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FT3 settings to Produce Best Closeup Quality

Old GuyOld Guy
in Mapping with ProFantasy's Software
I'm hoping to create a world in FT3, export it to CC3 five levels deep and create corresponding images to use as backgrounds. I want the lowest level to be as zoomed in as possible without the fractal pattern being overly obvious. What are the best settings (or techniques) for achieving this? Note that I'm still very new to this. :)

I'm currently using Wilbur Ridged Multifractal. Does an alternative give better results? I read something about octaves that sound like they may apply but couldn't find any more detail on them or any settings that sounded related.

I have Wilbur installed and am not averse to using it if that would give better results but I know almost nothing about it (compared to the slightly more than nothing that I know about FT so far).
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Comments

  • 3 months later
  • Mateus090985Mateus090985 Traveler
    I hoped that this thread give me the anserw to your question...

    I am also searching for something like this. Did you made any progress?
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  • jslaytonjslayton Moderator, ProFantasy Mapmaker
    For best zooming capability, use one of the fractal functions with Perlin in the name. Those guys suport zooming in quite far. Eventually, though, you'll encounter numeric precision issues that will cause blocky artifacts on the display (it starts manifesting as vertical and/or horizontal dark lines and eventually becomes a dark grid). The image on the left below shows this effect during a zoom. Note the size of the view area as shown on the right-hand side of the image. When the artifacts appear, the image is about 1 foot per pixel.
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  • jslaytonjslayton Moderator, ProFantasy Mapmaker
    Before you hit the visual limit, you'll likely need to increase the number of octaves in your fractal function to get the full resolution out of the result. The Perlin functions can go above 12 octaves, which is the cap for the other types due to implementation issues. Note that there may be some other artifacts that you'll encounter with the various fractal types as you increase the number of octaves. The image on the right shows the "RMF with Perlin's Improved Noise" fractal type as the number of octaves goes from 12 to 24. The important concept here is that there is a practical upper limit on the number of octaves that have a visible effect. Beyond that, you're just spedinging more time doing calculations (and eventually losing precision).
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  • Old GuyOld Guy
    I am such a dork. Somehow, I never saw that "parms" button next to the fractal type dropdown. I was using "RMF with Perlin's Improved Noise" but at the default 12 octaves which looked awful at the zoom I was wanting. Increasing the number of octaves gave me exactly what I was hoping for.
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  • 1 year later
  • GoldGold
    Thanks very much. Thread is helpful. The fractal function I like is "fBm with Perlin's Improved Noise".

    By pressing Params button ( following what Old Guy mentioned in the last post), I changed the Octaves from 12 to 15, and it added tons of detail at "small scale" (regional close-up) level!

    I tried changing the octaves to 24 and 64, but found that 15 was just as good. But the default of 12 was noticably more simplistic in terrain appearance at close-up levels.

    So thanks again. This thread has just made FT3 seem even more powerful.
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