Original Post
I need to render a fairly large terrain interactively. I want to do this by having:
1) a heightmap, preferably in RAW format but I''ll settle for anything that works, from which I can build a quad tree, vertex buffers, etc.
2) a bitmap texture to stretch over the terrain - grass, rock, etc.
3) a lightmap to combine with the bitmap so I don''t have to use real-time lighting
My question is - which tool or tools can do this? I''ve tried:
Bryce - I can get a so-so heightmap and bitmap, but I can''t get a lightmap.
Wilbur - It generates a heightmap and lightmap, but no bitmap. It exports a heightmap to Bryce3''s .br3 format, but when I import that into Bryce (to generate a texture bitmap), it is just flat.
Terragen - beautiful program, but it doesn''t export much. I can export the heightmap to Lightwave Object (.lwo) format, which Bryce will read, and Bryce will generate a nice looking texture for it, but Bryce won''t let me export it. When I hit the "e" icon for the object I get smoothing options, not the usual heightmap/export controls.
Aaaarrrgggghhhh!
It seems that I can get close, but not all the way there. I''m always blocked by a program not handling a specific format, or not exporting a particular aspect of a terrain.
Help! Does anyone know the specific tools, and the techniques that go with them, that I can use to generate a heightmap, a lightmap and a terrain texture bitmap?
Note: I''m posting this both in the visual arts and game programming forums, since both might have people who know.