Fractal Terrains 3+ Export to VRML or Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
Hello!!
Curios if anyone knows why I dont have an export to VRML option in FT3+? Documentation shows it should be there, but it is not. Is it hiding somewhere?
Also HAs anyone tried exporting to something that can be used as a digital elevation model (DEM)? I would love to try and create a hillshade map utilizing GIS.
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Do you have the latest version ? Mine is FT3.5.1
VRML support was removed from the recent ft3 versions because it was not working with the current crop of browsers (as of 5+ years ago, if I recall). I guess that part of the documentation didn't get updated.
There are lots of various height field formats that ft can export, including a straight bump map-shaded image. Did you have a specific format or program that you need supported?
Thanks for the comments! Im on version 3.5.4 - which i believe is the most recent.
Id be looking for probably a tiff or jpeg image as my export. Do you know of any good guides for that which include height information?
Im VERY new to FT3, so still trying to figure lots of stuff out
Edit: I was able to figure out exporting to a bmp, ideally though i need it to be a "single band raster" going to see if i can find a way to apply a single band color scheme in FT3, just black to white, and that should do what i need i think
Then I need to log in and get the more recent version.
The best kind of export from FT3 will largely depend on both the software that you're reading the DEM with as well as what you want to do with the DEM. For example, if you want to read a whole-world DEM into a piece of GIS software that supports raw binary rasters, you can use File>>Save As with file type Special MDR File ("Special" in this case means that it will precisely cover the whole globe), check the "16-bit integer output", and the OK to save the file. In the GIS software, specify no header, the same width that you entered here, and 16-bit little-endian for the data type. If you want a little more precision and your GIS software can handle it, don't check the "16-bit integer output" checkbox on the Special MDR output and tell the GIS that the data has a 1024 byte header and the data elements are little-endian 4-byte floats.
If you want a more local area than whole-world, get the map window area sized to about the proportions you want for your output and then use File>>Save As with a suitable type (16-bit grayscale PNG height files can be read by most software out there). You'll need to do your own projection and zoom management in your GIS software because FT3 doesn't support embedded georeferencing information.
Thank you!! I appreciate the insight and break down. I will give this a shot and see how it goes!
jslayton! Big thanks again, your comments and assistance were incredibly helpful! I havent figured out the special MDR output yet (cant get my GIS programs to recognize it, but im sure there is some tinkering i can do).
I was able to pull in a 16-bit greyscale PNG height file though, and manipulate that. GIS still recognizes it as a multiband composite; with bands 1 and 2 populated. Band 1 seems to house positive values, and band 2 negative; i can pull them out into individual single band rasters, and combine with some raster algebra functions to make an output that retains the high/low values used in FT3 when creating the world.
My hope with all of this is to create stylized base maps (topographic, and terrain) by manipulating the FT3 output in GIS as i am very familiar with GIS data/programs, then pull it into CC3+ to make some interesting world maps for TTRPGs
The 16-bit PNG should be a single channel with 16-bit values. If it's getting pulled in as two 8-bit channels, then it should be getting the low 8 bits of each sample in channel 1 and the high 8 bits in channel 2.
If you're willing to go through yet another program to do some translation, Wilbur ( http://www.fracterra.com/software.html ) can read an MDR file from FT3 and has more output formats available than FT3 (mat, bt, hf2) and can do conversions from height to 16-bit or 24-bit color ranges so that you can use straight PNG or BMP for data interchange. Wilbur will likely read the MDR as flipped vertically, though, so you'd need to do Surface>>Rotate>>Flip Vertically in Wilbur to get things back into the expected orientation.
I think its just the GIS programs not "typically" expecting a 16 bit PNG as the file type. Did a bit more digging on it and it appears each band has the same values (according to my GIS program), but ive found a way to make it work. Below is a snip of what im doing in GIS with it. Convert the PNG to a single band DEM, contouring from there. Still tweaking how i want to do hillshading, and stuff, but this is pretty much what ive been trying to get to.
I will check out Wilbur and see if its worth the extra pit stop.
Again HUGE thank you for helping me figure this out.