Load a Heightmap (a image file in wich every pixel is a "different height") and generate procedurally a mesh terrain from that file.
Main rendering tecniques are:
A)Heightmap + colormap + detail texture
B)Heightmap + detail map + 2/3 texture splattings(multipass )
C)Heightmap + N textures + shaders for multitexturing
(where N is the number of texture processors of your video card and usually go from 4(oldest card) up to 16 or more (newest cards).
D) pure mesh + colormap
Here a list of main terrain editor, please if you find someone new tell me, i will try it if at least a shareware or a demo version is available and i will put a summary description
http://www.earthsculptor.com/
name: Earthsculptor
rendering tecniques: (A) with up to 8 detail textures
purpose: fast creation of landscapes for multimedia and videogames
editing tecniques: noise, heightmap, splat
lightmap: RGB (no HDR support)
heightmap editing: yes (8 tools for that)
undo: poor (only 5 undo in free version, and 30 in commercial version)
water: middle quality. Suitable only for in-editor rendering?
export formats: PNG 16 bits textures, optimized OBJ meshes
import formats: all images, and standard heightmaps (grey images)
notes: plugin system, limited for free use (c++, with dlls)
free use: yes but limited
commercial use: need a license
terrain paging: no
unlimited world: no (in commercial version up to 4097 in free version 257)
opensource: no (sample source of plugins is provided, but it is not the whole code)
can help develop: .yes buying a license (but i think the code cannot be used for any external use)
drivers: OpenGL (especially works well on windows)
http://www.d-grafix.com/?page=ted
http://www.planetside.co.uk/component/o ... /Itemid,1/name: T.ED TERRAIN & WORLD EDITOR
rendering tecniques: (A,B,D), 6 detail textures or baked textures/mesh
purpose:any purpose (flat land ok, no entire planets or star systems)
editing tecniques: heightmap, lightmap, texture painting
lightmap: yes but no HDR(?)
heightmap editing: great (also walls and cliffs allowed)
undo: ?
water: yes
export formats: B3D , direcX mesh.X, Height/color/alpha Maps ,Dynamic Terrain Kit Export
import formats: any image,B3D , direcX mesh.X, Height/color/alpha Maps ,Dynamic Terrain Kit Export
notes: can also add scenario elements (world editor, not only terrain)
free use: a limited demo is coming soon
commercial use: need a license
terrain paging: theorically yes (but importing in videogames need your own paging, so only editor rendering is paged(?))
unlimited world: yes (but not really light weight, tiling function)
opensource: no
can help develop: no
drivers: work only on windows (i don't know if it using opengl or directx)
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=32251name: TERRAGEN CLASSIC
rendering tecniques: C
purpose: realistic landscapes and scenarios
editing tecniques: ?
lightmap: great, plus shaders and HDR support
heightmap editing: great
undo: ?
water: ?
export formats: propietary format
import formats: many formats
notes: can be used also for animate natural environment, create sky boxes, everything is realistic
free use: free but limited (for full features need a license)
commercial use: need a license (registered version)
terrain paging: no
unlimited world: no
opensource: no but developer SDK comes with registered version
can help develop: yes
drivers: .. I suppose OpenGL since it is available for both MAC and WINDOWS
name: Clady editors set(based on Katsankat work)
rendering tecniques: A, B
purpose: demostration of terrain editing with irrlicht
editing tecniques: heightmap, texture splatting
lightmap: no
heightmap editing: very poor
undo: no
water: no
export formats: many heightmap formats (irrlicht images)
import formats: many heightmap formats (irrlicht images)
notes: there are several tools every one for one purpose, and it uses a irrlicht wrapper known as Ninfa3D that is not stable on all systems as irrlicht itself (someone can have some problems running those toolsets), source of rendering plugin for texture splatting is missing. you can splat your terrain and how can you use it in side a game?
free use: yes
commercial use: ?
terrain paging: no
unlimited world: no
opensource: no
can help develop: no
drivers:irrlicht drivers (DX8, DX9, OpenGL)
this is the template for describing the editor, if you want to add a new editor. please help me adding more categories for classifing terrain editors.
the page is in editing, so if you read it now you can see it change.name: ..
rendering tecniques: (A , B , C or D ?)
purpose: (realistic worlds? videogames? ecc)
editing tecniques:
lightmap: yes/no/poor/great
heightmap editing: yes/no/poor/great
undo:yes/no/poor/great
water: yes/no/poor/great
export formats: ...
import formats: ...
notes: ...
free use: ...
commercial use: ....
terrain paging: ...
unlimited world: ...
opensource: ...
can help develop: ....
drivers: .. the editor rendering is via openGL or DirectX (since usually the export formats are well knowed the exported work can work on every machine having a game engine workin on it (irrlicht for example
i'm going to add all freeware and opensource editors i can find in the web, but this need time and lots of more works. also editors and code snippets i found there in irrlicht forum will be linked. (i noticed several of them in last days)