Fractal Terrains 3 New Features

Simon Rogers · February 2013

What would your top three new features for Fractal Terrains 3 be? I'm looking for modest improvements rather than anything off-the-wall.

[Edit: Feel free to go for slightly less than modest improvements now]

JimP · February 2013

not have the black outlines on export map contours. Or the ability to toggle them off/on.

illuminatispy · February 2013

A view as globe feature. Not the little one that already exists as a tool but a larger rotating one similar to the one in the Forgotten Realms Atlas.

Jvstin · February 2013

Better exporting into campaign cartographer. Unless I am doing it wrong (and someone please tell me), I can't seem to export the nice color schemes from lighting and color selections into
CC3 properly.

Mateus090985 · February 2013

All the above are good suggestions.

Torg Smith · February 2013

I don’t know if this is easy or not.

When creating multiple image export. It would be nice if the map level would be a higher resolution generation. What I mean by this is that if you do 5 levels, the fifth level looks real blocky. It would be nice if it was a higher level generation of the terrain.

pdj · February 2013

For export to CC3, it would be a great help to be able to define a viewport to be exported
in CC3 units (say 1000 x 800

If the export could be restricted to visible entities only, that would be even better.

For a not-so-modest improvement, I'll just say Plate Tectonics. The science is now 50+ years old,
and its omission from FT3 really shows.

jslayton · February 2013

Posted By: pdjFor export to CC3, it would be a great help to be able to define a viewport to be exported
in CC3 units (say 1000 x 800

I'm not sure that I understand the general utility of this idea. Is it to do with symbol scaling or some other reason? I ask about symbol scaling because the notes in the exported FT file should include a symbol scale suggestion. Or are you requesting the ability to mark a viewport on the world map and have FT export that area (this would be a lot like zooming to a particular area and then saving the CC2 file)?

Posted By: pdjIf the export could be restricted to visible entities only, that would be even better.

I do not understand the "visible entities only" request. Can you elaborate?

jslayton · February 2013

Posted By: Torg SmithWhen creating multiple image export. It would be nice if the map level would be a higher resolution generation. What I mean by this is that if you do 5 levels, the fifth level looks real blocky. It would be nice if it was a higher level generation of the terrain.

I don't understand your request. Do you have an example of what a "blocky" level of the export would look like and what the export settings were to achieve that?

jslayton · February 2013

Posted By: JvstinBetter exporting into campaign cartographer. Unless I am doing it wrong (and someone please tell me), I can't seem to export the nice color schemes from lighting and color selections into CC3 properly.

As I understand it, anything except filled or outilne contours will have to be done as an image. That is, save the view from FT, you'd need to save the current image as something like a JPEG file and then import that image into a CC3 file.

pdj · February 2013

Posted By: jslayton
Posted By: pdjFor export to CC3, it would be a great help to be able to define a viewport to be exported
in CC3 units (say 1000 x 800
I'm not sure that I understand the general utility of this idea. Is it to do with symbol scaling or some other reason? I ask about symbol scaling because the notes in the exported FT file should include a symbol scale suggestion. Or are you requesting the ability to mark a viewport on the world map and have FT export that area (this would be a lot like zooming to a particular area and then saving the CC2 file)?

The latter describes it precisely. The utility of it would be to avoid the horrors that ensue when you use
the CC3 "cut" function to reduce a contour map exported from FT3

Posted By: pdjIf the export could be restricted to visible entities only, that would be even better.
I do not understand the "visible entities only" request. Can you elaborate?

Hmmm - I think if you've not seen this yourself it's beyond my powers to describe it coherently. In effect it
is contours that lie within the perimeter of larger, supposedly higher, contours. Probably a side-effect of
exporting with multipolys turned off and then cutting the resultant map, but I wouldn't swear to it. Just forget I mentioned it.

Peter

Torg Smith · February 2013

Posted By: jslayton
Posted By: Torg SmithWhen creating multiple image export. It would be nice if the map level would be a higher resolution generation. What I mean by this is that if you do 5 levels, the fifth level looks real blocky. It would be nice if it was a higher level generation of the terrain.
I don't understand your request. Do you have an example of what a "blocky" level of the export would look like and what the export settings were to achieve that?

Ok, I think this may be a never mind. I had not done a multi-file extract since I upped my maximum horizontal and vertical resolutions in the Menu -> Edit -> Preferences. I just did a new one today and it had good detail all the way down.

My current settings are 4096 horizontal and 2048 vertical. I do not remember what the defaults were.

Gold · February 2013

A way to do "custom interrupted" projections, not just the evenly-spaced 6-point and 12-point interrupted projections offered under Change Projection.

