Heightmap Import/Export ~ Heightmap Max Alt vs World Max Alt
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:30 pm
Hi.
I'm somehow new to L3DT, but I find the Sapphire plug-in very useful for a heightmaps refining purpose.
Now, however, I'm facing a little problem that is probably not a problem for anybody except me: the newbie.
I'm trying to use L3DT to edit and refine a RAW heightmap that I'm going to use for a Skyrim worldspace.
At first I make up the heightmap through World Machine 2 and then I export the heightmap as a RAW and edit it with L3DT.
World Machine let's me set a world max altitude, which works as a divisor to scale the grey tones representing the terrain in the heightmap.
Example:
Max Terrain Height: 600 meters
Max World Height: 3000 meters
Terrain/World ratio: 600/3000 == 1/5
The tallest terrain feature will not be a full 255,255,255 white, but just a 1/5 of it, thus a 51,51,51 grey. (Roughly)
When I import the heightmap in L3DT I'm asked to set a min and a max terrain height so that the overall scale of the terrain features are maintained.
I noticed, however, that in L3DT the highest terrain feature is intended as the highest world height. This, alas, totally ruins the grey tones scaling when I subsequently export the heightmap.
Using my Skyrim worldspace's numbers:
Max Terrain Height: 234 meters + 17 meters (water level + tallest terrain feature)
Max World Height: 7471 meters (Skyrim engine 16bit RAW scaling)
So, when I use L3DT, I import a very dark heightmap that represents a 7471 meters "tall" world and I export a desert composed of 7471 meters tall dunes. Which is not playable. =\
So my question is: is there any way to tell L3DT that the whole world is 7471 meters so that the exported RAW heightmap's grey tones are consequently scaled?
Thank you.
I'm somehow new to L3DT, but I find the Sapphire plug-in very useful for a heightmaps refining purpose.
Now, however, I'm facing a little problem that is probably not a problem for anybody except me: the newbie.
I'm trying to use L3DT to edit and refine a RAW heightmap that I'm going to use for a Skyrim worldspace.
At first I make up the heightmap through World Machine 2 and then I export the heightmap as a RAW and edit it with L3DT.
World Machine let's me set a world max altitude, which works as a divisor to scale the grey tones representing the terrain in the heightmap.
Example:
Max Terrain Height: 600 meters
Max World Height: 3000 meters
Terrain/World ratio: 600/3000 == 1/5
The tallest terrain feature will not be a full 255,255,255 white, but just a 1/5 of it, thus a 51,51,51 grey. (Roughly)
When I import the heightmap in L3DT I'm asked to set a min and a max terrain height so that the overall scale of the terrain features are maintained.
I noticed, however, that in L3DT the highest terrain feature is intended as the highest world height. This, alas, totally ruins the grey tones scaling when I subsequently export the heightmap.
Using my Skyrim worldspace's numbers:
Max Terrain Height: 234 meters + 17 meters (water level + tallest terrain feature)
Max World Height: 7471 meters (Skyrim engine 16bit RAW scaling)
So, when I use L3DT, I import a very dark heightmap that represents a 7471 meters "tall" world and I export a desert composed of 7471 meters tall dunes. Which is not playable. =\
So my question is: is there any way to tell L3DT that the whole world is 7471 meters so that the exported RAW heightmap's grey tones are consequently scaled?
Thank you.