Terracell planet creator by Rob Allen

Started by Rob Allen, February 09, 2007, 03:36:57 PM

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Will

Oh and what are you planning to have on the interface? or is it too early to tell.

Regards,

Will
The world is round... so you have to use spherical projection.

Rob Allen

Interfaces are luxuries at this point.  Right now, I just want to focus on finishing the TGD file.  Once that's done, I would love to have a plugin or something that would allow a user to easily manipulate the TGD with some basic sliders/controls.  Basically, instead of manipulating 10 different values to get your continents to have more satellite islands, or fewer, you could just move a slider in the plugin that says "amount of satellite islands".  But I think the only way that's going to happen is if I can find someone who knows how to do that.

Progress update: I've implemented the initial stages of the climate mapping system, which will form the foundation of the soon-to-be-implemented biome distribution network.  The climate mapping system largely determines temperature levels around the planet and is also directly responsible for creating and shaping the icecaps, including permafrost and snowfall.  It will be used to map equatorial climates like jungles and deserts, seperating them from temperate climates like forests and grasslands.  Arctic climates will most likely naturally occur as the temperate band thins into the icecaps.  Most of these areas will be dominated by biome-less land (tundras), and some of the pole-ward forests will naturally blend into thier icecap's snowbound regions, creating alpine forests that thin out gradually.

I have included some renders illustrating the false-colored climate mapping system.  The reddish/pink areas indicate hot regions where deserts, tropics, and swampland will appear, while the grey will be mostly occupied by temperate climates.  The white areas indicate icecaps.  There are also beaches, indicated by yellow areas along the coasts.  These are more noticeable at lower altitudes and some of them span nearly 100 miles from the coastline, creating vast areas of inland dunes.

Will

Excellent!, the climate maps seem to coming along well, as for an easyer way to se values you could try to somthing simular to 3Dguys crater maker where somone just inputs values and the code outputs the .tgc (or clip file in this case).

Regards,

Will
The world is round... so you have to use spherical projection.

Arandil

This looks fantastic.  Out of curiosity, how are you arranging climate maps, using only nodes in TG2 or some other method?

Mohawk20

Looks great... I guess the people from Planetside would like to help out with the sliders, you are doing most of the work.
Howgh!

old_blaggard

This is awesome!  I never thought this project would get this far, but you've made a whole lot of progress.  The continents are starting to look quite realistic and the climate mapping is great.  I'm guessing that you could create a standalone program that outputs the nodes to a clip file.  It could be implemented as a plugin when/if the SDK ever comes out, or as a standalone program.  If you're still looking for a way to implement an interface in a couple of months, I might have the time to try throwing something together in XCode.
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Sethren

Dang! Those climate maps are looking great. Good Job!      ;D

RealUser

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Oshyan

Continent shapes and basic climate zone placement are really looking excellent. It's a "ground up" approach so it's hard to see "fantastic" (i.e. "wow that's realistic!") results right off, but for those that can see where it's headed (as I can), it's quite excitint. Keep up the great work!

For allowing easier (e.g. slider-based) control you could use the "macro" system we plan to implement. It will alow for "encapsulating" a group of nodes into a single parent node (much as Object nodes currently have internal networks) and then exposing some of the settings in a custom dialog similar to the node settings windows you use currently. This will be similar to how World Machine works, for example. A fairly sophisticated but simple to use and effective system.

- Oshyan

Will

Oshyan is that going to be releasted before terragen 2 or will it be part of the final release?

Regards,

Will
The world is round... so you have to use spherical projection.

Arandil

Quote from: Oshyan on February 23, 2007, 07:39:40 PM
Continent shapes and basic climate zone placement are really looking excellent. It's a "ground up" approach so it's hard to see "fantastic" (i.e. "wow that's realistic!") results right off, but for those that can see where it's headed (as I can), it's quite excitint. Keep up the great work!

For allowing easier (e.g. slider-based) control you could use the "macro" system we plan to implement. It will alow for "encapsulating" a group of nodes into a single parent node (much as Object nodes currently have internal networks) and then exposing some of the settings in a custom dialog similar to the node settings windows you use currently. This will be similar to how World Machine works, for example. A fairly sophisticated but simple to use and effective system.

- Oshyan

That's perfect.  It'll look a lot neater in the node tree display too.  ;)

Oshyan

It will be an integral part of the final Terragen 2 commercial product. Specifics of its capabilities are not yet fully decided, but we hope to make it as powerful as possible of course.

- Oshyan

Rob Allen

Thanks for all the positive feedback and support.  That's part of what's kept this project going this far.  When the project is closer to completion, I will start looking at options for interfaces.  Based on what I've done so far, it seems that it will be necessary.  Already simply randomizing the entire planet is an involved process of clicks.  Let alone modifying certain features. 

hyper1

Rob,
I for one am very glad for the effort you've put into this project.  I can't imagine the hours you've done!  :o But, your efforts and the work of others in this forum is what makes the Terragen community so special.  The talent in this group is astounding.  So... yeah keep it up!
Gary
Quote from: Rob Allen on February 23, 2007, 09:12:19 PM
Thanks for all the positive feedback and support.  That's part of what's kept this project going this far.  When the project is closer to completion, I will start looking at options for interfaces.  Based on what I've done so far, it seems that it will be necessary.  Already simply randomizing the entire planet is an involved process of clicks.  Let alone modifying certain features. 

old_blaggard

I'm just wondering if this project is still being developed.  I think this was a really good idea, and I hope it hasn't died out.  If you have decided not to work on this project anymore, Rob, then it would be great if you could share the .tgd files you've already developed.
http://www.terragen.org - A great Terragen resource with models, contests, galleries, and forums.