the poplar-like tall trees that grow along the banks. Unfortunately, I’ll have to do this manually.  

 

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