Mask map operations

L3DT may be used to generate custom 'mask maps', which are 8-bit greyscale images that may be used for a variety of purposes, such as traversability maps in game engines, vegetation coverage maps in 3D renderers, etc. Mask maps are generated from mask generators, which may be created and edited in L3DT using the mask editor window.

To generate mask maps, select the 'Operations→Mask maps→Generate masks' menu option. This will open the Select masks window, shown below, in which you may select the masks to be generated.

The 'select masks' window.

Please note that the Select masks window only lists the mask generators that have been installed in L3DT's resources directory, which is:

To select multiple masks, use the left mouse button and the CTRL or SHIFT keys.

Once you click OK, L3DT will generate the mask maps, and place them in the project. You may view these masks using the map layer tab bar at the top of the window, or by using the 'View→Show map layer' menu option.

Viewing a mask map.

L3DT has only rudimentary brush tools for editing mask maps manually, which you may access using the 'Tools→Edit active map layer' menu option (user guide here).

Instead, users are recommended to export the mask maps as images (described below), and edit the images in image editor programs such as Photoshop, Paint.NET or the GIMP.

To export a mask, use the 'File→Export→Export map layer' menu option (user guide here). The recommended file format for mask maps is PNG, as it uses lossless compression.