L3DT development blog
Large 3D terrain generator

L3DT v2.4 release announcement

Date: 30th of June 2006

L3DT 2.4 is available!

Hurrah!

It's been nearly three months since the first beta-release of L3DT 2.4, and I'm proud to announce that it is finally ready for public consumption. Many thanks go to the cast of beta-testers for their assistance and patience with debugging, and also for their numerous suggestions for improvements.

Changes

Most of the changes since the last 'stable' release (v2.3d) are recorded in the release announcements for v2.4 beta1, beta2, beta3 and RC1. Here is a quick round-up:

  • Heightfields
    • Improved erosion routines (more realistic, slightly slower).
  • Climates, light-mapping and textures
    • There is a climate editor, so hacking climate files is now unnecessary.
    • Bump-mapped lighting is now more accurate, and works better on tilted terrain (e.g. cliff-faces).
    • Land types may now have an arbitrary number of textures and bump-maps (prev. limit was two textures and two bump-maps per type). This allows much greater detail in high-res textures (see 27/May examples).
    • Land types may now have strata-layers.
  • File input and output
    • L3DT now stores map data in XML-based project files (.proj) and map definition files (.def.xml), replacing the text-based mgf and def formats.
    • RAW import and export of the heightfield is available in several data-modes (consult RAW specs page).
    • The y-axis of image exports can be flipped in L3DT automatically (using file→preferences→[format]→options→Invert Y).
    • The GLScene HTF format is now supported for mosaic heightfields (export only).

In addition to these changes, there have been innumerable bug-fixes and other tweaks to the algorithms or user-interface.

How to get it

The L3DT Standard Edition is available for free on the downloads page.

Licenses for L3DT Professional Edition will go on sale on Monday the 3rd of July at a cost of $25 USD per-person or $60 USD for a multi-user license (up to five users). Evaluation licenses will still be available on request after this date, but the lifetime of new keys has been reduced from six to three months. Users who have previously registered for 365-day or 180-day trial licenses may download the new version (from the pro downloads page, consult your registration e-mail), and freely use it until the expiry of those keys.

What is next?

The next big thing on the cards is a better map-editor interface (long overdue!), and support for editing the heightfield, attributes map and texture map. The map-display may also be re-done too.

In any case, I'll be talking a break from development for the next little while to rest my weary brain and focus on some other 'real-world' commitments (eg. work). In this time I will, of course, continue to provide bug-fixes if they are required.

Feedback or questions?

Please leave feedback on the community forums.

2011/01/13 07:33
 
l3dt/ann/v2.4.txt · Last modified: 2017/08/31 04:55 (external edit)
 
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