For example, see the map on this Link which is captioned "Interrupted sinusoidal map with asymmetrical lobe boundaries emphasizing lands over oceans, after Deetz and Adams."
http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Dither/ProjInt/projInt.html

I believe it may be possible already to do this in FT3 if you know how to write new Projections in some kind of settings file or code? Maybe this can be introduced into the GUI under Change Projection menu? Perhaps with a visual preview showing where the interruptions would occur as you shift the variables?

Thank you for the software and work on improvements.

Simon Rogers · May 2015

HI, a bit of thread necro here. What features would you like to see in a new version of Fractal Terrains?

Mateus090985 · May 2015

I have not used FT a lot. BUT, when I do, I use it to/with real world archives. So, for me, anything that make work with real world more easy or give more options.

[Deleted User] · May 2015

The ability to move the globe around when in AE Hemispheres projection (my favourite one, and one not seen on the default settings). At present a world cannot be changed from the positions it has when first created

ADR · May 2015

My requests would be as follows -

Dream feature

1) Being able to provide a land mask of my world to FT3 and have it used to randomly generate the land/water topography based on that.

Doable features (I think)

1) Proper export to CC3 using various projections. The current version has issues (distorts) with many projections.

2) I would like it if the (x,y,height) info was displayed for wherever the mouse is. Right now there is no way to tell the height of any point in the map. (This exists in Wilbur)

3) Speaking of Wilbur get FT3 and Wilbur on better terms so no flipping is required when working between them. So in essence proper export of MDR files so that flipping is not required in Wilbur.

4) Use Wilbur-like incise flow in FT3 and provide much better documentation on the settings and how they will effect the terrain.

5) Ocean currents view. In addition to Rainfall, Temperature, Altitude etc. based on the world data could an ocean current map be generated indicating temperature and directions.

JimP · May 2015

The Cosmo export is one template. I would like to be able to select more than one Cosmographer export template in FT3.

illuminatispy · May 2015

1. A land mask feature similar to the one requested by ADR.

2. Erosion based off fluvial, wind and thermal.

3. The ability to define tectonic plates and their directions of movement and alter the globe based off those interactions over time.

4. The ability to define ocean currents.

5. The ability to define weather patterns based off ocean currents, land masses, mountain ranges and tilt on planetary axis.

6. A large spinning spherical global view option.

7. The ability to add basic symbols for cities , points of interest, boundaries, and text on an overlay layer.

8. The overlay layer translating to the CCx export file so the markups can be edited there and given more detail.

viking2054 · May 2015

My request might be similar to the land mask feature already stated, not sure exactly... But what I'd like to do is draw in some rough multi-poly shapes that represent major land masses (i.e. continents and really large islands). Maybe be able to draw some lines that would represent the tops of mountain ranges and lastly maybe some major lakes or inland oceans. After that have Fractal Terrains take those rough details and use them to build up a fractal world adding in more detail like rivers, lakes, smaller islands off the coast of the predefined larger islands or continents.

It would be nice to have predefined zoom settings that match CC3's or CC3+'s templates so we could cut out a section of the FT world and paste into CC3 easily. Add in a custom scale feature for those of us that do custom size maps.

Although I have FT3 and it's previous version, I pretty much stopped using it. I spent too much time fiddling with raising and lowering things in order to get even close to a map I would consider using. I just started drawing my world maps directly in CC2/CC3 now CC3+. Then I'd use those as the basis for more detailed cutout maps of a smaller region of the world map. If I could draw the basis for the world once in FT and then go back to it to zoom in on a section for more detail in order to export to CC3 that would be ideal. Basically, I want it to export a lower resolution world map and be able to increase the detail as I zoom in on an area that would fit into one of CC3's predefined map scales.

Reed · May 2015

I'm not sure what is currently available, however, going off of what I've been reading, here are the things that I've been researching and looking for.

A large spinning spherical global view option is a huge thing for me.

Also, and again, I'm not sure if this exists or not, but I would like to see the ability to create land and water options floating in free air

viking2054 · May 2015

One other thing I'd like to see added... remove all (or most) altitude levels except for the boundary between ocean and land when exporting. I stopped using contours in my map a long time ago except to reference deep ocean from coastal waters and then the boundary to show land versus water. I use the symbols in CC3 to designate mountain ranges. I suppose you could add in one boundary for hills and a second for mountains just to indicate where things break. But I'd like the hill and mountain contours on a separate sheet or layer so I can easily remove or hide them once I've placed the appropriate symbols over top of those areas.

viking2054 · May 2015

Posted By: ReedAlso, and again, I'm not sure if this exists or not, but I would like to see the ability to create land and water options floating in free air

In a top down map program, how would you represent that? Now if the program allowed you to rotate prospective so you were looking along the surface of the world. and not top down, then I could see that done... but I think that is something that might require Perspectives Pro or Perspectives Pro 3 if/when it comes out.

