Ok...
Through all my playing with l3dt, im talking daily since march I still cant get it to do exactly what i want..
For 1 The numbers dont match up;
For example... The curvature calculation. Doesnt do much, the only way to get it to is to raise it to really large numbers to overtake the other parts like Gradient and water and salinity..
So, programming this yourself on a piece of paper then translating it to l3dt, the math doesn't work.
1.) I propose, that instead of using strait numbers, you use slopes and curves to determine the placement of textures/land types.
Little picture diagrams of the degree angle for the rocks for example.
I move my curve around to show say, a perfect rainbow shape, the calculator finds areas that match that first. Then places the texture
Sharp inclines like a /\ is areas that I want rocks.
areas like this 7\ I want rocks on the incline but grass on the top.
stuff like that, then I use the other scores to determine witch texture, like water and such for shapes that match.
2.) Im finding it very difficult to have areas or lands that have both Sea water and lake water.
Usually it ends up mostly seawater, even if it is far inland. or I end up with lake-mud in the ocean.
If I lower my lakemud numbers at all the other land types will overtake it easy, so i got to have a high numbers, which ultimately the sea (most usually) ends up on land.
3.) The texture system, I love your texture system, but I find that it is lacking and I have the feeling it is mostly for spring development not for rpgs or 1st person shooters.
the truth behind your texture making jewel is the fact that the textures are so tightly bound to the heightmap, and the bounds of the total texture I am making in the last calc.
I understand your method however, you have to have a way to map it and make it part of the map to match perfectly and the only way to do this is pixel to pixel..
There is another way though.
I noticed that you have the texture splatting as part of your system here. With the alpha maps and such. This is great and all, but it is useless to anyone that doesnt have a way to get those texture splats into thier GE. And frankly my understanding of them is minimal, using them is even less.
The way to fix this is to generate UV coordinates of your attribute map and use that data to place your textures at the scale you would like instead of totally regenerating the whole thing the way yours does now. THEN renderbake all that to a texture.
Yours is kind ova in between mishmash of a couple different methods ive seen in the past.
don't get me wrong yours is the best ive seen, but if I want to see the blades of grass from my texture on a HUGE 128 by 128 map, I have to make an absolutely HUGE HUGE texture, when all this could have been solved by using the texture data in the first place. cutting and blending where they come together then saving THAT as your image.
I understand this is probably confusing, i know it is to me, but truly, I shouldn't have to make a 16kx16k texture on my 16x16x1 design map just to see my blades of grass, when I could use that small texture in any modeling program and have it tile and shift perfectly (A LOT MORE WORK THOUGH) and be able to see my grass for 1/16 the file size.
4.) All in all your program was totally worth the purchase, mainly for the design map part though. it makes it easy to design the rough outline of the area and I can translate from grid maps easily so thanks for that!! YAY
Thank you for making L3dt. PLEASE PLEASE correct me or show me the way that I might be missing!
p.s. with the strata overlays, does it only use the first row of pixels?
Thanks
Terry