About L3DT

L3DT is a Windows application for generating terrain maps and textures. It is intended to help game developers and digital artists create large high-quality 3D worlds.

L3DT is a general-purpose terrain generator that supports several modes of operation:

1. Automatic: If you want to make maps automatically, you can set a few general parameters to describe the map you want, and then use the calculation queue wizard to finish your map for you.
2. Manual: You can manually edit your map using brush tools, to get everything pixel-perfect.
3. Design: L3DT also allows you to design the terrain map using a high-level 'design map', which sets out the general shape of the terrain and specifies the locations of various overlays like mountains, volcanos, etc. When L3DT generates the terrain, based on your design map, you get the features you want without having to build it all yourself.

The last mode is unique to L3DT, and allows users to design and generate maps with ease. For an example of this in operation, please consult the fjord tutorial, in which a map is designed from scratch.

L3DT does quite a lot. A brief list of features would include:

• Designable heightfields using a high-level 'design map' in which you can specify land altitudes, roughness, lakes, climate, etc.
• A fast and flexible fractal 'inflation' based heightfield generator, including effects such as erosion, terraces and cliffs, volcanos, mountain peaks, etc., all of which are controlled from the design map.
• An integrated 3D heightfield editor that allows you to easily shape and reshape your heightfield using mouse-driven brush tools.

• A texture generator for high-resolution interpolated ground texture maps, as well as the ability to generate alpha maps for run-time 'texture splatting'.
• A extensible climate modelling engine for controlling the distribution of ground textures, including water-table and salinity modelling. Supports up to 65,000 unique and user-definable land types per map.
• Automatic and manual water-flooding routines, for making sea and lakes at different water levels.
• A fast light mapping module for pre-calculated terrain lighting and shadow casting, including high-resolution light mapping and bump mapping.

• Support for multi-core processing.
• An automatic disk paging system that supports heightfields up to 128k × 128k pixels in size (16 gigapixels) and textures up to 4M × 4M pixels (16 terapixels). Want to make megatextures? No problem!
• An automated calculation pipeline that allows you to queue-up some or all of your calculations, set the relevant settings, and then walk away while L3DT does its thing. No program baby-sitting is required.
• A batch generation engine for making multiple map projects automatically.

• Support for a broad range of file formats:
  • Image formats, including BMP, JPG, PNG, TGA, DDS, PGM, PBM, PCX and RAW.
  • Mesh files, including OBJ, X, B3D, 3DS and TIN – export only, using mesh decimator.
  • Terrain exchange formats, including TER (Terragen), BT (Virtual Terrain Project), GeoTIFF (import only), and HFZ.
  • Game engine terrain files, including TER (Torque 3D), SD7 (Spring) and HTF (GLScene).
• Support for more formats may be added by plugins.

• Real-time 3D rendering and editing of maps in the Sapphire plugin, as well as support for Terragen, VTP Enviro, and other popular renderers.

• A graphical interface for performing custom calculations by connecting together multiple 'filters'.
• An extensive plugin API ('Zeolite') that allows developers to directly access L3DT data, perform calculations, load or save files, add new file format options, etc. The source code for many examples are provided.
• Support for scripting using the Python and ZeoScript languages (via the cdPython and ZeoScript plugins).

• A walk-through tutorial is integrated with the program.
• A comprehensive and up-to-date user guide is available on-line.
• Support and advice is available through the community forum.
• A users' wiki is provided, including spaces for user-submitted tutorials, climates, and other material.

The name's Aaron Torpy, and I'm the proprietor of Bundysoft.

• More detailed information may be reached from the information page.
• The frequently asked questions page has some answers to said questions.
• The L3DT community forum is the best place to ask for help or pose questions.