====== Introduction to climates and land types ======

Whether a particular pixel in the [[l3dt:reference:maps:tx|texture map]] is coloured as  grass, rock, sand, or otherwise is determined by a map of [[l3dt:algorithms:cli:land_type|land types]] called an [[l3dt:reference:maps:am|attributes map]]((I can't give a good reason as to why it's not called a 'land type map', instead of 'attributes'...but that's beside the point.)). Each land type has different affinities for water, steep/flat ground, etc, and [[l3dt:algorithms:cli:land_type#params|these parameters]] are used in the [[l3dt:algorithms:cli:am_algo|land type assignment]] algorithm to calculate the attributes map. This same algorithm is also used for masking [[l3dt:algorithms:lm#bump mapping]] in the [[l3dt:algorithms:lm|light mapping algorithm]], and for calculating [[l3dt:algorithms:tx#high_resolution_textures|per-pixel land types]] in the [[l3dt:algorithms:tx|texture generation algorithm]].

Land types are grouped together into [[l3dt:algorithms:cli:climate|climates]] so that, for example, a desert climate might have land types for sand, cliffs, oases, etc. Climates and their land types may be viewed/edited using the [[l3dt:userguide:climates:manager|climate manager]] and [[l3dt:userguide:climates:cliedit|climate editor]] windows.

Each climate has its own [[l3dt:formats:specs:cli.xml|climate definition file]] (*.cli.xml).