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Terrain

Started by josericardo_jr Jul 9, 2008 at 9:55 PM 2 replies 800+ views

Original Post

Jul 9, 2008 at 9:55 PM

Hi people, I'm making a game where I need to put a terrain on it. So, I started making it using 3d studio max because there I can paint my terrain elevation to exactly what I want. In my scene, there's some houses above the terrain so I can put it nicely over it. But as I can see, people use heightmap to making terrain. I think using this method you lost control over you terrain height because all what you do is paint an image. So, I want to know if what I'm doing is right in question of performance and collision. If no, is there another way to make it without using heightmap and not lost control over terrain. Thanks a lot! Jose Ricardo

bzroom

137

bzroom

Jul 9, 2008 at 10:11 PM

You should probably mix the two. Have a heightmap for the general terrain, but support taking chunks of it out so that artist created sections can be put in place. And also, you don't usually make a heightmap by "painting an image." You use a heightmap editor which makes it really easy and intuitive.

Here's a really handy one:
http://www.earthsculptor.com/

josericardo_jr

Author

josericardo_jr

Jul 10, 2008 at 8:30 AM

Hi BZRoom,

Thanks for the reply.
I've seen this before but I think it will not help me much.

It's because let's suppose I have a character about 2 meters made in 3d studio max. So, I want to paint a path in my terrain where the character can walk. How can I meansure how large my paint in the texture will be in the terrain?

Thanks a lot!

Jose Ricardo

bzroom

137

bzroom

Jul 11, 2008 at 4:28 AM

You'll have to arbitrarily define some terrain density. You'll likely need to use multiple heightmaps to define your entire region.

Also, that heightmap editor should allow you to import models. You could import a model which consisted of your scene (houses, props, NPCs), and you could move the terrain to match that.

Alternatively you could just write your own editor, or find a more suitable one. One that allows you to modify the heightmap and place objects at the same time.

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