JimP · May 2015

Do a Search for 'floating' and you will find the three discussions from years past. Ralf came up with some symbols in this one for CC3:

floating isles

Shessar · May 2015

Posted By: ADRMy requests would be as follows -

Dream feature

1) Being able to provide a land mask of my world to FT3 and have it used to randomly generate the land/water topography based on that.

THIS, if possible!!!

pvernon · May 2015

A Cosmo related idea. In T5 Marc has a mapping system based on a 3 level set of hexes, first 1000 km across, second 100 km across, and third 10 km across. It would be great if there was a grid/hex/something overlay to facilitate making CC3 exports to build maps based on Marc's system.

OldGuy · May 2015

I realize that this won't be possible but, like most people posting here, my #1 wish list item would be the ability to easily transfer an existing 2d map into FT with the same level of detail and awesomeness that is found in FT-Generated maps.

DurMan667 · June 2015

1: Being able to do simple map making (ex. draw borders, add labels, etc)
2: High resolution export to Google Earth
3: Make brush tools so they don't clip to a grid

Distant 4th: Make Gaia look better. Tropical Deciduous Forests shouldn't ever appear light tan.

Anoril · February 2018

Hi Joe!

1/ ---- Batch command line

I'm working again with FT3 and something I really need to improve "my" workflow should be a powerfull yet simple (huhuhu) COMMAND LINE capability.

I make planets on a regular basis, not that I map them all (because of the time it implies) but I would if I could. And to achieve this, I would be veeeery happy to be able to batch-call FT from my other softwares (AstroSynthesis to name one).

If the command line could take the existing params plus the following (not exhaustive list), it would make my life better

* choosing a color scheme
* choosing a temp/climate shader file
* choosing LAYERS TO display!!!! (<-- raaaah! I neeeeed this!

)
* applying several filters (actions>>incise flow/fill bassins/etc.) with power and number of call... make rivers...
* ...

Yes, I would be able to control almost everything (but paint tools

) from the command line to process worlds and directly get close-to-finished maps (and be able to edit them later, if I need)

2/ ---- Fractal map

Aside of this, another point to me is to be able to have a more detailed "low" view. I have a campaing setting that is played on a rather small island but players are going to go overseen and reach other places arround the world. Thus I have a full planet ready to be mapped BUT my island is quite small and I regret the "fractal" is not actual fractal and at the level of detail I work, I only have laaarge swirls and lines and knots visibles that are supposed to be the lands and coats... And that's quite ugly.
For sure, once exported to CC3, I retake this by making them fractal lines, but, well: because it is not from the original FT file, when I make another map at a different scale, I struggle to get quite same-looking coast and heights.

But I suppose such a "feature" implies a drastic rework of the graphic engine... Which is not the aim of a future upgrade...

Well: you asked, I answered

That are the two main upgrade I would expect from a new revision.

Thanks for your work and that excellent program!
Paul

jslayton · February 2018

The attached document shows the current FT command-line capabilities. You should be able to set the basic display type using this. I'm not sure if that's what you meant by layers, though.

As far as 2 goes, there's not a whole lot that can be done with the amount of detail available if you're using older fractal function types. The implementation of those types causes them to lose precision past a certain point (usually around 12 octaves). The fractal functions with "improved Perlin's Noise" in their names don't lose precision in this way and you can easily go to 30 or more octaves if you're willing to wait. However, those types won't generate the same worlds. Getting hybrid types (type A to a certain number of octaves and type B after that) has been on the list for a while, but I don't expect that it will hit any time soon.

Anoril · February 2018

Oh, I forgotten something that may not be reaaaaaally concerning FT but...

I'm used to working with "Millieu Sim's Weather Master", importing my FT files to deal with climate for my campaing...
This admirable piece of software is dead ten years ago and today it definitively stops working (not running under Win10).

I would be happy to get all its features in FT, but that's not the point.

At least, if you could have a rather simple and rough climate generator, that would be terrific! I explain:
I have my FT map. I switch to Climate View. I select from the menu bar the brand new "make a day" tool which allows me to select a zone (a pixel) on the map, and - boom! - according to the pixel's climate/temperature/height, I'm proposed a "today's forecast": evolution of the temperature from midnight to midnight, rain previsions, etc."

Because I know about meteorology and astrophysics, I know one would expect a more complexe setting to achieve such a stuff (like planet position according to the sun, way to count time on the planet, etc.)... But... Well...

Just saying. An idea striking my mind just now. Forget.

Regards,

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Fractal Terrains 3 New Features

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