In computer graphics, a heightmap or heightfield is a raster image used to store values, such as surface elevation data, for display in 3D computer graphics. Terragen is a Freeware Scenery generator program for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh developed and published by Planetside A polygon mesh or Unstructured grid is a collection of vertices edges and faces that defines the shape of a polyhedral object in 3D computer Anim8or is a Freeware OpenGL based 3D modeling and animation program by R Computer graphics are Graphics created by Computers and more generally the Representation and Manipulation of Pictorial Data In Computer graphics, a raster graphics image or bitmap, is a Data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of Pixels The elevation of a Geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point often the mean sea level. 3D computer graphics (in contrast to 2D computer graphics) are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer A heightmap can be used in bump mapping to calculate where this 3D data would create shadow in a material, in displacement mapping to displace the actual geometric position of points over the textured surface, or for terrain where the heightmap is converted into a 3D mesh. ' Bump mapping' is a Computer graphics technique where at each Pixel, a perturbation to the Surface normal of the object being rendered is Displacement mapping is an alternative computer graphics technique in contrast to Bump mapping, Normal mapping, and Parallax mapping, using a ( procedural
A heightmap contains one channel interpreted as a distance of displacement or “height” from the “floor” of a surface and sometimes visualized as luma of a grayscale image, with black representing minimum height and white representing maximum height. Color digital images are made of Pixels and pixels are made of combinations of Primary colors A channel in this context is the grayscale image of the same In Physics, displacement is the vector that specifies the position of a point or a particle in reference to a previous position or to the origin of the chosen As applied to video signals luma represents the brightness in an image (the "black and white" or achromatic portion of the image In Computing, a grayscale or greyscale Digital image is an image in which the value of each Pixel When the map is rendered, the designer can specify the amount of displacement for each unit of the height channel, which corresponds to the “contrast” of the image. Heightmaps can be stored by themselves in existing grayscale image formats, with or without specialized metadata, or in specialized file formats such as Daylon Leveller, GenesisIV and Terragen documents. Metadata ( meta data, or sometimes metainformation) is "data about data" of any sort in any media A file format is a particular way to encode information for storage in a Computer file. Daylon Leveller is a Terrain / Heightfield modeling program made by Daylon Graphics Ltd GenesisIV is a photorealistic landscape renderer program made by Geomantics Ltd Terragen is a Freeware Scenery generator program for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh developed and published by Planetside
Heightmaps are commonly used in geographic information systems, where they are called digital elevation models. A digital elevation model ( DEM) is a Digital representation of ground Surface Topography or Terrain.
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Programs that use heightmaps
Heightmaps are widely used in terrain rendering software and modern video games. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Here they are sometimes called “terrain objects” because they are so commonly used to model terrain. In the earliest games using software rendering, the elements often represented heights of columns of voxels rendered with ray casting. A voxel (a Portmanteau of the words Volumetric and Pixel) is a volume element representing a value on a Regular grid in Ray casting is the use of ray-surface intersection tests to solve a variety of problems in computer graphics In most newer games, the elements represent the height coordinate of polygons in a mesh. A polygon mesh or Unstructured grid is a collection of vertices edges and faces that defines the shape of a polyhedral object in 3D computer
Rendering software
- Terragen – terrain renderer
- MegaTerrain - a devkit for real-time terrain rendering
Generating software
- LandCraft – online Flash 8 terrain generator
- terraineer – a small tool generating and teaching heightmap generation
- Landscape Studio – a free Java-based suite providing complex heightmap generation
- World Machine – a procedural terrain generator, which can simulate natural erosion. Terragen is a Freeware Scenery generator program for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh developed and published by Planetside A free version is available with restriction only in the size of terrain generated(512*512)
- Nem's Mega 3D Terrain Generator – A 100% free generator which gives the user the ability to move the terrain freehand rather than by changing the settings on tools.
- Grome Editor – Professional terrain editor for game development and 3D simulations from Quad Software.
Computer and video games
Many 3D computer and video games use heightmaps to store and generate terrain data. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Benefits of such a system include ease of implementation as well as modding. Mod or modification is a term generally applied to Computer games especially First-person shooters RPGs and Real-time strategy games Players can easily generate their own heightmaps for use within the game using widely available software. Heightmaps are usually complemented by texture maps that are then applied to the terrain in-game for extra detail and realism. Texture mapping is a method for adding detail surface texture or colour to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model.
- NovaLogic's Comanche series – first popular computer game to use heightmap terrain, advertised as a “Voxel Space” engine
- Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2 use heightmaps generated using Terragen and modified in the respective editors. NovaLogic is a software developer and publisher established in 1985 and based in Calabasas California. Comanche is a series of simulation games published by NovaLogic. A voxel (a Portmanteau of the words Volumetric and Pixel) is a volume element representing a value on a Regular grid in Battlefield 1942 is a 3D World War II First-person shooter (FPS Computer game developed by Swedish company Digital Battlefield 2 (abbreviated to BF2) is a computer game by the Swedish developer Digital Illusions in which players Terragen is a Freeware Scenery generator program for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh developed and published by Planetside
- Crysis's Sandbox editor
- Far Cry level editor – level editor that imports heightmaps
- GenSurf – A mapping tool for Quake 3 Arena to make realistic heightmap terrain
- Neverwinter Nights 2 – The Electron toolset can be used to create heightmaps, while the Electron engine is used to traverse them
- OpenTTD scenery editor
- Myth
- Outcast
- Sauerbraten
- Spring – Open source 3D RTS engine
- Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri
- SimCity Societies – Expected to use height maps for terrain generation. CRYSIS is an acronym for CRY ogenic S tockholm I on S ource CRYSIS is an Ion source of EBIS type and is located in Stockholm Far Cry is a First-person shooter Video game developed by Crytek Studios from Germany and published by Ubisoft Quake III Arena or Quake 3, abbreviated as Q3A or Q3, is a Multiplayer First-person shooter Neverwinter Nights 2 ( NWN2) is a Computer role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari The Electron toolset was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and is included in the Computer role-playing game Neverwinter Nights 2. The Electron engine, developed by Obsidian Entertainment, is a 3D video game engine based on BioWare 's Aurora Engine. OpenTTD is an Open source Game engine for the Chris Sawyer game Transport Tycoon Deluxe. Myth is a series of Real-time tactics (not to be confused with Real-time strategy) Computer games The games are Myth The Fallen Outcast is an action-adventure computer game by Belgian developer Appeal released in 1999 by publisher Infogrames Sauerbraten (also known as Cube 2 or Sauer, German for “ sour roast ”) is a Cross-platform, Spring (formerly known as TA Spring or Total Annihilation Spring) is a full 3D free / open source Terra Nova Strike Force Centauri is a tactical First-person shooter Computer game developed by Looking Glass Studios and self-published SimCity Societies is a city-building simulation computer game of Electronic Arts (EA and is part of the ''Sim'' games series
- Crashday – Uses Heightmaps in its Track Editor. Crashday is a destruction derby/racing/car stunts game co-developed by Replay Studios Moon Byte Studios and Atari and published by Atari. Custom maps can also be imported by copying them into the heightmap folder.
External links
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